Israeli authorities gave West Bank land to farms inside the Green Line

A number of Israeli farming communities are working Palestinian land located in the West Bank, allocated to them in the 1980s by the Israel Lands Authority, according to Haaretz newspaper.

The land in question, around 375 acres, is located near Mevo Horon settlement, while the Israeli communities inside pre-1967 territory are all moshavim (rural collective communities) in the Mateh Yehuda Regional Council, near Jerusalem.

According to Haaretz: “This is not the first time the Authority has acted beyond the scope of its powers, which are limited to the State of Israel within the Green Line.”

“In 2013, the Authority conceded that it had given private Palestinian land in the north to Kibbutz Merav in the 1980s.” That “land now lies unused, because the Palestinians who claim to own it are on the other side of the separation barrier and have no access to it.”