JERUSALEM/ ISTANBUL

A Knesset committee approved on Tuesday a draft law that would allow Israelis to own property in the occupied West Bank.

The bill was submitted by MK Yuli Edelstein of the Likud Party, Likud MK Limor Son Har-Melech of the Otzma Yehudit Party, and Moshe Solon of the Religious Zionism Party.

According to the Knesset press office, four MKs supported the bill with no opposition.

It, however, did not specify the number of committee members present.

In Knesset committees, bills pass with a majority of those present regardless of attendance.

The press office also did not specify when the bill would be brought before the full plenum of the Knesset for a first reading.

Under Israeli law, every bill must pass three readings before becoming law.

The Knesset said the proposal “cancels the Jordanian law regarding leasing and selling property to foreigners, which is currently in force in Judea and Samaria (West Bank), and allows any person to purchase real estate.”

According to the bill’s description, the original Jordanian law was enacted in 1953 to prevent non-Arabs from acquiring property in the West Bank.

There was no immediate comment from the Palestinian Authority or Jordan on the Israeli bill.

Israel was established in May 1948 on occupied Palestinian land after Zionist armed groups carried out massacres and expelled hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from their homes.

Jordan announced the unification of the West and East Banks on April 24, 1950, and formally began its administration of the West Bank in June that year, before Israel occupied the territory in 1967.

On July 31, 1988, late Jordanian King Hussein announced disengagement from the West Bank while maintaining custodianship over Islamic and Christian holy sites in occupied Jerusalem.

As part of efforts aimed at de facto annexation of the West Bank, Israel has intensified its actions there—particularly the displacement of Palestinians and expansion of settlements—since launching its war on Gaza two years ago.

Such annexation would effectively end any possibility of implementing a two-state solution envisioned in multiple UN resolutions.

The Israeli anti-settlement group Peace Now estimates that around 500,000 illegal Israeli settlers currently live in the occupied West Bank.

In a landmark opinion last July, 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.