“Israel” Seizes about 2000 Acres of Palestinian Land in West Bank

By Staff, Agencies

The “Israeli” entity has announced the seizure of hundreds of acres of more Palestinian land in the occupied West Bank to expand settlements.

It is viewed as one of the entity’s biggest land-grab schemes.

“Israel’s” Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich announced on Friday to grab 800 hectares [1,977 acres] of more land in the occupied West Bank after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited “Israel” for talks with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The minister emphasized the entity’s determination to press ahead with settlement building in the occupied West Bank, despite growing international outcry.

Smotrich said that “we promote settlement through hard work and in a strategic manner all over ‘Israel’.”

The “Israeli” entity has before also denominated land of 300 hectares [740 acres] in the Jordan Valley as state land in the Maale Adumim area of the West Bank.

Earlier this month, UN Human Rights Chief Volker Turk said, “The establishment and continuing expansion of settlements amount to … a war crime under international law.”

More than 600,000 “Israelis” live in over 230 settlements built since the 1967 “Israeli” occupation of the West Bank and East al-Quds.

The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs called the latest move a “crime” that is part of an “official policy racing against time to annex the West Bank and eliminate the possibility of creating a Palestinian state.”

“There are no morals, values, principles or international resolutions that can stop the extremist right,” the ministry said, noting that “The international failure to protect our people is complicity and cover for ‘Israel’s’ ongoing evasion of punishment.”

The United Nation’s human rights top brass, Volker Turk said the “Israeli” entity is expanding its illegal settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories by unprecedented amounts, posing a significant threat to the viability of a future Palestinian state.

The Palestinian Authority has called on all countries to put individuals tied to settler organizations or companies investing in settlement construction across the occupied Palestinian territories on their terror lists.