Above photo: AFP.
The theft of Palestinian land and illegal expansion of Jewish settlements seek to impair the creation of a Palestinian state.
Israeli authorities last month approved the largest seizure of land in the occupied West Bank in over three decades, anti-settlement watchdog Peace Now revealed on 3 July.
The activists said the approval allows for the appropriation of 12.7 square kilometers of land in the Jordan Valley, northeast of the West Bank city of Ramallah. By illegally authorizing their seizure, Tel Aviv is allowing the land to be leased to Israelis and banning private Palestinian ownership.
According to Peace Now, this marks the largest single appropriation approved since the 1993 Oslo Accords. The move comes after the seizure of 8 square kilometers of land in the West Bank in March and 2.6 square kilometers in February.
“2024 marks the peak in the extent of declarations of state land,” Peace Now said in a statement.
Al Jazeera’s West Bank correspondent Nida Ibrahim reported late on Thursday that Israeli authorities announced plans to confiscate “1,300 hectares” in Aqraba village in the north of the occupied West Bank.
“These lands are owned by Palestinians, and they’re located in Area C. When you look at the Palestinians who cannot build, you also look at the Israelis, who are not just allowed to build in Area C, but allowed to expand at the expense of the indigenous people living there,” Ibrahim said.
She added that Israeli authorities are holding meetings across the next two days to “regulate and allow the building and push for more units to be built in illegal Israeli settlements in … the occupied West Bank.”
Israel’s illegal land grabs are a direct threat to the formation of an independent Palestinian state. Although Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem are illegal under international law, more than 700,000 Jewish settlers occupy over 200 settlements and outposts across the territory.
Ultranationalist Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has overseen a surge in Palestinian land seizures and settlement expansions since coming to power as part of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government coalition.
Last month, Smotrich told his supporters that Tel Aviv was advancing a plan to annex the West Bank “without the government being accused of annexing it.”
In a recording obtained by Peace Now, Smotrich stated that the land seizures in 2024 “are roughly 10 times the average in previous years”. He estimated that “by the end of the year, between 10,000 and 15,000 additional dunams [1,000 to 1,500 hectares] will be declared [as state lands]”.