#settlement-outposts-formalisation

#settlement-outposts-formalisation

Sawsan al-Jadba describes her lost land as a deep wound in her chest, a nightmare she never imagined living through. Despite the destruction, she is determined to stay put with her daughters and grandchildren, cultivating her remaining plot again despite limited resources.

Western Sahara is the largest disputed territory in the world, designated by the United Nations as a non-self-governing territory, despite Morocco controlling about 80% of it.

While the world's attention is on the U.S.-Israel-Iran war, the Israeli military has placed the West Bank under a functional lockdown. Checkpoints in and out of most major cities are closed, and Palestinians have been left to look for other travel arrangements. Some residents who spoke with Truthout said they traveled for hours through village back roads in an attempt to reach their destinations.

Through a new land registration drive, Israel is trying to secure through paperwork what warfare alone has failed to deliver. Israel always had a plan to annex more land in the occupied West Bank, and its actions prove it. This week, the Israeli cabinet approved a plan to claim Palestinian lands in the West Bank as state land. The proposal, pushed by far-right Israeli leaders, including Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, Justice Minister Yariv Levin and Defence Minister Israel Katz, emphasises Israeli supremacy over Palestinians.

"The harassment by Israeli settlers had become unbearable," said Rashid, a young mother, as she stood leaning on the metal doorframe of her home in Ras Ein el-Auja in the occupied West Bank. Nearby, a few suitcases and other belongings sat in the corner, neatly packed. "There is no safety left. We've been suffering for three years, but now the provocations increased," Rashid told DW, speaking of how settlers entered their home.

The Israeli government has approved a plan to begin land registration in the occupied West Bank, meaning it will be able to seize land from Palestinians who cannot prove ownership. For the first time since Israel's occupation of the West Bank in 1967, it will register such land as property of the state also known as settlement of land title in Area C of the occupied West Bank.

Israel plans to start work next month on a bypass road that will close off the heart of the occupied West Bank to Palestinians and cement the de facto annexation of an area critical for the viability of a future Palestinian state. The road is a key part of the blueprint for a vast illegal new settlement in the E1 area east of Jerusalem, which would fragment the occupied West Bank.

The new measures, which aim to expand Israel's power across the occupied West Bank, will make it easier to seize Palestinian land illegally. We are anchoring settlement as an inseparable part of Israel's government policy, said Katz. Experts say it will fundamentally alter the civil and legal reality of the territory, removing what the Israeli ministers termed legal obstacles that have existed for decades against the expansion of illegal settlements in the occupied territories.

The Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt has reopened partially for a few Palestinians after an 18-month closure in tandem with an added restriction to control the movement of returnees. The Israeli army has set up a checkpoint called Regavim in an area under its control outside the crossing for those entering Gaza from Egypt. As the first trickle of humanity passed through the gates on Monday, official Israeli military documents gave it a name that indicates the facility is no longer being treated as a border crossing but as an operation for population control.