As violence intensifies in the West Bank in the shadow of the war in Gaza, the Israeli government announced late last week the seizure of 800 hectares of land in the Jordan Valley.
According to the Israeli anti-settlement organization Peace Now, this is the largest land seizure in Palestinian territory since the Oslo peace accords. Israeli colonization is illegal under international law, the UN regularly reminds us, which denounces any Jewish colonization enterprise as one of the main obstacles to the establishment of definitive peace between Israel and the Palestinians.
This plan was announced by far-right minister Bezalel Smotrich. Its objective: to expand the colonies and control the roads that connect them. For Palestinians, any travel from north to south would become almost impossible. They fear that the occupied West Bank will be cut in two.
“It is the continuation of an aggressive policy which persists in occupying the lands and increasing their control. Especially after October 7, there were severe attacks on the lands and on the Palestinians in the West Bank, denounces Safa Odeh, Palestinian urban planner, in the France 24 report.
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