Israel carries out “largest seizure” of West Bank land in 30 years

The Palestinian Wall and Settlement Resistance Authority announced on Friday, March 22, 2024, that Israel had carried out during 2024 the “largest” operation to seize land in the West Bank in 30 years under the pretext that it is “state land.”

The head of the authority (governmental), Mu’ayyad Shaban, said in a statement: “The year 2024 witnessed the largest Israeli land seizure operation (in the West Bank) under the pretext of state lands, the largest in three decades.”

The areas seized by the occupation

The statement explained that the first announcement was about a month ago, where “the occupation seized 2,640 dunams of land in the towns of Al-Eizariya and Abu Dis,” east of the occupied city of Jerusalem.

As for the second announcement, according to the Palestinian official, it was today, where “the occupation seized 8,000 dunams of land in the Jordan Valley (north of the West Bank) for the expansion of the Yafit settlement, built on Palestinian land.”

Earlier on Friday, the Israeli Broadcasting Authority reported on the “allocation of 8,000 dunams in the Jordan Valley as Israeli land for the construction of hundreds of housing units, in addition to an area designated for industry, trade, and employment.”

The Authority quoted Finance Minister Tzachi Hanegbi, who signed the confiscation order, as saying that “this announcement will allow the continued construction and strengthening of the Jordan Valley, at a time when there are those in Israel and the world seeking to undermine our right in Judea and Samaria (the West Bank) and the country in general.”

Occupation plans

He added that “the recent overall operations of announcing state lands aim to create a connection between existing settlements, leading to the isolation, suffocation, and complete severance of communication of Palestinian villages (in the West Bank).”

In a related context, Shaban pointed out that this targeting “is a continuation of the plan to control the Jordan Valley, the strategic food reservoir for Palestinians, which is targeted by many plans for forced displacement, colonial expansion, and preventing access.”

Additionally, Shaban noted that “more than 72% of the agricultural and pastoral colonial outposts have become bases for settler gangs who call themselves (Hill Youth) to carry out many terrorist attacks against Palestinians.”

“State lands”

Recently, Palestinian and Israeli human rights organizations have pointed to a noticeable escalation in settlement activity in the West Bank since the formation of Benjamin Netanyahu’s government at the end of 2022.

According to Palestinian estimates, more than 720,000 Israelis live in illegal settlements in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.

The international community agrees that settlements are “illegal” and pose an obstacle to the implementation of the “two-state solution,” which calls for the establishment of a Palestinian state alongside the state of Israel.

Meanwhile, the Israeli army has been waging a devastating war on Gaza since October 7, 2023, which has left tens of thousands of civilian casualties, a humanitarian catastrophe, and massive infrastructure destruction, leading Israel to stand trial before the International Court of Justice on charges of committing “genocide.”