JERUSALEM: Israel has approved the largest seizure of land in the occupied West Bank in over three decades, an anti-settlement watchdog group said Wednesday, a move that could further worsen already soaring tensions linked to the ongoing war in Gaza.
Peace Now said authorities recently approved the appropriation of 12.7 square kilometers (nearly 5 square miles) of land in the Jordan Valley. The group’s data indicate it was the largest single appropriation approved since the 1993 Oslo accords at the start of the peace process.
Violence has surged in the West Bank since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack ignited the war in Gaza, with Israel carrying out near-daily military raids that often spark deadly gunbattles with Palestinian militants. Palestinians have also carried out a string of attacks on Israelis.
The land seizure, which was approved late last month but only publicized on Wednesday, comes after the seizure of 8 square kilometers (roughly 3 square miles) of land in the West Bank in March and 2.6 square kilometers (1 square mile) in February.
That makes 2024 by far the peak year for Israeli land seizure in the West Bank, Peace Now said.
The parcels are contiguous and located northeast of the West Bank city of Ramallah, where the Western-backed Palestinian Authority is headquartered. By declaring them state lands, the Israeli government has opened them up to being leased to Israelis and prohibited private Palestinian ownership.
The Palestinians view the expansion of settlements in the occupied West Bank as the main barrier to any lasting peace agreement and most of the international community considers them illegal or illegitimate.
Israel captured the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast war, territories the Palestinians want for a future state. Israel’s current government considers the West Bank to be the historical and religious heartland of the Jewish people and is opposed to Palestinian statehood.
Israel has built well over 100 settlements across the West Bank, some of which resemble fully developed suburbs or small towns. They are home to over 500,000 Jewish settlers who have Israeli citizenship. The 3 million Palestinians in the West Bank live under seemingly open-ended Israeli military rule.
The Palestinian Authority administers parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank but is barred from operating in 60 percent of the territory, where the settlements are located.
Prominent human rights organizations have pointed to Israel’s rule over the West Bank in accusing it of the international crime of apartheid, allegations Israel rejects as an attack on its legitimacy.
Israel’s far-right finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, has turbocharged land seizure and settlement construction since being granted expanded powers over Israel’s administration of the occupied territory under the current governing coalition, the most religious and nationalist in Israel’s history.
Smotrich laid out his plans for the West Bank at a conference for his ultranationalist Religious Zionism Party last month, a recording of which was obtained by Peace Now. He said he intended to appropriate at least 15 square kilometers (nearly 6 square miles) of land in the West Bank this year.
He also promised to expand the establishment of farming outposts, which hard-line settlers have used to extend their control of rural areas, and to crack down on Palestinian construction.
The declaration published Wednesday was signed in June by Hillel Roth, a deputy Smotrich appointed earlier this year to boost settlement expansion and state land declarations in the West Bank, according to a copy of the order obtained by The Associated Press.
Hamas cited the expansion of West Bank settlements as one of its justifications for the Oct. 7 attack into southern Israel, in which Palestinian militants killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took around 250 hostage. Israel has launched a massive offensive in response that has killed over 37,900 Palestinians, according to local health officials, who do not say how many were fighters.
The war has caused massive devastation across Gaza and displaced most of its 2.3 million people, often multiple times. Israeli restrictions, the ongoing fighting and the breakdown of law and order have curtailed humanitarian aid efforts, causing widespread hunger and sparking fears of famine.
Anti-settlement group says Israel has made largest West Bank land seizure in 3 decades
https://arab.news/vbsut
Anti-settlement group says Israel has made largest West Bank land seizure in 3 decades
- Peace Now said authorities recently approved the appropriation of 12.7 square kilometers of land in the Jordan Valley
- The group’s data indicate it was the largest single appropriation approved since the 1993 Oslo accords at the start of the peace process
Stranger in Moscow: Leaked data details life of Assad in exile
- Deposed dictator spends time ‘brushing up on ophthalmology,’ The Guardian reports
LONDON: More than a year after fleeing Syria, ousted former president Bashar Assad is living a secluded life of luxury in Moscow, with reports suggesting he has returned to studying ophthalmology while remaining cut off from political life.
Assad, who trained in London as an eye doctor before assuming power in 2000, was deposed in December 2024 as rebel forces advanced on Damascus, ending decades of his family’s rule. He fled the country overnight, with Russian assistance, after 14 years of civil war that left more than 600,000 people dead and nearly 14 million displaced.
According to sources cited by The Guardian newspaper in a report published on Monday, Assad is now living in or near Rublyovka, an exclusive gated community west of Moscow favored by Russia’s political and financial elite.
Despite his wealth and the security surrounding his exile, the former leader is said to be living a largely isolated life and is regarded as politically irrelevant in Moscow’s ruling circles.
A family friend told the newspaper that Assad has been studying Russian and revisiting his medical training, describing ophthalmology as a long-held passion. Russian authorities have reportedly barred him from engaging in any form of political or media activity.
Russia’s ambassador to Iraq confirmed in November that Assad was prohibited from making public appearances, despite being safe and under protection.
Sources told The Guardian that Assad left Syria without warning senior regime allies or members of his extended family, many of whom were forced to scramble to escape as the government collapsed. His brother Maher Assad, a senior military figure, was said to have remained in Damascus until the final moments, helping others flee.
In the months since the family’s escape from Syria, attention has reportedly focused on the health of Assad’s wife, Asma, who had been undergoing treatment in Moscow for leukaemia. According to sources familiar with the situation, her condition stabilized following experimental therapy.
While Assad himself remains largely invisible to the Russian public, his children have gradually adapted to life in the country. His daughter, Zein, graduated in June from Moscow’s prestigious MGIMO University, one of the few public sightings of Assad family members since their regime’s fall from power. His sons, Hafez and Karim, have withdrawn from social media and keep a low profile.
Despite prior hopes of relocating to the UAE, sources said the family now accepts that a permanent move out of Russia is unlikely in the near future, even as they continue to travel between Moscow and the Gulf.
