The Israeli regime is set to expropriate more than a thousand acres of Palestinian land in the northern part of West Bank irrespective of the international outcry against the expansion of illegal settlements in the occupied territories.

On Saturday, Israeli authorities sent notices to the residents of the Palestinian village of Jalud, situated approximately 30 kilometers (19 miles) south of Nablus, alerting the locals that 1,250 acres of their land were to be seized, in what appeared to be the retroactive legalization of unlawful settlement expansion activities in the area.

Officials from Jalud’s local council said Israeli officials have already built Adei Ad, Esh Kodesh, Ahiya, and Kidah settlements in the area, and their recent measure is in line with their policy of expropriation of Palestinian lands.

The Israeli regime has seized vast swathes of land near the Palestinian village of Qaryut, located 28 kilometers (17 miles) southeast of Nablus, over the past few decades to build at least 10 illegal settlements and two military bases, according to the Applied Research Institute Jerusalem (ARIJ).

On April 12, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas stressed the “urgent” need for a UN resolution condemning Israel’s illegal settlement expansion activities.

A general view shows buildings under construction in the illegal Israeli settlement of Har Homa in occupied East al-Quds (Jerusalem) on March 7, 2016. ©AFP

“The Security Council is a very important subject because it has now become urgent due to settlement activities and because Israel has not stopped these activities,” Abbas said.

The top Palestinian politician said he hopes Washington would change its approach at the Security Council, and support resolutions that criticize Israel’s settlement expansion in the occupied lands instead of vetoing them.

More than half a million Israelis live in over 230 illegal settlements built since the 1967 Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories in the West Bank and East al-Quds (Jerusalem).

The presence and continued expansion of Israeli settlements in occupied Palestine has created a major obstacle for the efforts to establish peace in the Middle East.

Palestinians want the West Bank as part of a future independent Palestinian state with East al-Quds as its capital.