RAMALLAH: An Israeli rights group has denounced a government decision to launch extensive land registration for parts of the occupied West Bank, saying it could help advance annexation of the Palestinian territory.

鈥淚t is a tool for annexation,鈥� said Yonatan Mizrachi of the Settlement Watch project at Israeli nongovernmental organization Peace Now.

The West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967, has no comprehensive land registry, with some areas unregistered or residents holding deeds from before the Israeli occupation.

The Israeli security Cabinet on Sunday decided to initiate a land registration process in the West Bank鈥檚 Area C, which covers more than 60 percent of the territory and is under full Israeli control.

Though the process would likely take 鈥測ears鈥� according to Mizrachi, he said that Palestinians in Area C could lose land if Israeli authorities do not accept their claim to it.

This might lead to 鈥渁 massive land theft,鈥� Peace Now said, adding that the process could result 鈥渋n the transfer of ownership of the vast majority of Area C to the (Israeli) state.鈥�

鈥淭he Palestinians will have no practical way to realize their ownership rights,鈥� the anti-settlement group said.

Some Israeli ministers have advocated the annexation of the West Bank, home to around 3 million Palestinians as well as some 500,000 Israelis living in settlements that are illegal under international law.

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a far-right politician who lives in a settlement, has said that 2025 would be the year Israel extends its sovereignty over parts of the West Bank.

To Mizrachi, the government鈥檚 decision was primarily 鈥渁bout ... the places where they want to expand settlements,鈥� including in areas considered state land.

He mentioned remarks by Defense Minister Israel Katz, who praised the move in the official statement announcing it.

Katz said that launching land registration 鈥渋s a revolutionary decision that brings justice to Jewish settlement in Judea and Samaria,鈥� the biblical name that the Israeli government uses to refer to the West Bank.

The process will lead to the 鈥渟trengthening, establishment and expansion鈥� of settlements, Katz was quoted as saying.

He also said it would block 鈥渁ttempts to seize land鈥� by the Palestinian Authority, which exercises limited self-rule in parts of the West Bank but not Area C.

Mohammed Abu Al-Rob, director of the Palestinian Authority鈥檚 communication center, said that the decision was 鈥渁 dangerous escalation of Israel鈥檚 illegal policies aimed at entrenching its occupation and advancing de facto annexation.鈥�

Area C is 鈥渁n inseparable part鈥� of the rest of the Palestinian territories, he said.

Abu Al-Rob called on the international community to 鈥渞eject this unlawful decision and to take immediate, concrete action to thwart its implementation.鈥�