The Israeli government has announced plans to expropriate a new swath of the occupied West Bank. Israel says it will take fifty-four square miles of Palestinian land, including shoreline near the Dead Sea. Palestinians will have forty-five days to contest the seizure in an Israeli court. A Palestinian cabinet minister called the move Israel’s single largest land takeover since it occupied the West Bank and Gaza in the 1967 war. The Israeli government, meanwhile, has authorized the construction of new homes in the West Bank settlement of Adam. The building plans are the latest in Israel’s rejection of President Obama’s call to stop settlement expansion. They come on the eve of Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak’s visit to Washington for talks with US officials. Obama has so far refused to apply any meaningful pressure on Israel, including the suspension of billions of dollars in annual US aid.