WEST BANK, (Palestine Foundation Information Center), A senior Hamas official has warned that Israel’s escalating land confiscations in the occupied West Bank reveal a determined push toward annexation and forced displacement, calling for immediate international intervention.
Abdul Rahman Shadid, a leader in Hamas, said in a press statement issued on Wednesday that Israel’s decision to seize more than 150 dunums of land from the village of al-Mughayyir, northeast of Ramallah, is part of a comprehensive settlement plan aimed at strangling Palestinian villages and isolating them from their surroundings.
Shadid explained that the plan relies on the confiscation of agricultural land, the construction of settler-only roads, and the expansion of surrounding settlement outposts, threatening Palestinians’ livelihoods, undermining their ability to remain on their land, and turning land into a tool of pressure and coercion.
He stressed that land seizures are part of a policy of territorial cleansing intended to empty the land of its indigenous population and pave the way for further settlement expansion, describing the policy as a full-fledged war crime.
Shadid urged the international community and its institutions to take urgent action against Israel’s settlement plans, calling for an end to what he described as reliance on statements of concern and symbolic condemnation.
He also called on Palestinians to strengthen their steadfastness, remain attached to their land and national rights, and unite in a collective national effort to support resilience, activate all forms of resistance, and thwart Israel’s settlement projects.
Separately, 14 Western countries on Wednesday called on Israel to halt settlement expansion in the West Bank, warning that continued settlement construction undermines prospects for a political solution and violates international law.
In a joint statement, countries including the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Belgium, and Canada condemned the Israeli security cabinet’s approval of plans to establish 19 new settlements in the West Bank, describing the move as a dangerous escalation.
The statement urged Israel to reverse the decision and stop expanding settlement activity in the West Bank, emphasizing that settlements are illegal under international law and obstruct the possibility of reaching a political solution based on the two-state framework.
The Israeli government approved 19 new settlement plans last Sunday at the initiative of Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and Army Minister Israel Katz.
Israeli media also reported on Wednesday that additional settlement plans are being developed in Smotrich’s office, including the construction of settlement units near the city of Jenin and in the southern rural areas of Nablus in the northern West Bank.
