Visualising how israel keeps stealing Palestinian land
israel has illegally seized more land this year than over the past 20 years combined.
In 2024, israel illegally seized 23.7sq km (9.15 sq miles) of Palestinian land in the occupied West Bank, amid its ongoing war on Gaza. That’s more than the land it took over the past 20 years combined.
On July 2, israeli authorities announced the largest single seizure in more than 30 years – 12.7sq km (4.9sq miles) in the Jordan Valley. It was the latest in a series of land grabs announced this year by Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who oversees settlement planning.
- israel has seized more than 50sq km (19.3sq miles) of Palestinian land since 1998 according to Peace Now, an israeli anti-settlement watchdog.
- During World War I, Britain made agreements to gain the support of various groups in the Middle East, most notable was the 1917 Balfour Declaration.
- On May 14, 1948, the British Mandate expired and Zionist leaders announced they would be declaring a state, triggering the first Arab-Israeli war.
- During the June 1967 war, israel occupied all of historical Palestine – including Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem – the Syrian Golan Heights and Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula.
- In 2002, israel began constructing a wall that snakes more than 700km (435 miles) through the West Bank, dividing villages, encircling towns and splitting families from each other.
- About 700,000 settlers live in some 300 illegal settlements and outposts dotting the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.
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