Knesset approves 1st reading of bill to place heritage sites in occupied West Bank under direct Israeli control

The Knesset (Israel’s parliament) has passed the first reading of a bill that would place heritage sites in the occupied West Bank under direct Israeli control.

A Tuesday statement by the Knesset said its members approved the bill on Monday evening.

The measure "proposes to establish the direct responsibility of the state for the care of antiquities, heritage, and archaeological sites" in the West Bank by creating a body under Israel’s Heritage Ministry, the statement said.

The bill also proposes to grant the body "all the necessary powers" to excavate, develop, and manage archaeological and heritage sites, as well as “expropriating and acquiring land for this purpose," it added.

The draft law must be approved in its second and third readings before becoming law.

In February, Israel’s Security Cabinet ordered the repealing of a law barring the sale of Palestinian land to Jews in the West Bank, unsealing land ownership records, and transferring building permit authority from the Palestinian municipality to Israel’s civil administration.

Over the past few years, Palestinian and international organizations have indicated that the Israeli government is seeking to annex the West Bank as a fait accompli through a series of settlement measures without a formal declaration of annexation.

In a landmark opinion in July 2024, the International Court of Justice declared Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory illegal and called for the evacuation of all settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

*Writing by Serdar Dincel in Istanbul