OCCUPIED JERUSALEM — Israel has carried out a new land appropriation in the occupied West Bank, Israeli newspaper Haaretz said on Sunday, April 13.

The newspaper said the Defense Ministry declared nearly 250 acres of territory in the Gush Etzion settlement bloc just south of Jerusalem “state land.”

Asked by Reuters about the report, the ministry declined to comment. The land appropriation was the largest in years and could eventually lead to the expansion of several settlements and authorization of a settler outpost built without Israeli government permission in 2001, according to Haaretz.

The measure, which falls short of annexing the land to Israel, is based on an Israeli interpretation of an Ottoman-era law that allowed the confiscation of tracts that had not been planted or cultivated for several years in a row. Haaretz said the heads of nearby Palestinian villages that claimed the land as theirs were informed of the move last week and have 45 days to appeal.

Mohammed Shtayyeh, a senior official in the Palestinian negotiating team, said the move showed Israel was more concerned with expanding its control of West Bank land than in peace talks.