Israel approves biggest land-grab in West Bank in 3 decades; activists denounce the move

As the ongoing Israel-Hamas war rages on, reports are emerging that the Jewish nation has approved its largest land seizure in the occupied West Bank. A settlement tracking group operating in the region called it the biggest land grab in three decades.

The decision was denounced by several activist groups who claimed that the move would further increase tensions brought on by the war in Gaza and would deteriorate the prospects of a Palestinian state.

In June this year, an official declaration obtained by several Israeli news outlets stated that around 12.7 square kilometres of land in the Jordan Valley had been formally designated as “state property”. This means that the Israeli authorities have formally recognised the region as their own and no Palestinians will be allowed to own land privately in the area.

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“The size of the area designated for declaration is the largest since the (1993) Oslo Accords, and the year 2024 marks a peak in the extent of declarations of state land,” said Peace Now, a group based in Tel Aviv, Israel, that tracks the growth of Israeli settlements.

The bigger picture

The tracking group stated that the newly annexed land would connect settlements in an area along the Jordan border. Shortly after the news circulated around the world, the United Nations spokesperson Stephane Dujarric called it “a step in the wrong direction,” adding that “the direction we want to be heading is to find a negotiated two-state solution.”

It is pertinent to note that the state of Israel gained control over the West Bank, east Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip during the 1967 Middle East war. Since then, the Jewish nation has built settlements throughout the West Bank.

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While several countries have condemned Israel for it, calling it a “new-age colonisation,” more than 490,000 Israelis now call these regions their homes. It is important to note that these settlements are still considered as “illegal under international law”.

Since the beginning of the year, the Israeli government has maintained that it has taken over 23.7 square kilometres of land in the West Bank. Interestingly, the newly taken land is also located in a place where settler violence was displacing communities of Palestinians even before the Israel-Hamas war.

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who is also a settler, is touted as one of the key players in Israel’s expansionist endeavour. “We came to settle the land, to build it, and to prevent its division and the establishment of a Palestinian state, God forbid,” he said during a conference for his ultranationalist Religious Zionism Party last month.

In a recent statement, Peace Now said that there could be no solution to this matter without the establishment of the state of Palestine. “Today, it is clear to everyone that this conflict cannot be resolved without a political settlement that establishes a Palestinian state alongside Israel,” Peace Now said in a statement.

“Still, the Israeli government chooses to actually make it difficult and distance us from the possibility of peace and stopping the bloodshed,” he added.

With inputs from agencies.