Israeli authorities have seized thousands of hectares of land belonging to Palestinians on the eastern flank of the West Bank, as Tel Aviv continues to pursue its illegal settlement expansion activities and land grabbing policies in the occupied territories despite global outcry.

On Wednesday, Israel’s so-called Civil Administration ordered the confiscation of 22,000 dunams (over 5,436 acres) of land in the Nabi Musa area, which is believed to contain the tomb of the Prophet Moses (PBUH) and is near the city ​​of Ariha.

Earlier this month, fifteen European countries expressed concern over the regime’s plans to build nearly 4,500 new settler units in the West Bank.

The move constitutes a flagrant violation of international law and stands in the way of a just and lasting solution to the decades-long Palestinian-Israeli conflict, the foreign ministries of France, Belgium, Denmark, Finland said. , Germany, Greece, Ireland and Italy. , Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Spain and Sweden.

“The new housing would be an additional obstacle to the [so-called] two-state solution. Israeli settlements are in clear violation of international law and stand in the way of a just, lasting and comprehensive peace” to the crisis, they said in a joint statement on May 13.

This plan, together with the demolitions and evictions affecting Palestinian populations in eastern al-Quds and Area C, directly threaten the viability of a future Palestinian state, the statement said.

Between 600,000 and 750,000 Israelis occupy more than 250 illegal settlements built since the 1967 occupation of Palestinian territories in the West Bank and eastern al-Quds.

The Palestinians want the West Bank to be part of a future independent Palestinian state, with al-Quds East as its capital.

The last round of Israeli-Palestinian talks collapsed in 2014, with Israel’s continued settlement expansion emerging as a key sticking point.

All Israeli settlements are considered illegal under international law because they are built on occupied land.

The UN Security Council has time and again condemned the occupying regime’s diabolical settler-colonialist scheme in its countless resolutions.