Israel confiscated 8,000 dunams in the Jordan Valley in the occupied West Bank, with the aim of expanding the “Pavit” settlement, near the Palestinian village of Fasayel, with hundreds of new housing units and establishing an “industrial and commercial zone,” according to what the Israeli public radio “Kan” reported today, Friday.

"Kan" reported that the Settlement Directorate in the Ministry of Security, which operates within the "Civil Administration" of the occupation, which is under the responsibility of the Minister in the Ministry of Security, Bezalel Smotrich, planned to confiscate these lands and expand settlement there over the past year.

The Settlement Directorate declared the confiscated lands “Israeli lands,” claiming that they would thus become lands for implementing settlement projects.

Kan quoted an Israeli official involved in this settlement plan as saying that planning and legitimizing the construction of housing units in the confiscated lands in the Jordan Valley would continue for approximately a year, and that these measures would require approval by the political level.

The "Peace Now" movement, which monitors settlement in the West Bank and occupied Jerusalem, reported that a record number of approvals for settlement construction plans in the West Bank was recorded during the past year.

Three weeks ago, the Settlement Directorate announced the confiscation of 2,500 dunums and their conversion to “state land” in the “Maale Adumim” settlement area, east of occupied Jerusalem, claiming that the confiscation came in response to a shooting attack at the Al-Za’im checkpoint.

Smotrich considered that "paying declarations for state lands is an important and strategic issue," Kan quoted him as saying. He claimed that the announcement of the confiscation of an area of 8,000 dunams “will allow construction to continue and the Jordan Valley to be strengthened.”

Smotrich claimed, "At a time when the country and the world are seeking to undermine our right to our Jews, Samaria, and the country in general, we are pushing forward settlement work hard, and strategically, in all parts of the country."