Israel expands Jordan Valley footprint as Blinken visits Israel

Israel expanded its footprint in the Jordan Valley as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken landed in Israel on Friday.

"This is another dramatic and important step for the settlement of the Jordan Valley and Judea and Samaria,” Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich (Religious Zionist Party) said.

He spoke after the Civil Administration announced that it had classified an additional 8,000 dunams of land in the Jordan Valley, located over the Green Line, as state land.

The classification of the additional state land was authorized by Smotrich, through his role in the Defense Ministry with oversight of the Civil Administration. He noted that the declaration follows one made earlier this month that classified as state land 3,000 dunams in the area of the West Bank settlement of Ma’aleh Adumim. (Read More)