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Türkiye sharply condemned Israel on Sunday after the Israeli government approved a sweeping plan to register large swaths of the occupied West Bank as state property, a move Ankara called illegal and "null and void" under international law.
The decision marks the first time since Israel occupied the West Bank in 1967 that it has moved to formally register territory there as its own, significantly escalating tensions over the future of the Palestinian territories and drawing immediate diplomatic backlash.
Türkiye's Foreign Ministry said the plan is designed to impose Israeli "authority over the occupied West Bank and expand settlement activities." In a pointed statement, the ministry charged that the measure "seeks to forcibly displace the Palestinian people from their land and accelerate Israel's unlawful annexation efforts."
The ministry was unequivocal in its legal assessment: "Israel has no sovereignty over the occupied Palestinian territories." It added that the expansionist policies pursued by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government are undermining peace efforts and damaging the prospects for a two-state solution.
Ankara called on the international community to take a firm stance against what it described as Israeli attempts to create facts on the ground, and reaffirmed its support for the establishment of "an independent, sovereign and contiguous" Palestinian state based on the 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital.
The land registration plan was submitted by a trio of senior Israeli officials, far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, Justice Minister Yariv Levin, and Defense Minister Israel Katz, according to Israeli public broadcaster KAN.
Israeli daily Israel Hayom reported ahead of the government decision that the initial target is the gradual settlement of 15 percent of Area C by 2030. Under the Oslo II Accord signed in 1995, Area C, which comprises roughly 61 percent of the West Bank, remains under full Israeli control. Areas A and B fall under varying degrees of Palestinian authority, and the accord limits Palestinian land registration to those zones while prohibiting it in Area C.
The land registration measure was not an isolated step. It formed part of a wider package of actions approved by Israel's Security Cabinet last week to expand illegal settlement construction and tighten Tel Aviv's grip on the occupied West Bank.
According to Israeli media, the package also includes repealing a law that had barred the sale of West Bank land to illegal Israeli settlers, unsealing land ownership records, and transferring authority for building permits in a settlement bloc near Hebron from a Palestinian municipality to Israel's civil administration.
Israel has intensified its operations across the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, since launching its military campaign in Gaza on Oct. 8, 2023. Palestinians view the escalation, which includes killings, arrests, displacement, and settlement expansion, as a step toward formal annexation of the territory.
In July 2024, the International Court of Justice issued a landmark advisory opinion declaring Israel's occupation of Palestinian territory illegal and calling for the evacuation of all settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
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