JERUSALEM, Israel - Israel announced the massive land appropriation on Sunday in
the Etzion settlement bloc near Bethlehem just days after Gaza ceasefire.
However, the United States has urged Israel to reverse its
decision to seize nearly 400 hectares of land in the occupied West Bank, a move
anti-settlement activists termed the largest land grab in 30 years.
A US State Department official called the announcement as
"counterproductive to Israel's stated goal of a negotiated two-state
solution with the Palestinians".
US urge the government of Israel to reverse this decision,
the official said in Washington.
Peace Now Group said the land seizure was the largest
announced by Israel in the West Bank since the 1980s and that anyone with
ownership claims had 45 days to appeal. A local Palestinian mayor said
Palestinians owned the tracts and harvested olive trees on them.
Israel has come under international criticism over its
settlement activities, which most countries regard as illegal under
international law and a major obstacle to the creation of a viable Palestinian state
in any future peace deal.
About 500,000 Israelis live among 2.4 million Palestinians
in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, territory that Israel captured in the 1967
Middle East war.
Source: Al Jazeera, PressTV
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