Watchdog says Israel approved largest land seizure in West Bank in decades

An anti-settlement watchdog said Wednesday that Israel has approved the largest seizure of land in the occupied West Bank in over three decades. Peace Now said authorities recently approved the appropriation of 12.7 square kilometers (nearly 5 square miles) of land in the Jordan Valley. The group’s data indicate it was the largest single appropriation approved since 1993. Peace Now said 2024 is by far the peak year for Israeli land seizure in the West Bank. The group’s data indicate it was the largest single appropriation approved since the 1993 Oslo accords at the start of the peace process.

Here’s the latest:

Quick Read

• Watchdog says Israel approved largest land seizure in West Bank in decades
• Peace Now, an anti-settlement watchdog, reported that Israel has approved the largest land appropriation in the occupied West Bank in over three decades.
• The recent approval covers 12.7 square kilometers (nearly 5 square miles) of land in the Jordan Valley, the largest since 1993.
• This year has seen the peak in Israeli land seizures in the West Bank, with significant appropriations also occurring in March and February.
• The move is likely to escalate tensions amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict in Gaza.
• Palestinians and much of the international community view the expansion of settlements as a major obstacle to peace and consider them illegal or illegitimate.
• Israel’s government sees the West Bank as the historical and religious heartland of the Jewish people and opposes Palestinian statehood.

The Associated Press has the story:

Watchdog says Israel approved largest land seizure in West Bank in decades

Newslooks- (AP)

An anti-settlement watchdog said Wednesday that Israel has approved the largest seizure of land in the occupied West Bank in over three decades. Peace Now said authorities recently approved the appropriation of 12.7 square kilometers (nearly 5 square miles) of land in the Jordan Valley. The group’s data indicate it was the largest single appropriation approved since 1993. Peace Now said 2024 is by far the peak year for Israeli land seizure in the West Bank.

The land appropriation was likely to worsen already soaring tensions linked to the ongoing Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. Violence has surged in the West Bank since the start of the war, with Israel carrying out near-daily military raids that often spark deadly gunbattles with Palestinian militants.

On Tuesday, the United Nations said Palestinians were streaming out of eastern Khan Younis, the second-largest city in Gaza, as an Israeli evacuation order affected roughly 250,000 people. Israel’s military estimated that around 1.9 million people — more than 80% of all Palestinians in the Gaza Strip — are now clustered into the territory’s central region.

Evacuees have been told by Israel to seek refuge in an overcrowded coastal area filled with sprawling tent camps where there are few basic services. The war has largely cut off the flow of food, medicine and goods to Gaza, and people are totally dependent on humanitarian aid. The top U.N. court has concluded there is a “plausible risk of genocide” in Gaza — a charge Israel strongly denies.

Israel launched the war in Gaza after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, in which militants stormed into southern Israel, killed some 1,200 people — mostly civilians — and abducted about 250.

Since then, Israeli ground offensives and bombardments have killed more than 37,900 people in Gaza, according to the territory’s Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between combatants and civilians in its count.

The Israeli group Peace Now said Wednesday that authorities recently approved the appropriation of 12.7 square kilometers (nearly 5 square miles) of land in the Jordan Valley. The group’s data indicate it was the largest single appropriation approved since the 1993 Oslo accords at the start of the peace process.

The land seizure, which was approved late last month but only publicized on Wednesday, comes after the seizure of 8 square kilometers (roughly 3 square miles) of land in the West Bank in March and 2.6 square kilometers (1 square mile) in February.

That makes 2024 by far the peak year for Israeli land seizure in the West Bank, Peace Now said.

The Palestinians view the expansion of settlements in the occupied West Bank as the main barrier to any lasting peace agreement and most of the international community considers them illegal or illegitimate. Israel’s government considers the West Bank to be the historical and religious heartland of the Jewish people and is opposed to Palestinian statehood.

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— Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Gaza at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war.

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