WORLD NEWS: ISRAEL ANNOUNCES LARGE WEST BANK LAND SEIZURE

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In the occupied West Bank, 800 hectares (1,977 acres) of land were seized by Israel on Friday, marking what activists dubbed the greatest land grab in decades.

The territory in the northern Jordan Valley was designated “state lands” by Israel’s Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Israel for negotiations on the Gaza conflict.

According to Israeli settlement watchdog Peace Now, “2024 marks a peak in the extent of declarations of state land.” The size of the seized area is the largest since the Oslo Accords of 1993.

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During the 1967 Arab-Israeli War, Israel won control of the West Bank, east Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip.

“While there are those in Israel and the world who seek to undermine our right over the Judea and Samaria area and the country in general, we are promoting settlement through hard work and in a strategic manner all over the country,” Smotrich said, using Israel’s term for the West Bank.

International law prohibits settlements in the Palestinian areas.

Smotrich resides in a settlement and is the leader of the far-right Religious Zionism party.

Israel has constructed dozens of settlements throughout the West Bank in recent decades, in defiance of international criticism.

More than 490,000 Israelis currently reside there, coexisting with about three million Palestinians.

Since Israel’s battle against Hamas in Gaza started months ago, the building of illegal settlements has accelerated dramatically, according to the UN human rights chief, endangering the possibility of a Palestinian state.

Expanding settlements are “counterproductive to reaching enduring peace” with the Palestinians, according to Blinken.