The Israeli government’s approval of a land registration process that permits Israel to designate territory in the occupied West Bank as “state property” if Palestinians cannot prove ownership is not “contentious,” as stated in the headline. It is an illegal decision that amounts to de facto annexation under occupation.
February 16, 2026
To the Toronto Star and Associated Press,
I am writing on behalf of Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (www.cjpme.org) regarding the AP article published by Toronto Star on February 15, 2026 titled: “Israel will begin contentious West Bank land registration in new step to deepen control.”
The headline of the article mentions that Israel will begin “contentious West Bank land registration.”
The Israeli government’s approval of a land registration process that permits Israel to designate territory in the occupied West Bank as “state property” if Palestinians cannot prove ownership is not “contentious,” as stated in the headline. It is an illegal decision that amounts to de facto annexation under occupation.
In fact, the body of the article itself notes that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’ office described the decision as “a grave escalation and a flagrant violation of international law,” amounting to “de facto annexation.” Yet the headline reduces what is characterized as an illegal breach of international law to a matter of dispute. This is a double standard.
The “contentious” framing is also not neutral, it is framing. It implants in the readers’ minds the idea that Palestinian ownership to land is somehow a debatable or refutable claim, when 1) there isn't and 2) the legal issue concerns annexation under occupation (to use language of ICJ advisory opinion 2024).
If the policy amounts to annexation under international law, it should be reported as such. Anything less misleads readers and falls short of accurate reporting. We urge you to change your headline to mention that Israel will begin illegal West bank land registration in a new step to deepen occupation.
Second, the article omits to mention that Palestinians’ claims of ownership are rarely approved; many families depend on decades-old Ottoman-era documents or were never permitted to formally register their land in the first place. Nor does it mention that Israel systematically denies giving permits to Palestinians in the occupied West Bank to enable home demolitions.
We urge you to amend the headline to accurately reflect that Israel is advancing an “illegal” West Bank land registration policy to deepen the “occupation”, and to include the essential legal and political context outlined above.