The Government Declares 8,000 Dunams in the Jordan Valley as State Lands

On March 20, 2024, the Custodian of the State’s Property in the Civil Administration declared 8,000 dunams at the Jordan Valley state lands. This declaration supplements the announcement of 2,640 dunams on February 29, 2024, between the settlements of Ma’ale Adumim and Keidar. The size of the area designated for declaration is the largest since the Oslo Accords, and the year 2024 marks a peak in the extent of declarations of state land.

The declaration of state land is one of the main methods by which the State of Israel seeks to assert control over land in the occupied territories. Land declared as state land is no longer considered privately owned by Palestinians in the eyes of Israel, and they are prevented from using it. Additionally, the state leases state land exclusively to Israelis.

Throughout the 1980s, Israel declared hundreds of thousands of dunams as state land. The Rabin government decided in 1992 to halt the declarations of state land in the occupied territories, but the first Netanyahu government resumed using this method in 1998. Since then, declarations have been made periodically, amounting to nearly 40,000 dunams.

Peace Now: “Netanyahu and Smotrich are determined to fight against the entire world and against the interests of the people of Israel for the benefit of a handful of settlers who receive thousands of dunams as if there were no political conflict to solve or war to end. The announcement of the declaration on the eve of the visit by the US Secretary of State is yet another provocation against the American government.”