Israel approves construction of road on Palestinian land

The Israeli Civil Administration’s higher planning committee approved the constructing of a bypass road on confiscated Palestinian lands in the northern occupied West Bank yesterday.

A spokesperson for the Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), the Israeli agency responsible for implementing Israeli policies in the occupied Palestinian territory, told Ma’an that the committee had approved the construction of a road on lands of the village of Al-Nabi Elyas.

They added that the construction would begin in around a month, and was expected to be completed in a year and a half.

According to the Applied Research Institute – Jerusalem (ARIJ), 97 per cent of Al-Nabi Elyas lands are located in Area C, the 60 per cent of the West Bank under full Israeli military control.

Nearly 44 perc ent of the village’s lands have been confiscated to build the illegal Israeli settlement of Alfei Menashe, according to ARIJ.

Earlier this month, the Israeli Supreme Court rejected an appeal filed by residents of Al-Nabi Elyas over Israel’s confiscation of 100 dunams (0.1 square kilometres) of Palestinian land for the road, claiming that the Palestinian villagers could not prove ownership of the land.

The court said earlier this month that the road would benefit both Palestinians and Israeli settlers in the area. However, Hebrew news sites reported yesterday that the road would be used by Israeli settlers to avoid driving on roads near Palestinian villages.

The decision from the Supreme Court came as the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, approved a preliminary reading of a bill which would retroactively legalise settlement outposts in the occupied West Bank, which are currently deemed illegal under both Israeli and international law, even those built on privately owned Palestinian land.