By Laith Al-Jnaidi
AMMAN, Jordan (AA) - Jordan denounced measures approved by Israel’s security cabinet Sunday aimed at deepening Israeli control over the occupied West Bank, describing them as “illegal,” a “blatant violation of international law” and an assault on Palestinians’ right to an independent state.
In a statement, Jordan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs responded to the measures, which include repealing a Jordanian-era law barring the sale of Palestinian land to Jews in the West Bank.
The ministry said that Jordan “strongly condemns the illegal Israeli decisions and measures adopted to impose unlawful Israeli sovereignty, entrench settlement activity, and impose a new legal and administrative reality in the occupied West Bank.”
The steps constitute “a flagrant breach of international law, an undermining of the two-state solution, and an attack on the inalienable right of the Palestinian people to establish their independent, sovereign state on the June 4, 1967 lines with occupied Jerusalem as its capital,” the statement said, adding that Israel has “no sovereignty over occupied Palestinian land.”
Jordan reiterated its “absolute rejection and condemnation” of unilateral, illegal and null measures in the West Bank and warned that the policies of Israel’s far-right government fuel cycles of violence and instability in the region.
The ministry urged the international community to meet its legal and moral responsibilities and compel Israel and its extremist government to stop its dangerous escalation in the occupied West Bank and the inflammatory statements of its officials.
Earlier Sunday, Israel’s security cabinet approved measures that change the legal and civil framework in the occupied West Bank to strengthen Israeli control.
Israel’s public broadcaster KAN reported that the decisions also include unsealing land ownership records and transferring building permit authority in a Hebron settlement bloc from the Palestinian municipality to Israel’s Civil Administration.
The measures also expand Israeli oversight and enforcement into areas classified as Area A and Area B, citing alleged violations related to unlicensed construction, water issues, and damage to archaeological and environmental sites. The expansion would allow demolitions and seizures of Palestinian property even in areas administered civilly and security-wise by the Palestinian Authority.
Under the 1995 Oslo II Accord, Area A is under full Palestinian civil and security control, Area B is under Palestinian civil control with Israeli security control, and Area C remains under full Israeli control, which accounts for about 60% of the West Bank.
Israel’s Yedioth Ahronoth daily reported that the cabinet’s decisions included the transfer of planning and construction authority at the Ibrahimi Mosque and its surroundings as well as other religious sites from the Hebron municipality to Israel’s civil administration, contrary to arrangements under the 1997 Hebron Protocol between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization.
Israeli authorities have continued to demolish Palestinian homes and structures across the West Bank on the grounds of lacking permits amid what Palestinians describe as restrictive policies that make it difficult to obtain building approvals.
According to the Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission, a Palestinian governmental agency, Israel carried out 538 demolitions in 2025 affecting about 1,400 homes and structures, an unprecedented increase compared with previous years.
The UN says Israeli settlements in occupied Palestinian territory are illegal under international law and undermine the viability of a two-state solution and has for decades called for an end to settlement activity.
*Writing by Mohammad Sio in Istanbul