Israel remaps 6000 hectares of land in West Bank

A report says Israel remapped as much as 6,000 hectares of occupied Palestinian land in 2015 as an attempt at justifying settlement expansion inside the re-designated areas.

Reporting on Tuesday, Israeli daily Ha’aretz said the move was taken to put a legal face on construction activities within the territory Israel had previously claimed as its own.

Israel was established in 1948, when it occupied Palestinian land along with expanses of other Arab territories during full-fledged military operations. The occupied lands also include Lebanon’s Shebaa Farms and Syria’s Golan Heights.

In 1967, Israel occupied the Palestinian territories of the West Bank, including East al-Quds ('Jerusalem'), and the Gaza Strip.

It later annexed the West Bank and East al-Quds in a move never recognized by the international community. 

Tel Aviv withdrew from Gaza in 2005, but has been keeping the territory under a crippling siege and regular deadly offensives.