G7 condemns Israeli settlement expansion, land grabs

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
11 Jul 2024 19:49
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The G7 foreign ministers emphasize the Israeli actions' inconsistency with international law and their detrimental impact on alleged "peace efforts".

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G7 leaders pose for members of the media before the start of their meeting, Thursday, July 11, 2024, during the NATO summit in Washington, United States of America. (AP)

The G7 foreign ministers condemned on Thursday "Israel's" decision to greenlight five outposts in the West Bank, criticizing the move alongside the occupation's plans to expand existing settlements and create new ones.

"We, the G7 Foreign Ministers... join the UN and the European Union in condemning the announcement by Israeli Finance Minister (Bezalel) Smotrich that five outposts are to be legalized in the West Bank," read a statement that also rejected the Israeli occupation's decision to declare over 3,100 acres as "state lands".

In the statement, the G7 foreign ministers dubbed the latest land grab "the largest such declaration of state land since the Oslo Accords."

They also criticized "Israel's" decision "to expand existing settlements in the occupied West Bank by 5,295 new housing units and to establish three new settlements."

The statement noted that the Israeli occupation's settlements are "inconsistent with international law, and counterproductive to the cause of peace."

Settlement expansion has surged significantly since Israeli occupation Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, heading a hardline pro-settler coalition, returned to power in late 2022. However, "Israel" has occupied the West Bank since 1967 and such policies have extended ever since. These policies are rooted in the 1948 ethnic cleansing of Palestine, during which "Israel" occupied Palestinian territories.

'Israel' approved largest West Bank land seizure in over 30 years

The largest seizure of land in the occupied West Bank in more than three decades was approved by "Israel", according to anti-settlement watchdog Peace Now, which could further exacerbate tensions already on the rise since the Israeli genocide on Gaza started on October 7.

The approved seizure involves 12.7 square kilometers (nearly 5 square miles) of land in the Jordan Valley. This, according to the group's research, constitutes the largest single seizure approved since the 1993 Oslo Accords

This comes after the seizure of 8 square kilometers (about 3 square miles) of land in the occupied West Bank in March and 2.6 square kilometers (1 square mile) in February.

The contiguous settlements are situated northeast of Ramallah, and the occupation has classified them as "state lands", meaning that Palestinians cannot own them and they can only be leased to Israelis.