RAMALLAH, Palestine (AA) – Israel’s Supreme Court has approved the ownership of the Jewish National Fund (JNF) of 522 dunums (1,000 square meters) of Palestinian land near the West Bank city of Bethlehem, according to Israeli media on Wednesday.
Israeli newspaper Hayom said court judges rejected an appeal filed by Palestinians against an earlier decision by the Central Court in Jerusalem that endorsed the JNF ownership of the land in Gush Etzion settlement.
The court verdict will now pave the way for settlers to start construction on the confiscated land and build hundreds of settlement homes there.
On Tuesday, Israeli authorities issued notices to confiscate 267 of dunums of church-owned land in the Jordan Valley region.
According to Palestinian figures, more than 700,000 Jewish settlers now live on 196 settlements (built with the Israeli government’s approval) and more than 200 settler outposts (built without its approval) across the occupied West Bank.
Israel occupied the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, during the 1967 Arab-Israeli War. It annexed the entire city in 1980 claiming it as the Jewish state's “undivided and eternal capital ” — a move never recognized by the international community.
International law views the West Bank and East Jerusalem as “occupied territories ” and considers all Jewish settlement construction there as illegal.
