From the Liveblog of
Sunday, February 8, 2026
PA’s Abbas slams Israel’s ‘dangerous’ West Bank reforms, declares them ‘null and void’
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Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas condemns a series of policy changes adopted by Israel’s security cabinet earlier today to overhaul land registration and property acquisition in the West Bank, deepening Israel’s control over the territory, including sensitive sites.
Abbas’s office calls the decisions dangerous, and says it considers them part of a war by the Israeli government against Palestinians, in a report published by the PA’s WAFA news outlet.
The report says Abbas considers the decisions “null and void, granting no legitimacy and [carrying] no legal consequences.”
The PA also calls on the US as well as the UN Security Council to intervene and stop the actions, according to the report.
Defense Minister Israel Katz and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich announced earlier today that the cabinet approved moves to publicize land registries in the West Bank, which are currently classified.
The decisions also give Israeli agencies authority over maintenance and construction at the Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron, a flashpoint holy site sacred in Judaism and Islam, and Rachel’s Tomb near Bethlehem.
WAFA says Abbas’s office “warned of the dangers of any infringement upon Islamic and Christian holy sites, emphasizing that any violation of the Ibrahimi Mosque and the transfer of authority over it are unacceptable,” using a Muslim term for the Hebron compound.
The Hebron site is traditionally believed to be the burial place of the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and the matriarchs Sarah, Rebecca and Leah.
The ministers also said the cabinet voted to overturn a Jordanian law — passed when that country controlled the West Bank from 1948-1967 — that limited land purchases in the West Bank to Muslims.
Additionally, the ministers announced decisions to expand Israeli oversight over infrastructural, environmental, and archaeological affairs in Areas A and B, which — under the terms of the 1990s Oslo Accords — fall under the PA’s civil authority.
The Times of Israel Community.