West Bank02 September, 20262 min read
Israel Accelerates West Bank Land Seizures Through Archaeology Ahead of Elections
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West Bank land seizures accelerated via archaeology unit of Civil Administration ahead of elections. About 110,000 dunams seized in West Bank since 2023, mostly early Netanyahu tenure.
7 outlets told this the same way.
Al Jazeera was read line by line by the Watchdog: 3.0. See the score →
Seizures via archaeology
Haaretz reported that ahead of Israel’s elections, the Israeli government accelerated its takeover of West Bank land, including in Area B, through the Civil Administration unit responsible for archaeological sites, with a declared goal to “create facts on the ground before the election.” Haaretz also said the Archaeology Staff Officer’s unit within the Civil Administration had shifted from overseeing archaeological sites and conducting salvage excavations to being used as a tool to seize land, establish a presence, and displace Palestinian residents.
Al-Manar TV Lebanon, citing Haaretz, described how in 2019 the unit’s budget stood at approximately 14 million shekels and it employed 10 staff members, before settlers’ interest in archaeology grew. Al-Manar TV Lebanon further quoted Zionist archaeologist Alon Arad, director-general of Emek Shaveh, saying: “Over the past three years, the Archaeology Staff Officer’s unit has been transformed into an operational arm for annexation and land seizure on behalf of settlers.”
Campaign rhetoric and strikes
Al Jazeera reported that far-right Israeli ministers turned the machinery of occupation into campaign material over the last week ahead of an October election in which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s bloc is behind in the polls. Al Jazeera said Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich released an AI-generated ad warning that he would do to the Negev and Galilee what he has done to the occupied West Bank by building Jewish settlements there under the slogan “Ahmed is right to be afraid”.
Al Jazeera also reported that National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir responded with an AI video depicting overweight Palestinian prisoners entering Israeli jails on an assembly line and emerging emaciated and crying, and that he published a video of himself berating Palestinian women prisoners. In the same Al Jazeera account, the outlet said illegal outposts multiplied and demolitions and evictions continued across the West Bank and East Jerusalem, while Gaza’s death toll widened beyond the narrower “targeted assassination” framing to include farmers, delivery workers, fishermen and children.
Land, sovereignty, and numbers
An Anadolu Ajansı report said a Palestinian official report stated that Israel seized about 110,000 dunams of land in the occupied West Bank since 2023, with 109,141 dunams seized of Palestinian lands through military, administrative, and legal tools. Anadolu Ajansı said the report noted that about 69,000 dunams were seized under the banner of “border and control adjustment orders for natural reserves,” and about 29,000 dunams within 22 measures for declaring “state lands.”
Euronews reported that Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich announced the allocation of 370 dunams of land south of Bethlehem to establish a new settlement named “Ofar Yuda” within the Gush Etzion settlement bloc. Euronews added that Peace Now said the settlement was among 34 new settlements approved by the Israeli Security Cabinet in March, and that Peace Now said these decisions raised the number of settlements the current Israeli government has moved to establish or formally recognize since taking office to 102 as of March.