Israel is targeting Palestinian construction in West Bank, senior official assures Knesset

A senior Israeli army official has assured lawmakers that forces are dedicating significant resources to combating Palestinian construction in the occupied West Bank.

Colonel Uri Mendes, deputy head of the Civil Administration – the Israeli military body in charge of the day to day management of the occupation – made the remarks on Sunday in a meeting of the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee’s Subcommittee for the occupied West Bank.

The subcommittee’s focus was on what it described as “the Palestinian Authority’s strategic takeover of land in Area C”, the roughly 60 per cent of the West Bank where the majority of illegal Israeli settlements are located, and where Palestinian structures are routinely demolished.

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According to a report on the Knesset website, the “first debate was held behind closed doors with the participation of intelligence officials and representatives of the Civil Administration and the Ministry of Defence”.

During a second, open meeting, Kobi Eliraz, a senior aide to Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman, said that Israeli officials are “familiar with the attempt to takeover lands, which is directed by the Palestinian Authority”.

“The minister has placed it on the agenda, and operational, legal and administrative measures are being taken against it. There is an organised work plan, including the setting of goals, but we will not talk about the specifics, even in a closed forum,” he added.

Mendes, meanwhile, revealed that in 2018 to date, “there have been 128 cases in which Israel has seized equipment from the Palestinians”, noting that the head of the Civil Administration “holds monthly meetings on illegal Palestinian construction”.

Timeline: Israel’s anti-Palestinian laws since 1948