Israel confiscates Palestinian land for ‘military purposes’

Israeli occupation forces seized 70 dunums (0.001 square kilometres) of Palestinian land in the village of Jab’a this morning, to the north of occupied Bethlehem, Wafa reported.

Hasan Birjiyeh, a local anti-settlement activist, said that the Masha’al family who own the land were told that their property was seized for “military purposes”.

Read: Israel approves 800 new settlement units in occupied East Jerusalem

To the south of Bethlehem, Israeli settlers yesterday setup five caravans in Al-Khader village on land belonging to Palestinian families, according to reports by Ma’an.

Ahmad Salah, coordinator of the Anti-Settlement Committee in the village, said this was an attempt to expand the nearby settler outpost of Sde Boaz.

Israel has been expanding its illegal construction projects around Bethlehem, including expanding the network of settler only roads to serve nearby illegal settlements.