One of the Israeli settlements in the Jordan Valley (Associated Press)
Today, Friday, Israel announced the confiscation of 8,000 dunams in the Jordan Valley in the occupied West Bank, to establish hundreds of settlement units, while the Palestinian presidency denounced this decision, which coincides with the visit of US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken to Israel.
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said that an additional 8,000 dunams of land were confiscated in the Jordan Valley, in a step he described as “large and important for settlement,” in the area located on the eastern slopes of the West Bank.
The Israeli Broadcasting Corporation reported that the confiscated lands will be used to build hundreds of housing units, in addition to an area designated for industry, trade and employment.
She explained that planning residential units in the area currently declared Israeli territory may take about a year, and this will require approval from the political level.
Activists confirmed that this confiscation is the largest in decades, and Palestinian and Israeli human rights organizations have indicated a noticeable increase in settlement activity in the West Bank since the formation of Benjamin Netanyahu’s government at the end of 2022.
According to estimates, more than 720,000 Israelis reside in illegal settlements in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.
Fight the world
Commenting on this decision, the Israeli anti-settlement movement Peace Now said that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Finance Minister insist on fighting the entire world and working against the interest of the citizens of Israel in favor of a handful of settlers who receive the gift of thousands of dunams, as if there is no conflict that must be resolved and no war that must be ended.
The movement added in a statement that Smotrich's announcement of the confiscation of 8,000 dunums of Palestinian land in the Jordan Valley for settlement is a blatant challenge to the US Secretary of State, who is visiting Tel Aviv, as well as to US President Joe Biden. She pointed out that this area is the largest that the Israeli authorities have declared confiscating since the conclusion of the Oslo Accords in 1993.
For its part, the Palestinian presidency denounced the Israeli government's decision, and said that its timing with the arrival of the US Secretary of State to the region constitutes a challenge to the US administration and the international community, which announces its condemnation of settlements day and night.
Palestinian presidential spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeina said that the Israeli government’s extremist decisions will not succeed in imposing a fait accompli on the ground, and that all settlements are illegal, and there will be no security or stability without the establishment of a Palestinian state free of settlements and settlers.
The international community agrees that the settlements are illegal and constitute an obstacle to the implementation of the two-state solution, which stipulates the establishment of a Palestinian state alongside Israel.
Source: Agencies