Israel to confiscate West Bank lands: report

Israel has approved expropriation of 380 acres of West Bank agricultural lands south of the Palestinian city of Jericho, Israel's Army Radio reported Wednesday.

According to the Army Radio, the area, part of it already overtaken by Jewish settlers in the past few years, will be announced as "state land" in the next few weeks. The seizure was recently authorized by Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon, but a date for the announcement has yet to be scheduled, the Army Radio reported.

The declaration of an area as a "state land" allows Israel to announce it later as an area of Jewish settlement.

Spokespersons with the Prime Minister's Office and the Defense Ministry were not immediately available to comment for Xinhua.

The lands are situated south of Jericho, in an area designated in the 1990s' Oslo peace accords as "Area C," which is part of the West Bank under Israel's control.

The move was slammed by Peace Now, an Israeli settlement watchdog, as a "diplomatic catastrophe." The government's decision is "another step on the way to destroy the possibility for a two-state solution," the group said in a statement, accusing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of being dragged by far-right ministers and starting a "silence annexation of area C."

The extent of the area to be expropriated is second only to the 939 acres of lands west of Bethlehem that were announced by the government as "state land" in August 2014. The move sparked an outraged international response, with condemnations by the United Nations, the Unted States, and Europe.

Israel occupied the West Bank during the 1967 Mideast War and has been controlling it ever since, in a move condemned by the international community. The settlements are illegal under international law. Endit