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Israel has made the largest seizure of land in the occupied West Bank in 30 years, according to a leading Israeli anti-settlement group.
Data from Peace Now indicates that the almost 13-square-kilometre appropriation in the Jordan Valley is the largest land grab since the 1993 Oslo Accords, a move that could exacerbate already soaring tensions in the continuing war in Gaza.
The land seizure, which was approved late last month but publicised only on Wednesday, comes after the seizure of 8 sq km of land in the West Bank in March and 2.6 sq km in February.
That makes 2024 by far the peak year for Israeli land seizures in the occupied territory, Peace Now said.
Yoni Mizrachi, head of settlement tracking at Peace Now, described it as part of a strategy to establish a buffer zone between Jordan and Palestinian lands and choke off the practical possibility of a Palestinian state. The aim, he believes, is to push Palestinians into isolated islands surrounded by Israeli land.
“They [the Israelis] definitely see this area as a strategic area, as the first and one of the easiest ways to begin annexation,” he said.
Israel’s aggressive expansion reflects the illegal settler community’s strong influence in the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the most religious and nationalist in the country’s history.
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a settler himself, has turbocharged the policy of expansion, seizing new authorities over settlement development and saying he aims to solidify Israel’s hold on the territory and prevent the creation of a Palestinian state.
The Palestinians view the expansion of settlements in the occupied West Bank as the main barrier to any lasting peace agreement, preventing any possibility of a cohesive state.
Most of the international community considers settlements illegal.
Israel captured the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem in the 1967 war, territories the Palestinians want for a future state.
Israel has built in excess of 100 settlements across the West Bank. They are home to more than 500,000 Jewish settlers who have Israeli citizenship. The 3 million Palestinians in the West Bank live under seemingly open-ended Israeli military rule.
The Palestinian Authority administers parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank but is barred from operating in 60 per cent of the territory, where the illegal settlements are located.
The news of the expansion comes as tension continue to soar in the West Bank, where violent Israeli raids take place on a near daily basis, sparking deadly gun battles with Palestinian militants.
Settlers have carried out more than 1,000 attacks on Palestinians since October in the West Bank, causing deaths and damaging property, according to the UN.
Palestinians have also carried out a string of attacks on Israelis in recent months.
Twenty-one Israelis have been killed in Palestinian attacks in Israel and the occupied territory since October 7, The Times of Israel has reported.
More than 500 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank in the same period.
Agencies have contributed to this report.
