A step in the wrong direction': Israel's West Bank plans prompt global backlash

[malaise]

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/feb/10/israel-west-bank-plans-global-backlash

Israeli measures to tighten its control of the West Bank have prompted a global backlash, including a signal from Washington restating the Trump administration’s opposition to annexation of the occupied territory.

Announcing the measures, which involve extending Israeli control in areas that are currently under Palestinian administration, Israel’s defence minister, Israel Katz, made clear they were aimed at strengthening Israeli settlements in the West Bank and pre-empting the emergence of an independent sovereign Palestine.

The measures, passed by the Israeli security cabinet, also make it easier to find out who owns land in the West Bank and for non-Arabs to buy property in the territory. It was not initially clear when the new rules would come into effect but they require no further approval.

“We will continue to kill the idea of a Palestinian state,” Katz said in a joint statement with the finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich.