Israel approves new parcel of West Bank land for settlement

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich declared on Friday 800 hectares in the occupied West Bank as state land, in a move that will facilitate the use of the ground for settlement building.

The announcement, on the day US Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Israel for talks with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, underlined the government's determination to press ahead with settlement building in the West Bank, despite growing international opposition.

Palestinian authorities condemned the move.

"While there are those in Israel and in the world who seek to undermine our right to Judea and Samaria and the country in general, we promote settlement through hard work and in a strategic manner all over the country," Smotrich said, using Biblical names for the area of the West Bank that are commonly employed in Israel.

The denomination of the 1,976 acres of land in the Jordan Valley as state land follows a similar designation of 300 hectares (740 acres) in the Maale Adumim area of the West Bank, which the Palestinians want as the core of a future independent state.

The United States said last month Israel's expansion of settlements in West Bank was inconsistent with international law, signaling a return to long-standing US policy that had been reversed by the previous administration of Donald Trump.

The change brought the United States back into line with most of the world, which considers the settlements built on territory Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East war to be illegal.




Reuters