The Civil Administration of the Israeli army recommended that more territories be seized in the West Bank, succumbing to pressure from Jewish settlement leaders after the government suspended the annexation plan.
The seized lands would be dedicated for settlements, in what seen as “compensation” for the decision to suspend annexation.
The Civil Administration’s recommendation was made in response to a query submitted by Likud party MP Uzi Dayan over why it was taking the Civil Administration so long to declare land that had already been surveyed the property of the state, reported Israel Hayom newspaper.
In response, a Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories representative wrote: "Our primary recommendation is to regulate the land in Judea and Samaria gradually, with definitive and final results. The advantages of regulating land ownership are greater than the resources invested in declaring lands to be the property of the state, when they are attacked by appeals and in the courts, a long process that sometimes takes years."
The COGAT recommendation won the support of former Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked. Attorney-General Avichai Mendelblit looked into it and approved it. It was submitted to the Prime Minister's Office and to all the defense ministers who have held the post in the last two years. Now the recommendation is waiting for the government to implement it, said the Israeli daily.
Currently, there are some 106,000 dunams (26,200 acres) of land in Judea and Samaria that have already surveyed but not declared state-owned land, and hundreds of thousands of dunams of land that is lying fallow that has not been surveyed or declared state property, meaning that dozens of settlements across Judea and Samaria are still awaiting regulation of their status, it continued.
Some of these territories will be seized and registered as state land.
This means that these territories will be used for settlement projects. Israeli law in occupied Palestinian territories prohibits the seizure of privately owned lands for settlement, but allows their development is they are registered as state lands.
Palestinian sources revealed that based on this approach, Israel has seized some 780,000 dunums in Area C. Several of these territories are the subject of cases at the Israeli Supreme Court because of their Palestinian ownership.
Israel does not recognize this ownership and bars the owners from accessing their properties.
Meanwhile, the Palestinian Authority has started its own process of regulating land ownership and has some 600 PA employees working on claims.
The Civil Administration does not recognize land registration by the Palestinian Authority.
