Israel to Appropriate 400 Hectares of Land in West bank

Israel has announced plans to confiscate 400 hectares of land in the occupied West Bank.

The military run civil administration declared 400 hectares of land in the Etzion Jewish settlement bloc near Bethlehem as state land on Sunday.

The decision has invited criticism from the Palestinian officials as well as the United States.

"We urge the government of Israel to reverse this decision," a State Department official said in Washington. He also said that the move will be detrimental to the efforts in attaining a two-state solution between Israel and Palestine, reports Reuters.

Israel Radio said that the move was in reaction to the killing of three Jewish teenagers by Hamas militants in June.

However, the Israeli military did not give any reason for the decision in its notification issued on Sunday.

Peace Now, an organization which disagrees with the Israeli settlement activities in the West Bank, said that the confiscation move was intended to turn the site where 10 families now live in to a permanent settlement.

Israel was considering constructing a big settlement in the area called Gevaot since 2000. The government even invited tenders for the construction of 100 houses at the site last year.

Nabil Abu Rdainah, a spokesman for Western-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas asked Israel to cancel the appropriation. "This decision will lead to more instability. This will only inflame the situation after the war in Gaza," Abu Rdainah said, according to The Independent.

Saeb Erekat, Chief Palestinian negotiator, said that Israel was perpetrating many crimes against the Palestinians and their occupied land, reports Ma'an News agency citing AFP.

""The international community should hold Israel accountable as soon as possible for its crimes and raids against our people in Gaza and the ongoing Israeli settlement activity in the West Bank and East Jerusalem," he said.