Legal opinion on the recent Cabinet decision to prevent land settlement in Area C and cancel the settlement procedures carried out by the Authority

Lawyer Medhat Diba
Legal Advisor - Jerusalem Governorate

The Security Cabinet recently issued a dramatic decision regarding Area C, stating that the Palestinian Authority is not authorized to carry out land settlements in these areas. The resolutions previously implemented by the Palestinian Authority are deemed to be without authority and have no legal effect.
This decision contradicts the approach of the occupation authorities in Area C, which they have been accustomed to for years.
This decision was made in full agreement between the Israeli Minister of Defense and the Minister of Finance in order to extend control over vast areas of land classified as Area C.
According to the aforementioned decision, the only party that has the final say over Area C is the occupying state.
Area C has had a stable status since its occupation in 1967. Although the occupying authorities are sovereign and control over it, the laws that remain applicable to its lands are Ottoman law and Jordanian law. Upon the entry of the Authority, its laws were also incorporated into the applicable laws, and the Authority began, approximately 15 years ago, the process of dividing the lands and determining their regulatory status. This is despite the fact that, under the agreements between the two parties, the lands classified as Area C remained the responsibility of the occupying power.
Accordingly, until then, the occupying state treated Area C as "no-go areas except for what could be entered." This means that any area declared to be state land automatically belongs to the occupying state, and the remainder is considered Palestinian land. Accordingly, the Authority, in cooperation with the European Union, was able to build schools and facilities in some Area C areas, considering them to be private Palestinian land.
Now, with this dangerous decision, the occupying state has come to view Area C as "permitted areas except for what is prohibited." This means that these areas are no longer available for construction as they were previously, as they were Palestinian areas, but rather require a planning process. Accordingly, Palestinians cannot build from now on except through a building permit.
Under this decision, all settlement activities carried out by the Authority were deemed illegal and of no effect, including maps, documents, registrations, and approvals, which became legally ineffective in any legal proceeding by the occupying power.
Under this decision, the army and security forces will be required to work to prevent the completion of Palestinian settlement operations, including preventing relevant professionals such as engineers and surveyors from entering Area C, preventing the flow of foreign aid allocated for the settlement process, and directly requesting the Palestinian Authority to revoke all measures it has taken in this regard.
Under this resolution, the Minister of Defense will issue instructions to renew the settlement process in these areas through state institutions by amending existing laws and military orders to adapt them to the new resolution, as well as establishing official jurisdictions to complete the necessary preparations for this project, including legal and professional preparations, and the necessary funding for the settlement process within 60 days.
This decision coincided with the approval of several related "minor" laws aimed at eliminating the idea of establishing a Palestinian state on the one hand, and expanding settlement outposts at the expense of "private Palestinian lands" after they were restructured and classified as state lands based on this decision on the other.
This decision is considered a significant step in a series of measures implemented in the West Bank over the past three years, which have led to the withdrawal of almost all of the Civil Administration's powers and their transfer to the Settlement Department within the Ministry of Defense, which is overseen by the current Finance Minister. After issuing instructions to issue building permits in settlements on a weekly basis, expanding settlement farms, and declaring several areas as state land, the Finance Minister continues to issue instructions to re-survey lands in the West Bank through his "group," canceling the survey and classification of those areas that the Authority had conducted years ago.
One of the most significant problems facing settlers, preventing them from expanding settlements until this decision is issued, is the existence of "private Palestinian land," which is land whose owners have proven their ownership and that it has belonged to them since the Jordanian era. Accordingly, and based on the Security Cabinet's decision, much of the West Bank will be reviewed and re-surveyed by Smotrich's gangs, who work in the Civil Administration or the Settlement Coordination Office in the Ministry of Defense. In the event that land privately owned by Palestinians is encountered, it will be declared state land. Through this process, many lands owned by Palestinians will be declared state land, and settlements will expand with ease, without the obstacle of "private Palestinian ownership," which Israeli courts recognize as protecting Palestinians.
Among the most important objectives of this decision, which constitutes a coup against all international agreements and norms, were stated by Defense Minister Katz, including: ending the dream of establishing a Palestinian state; expanding the settlements, which the war has proven to be a protective shield for the Israeli project, and therefore this shield must be supported and strengthened; settling the lands through government institutions, which establishes legal clarity and prepares the ground for the development of settlements, while at the same time preventing the Authority's attempts to seize control of the lands and destroy the dream of a state.
Security related new legislation aimed at undermining the government, preventing the two-state solution, and controlling the West Bank: The proposal of extremist Knesset member Simcha Rothman, head of the Knesset Constitution, Law, and Justice Committee, to officially change the name "West Bank" to "Judea and Samaria" in all Israeli laws, which would expand settlements beyond the Green Line. The Antiquities and Excavation Authority bill stipulates the transfer of authority over antiquities, excavations, and prospecting from the "military" authority in the West Bank to the Israeli Civil Antiquities Authority. The bill also freezes the authority's "clearance" funds and deducts funds used to support terrorist activities. It also calls for the passage of a new law to allow settlers to purchase land in the West Bank, which Jordanian law currently prohibits them from privately owning.
On 12-19-2024, we published our first article about the annexation plan and Smotrich's project to control the West Bank lands https://www.alquds.com/ar/posts/145547  .
On January 3, 2025, we published our second article on the settlement process the occupation intends to initiate in East Jerusalem, with the aim of extending control over most of the lands whose owners are considered "absentees." A copy of the article is attached as it relates to the government decision at issue.
We, like international law experts, believe this decision constitutes a form of unofficial annexation of the West Bank, making it part of the occupying state. This project is Smotrich's "lifelong dream," aiming to force the official state to refrain from entering into any solution that would lead to a two-state solution through land swaps, because that is not currently possible.
This decision, like other related decisions, will undoubtedly have consequences, both in the short and long term. There is no doubt that such judicial legislation, which is contrary to international norms and law, will show “Israel” as a state that does not desire any settlement and does not want peace. There is no possibility of saying that the right wing, with its current government, desires a “shared” life, and that Israel is behaving as if it is not part of the Middle East, and that it must act as a partner in the Middle East and that it must integrate into the region.
Accordingly, this decision of the Security Cabinet and the other legislation that falls under it violate international law and international norms as follows:
A. The settlement process in Area C, as well as the settlement process in East Jerusalem, violates Article 147 of the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949, which stipulates:

"The widespread seizure of property belonging to protected civilians constitutes a grave breach of the Fourth Geneva Convention."
B. Article 8 (2) of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, which states: “Large-scale confiscation of real estate not for imperative military purposes shall be considered a war crime.”
T. This is in addition to the fact that the confiscation of private property according to Articles 43 and 46 of the Hague Regulations annexed to the Hague Convention is considered an assault on property, while the occupying state is required to respect the property rights of individuals and explicitly stipulates that the occupier is prohibited from confiscating private property and that applicable laws (Jordanian and Ottoman) must be respected.
C. All of this comes in addition to the fact that the settlement process will be implemented under Israeli law, which has recently undergone numerous judicial amendments that conflict with the interests of the Palestinian population, which already suffers from the lack of a clear legal or political status. This will make it difficult for them to prove their ownership of the land, and the occupying state's land acquisition activities will expand according to this law. For example, the laws that have been amended and are likely to harm the interests of the Palestinians:
Q1. Amendments made to the law extending the statute of limitations.
Q2. Preventing the possibility of purchasing rights in real estate on the basis of continuous possession, not for agricultural purposes.
Q3. Amending the system of proof required to prove ownership and other matters (see in this regard the book: The Age of the Majority and the Age of the Minority: Land, Nationalism, and the Law of Statute of Limitations in Israel, third edition, 1998, pages 665 and 746, author Sandy Kedar).
It is also well known that the process of settling rights in the occupied territories serves the occupation politically first and foremost. To be precise, we can say that the process of land settlement serves the illegal settlements under international law. There are many cases in which the public trustee intervenes in property disputes, some of which were carried out without the knowledge of the rights holders of the lands subject to the settlement, who found themselves facing eviction orders in favor of the settlers, as happened with the Erekat families since August 18, 2024, and the Qunbar families since March 2023 in the Abu Dis area - adjacent to Al-Quds University - and what is happening in Silwan and Sheikh Jarrah.
The settlement process also requires citizens to provide documentation to prove their rights from other countries, such as Jordan and/or Turkey. This is a financially and practically challenging process, two issues that Palestinian citizens already struggle with. What makes the proof process even more difficult is the fact that more than 58 years have passed since the occupation began. This gives the occupying state a higher priority and preference in the proof process, at the expense of the population's own weakness.
What is required to be done:
At the international level:
1. The necessity of submitting a request to obtain precautionary measures from the International Court of Justice to freeze the settlement procedures, as they are not urgent or necessary at the present time. Such requests may be submitted by South Africa or by separate requests from several countries.
2. Review the Oslo Accords and its annexes, and what was agreed upon regarding Area C. Do the occupation authorities have the right to declare unilateral control over these areas?
3. Does the Oslo Accords grant Israel permanent control over Area C, or is its control temporary until a final agreement is reached? If the agreement does not grant Israel absolute and permanent sovereignty, then the settlement procedures are invalid because they would affect the final status.
4. Cancelling the settlement procedures implemented by the Palestinian Authority means keeping citizens' property in the "unknown" zone. This will lead to widespread fraud and illegal sales, while calls are being made for a new law to allow settlers to purchase land in the West Bank.
On the internal level:
1. National awareness - legal advice. Study each case individually and assess the situation, as many settlement files began and ended without Palestinian involvement or any objection, as occurred in the case of "Kobaniyeh Umm Haroun" in Sheikh Jarrah, Jerusalem, where most, if not all, of the neighborhood was registered in the names of individual Jews.
2. The necessity of continuing to demonstrate presence and attendance on the lands, and to place fences and wire fences and guard them by forming guard committees from each area to prevent settlers from seizing the land and creating a fait accompli that is difficult to change.

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This decision, like other related decisions, will undoubtedly have consequences, both in the short and long term. There is no doubt that such judicial legislation, which contravenes international norms and law, will portray "Israel" as a state that does not desire any settlement and does not want peace.