To build settlements
Israel seizes 800 hectares in the West Bank
March 22, 2024, 4:34 p.m
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The Israeli settlements in the West Bank, which are illegal under international law, continue to grow. Now the government is declaring another 800 hectares near the border with Jordan as state land – for the construction of hundreds of new settler homes.
According to Israeli media reports, Israel’s civil administration has declared 800 hectares in the West Bank to be Israeli state land. Among other things, hundreds of settler apartments are to be built in the area, reported the Israeli broadcaster Kan. Israeli settlements in the West Bank are illegal under international law. According to media, the area is said to be near an existing Israeli settlement in the northeast of the West Bank, close to the Jordanian border.
The Israeli human rights organization Peace Now spoke of the largest land seizure since the Oslo Peace Treaty, which Israelis and Palestinians signed in 1993. “The year 2024 marks a peak in the scale of public land declaration,” the organization continued.
Peace Now accused Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich of acting “for the benefit of a handful of settlers” against the entire world and the interests of the people of Israel. Smotrich is responsible for part of the Civil Administration, the Israeli government agency in the West Bank. Smotrich also advocates for annexation of the West Bank.
700,000 settlers live in the West Bank
Peace Now also views the move as a provocation against the US government, according to a statement. This has recently imposed sanctions and entry restrictions against Israeli settlers in the West Bank on several occasions. The US government says it sees new settlements as counterproductive to lasting peace. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is currently visiting Israel and met Netanyahu, among others.
Since the beginning of the Gaza war following the terrorist attack by the terrorist organization Hamas and other extremist groups in southern Israel on October 7, tensions and conflicts in the Israeli-occupied West Bank have also increased. Palestinians complain about increased violence by Israeli settlers against their villages and olive groves.
During the Six-Day War in 1967, Israel conquered, among other things, the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Today, around 700,000 Israeli settlers live there among three million Palestinians. In 2016, the UN Security Council called these settlements a violation of international law and called on Israel to stop all settlement activity. The Palestinians claim the areas as part of their own state.