KKL-JNF said set to okay purchasing West Bank land to expand settlements

The Jewish National Fund (KKL-JNF), a 120-year-old nonprofit that owns some 15% of the land in Israel, will reportedly officially authorize the purchase of land in the West Bank later today, the Walla news site reports, citing a draft of the resolution.

The move, said set to be approved by the organization’s board, aims to aid the potential expansion of settlements and could see hundreds of millions of dollars allocated for that purpose.

The movement could further complicate Israel’s ties with US President Joe Biden’s administration, which is expected to resume the traditional US stance against settlements, as well as with the rest of the international community, which views them as illegal.

The report says JNF (a separate organization from JNF-USA) will only buy private land owned by Palestinians that is in or adjacent to the jurisdiction of an existing settlement and use it to expand that settlement. That will only occur in Area C, the 60% of the West Bank under full Israeli control.

Foreign donations will only be used to fund such activity if the transactions are legal in the donating country, the report says.