Israel’s largest land seizure since Oslo Accords in the 1990's deals fresh blow to Palestinian statehood.

Israel has declared 800 hectares of land in the West Bank for settlement construction. The area covers large swaths of the Jordan Valley, a vital region for a future Palestinian state.

When far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich announced Israel would seize 800 hectares of land in the West Bank last Friday, it did not come as a surprise to Hamza Zbiedat. 

Though he is based in Ramallah, Zbiedat's family live in a small village close to the border between the West Bank and Jordan called Zubaydat, just north of the vast area now declared Israeli state land.

“Israel has fully controlled the Jordan Valley for the last 15 years at least,” says the advocacy officer for the Ma’an Development Center, a Palestinian civil society organisation.

“The only thing left for Israel to do was to announce it.”

The Jordan Valley is a fertile strip of land that runs along the West Bank, east of the central highlands.

Sparsely populated, it has many open and undeveloped areas – making it a precious reserve for the future development of the West Bank.

According to the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem, almost 90% of the Jordan Valley region is designated Area C, meaning it remained under full Israeli control after the 1995 Oslo II Accord.

The move to declare part of that territory as Israeli state land signals the government's intent to press ahead with settlement construction, despite international condemnation.

“While there are those in Israel and the world who seek to undermine our right over the Judea and Samaria area and the country in general,” Smotrich declared last week, referring to the West Bank region by its biblical name, “we promote settlement through hard work and in a strategic manner all over the country”.

The newly seized area covers 8,000 dunams (800 hectares) between three Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank – Masu’a, Ma'ale Efrayim and Yafit. 

A few weeks earlier, on February 29, Israel appropriated (Stole) an additional 300 hectares near the settlement of Ma’ale Adumim, east of Jerusalem. 

Together, these areas represent the largest zone to be designated Israeli state land since the first Oslo Accords in 1993, according to Peace Now, an Israeli organisation documenting settlement activities.

A losing battle:

Now that Israel has declared swaths of the Jordan Valley as its own, Palestinians can no longer use the land.

“We guess it will help to expand Israeli settlements,” says Yonatan Mizrachi, co-director of the settlement-monitoring branch at Peace Now.

Israeli settlements in Palestinian territories have existed since the 1967 Arab-Israeli War, including East Jerusalem, and are illegal under international law.

“In any case, it is important for people to know we are also living a siege here,” says Zbiedat, referring to the ongoing war in Gaza. “And it’s all for the benefit of settlers.”

Above | Israel's Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has declared the atachment of 800 hectares (1,977 acres) of land in the occupied West Bank as Israel’s property to be used to expand settlements.

Original Story By | Lara Bullens