JERUSALEM – In a controversial move, Israel has approved its most extensive land seizure in the occupied West Bank in over 30 years, drawing significant criticism from activists who argue that it undermines Palestinian peace prospects.
The recently seized 12.7 square kilometers of land in the Jordan Valley was officially declared “state property” in June, as revealed by the Peace Now group. This declaration marks the largest land appropriation since the 1993 Oslo Accords, with 2024 seeing a peak in such declarations, according to Peace Now.
“The size of the area designated for declaration is the largest since the Oslo Accords, and the year 2024 marks a peak in the extent of declarations of state land,” Peace Now stated.
Since the beginning of the year, the Israeli government has seized a total of 23.7 square kilometers in the West Bank, the group reported. When land is declared “state property,” Palestinians lose their private ownership rights and are prohibited from using it, Peace Now explained.
Israel took control of the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip during the 1967 Arab-Israeli war. Since then, it has built numerous settlements across the West Bank, now home to over 490,000 Israelis, which are considered illegal under international law.
Approximately three million Palestinians live in the West Bank. In the 1980s, Israel seized hundreds of square kilometers of land, but such seizures halted in 1992. The practice resumed under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s first government in 1996.
Israel’s hard-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich announced an earlier land seizure in March, criticizing those “in Israel and the world who seek to undermine our right over” the West Bank. Peace Now condemned Netanyahu and Smotrich, accusing them of prioritizing “a handful of settlers” over resolving the political conflict and ending the ongoing war.
Israeli Strikes Continue in Gaza
In other developments, Israeli forces conducted new military strikes in the southern city of Rafah amid ongoing clashes with Palestinian militants overnight. Health officials reported that at least 12 people were killed in fresh strikes in central and northern Gaza.
Israeli leaders have indicated that they are nearing the end of a phase of intense fighting and will soon transition to more targeted operations in the nearly nine-month-long conflict. However, fighting persisted overnight in two locations at the center of Rafah, where tanks have seized several districts and pushed further west and north in recent days, raising concerns about the plight of hundreds of thousands of displaced people.
In the Maghazi refugee camp in central Gaza, two Israeli airstrikes killed five Palestinians, according to health officials. In Shejaia, an airstrike resulted in four deaths and 17 injuries, medics reported. Another airstrike hit a car in the southern city of Deir Al-Balah, killing three people, officials said.
The ongoing conflict and land seizures have exacerbated tensions and raised fears about the future of peace efforts in the region.