Israeli Annexation Policies in the Jordan Valley: Destroying the Future of the State of Palestine

The Jordan Valley is one of the main areas that the Israeli government aimed at annexing shortly after the 1967 occupation of Palestine. Nearly all of the Jordan Valley has been officially sanctioned by Israel as a land reserve for future settlement expansion.

The Jordan Valley represents 28.5% of the Occupied West Bank (1600 km2). It hosts 37 illegal Israeli settlements with a total settler population of around 10,000 people. Approximately 91.5% of the Jordan Valley is off limits for Palestinians, which has had a direct effect in the decrease of the indigenous Palestinian population from the area from around 250,000 people before Israel’s occupation to 70,000 by 2013.