Has Israel crossed the annexation threshold in the West Bank?
Palestinian families dismantle tents and structures as they prepare to leave the area following a rise in attacks by Israeli settlers, near Jericho, in the West Bank, 16 January 2026
Dikla Taylor-Sheinman writes in +972 on 18 February 2026:
Since the formation of Netanyahu’s sixth government in 2022, Israel has steadily tightened its grip on the West Bank, largely outside the gaze of international media. But on Feb. 8, an avalanche of cabinet decisions prompted unusually direct coverage from media outlets not generally known for their diligent attention to the daily reality of occupation, including the BBC, the New York Times, and the Wall Street Journal.
Last week’s package includes six measures that the Israeli anti-occupation nonprofit Yesh Din warned will “fundamentally alter the legal framework in the West Bank”: from declassifying confidential land records and opening up land sales to Israelis and foreigners, to expanding Israeli “supervision and enforcement activities” into Area A — nominally under Palestinian civil and security control — as well as Area B.
Before attention could drift again, the government took another dramatic step on Sunday by approving a proposal to reopen land registration procedures in the West Bank for the first time since 1967, which will allow the state to register large swaths of territory as “state land.” A day later, it also decided to expand Jerusalem’s municipal borders beyond the Green Line by establishing a new settlement. Reacting to the land registry decision, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich declared, “For the first time since the Six Day War, we are restoring order and governance in the management of land in Judea and Samaria.”
Ziv Stahl, Yesh Din Executive Director
Though U.S. President Donald Trump reiterated his opposition to formal annexation last Monday, neither he nor other U.S. officials publicly pressed Netanyahu on the latest decisions. And while the EU and Arab countries responded swiftly with familiar expressions of concern, they lacked a clear answer to the implicit question posed by Israel’s provocative moves: Will you do anything to stop this?
To make sense of what may prove a consequential fortnight in the long arc of annexation, +972 spoke with Ziv Stahl, Executive Director of Yesh Din. We discussed the significance of these latest measures, why a formal declaration of annexation seems unlikely, the prospect of a West Bank real estate boom, and what, if anything, could be reversed under a different Israeli government.