Israel expanded its footprint in the Jordan Valley as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken landed in Israel on Friday.
“This is another dramatic and important step for the settlement of the Jordan Valley and Judea and Samaria,” Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich (Religious Zionist Party) said.
He spoke after the Civil Administration announced that it had classified an additional 8,000 dunams of land in the Jordan Valley, located over the Green Line, as state land.
The classification of the additional state land was authorized by Smotrich, through his role in the Defense Ministry with oversight of the Civil Administration.
He noted that the declaration follows one made earlier this month that classified as state land 3,000 dunams in the area of the West Bank settlement of Ma’aleh Adumim.
“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 stated.
The declaration of territory in Area C of the West Bank as state land is a bureaucratic step that opens the door for the development of that land.
According to the left-wing NGO Peace Now, Israel has classified more territory in Area C as State land in 2024 than it has in at least the last 25 years. No such classifications were made in 2023.
Biden administration doubles down on opposition to settlements
The move comes as the Biden administration has doubled down on its opposition to Israeli settlement activity in the West Bank. The administration has underscored its stance on this issue, rescinding a declaration made during the Trump administration that West Bank settlements were not inconsistent with international law.
It declared precisely the opposite, that settlement activity was inconsistent with international law, a de-facto statement that it holds such activity to be illegal. This would include declarations of state land.
Peace Now said that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and “Smotrich are determined to fight against the entire world and against the interests of the people of Israel for the benefit of a handful of settlers who receive thousands of dunams as if there were no political conflict to solve or war to end.
“The announcement of the declaration on the eve of the visit by the US Secretary of State is yet another provocation against the American government,” it said.
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