Israel seizes hundreds of dunams of land in northern West Bank

Israeli occupation forces yesterday issued orders to seize hundreds of dunams of Palestinian land in the northern West Bank and the Jordan Valley, Anadolu reported.

Mutaz Bisharat, the official responsible for settlement affairs in the Tubas Governorate, said the “Israeli occupation army distributed notifications to confiscate over 740 dunams [74 hectares] of land owned by Palestinian residents in Tubas Governorate and the northern Jordan Valley.”

It justified the seizure by claiming that the land was needed for “military purposes”.

Bisharat explained that the land earmarked for confiscation extends from the west of Bardala village to the village of Tayasir, both located north of Tubas. He noted that the area does not contain illegal settlements or military camps.

He also highlighted ongoing Israeli excavations along a main road near the town of Atuf, southeast of Tubas in the northern Jordan Valley, suggesting that they are likely for the construction of a concrete wall.

The Israeli notifications give residents seven days to file objections, but Bisharat highlighted the difficulty of this process, given the challenges in obtaining land registration certificates from Israeli authorities, which are rarely granted to Palestinian landowners.

According to the Palestinian Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission, the Israeli army seized around 27,000 dunams (27 square kilometres) of land in the West Bank during the first half of 2024 under various pretexts, including declaring them nature reserves, expropriation orders or military requisitions.

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