Israeli authorities have declared a 1,270-hectare area of land in the West Bank as “state land,” the largest amount of Palestinian territory in the last 30 years to be recognized as Israeli state land at one time, Israeli human rights organization Shalom Ahshav reported on Wednesday. ” (Peace Now), which tracks Israeli settlement activity in the West Bank.
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“The Israeli Public Property Authority on June 25, 2024 declared 1,270 hectares of state land in the Jordan Valley… The area of territory intended to be declared as state land is the largest since the Oslo (1990-1990) e years), and 2024 marks a peak in the scale of land declarations as state lands. Since the beginning of 2024, Israel has declared 2,370 hectares in the West Bank as state lands,” the human rights activists said in a statement.
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The human rights organization noted that the Israeli practice of declaring land as state land “is one of the main methods by which the State of Israel seeks to assert control over areas in the occupied territories.” Human rights activists emphasized that this decision was made by the Israeli authorities on June 25, but was officially published only on July 3.
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“Land declared as state land is no longer considered (by Israeli authorities) to be the private property of Palestinians. They are deprived of the opportunity to use it. In addition, Israel leases state land exclusively to Israelis,” the statement said.
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The Shalom Ahshav organization explained that a significant part of this 1,270-hectare area, which was declared state land, “was previously designated as a nature reserve and fire zone for military use,” and the declaration of “this area as state land” completes the process of “Israeli seizure” of this land.
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Israeli settlement activity in the West Bank is one of the main problems in Israel’s relations with the international community and the Palestinian Authority. In addition, these steps serve as one of the obstacles in the search for peace with the Palestinians, who perceive such expansion as a policy of consolidating the Jewish state in conquered territories.
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The Palestinians, as part of the now-stalled peace process with Israel, are demanding that future borders between the two sovereign states follow lines that existed before the 1967 Six-Day War, with a possible swap of territory. They hope to create their own state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and they want to make East Jerusalem its capital. Israel refuses to return to the 1967 borders, much less share Jerusalem with the Palestinians, which it has already declared as its eternal and indivisible capital.
