Israel Grabs 1000 New Acres Of Palestinian Land

[aliasghark]

Israel Claims Nearly 1,000 Acres of West Bank Land 

 

Israel announced Sunday it was taking over a large swath of land in the occupied West Bank, which Israeli media reports say is part of the Tel Aviv regime's settlement expansion projects, drawing condemnation from anti-settlement activists, who say this is the biggest seizure in 30 years.

 

A Palestinian official condemned the decision, saying it was part of an Israeli campaign to prevent the creation of a Palestinian state.

 

“It shows once again that this government is not interested in peace,” said Xavier Abu Eid, a spokesman for the Palestine Liberation Organisation’s negotiations department. “What happened in Gaza and what is happening in the West Bank are both part of the same policy: to deny Palestinian rights.”

 

Nabil Abu Rdainah, a spokesman for Abbas, the Western-backed Palestinian president, urged Israel to cancel the appropriation. “The decision will lead to more instability. This will only inflame the situation after the war in Gaza,” he said.

 

An Israeli NGO 'Peace Now' says the new plan has been unprecedented in its scope since the 1980s. Earlier, another Israeli NGO, B'Tselem, announced that Tel Aviv has seized tens of thousands of hectares of land from Palestinians in the West Bank since 1967 in order to build more than 200 settlements.

 

Palestinians aspire to form a state in the lands that Israel conquered in 1967.

 

Israel occupied and then annexed the West Bank and East al-Quds in the Six-Day War of 1967, but the move has never been recognized by the international community.

 

The international community, including the Red Cross, United Nations, and the International Court of Justice, have ruled that Israel's settlements in the West Bank are illegal, as they break laws set out in the Fourth Geneva Convention.

 

Peace Now said Sunday’s land declaration was “unprecedented in its scope since the 1980s”, and would “stab moderate Palestinian forces in the back”.

 

"By declaring another 4,000 dunams as state land, the Israeli government is stabbing [Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas] and the moderate Palestinian forces in the back, proving again that violence delivers Israeli concessions while non-violence results in settlement expansion," the group added.

 

 

 

http://rt.com/news/184096-israel-west-bank-settlement/

http://presstv.com/detail/2014/08/31/377207/israel-grabs-more-palestinian-land/

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/01/world/middleeast/israel-claims-nearly-1000-acres-of-west-bank-land-near-bethlehem.html?_r=0

http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/378fb0b0-312a-11e4-b2fd-00144feabdc0.html#axzz3C0FqbPoa

[Schanze]

That's horrible news for our palestinian brothers and sisters, we should continue to pray for them. 

[FisherKing]

[El Cid]

Who knew war would mean capturing territory?

[aliasghark]

Who knew war would mean capturing territory?

 

That's a confusing comment, which war are you referring to? 

[forte]

Who knew war would mean capturing territory?

 

The land grab is in the West Bank, not Gaza.

[aliasghark]

UK deplores Israel decision to take W. Bank land

 

Reuters

 

LONDON: The British government said Monday that it deplored an Israeli decision to appropriate a large swath of land inside the occupied West Bank, saying the move would seriously damage Israel's international reputation.

 

On Sunday, Israel announced the appropriation of land in the Etzion Jewish settlement bloc near Bethlehem, a move which an anti-settlement group said was the biggest such claim in 30 years.

 

"The UK deplores the Israeli government's expropriation of 988 acres of land around the settlement of Etzion," British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said in a statement which echoed U.S. calls to reverse the decision.

 

"This is a particularly ill-judged decision that comes at a time when the priority must be to build on the cease-fire in Gaza. It will do serious damage to Israel's standing in the international community."

 

Some 500,000 Israelis live among 2.4 million Palestinians in the West Bank and occupied East Jerusalem, territory that the Jewish state captured in the 1967 Middle East war.

 

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2014/Sep-01/269207-uk-deplores-israel-decision-to-take-w-bank-land.ashx#axzz3C4iaw844

Edited September 1, 2014 by aliasghark

[aliasghark]

US Urges Israel to Reverse Biggest Land Grab in Decades

 

Washington has condemned Israel’s annexation of 988 acres of the West Bank’s land, inhabited by Palestinians, urging Tel Aviv to annul the move, Reuters reported, citing a US State Department representative.

 

“We have long made clear our opposition to continued settlement activity. This announcement, like every other settlement announcement Israel makes, planning step they approve and construction tender they issue is counterproductive to Israel's stated goal of a negotiated two-state solution with the Palestinians,” an unnamed State Department official told Reuters on Sunday.

 

“We urge the government of Israel to reverse this decision,” the official added.

 

On Sunday, the administration of Israel’s Judea and Samaria Area – the Israeli name for the West Bank – declared around 988 acres of the land in the Etzion settlement the property of Israel, making it the biggest territorial gain of Israel since the 1980s.

 

The 988 acres of land are planned to be used for the construction of a new settlement, known as Gvaot, which Israeli authorities claim is a part of the nearby Alon Shvut settlement.

 

However, the land belongs to five Palestinian villages and is located a few miles away from Alon Shvut, Haaretz newspaper reported.

 

-- 

 

The land, previously held privately by Palestinian families witnessed the Israel Army enter the area on Sunday to post signs, and seize the land.

 

The move also goes against one of the conditions noted in the ceasefire between the two warring nations. Hamas had demanded Israel stop expanding and building settlements within the West Bank. Director of Peace Now, Yariv Oppenheimer has lashed out against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyau for the provocative move.

 

Oppenheimer said the PM has turned his back on the Palestinian Authority, showing a move that “sticks a political knife” through the back of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

 

Abbas has condemned the announcement and progression of building a settlement in the West Bank. He said without Israel reversing this decisions, it may lead to a further deterioration of the tense situation.

 

--

 

And the takeover sparked immediate concern not just among Palestinians, but in U.S. political circles too, where a State Department official branded the move as 'counterproductive' to the peace process and demanded America's closest ally in the region give the land back.

 

'We urge the government of Israel to reverse this decision,' the U.S. State Department official said in Washington.

 

From http://en.ria.ru/world/20140901/192524639/US-Urges-Israel-to-Reverse-Biggest-Land-Grab-in-Decades.html and others. 

[Shamati]

Israel is allowed to proceed in whatever way it preferable achieving the end goal: cleansing the land from non-jews/palestinians, the goal of which os the full conquest of Palestine, Southern Lebanon, parts of Syria, Jordan & Iraq.

[blu115]

I wonder how things would go if Hamas had control of the west bank

[Netzari]

Well, at least the value of all that land just doubled :)

[aliasghark]

Israel to build 283 homes on West Bank

Publication of tenders for new settlement follows announcement of Israel's biggest land grab in West Bank since 1980s

 

Israel has published tenders to build 283 homes in a West Bank settlement, days after announcing its biggest land grab on occupied Palestinian territory for three decades.

 

The expansion of the Elkana settlement, in the north-west of the West Bank, was approved in January and the tenders were published on Thursday, Israel's land authority said.

 

It came after Israel announced its biggest land grab in the West Bank since the 1980s, saying it planned to expropriate 400 hectares (988 acres) of land in the south of the territory, between Bethlehem and Hebron.

 

That move drew international condemnation, even from its staunch ally, the US, and some Israeli cabinet ministers.

 

The US state department urged Israel to reverse its decision while the UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, said he was alarmed by Israel's plans.

 

Israel's settlement-building, which is illegal under international law, is seen as an obstacle to any lasting peace with the Palestinians, who want their future state to be on land, much of which Israel has annexed or built settlements on.

 

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/sep/05/israel-build-283-new-homes-west-bank

 

 

 

See also: 

 

Huge new Israeli settlement in West Bank condemned by US and UK

British foreign secretary urges Israel to reverse decision to seize 990 acres of Palestinian land near Gvaot to create new city