Israel øker tyverihastigheten av land på Vestbredden - Associated Press

 

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Israel turbocharges West Bank settlement expansion with largest land grab in decades

 

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Mourners carry the bodies of four Palestinians, killed by an Israeli airstrike late Tuesday, during their funeral in the West Bank refugee camp of Nur Shams, near Tulkarem, Wednesday, July 3, 2024. Palestinian health officials say four Palestinians were killed by an Israeli airstrike in a refugee camp in the northern West Bank late Tuesday. Israel’s military said an aircraft struck a group of militants who were planting explosives in Nur Shams refugee camp near Tulkarem. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser)

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BY  JULIA FRANKEL

Updated 8:16 PM CEST, July 3, 2024

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JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel has approved the largest seizure of land in the occupied West Bank in over three decades, a settlement tracking group said Wednesday, a move that is likely to worsen already soaring tensions linked to the war in Gaza.

Israel’s aggressive expansion in the West Bank reflects the 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.

Authorities recently approved the appropriation of 12.7 square kilometers (nearly 5 square miles) of land in the Jordan Valley, according to a copy of the order obtained by The Associated Press. Data from Peace Now, the tracking group, indicate it was the largest single appropriation approved since the 1993 Oslo accords at the start of the peace process.

Settlement monitors said the land grab connects Israeli settlements along a key corridor bordering Jordan, a move they said undermines the prospect of a contiguous Palestinian state.