Israel to confiscate more Palestinian land in West Bank

The Israeli regime is planning to confiscate 1.2 square kilometers (296.5 acres) of land from Palestinians in the northern occupied West Bank district of Nablus, a local monitor says.  

Ghassan Dhaglas, who monitors Israel’s illegal settlement activity in the northern West Bank for the Palestinian Authority, confirmed that Israeli civil administration authorities were seeking to steal hundreds of acres of land that currently belongs to Palestinians, Palestinian Ma'an news agency reported on Monday. 

The Palestinian official also noted that Israeli authorities have already given local residents of al-Lubban al-Sharqiya, al-Sawiya, and Qaryut villages an official notice to confiscate privately-owned Palestinian land.

According to the Applied Research Institute Jerusalem (ARIJ), a Palestinian non-governmental organization based in al-Quds (Jerusalem), the Israeli regime in recent decades has seized vast swathes of land near Qaryut to build at least ten illegal settlements and two military bases.

The PA’s Premier Rami Hamdallah recently strongly denounced Israel's plan of land grabbing in West Bank, saying that the "systematic land grab" constituted "a flagrant violation of international law."

Senior Palestinian officials have also appealed to international community to stop Israel form systematically stealing Palestinian land. 

The Israeli NGO, Peace Now, which tracks and opposes the expansion of illegal settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories, announced on Tuesday that the Israeli regime has already devised plans for expanding nearby settlements in the area. 

On March 17, the European Union censured the Israeli regime for its plans to expropriate Palestinian lands in the West Bank, saying the decision risks threatening the chances of ending the conflict in the occupied territories and creation of a future independent Palestinian state.

“The European Union remains firmly opposed to Israel's settlement policy and actions taken in this context, including demolitions and confiscations, evictions, forced transfers or restrictions on movement and access,” the 28-member bloc said in a statement.

Britain has also slammed Israel’s decision to further expand settlements in the West Bank, calling the move “an obstacle to peace.”

More than half a million Israelis live in over 230 illegal settlements built since the 1967 Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories in the West Bank and East al-Quds (Jerusalem).

The presence and continued expansion of Israeli settlements in occupied Palestine have created a major obstacle to Middle East peace efforts.

Palestinians want the West Bank as part of a future independent Palestinian state with East al-Quds as its capital.

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