By Kaamil Ahmed
JERUSALEM (AA) – Israeli authorities have notified Palestinians living in the northern occupied West Bank that they plan to confiscate 1,250 acres of land for more illegal settlements.
Palestinian news agency Ma’an reported that the confiscations, which were announced on Saturday, apparently applied to settler outposts to be retroactively legalized under Israeli law, as much of the land being confiscated had already been built on.
Under international law, all Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank are illegal, but unlike official settlements, outposts have been built without authorization from the Israeli government and on land usually occupied by hardline right-wing Israelis.
Israeli human rights group Yesh Din claimed in February that the Israeli government has approved or is in the process of approving a quarter of previously unauthorized outposts since 2012.
In March, Israel declared 580 acres of land in Jericho to be state land, for use in settlement building and tourism, marking the largest seizure of land since 2014.
Both the U.S. and the UN have criticized the Jericho land seizure, saying it has damaged the prospects of peace between Palestine and Israel.
