Court freezes key step in government’s controversial West Bank land registration process

The Jerusalem District Court on Wednesday issued a temporary order freezing the tender process for the government’s controversial West Bank land registration project, which critics have described as “de facto annexation” of the territory.

The court ordered the Justice Ministry, Defense Ministry and other agencies to respond to those petitioning for the freeze by next Thursday.

The court did not give a reason for the freeze, but it was welcomed by the organizations that had petitioned against the land registration process, including Yesh Din, Bimkom and the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, which said in their petition that the process violates international law.

“The renewal of the land registration process in the West Bank constitutes a clear act of annexation, and the tender for administering it was carried out without authority and unlawfully,” they said in a statement following the ruling.

“The tender, and the process as a whole, must be voided, since its implementation and execution will lead to widespread harm to the human rights of Palestinians and a flagrant violation of international law.”

In February, the cabinet approved the renewal of the land registration process in the West Bank that was frozen in 1968, the year after Israel took the territory from Jordan in the Six Day War. The goal of renewing the process was to enable the registration of broad swaths of land as state land that could then be used for Israeli development.

The ownership of some two-thirds of all West Bank land has never been formally registered. After the cabinet approval, the Justice Ministry issued a tender for private contractors to carry out the land registration process, and the tender was recently awarded.

The three Israeli civil rights organizations filed legal petitions against the renewal of the process, arguing that land registration violates international law since Israel holds the West Bank under what is known as a belligerent occupation, in which actions permanently altering the status of the territory are prohibited.

Civil rights groups have expressed concern that since the declared goal of the land registration process is to advance settlement development, it would likely be extremely hard for Palestinians in Area C to effectively register their private property.

The government’s controversial bid to renew the land registration process came amid an unchecked spate of settler violence against Palestinians, which critics have accused the government and military of ignoring, or even encouraging.

Extremist settlers have also engaged in a campaign of violence and harassment against Palestinians in rural communities, leading to the depopulation and dispossession of dozens of them.

Over the last four years, the government built and approved for construction an unprecedented number of settlements and settlement housing units in the West Bank, alongside the construction of some 200 illegal settlement outposts and farming outposts in the territory.

On Wednesday, Palestinian media reported that settlers had set fire overnight to a structure used for agricultural purposes in the village of Tuwani, in the southern West Bank’s South Hebron Hills.

There were no reports of injuries in the incident.

???? مستوطنون يشعلون النيران في غرفة زراعية بقرية توانة في مسافر يطا جنوب الخليل. pic.twitter.com/PqMxx1hlaW

— وكالة شهاب للأنباء (@ShehabAgency) September 16, 2026

In a rare instance of intervention, however, the IDF said on Wednesday that a reservist who was filmed pointing his gun at Palestinians in a West Bank village had his reserve duty terminated following the incident.

On Sunday, the reservist was filmed confronting several young Palestinians in the village of Beit Ummar, near Hebron. In footage circulated on social media, he can be seen standing next to a civilian vehicle, partially dressed in IDF fatigues and pointing a rifle at the Palestinians.

مستوطن يرهب مجموعة من الفتية عند مدخل بلدة بيت أمر شمال الخليل pic.twitter.com/20daUYhDlH

— شبكة قدس الإخبارية (@qudsn) September 13, 2026

In a response to The Times of Israel, the IDF said that “troops were dispatched to the outskirts of the village of Beit Ummar in the Etzion Brigade area following footage and a report of a civilian confronting several Palestinians inside the village, following an earlier altercation between them.”

The military said that “the civilian is a reservist who entered the village without the proper authority or authorization and left upon the arrival of the troops. His reserve service was terminated and the incident was investigated.”

The reservist served in a Hagmar regional defense unit, which are made up of West Bank settlers.

Separately Wednesday, the IDF announced that Israeli commandos nabbed a “senior” member of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group during a raid in the West Bank town of Burqin, near Jenin.

סעדי שימש כמחבל בכיר בהתארגנות, היה מזוהה עם ארגון הטרור גא"פ, ועסק בניהול ובהכוונת כספים לפעילויות טרור נגד כוחות צה"ל ואזרחי מדינת ישראל.

כוחות הביטחון ימשיכו לפעול ביוזמה והתקפיות לסיכול טרור ברחבי אוגדת יהודה ושומרון ושמירה על ביטחון אזרחי מדינת ישראל pic.twitter.com/aVE4BnbNQG

— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) September 16, 2026

Soldiers of the Duvdevan Commando Unit raided Burqin and apprehended Mohammed Saadi, following information on his whereabouts provided by the Shin Bet.

The IDF said Saadi was a senior member of a Jenin-area terror network that was dismantled in early 2025, was affiliated with Islamic Jihad, and was “involved in managing and directing funds for terror activities.”