Palestinians walk along the Israeli-built separation barrier between the West Bank and the east Jerusalem neighbourhood of Beit Hanina. AP
The Israeli government on Sunday approved a resolution to resume land registration in the occupied West Bank for the first time since 1967, allowing large swaths of land to be registered as Israeli state property.
Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Jordan condemned the move, stressing it's illegal under international law.
In a statement, the Egyptian government called it a "dangerous escalation aimed at consolidating Israeli control over the occupied Palestinian territories".
Saudi Arabia has described the Israeli decision as part of broader plans aimed at imposing a new legal and administrative reality in the occupied West Bank, stressing that Israel has no sovereignty over the occupied Palestinian territories.
Qatar's foreign ministry condemned the "decision to convert West Bank lands into so-called 'state property'," saying it would "deprive the Palestinian people of their rights".
The Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority called for international intervention to prevent the "de facto beginning of the annexation process and the undermining of the foundations of the Palestinian state".
Israeli anti-settlement watchdog Peace Now called the measure a "mega land grab".
Jonathan Mizrachi, the Israeli NGO's co-director, told AFP on Monday that the measure would attribute new resources for land registration in the occupied West Bank.
The process will take place in Area C, which constitutes some 60 percent of West Bank territory and is under Israeli security and administrative control.
"A lot of land that Palestinians consider theirs, they will find out it's not theirs under this new registration process," he said, adding the move will further the Israeli annexation agenda.
Changing demography
Last week, Israel's security cabinet approved a series of measures to tighten control over areas of the West Bank administered by the Palestinian Authority under the Oslo Accords, in place since the 1990s.
Those measures, which also sparked international backlash, include allowing Jewish Israelis to buy West Bank land directly and allowing Israeli authorities to administer certain religious sites in areas under the Palestinian Authority's control.
The latest Israeli moves come amid a wider context of increasing attacks by Israeli settlers against Palestinians in the territory.
"We are witnessing rapid steps to change permanently the demography of the occupied Palestinian territory, stripping its people of their lands and forcing them to leave," UN rights chief Volker Turk said in a recent statement.
US President Donald Trump has opposed Israel's annexation of the West Bank, saying stability in the territory helps keep Israel secure.
However, Trump has held off from directly criticising the latest Israeli measures, despite the international outrage.
Excluding Israeli-occupied East Jerusalem, more than 500,000 Israelis live in West Bank settlements and outposts, which are illegal under international law.
Around three million Palestinians live in the territory, which Israel has occupied since 1967.
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