‘Cowboy method’ – Netanyahu and Smotrich’s annexation strategy
A Palestinian shepherd grazes his flock on the lands of Zanuta, South Hebron Hills, occupied West Bank
Fayha Shalash reports in The Palestine Chronicle on 8 December 2024:
Israeli media has been abuzz with recent statements by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who announced that Israel confiscated 24,000 dunums of West Bank land.
For Palestinians, however, this revelation comes as no surprise, as land confiscation operations occur almost daily, brazenly seizing their lands in broad daylight. This year’s confiscations alone are equivalent to half of all the lands confiscated over the past 30 years, a development widely regarded as a disaster, yet met with little to no international response.
‘Cowboy Method’
In the town of Aqraba, located east of Nablus and encompassing vast lands connected to the Jordan Valley, the situation is dire. Since the current extremist Israeli government came to power two years ago, more than 25,000 dunums of Aqraba’s lands have been confiscated for settlement expansion.
Salah Bani Jaber, the mayor of Aqraba, told The Palestine Chronicle that the town’s total area is comparable to three-quarters of the Gaza Strip, a fact that has made it a prime target for Israeli land seizures. Most of the town’s lands have already been taken.
This year, the municipality received two decisions to confiscate a total of 12,715 dunums under the pretext that the land had become “state property,” a claim frequently used by the Israeli army to justify confiscations and to block residents from filing objections.