Israel is confiscating more land for its controversial separation barrier.
An official Palestinian report shed light on a “frenzied settlement attack” in the occupied West Bank.
These lands are located in areas classified as “C”.
According to a report by the Palestinian Liberation Organization's National Office for the Defense of Land and Resistance of Settlement, Israeli forces seized 2,522 dunums of land in the West Bank only this week.
These included 129 dunums (32 acres) of land belonging to Adh-Dhahiriya and As-Samou' towns, south of Hebron, approximately 150 dunums (37 acres) of Beit Liqya, a town to the southwest of Ramallah city, 2,000 dunums (49 acres) of Al-Jaba'a village southwest of Bethlehem and approximately 500 dunums of Palestinian land in Hizma town, east of Jerusalem.
Israeli authorities also issued military orders to seize 66 dunums of Beit Duqqu village, northwest of Jerusalem, and renewed their threats to seize approximately 190 dunums of Palestinian land in 'Anata village, east of the holy city, for military purposes.
To the south of Nablus, 124 dunums were seized from the lands of Majdal Bani Fadhil and Douma.
The seizure order also included the modification of borderlines according to a map reported by the Israeli occupation authorities.
Under this map, Israeli forces seized 36 dunums of agricultural land in Tubas governorate in the northern West Bank to expand the settlement units in the Maskiot settlement.
They also issued a military order to seize 60 dunums of the lands of Faqou'a, located behind the separation barrier, between the towns of Jalboun and Faqou'a, east of Jenin.
There is an ongoing conflict between Palestinians and Israelis in Area C, which Israel controls under the Oslo Agreement. It accounts for 61 percent of the West Bank.
The 1993 Palestinian-Israeli Oslo agreement divided West Bank land into three areas.
Area “A” is under full Palestinian rule, Area “B” is administered by the Palestinians but the security remained in Israel’s hands and Area “C”, which is under full Israeli control and makes up more than 60 percent of the West Bank area.
There are settlements, large areas of lands and roads for settlers in Area C that lead to Jerusalem, which is isolated from the rest of the West Bank.
