Abed Al-Hadi Hantash, an expert on settlement issues, says that since October 7, 2023, Israel has confiscated and destroyed extensive areas in the West Bank.
In an interview with the Al-Risala newspaper, Hantash said that the areas targeted by Israel include thousands of dunams of grazing land, and recently 8,000 dunams in Dahariya in southern Hebron, areas between the security fence and population centers and areas that were used to expand the settlements by nearly 100 square kilometers.
He also claimed that the areas taken over by Israel in the West Bank are approaching in size the areas that Israel seized in the northern Gaza Strip and Rafah, estimated at 120 square kilometers.
Hantash stated that Israel took over private lands adjacent to the security fence, among others in the area of Mesafer Yatta and Bani Naim, as part of its policy to empty the area of Palestinian Arab residents through pressure and activity by Israeli residents of the area.
Hantash noted that since October 7, 2023, Israel has established 29 new towns and the military activity in the refugee camps in the West Bank is done as part of a policy aimed at eliminating the Palestinian Arab question.
He estimated that Israel is applying a gradual and quiet expulsion plan for Palestinian Arabs, and the ongoing confiscation of lands and settlement is intended to empty the land of its Palestinian Arab residents.
