The move would constitute the largest land expropriation by Israel since August 2014, Ban said in a statement issued from his spokesperson’s office.
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U.S. State Department spokesman Mark Toner said that the administration believes Israel’s plans are “fundamentally incompatible with a two-state solution and call into question, frankly, the Israeli government’s commitment to a two-state solution”.
Palestinians want to form an independent state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, with East Jerusalem as the capital.
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“Israel’s confiscation of land for settlements and settlement businesses violates global law, regardless of whether the land was previously privately held, ‘absentee land” or so-called “state land, ‘” the report says, adding that “businesses operating on these unlawfully confiscated lands are inextricably tied to the ongoing abuses perpetuated by such confiscations”.
“It is time for the global community to stop the hypocrisy and call a spade a spade”. Failing which, the EU-Israel Association Agreement risks being suspended and the possibility of tariffs being imposed on all Israeli goods. “Netanyahu is being dragged by Naftali Bennett and begins a silent annexation of area C”, the group said, referring to the area of the occupied West Bank under full control of the Israeli military. He referenced Monday’s statement by the EU Foreign Affairs Council, which said that Israeli settlement activity is illegal under worldwide law.
Although the concerns expressed by Israel’s closest allies were partly cloaked in diplomatic language they struck a nerve in Israel, which is anxious to counter what it sees as growing attempts to isolate it over its policies toward Palestinians.
The seizure would come at a time of increased attention to Israeli settlements and its policies in the West Bank.
Ministers reiterated the EU’s position that the lands Israel has occupied since the 1967 Middle East war – including the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights – are not part of the internationally recognized borders of Israel.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu signalled further security measures, pledging to “strengthen the communities” in response to the deadly stabbing in the Otniel settlement near the flashpoint city of Hebron in the southern West Bank.
At least 141 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire since mid-September.
Israeli media have since quoted witnesses saying she was stabbed at the entrance to the house as she painted the doorframe.
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In an email sent to Reuters, COGAT, a unit of Israel’s Defence Ministry, said the political decision to seize the territory had already been taken and “the lands are in the final stages of being declared state lands”.
