The Israeli government has confiscated a swath of territory in the occupied West Bank to make way for a new settlement block, designating nearly 2,000 acres as “state land.” The decision comes weeks after Tel Aviv greenlit the construction of thousands of additional settlement units beyond the green line.
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich announced the “important and strategic” move on Friday, saying that some 1,980 acres of land in the northern Jordan Valley had been approved for future development.
“While there are those in Israel and the world who seek to undermine our right to Judea and Samaria and the country in general, we promote the settlement movement with hard work and in a strategic manner across the country,” he said, using a biblical term for the West Bank favored by Israeli settlers.
The designation will allow for the construction of more than 100 settlement units in the Jordan Valley, as well as a commercial and industrial zone, according to Israeli broadcaster Kan.
Under Israeli law, labeling territory “state land” creates a pretext for the further expansion of settlement communities in the West Bank – long considered a “flagrant violation” of international law by the United Nations and other rights groups.
According to Israeli settlement watchdog Peace Now, the land-grab marks Israel’s largest seizure in the West Bank since the signing of the ill-fated Oslo Accords in 1993.
“The declaration of state land is one of the main methods by which the State of Israel seeks to assert control over land in the occupied territories,” the group said in a statement. “Land declared as state land is no longer considered privately owned by Palestinians in the eyes of Israel, and they are prevented from using it. Additionally, the state leases state land exclusively to Israelis.”
This year has already reached a “peak in the extent of declarations of state land,” Peace Now added, with Tel Aviv confiscating some 2,629 acres in the first quarter of 2024 alone.
The decision also comes weeks after Israeli officials authorized the construction of more than 3,400 new settlement units elsewhere in the occupied West Bank, including 2,402 homes in the Ma’ale Adumim community, 694 in Efrat and another 330 in Keidar. That announcement was condemned by humanitarian orgs, with UN Human Rights Chief Volker Turk saying the project would “fly in the face of international law.”
Tel Aviv has occupied the West Bank since the Six Day War of 1967, with more than 450,000 settlers currently living in the territory in around 150 separate communities. Smaller settler “outposts” have also sprung up across the West Bank, including at least 15 new encampments since last October, according to Al Jazeera.
Will Porter is assistant news editor at the Libertarian Institute and a regular contributor at Antiwar.com. Find more of his work at Consortium News and ZeroHedge.
State Land = Stolen Land
Ever and always.
Wonder if Genocide Joe will sanction a settler or 2?
That depends on the number of votes he could win or lose.
And they did this while Sec of State Blinken arrived to lecture them.
Blinken is a Fraud, he is not a peace negotiator, he is a Zionist, his allegiance is to Netanyahu and he will keep LYING for the Zionist Regime.
Who is in charge anyway?
Does Israel Have the Right to Exist?
That is the wrong question. The correct question is: “Does Israel have the right to exist wherever it wants to exist?”
Jarred Kushner, the MESSANGER of Israel and the elite of the Western powers, said it, they want to rob the people blind, it is all about wealth. Who else benefits from wars other than the robber barons at the top?
It is not about rights, it is about money, wealth, natural minerals, it is all about the GREED of the nations money elite. Jarred said it loud and clear beach front property values, he did not even mention the wealth of oil down there.
You must have an extraordinarily high pain threshold to be able to actually listen to Jared Kushner screeching your ears to a bloody pulp. An insufferable spoiled brat, pampered anti-intellectualism incarnate. There is no trace of anything resembling a moral intuition, no sense of shame, nothing of human value to be found in this flesh made sculpture of purest decadence. A walking, breathing irrefutable proof that God indeed sometimes does make mistakes.
And yes, this is an ad hominin if ever one deserves one.
Way too many mistakes for there to be a god.
There was no need for me to listen to all Kushner said, he is a known quantity and I totally agree with all you said about him, except, I don’t think God made the mistake, Satan created him and his family and the friends he keeps, I think. He is a dehumanized human animal, real animals are better than that.
That less than .2 of a percent of the West Bank.
Sure. Why not. Let’s go with it being less than .2 per cent of someone else’s land. Now why should anyone bitch about stealing that little bit of SOMEONE ELSES land?
That land used to be part of Jordan until 1967. Jordan does not want it back, so Israel is just putting it to good use.
I see. Brilliant logic. And yes, that is as sarcastic as sarcasm can be.
The fact is that that land is not being used. Just because the Palestinians want it for a future state that may or may not exists someday, does not mean that Israel stole it from them. It means that Jordan used to own the land and before that the Ottoman Empire. And now it is part of Israel.
The Israeli government has confiscated a swath of territory in the occupied West Bank
Which part of that don’t you understand?
“The fact is that that land is not being used.”.
And that must mean a good chunk of the US is fair game since “it isn’t being used”.
“Just because the Palestinians want it for a future state that may or may not exists someday”
They want it for a state that has existed since 1988, that’s recognized by 135 other states, and that’s a UN observer state, an ICC and Interpol member state, etc.
Wishing there was no state of Palestine will not magically cause there to be no state of Palestine.
stupid and wrong.
You are naïve or a paid for troll.
He actually said something that made sense.
You are right, stupid and wrong goes well together.
(Honestly, I don’t know what he referred to)
well let’s see = he could have meant that it was “stupid and wrong” of Israel to steal more Palestine land. but since it was jake, i think we should assume that he was referring to the article as being stupid and wrong.
I think you are right.
You could be right. I was actually kind of shocked by his comment.
If anyone thinks Israel is going to stop with just decimating the Palestinians, you are living in a cave. After the World just sits and does nothing to stop the Demonic Regime in Israel, they will go on to bombing Syria and Lebanon, maybe even Saudi Arabia. Trusting the Devil get’s you one thing, screwed. The Arab/Muslim/African Nations need to decide, do they become SLAVES to the Zionist Nazis, or do they STOP this Demonic Regime now. Forget about the USA, EU, resolving this theft of land, resolving Genocide, they talk, stall and continue to help the Demons in Israel murder, rape, torture, starve, mutilate Palestinians. There is NO gray area, ALL humans are equal, or we allow a so called “privileged class” to destroy Humanity. The solution is simple, the Arab/Muslim/African Nations need to just STOP talking, doing business, with Zionist, blocking them from entering their countries, blocking trade with the Zionist, until they decide to STOP the STEAL.
We need to talk clear text to deal with it. Jarred took the mask down, this is not about 1200 Israelis killed Oct. 7.
It is all about beach front property and oil, always has been. Jarred talked about beach front property, Donald Trump said they are in Syria to steal oil. Now the demented bank robber Biden wants to empty the bank accounts, starting in Afghanistan.
We need to get out of the BS grove that the US fights for other people’s freedom and democracy, it is not and never was true.
Oct. 7, Israelis claim Hamas killed 1 200 Israelis, we now know many were killed by the IDF soldiers. How many Palestinians, Hamas were killed? I do not recall even a mention of Palestinian casualties.
The Israelis and American Zionists don’t give a damn about Israeli and Palestinian life, they want the beach property and oil and the water on the WB.
That is what wars are about, national wealth, that is what capitalism is about robbing and privatizing national wealth like oil which Russia, the ME and Venezuela have, turn it into private wealth of the elite.
That is why the American settlers killed the American Indians, why the US maintains colonial control in Latin America, that is why the Russians want to protect their borders against the criminals from acroos the oceans.
Reminder :
texts
The Zionist Plan For The Middle East By Oded Yinon Israël Shahak [ Yinon, Oded Shahak, Israël]
The plan operates on two essential premises. To survive, Israel must 1) become an imperial regional power, and 2) must effect the division of the whole area into small states by the dissolution of all existing Arab states. Small here will depend on the ethnic or sectarian composition of each state.
Consequently, the Zionist hope is that sectarian-based states become Israel’s satellites and, ironically, its source of moral legitimation.
https://archive.org/details/the-zionist-plan-for-the-middle-east-by-oded-yinon-israel-shahak-yinon-oded-shah/page/n2/mode/1up
The founder of Political Zionism, Theodor Herzl:
“The world will be liberated by our freedom, enriched by our wealth, magnified by our greatness. And whatever we attempt there [Israel] for our own benefit will redound mightily and beneficially to the good of all mankind.”
Really a pleasure to note, PEOPLE STILL READ BOOKS.
Doesn’t matter. Once Hezbollah attacks, they will control all of Galilee -followed by driving out the Zionists from all of Israel. Israel is done – stick a fork in it.
“Cyprus belongs to Israel and was called The Island of Dan. The borders of Israel stretch from the Nile River to the Euphrates. Eastern Egypt, Sinai, Jordan, part of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, part of Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and part of Turkey are within the Biblical Borders of Israel; They are “Occupied Territory”
— Rabbi M.M. Schneerson of Lubavitch (Chabad)
“The borders lie between the Nile and the Euphrates. Whatever the people of Israel can establish within those borders will be the fulfillment of the Promised Borders. They were given to us as an option within those borders. “Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, to you I have given it.””
— Rabbi Yoel Bin Nin, Leader of early settlers
Taking what does not belong to you, is called stealing and thievery.
There is always a price to pay. And indeed, you will pay it.
And who does the land belong too?
The people who were already living there, maybe? That perhaps didn’t want to be ruled by the Israelis?