ISRAEL was slammed today for the introduction of new laws designed to enforce its sovereignty over the occupied West Bank.

This comes as Israel’s security cabinet approved measures on Sunday that strengthens its control over the West Bank.

The move weakens the already limited powers of the Palestinian Authority.

The office of far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich announced the decisions that would make it easier for Jewish settlers to force Palestinians to give up land, saying that “we will continue to bury the idea of a Palestinian state.”

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, in a statement, called the decision “dangerous” and an “open Israeli attempt to legalise settlement expansion” and land confiscation. He called for the United States and the United Nations security council to intervene immediately.

Jordan’s foreign ministry condemned the decision, which it said was “aimed at imposing illegal Israeli sovereignty” and entrenching settlements.

Hamas called on Palestinians in the West Bank to “intensify the confrontation with the occupation and its settlers.”

The measures announced on Sunday include cancelling a prohibition on sales of West Bank land to Israeli Jews, declassifying West Bank land registry records to ease land acquisition, transferring construction planning at religious and other sensitive sites in the volatile city of Hebron to Israeli authorities, and allowing Israeli enforcement of environmental and archaeological matters in Palestinian-administered areas.

The measures also would revive a committee that would allow the state of Israel to make “proactive” land purchases in the territory — “a step intended to guarantee land reserves for settlement for generations to come.”

Settler group Regavim praised Sunday’s decision, saying it would protect heritage sites in the West Bank and “at long last” make land registry accessible and transparent.

But Peace Now, an Israeli anti-settlement watchdog group, called the decision “a massive land grab.”

It said Israeli authorities will be able to demolish construction in Palestinian-controlled areas if they deem it harmful to heritage or the environment.

Asked about settlers’ claims that the current system is discriminatory against Jews, Peace Now’s Yonatan Mizrachi said the entire system in the West Bank discriminates against Palestinians, who are not allowed to vote in Israeli elections and face Israeli military crackdowns and travel restrictions.

More than 700,000 Israelis live in the occupied West Bank and east Jerusalem, territories captured by Israel in 1967 from Jordan and sought by the Palestinians for a future state.

The international community overwhelmingly considers Israeli settlement construction in these areas to be illegal and an obstacle to peace.