A Knesset committee approved on Tuesday a draft law that would lift long-standing restrictions on Israeli "ownership of property" in the occupied West Bank, deepening "Israel’s" drive to push Palestinians out of their homeland across Palestinian territory.

Bill clears key procedural hurdle

The bill, submitted by Likud MK Yuli Edelstein, Otzma Yehudit MK Limor Son Har-Melech, and Religious Zionism MK Moshe Solon, passed the committee stage with four MKs voting in favor and none opposing, according to the Knesset press office. The statement did not clarify how many committee members were present for the vote.

Under Knesset rules, bills pass at the committee level by a majority of members in attendance, regardless of quorum. The press office also gave no indication as to when the proposal will be brought to the Knesset plenum for its first reading. Israeli law requires three readings for any draft bill to be enacted.

Proposal repeals Jordanian property law

The Knesset said the measure cancels the Jordanian law regarding leasing and selling property to foreigners, which is currently in force in the occupied West Bank, and allows any person to purchase real estate.

The Jordanian regulation, enacted in 1953, restricted property sales to non-Arabs in the territory.

Neither the Palestinian Authority, which should have the authority to pass legislation on civilian affairs in the occupied territory, nor the Jordanian government issued an immediate response to the development.

Read more: Al-Quds governorate warns of expansion of settlements, judaicization

A step toward formal 'annexation'

The West Bank has been under Israeli military occupation since June 1967. Previously, Jordanian authorities had unified the East and West Banks in 1950 before administering the area until its disengagement decision in 1988.

The 1948 occupation was accompanied by the ethnic cleansing of the local Palestinian population carried out by Israeli armed groups, resulting in the forced displacement of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from their homes, a historical context that Palestinian officials and legal experts say underpins ongoing efforts to further seize land across the West Bank.

Since launching its war on Gaza two years ago, "Israel" has intensified settlement expansion and displacement operations across the West Bank, in what legal and rights experts describe as a strategy of de facto "annexation".

Peace Now estimates that roughly 500,000 Israeli settlers live illegally in the occupied West Bank today.

Legal experts point to ICJ ruling

In July, the International Court of Justice issued a landmark advisory opinion declaring "Israel’s" decades-long occupation of Palestinian territory illegal, urging the evacuation of all settlements in the West Bank and the eastern part of al-Quds and affirming that the international community should not recognize or assist in maintaining the occupation.

The newly advanced bill directly contradicts the ICJ’s findings and stands to further obstruct any possibility of implementing UN resolutions on the Question of Palestine.

Read more: 'Israel's' approval of West Bank land grab bills sparks fury, rebuke