Israel seizes more land this year than since the 1993 Oslo accords

Nearly half of all West Bank land seized by Israel since the 1993 Oslo Accords was taken this year, watchdog group says

An Israeli MP celebrates Purim with the protection of security forces in the West Bank twon of Hebron this March. Picture: Getty Image

Israel has declared control over its single-largest swath of land in the West Bank this year, expanding its ability to build settlements in the Palestinian territory, as it pursues its war in Gaza.

Jewish settlements in the West Bank are considered illegal by much of the international community.

The Israeli authority that oversees control of the West Bank said it had declared an additional 8sq km of the Jordan Valley to be Israeli state land, enabling Israel to allocate it for new settlements and other uses, and in practice, preventing Palestinian access. Israel’s Civil Administration published the order on Wednesday, about a week after it was enacted.

Israel has declared a total of 14.5sq km of West Bank land to be Israeli state land since the start of this year, according to Peace Now, an Israeli watchdog organisation that tracks land seizures in the West Bank. That makes 2024 a record year for land seizures in terms since Oslo established a framework for a Palestinian state consisting of the West Bank and Gaza, Israeli officials say.

“Almost half of the lands that were confiscated (since Oslo) were confiscated this year,” said Hagit Ofran, who tracks settlement growth at Peace Now. “It’s huge.”

Israel’s military has operated extensively to root out Hamas and other militant groups in the West Bank, following the attacks by the terrorist group in southern Israel on October 7.

More than 500 Palestinians have been killed in West Bank violence since war broke out in Gaza, according to Palestinian health authorities, whose numbers do not distinguish between civilians and combatants.

The Palestinian Authority exercises control over Palestinian-ruled areas of the West Bank in line with the 1993 Oslo Accords, which separated the West Bank into civil and security administrative regions.

The head of the authority’s settlement-monitoring commission said the land seizures were designed to dispossess Palestinians. The move was “part of a large plan aimed at controlling the eastern part of the West Bank”. Mu’ayyad Shaa’ban said.

Israeli authorities say only land that isn’t privately held by Palestinians can be declared Israeli state land, but in practice rights groups say many Palestinians have had their lands confiscated.

The latest land seizure is within an area administered by Israel, and is contiguous with Israeli settlements northeast of Ramallah, according to Peace Now.

Already this year, Israel seized about 5sq km in an adjacent plot, Peace Now said.

Palestinians say settlement expansion threatens a future Palestinian state, which they envisage as encompassing East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza, because the settlements prevent the creation of contiguous territory.

Parts of the West Bank are administered by the Ramallah-based PA, a secular rival to Hamas and a candidate in some quarters of the international community to govern post-war Gaza. Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said the PA, widely seen as corrupt and inept, is unfit to rule Gaza in its current state.

Still, Israel’s Defence Ministry has been quietly evaluating options to work with Palestinians linked to the PA to establish alternative options to Hamas in Gaza.

Israel’s pro-settler finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, who is also in charge of West Bank civil affairs in the Defence Ministry, is opposed to the creation of a Palestinian state and acknowledges working to weaken the PA.

A person close to Mr Smotrich said that while government policy can influence which land the office reviews for designation, the final decision by the Civil Administration isn’t taken by politicians.

Last week, in a separate move, Israel’s cabinet decided to begin a process toward legalising five Israeli outposts in the West Bank.

The UM alleges settlers from those outposts were behind 27 attacks on Palestinians this year. Separately, the US has brought sanctions against some settlers this year for attacks on Palestinian homes in the West Bank.

The Wall Street Journal