Palestinian land returned 30 years after confiscation by Zionist organisation

Exposing the “disturbing reality” of the illegal takeover of Palestine, the Israeli High Court ordered, this week, the return of private Palestinian land in the Jordan Valley 30 years after it was handed to settlers. The case exposed the nefarious role of the Palestine colonisation group, the World Zionist Organisation (WZO), in illegal transfer of land to Jewish settlers.

The land was illegally allocated to settlers in the 1980s by the WZO‘s Settlement Division. In a rare win for Palestinians, the Court accepted a petition filed five years ago by the original owners, giving settlers seven years to evacuate crops and leave.

The Territory was occupied by Israel after the 1967 war and declared a closed military zone, barring Palestinian owners access. Despite this, the WZO Settlement Division granted the plots to Israeli settlers to grow dates.

Read: Settlers erect new outpost on Palestine land in northern West Bank

Founded in 1897 by Theodor Herzl as the institutional body of the Zionist movement with the aim of establishing a Jewish homeland in Palestine, the WZO played a pivotal role in the colonial takeover of Palestine by Jewish settlers.

After World War I, the WZO received international legitimacy for its colonial project through the British Mandate for Palestine in 1922. This designated the WZO as the “Jewish Agency” to facilitate Jewish immigration and settlement in Palestine under British rule.

After Israel’s creation in 1948, the WZO partnered with the new Israeli government on projects aimed at maximising Jewish control of the land. The WZO Settlement Division, formed in 1971, played a central role in establishing illegal settlements in the Occupied West Bank, Gaza, East Jerusalem, Golan Heights and Negev.

Read: World Zionist Organisation gave private Palestinian land to settler outpost

Justice Dafna Barak-Erez strongly criticised the land grab in the ruling, stating that it violated international law and even Jewish religious edicts. She slammed the “disturbing reality” of Israel failing to document the illegal allocation.

Attorney Wissam George Asmar, representing the Palestinian petitioners, welcomed the ruling. “The ruling does justice to the private owners of the land and upholds the High Court’s position as an independent court, capable of preserving the rights of residents and landowners, while emphasising the right to property that should not be harmed,” Asmar is reported saying in the Haaretz.