27 May 2026: The head of the Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission, Minister Mu'ayyad Sha'ban, stated that the Israeli occupation authorities' launch this morning of the electronic "Land Registry and Rights Settlement" system in the occupied Palestinian territory constitutes a new and dangerous link in the creeping annexation project being implemented by the occupation government. It clearly reveals the occupation's transition from traditional field control policies to digital and administrative colonial engineering aimed at imposing permanent legal facts on the occupied Palestinian territory.
Mr. Sha'ban added that this system, which the occupation has given the symbolic codename "Hand Grenade," a name with criminal connotations, goes beyond being a technical measure or a mere modernization of land records. Rather, it represents a central tool for reshaping property ownership in the West Bank according to the Israeli colonial vision. It also furthers the imposition of Israeli sovereignty over occupied lands and entrenching the seizure of vast areas of Palestinian citizens' lands, particularly in areas classified as (C).
Mr. Sha'ban affirmed that the Israeli Security Cabinet's decision in May 2025 to proceed with a comprehensive land settlement in the West Bank, followed by the transfer of authority in February 2026 to the Israeli Ministry of Justice and the Israeli Survey Authority, along with the allocation of substantial budgets for this project, reflects the existence of a comprehensive government plan aimed at transforming the occupation, temporarily under international law, into permanent control of a sovereign and colonial character. This is to be achieved through re-registering lands and redefining property ownership and real estate rights according to the Israeli legal system.
Mr. Sha'ban pointed out that through this project, the occupation seeks to circumvent the legal status of the occupied Palestinian territory and create a parallel Israeli property registry imposed by force, thereby opening the door to land confiscation, accelerating colony expansion, legitimizing colonial outposts, and complicating Palestinians' ability to prove their historical ownership in the future, especially given the enormous restrictions the occupation imposes on access to documents, lands, and litigation procedures.
Mr. Sha'ban emphasized that this measure, in addition to its goal of stripping Palestinians of their lands and properties for the benefit of colonizers, constitutes, under international humanitarian law, a grave case of violation and abuse, particularly with respect to the Fourth Geneva Convention and the Hague Regulations, which prohibit the occupying power from making permanent changes in occupied territories, confiscating public and private property, or directly or indirectly annexing occupied lands. These policies also conflict with international legitimacy resolutions and Security Council resolutions, most notably Resolution 2334, which affirmed the illegality of Israeli colonization in the occupied Palestinian territory.
Mr. Sha'ban stated that the true danger of this project lies in the occupation's attempt to use technical and digital tools to lend a legal and administrative appearance to the crime of annexation and unlawful seizure of land, and to transform the colonial control system into a long-term institutional structure, directly threatening prospects for establishing a Palestinian state and undermining any possibility of a political solution grounded in international law.
Mr. Sha'ban called on the international community, the United Nations, the International Criminal Court, and the European Union to treat this project as part of the crime of annexation and settler colonialism being committed by the occupation state, and to take urgent action to halt these measures and impose genuine sanctions and accountability on the occupation government, which continues to work openly and systematically to undermine the international legal order and impose colonial facts by force on the occupied Palestinian territory.