LONDON: Israeli authorities in the occupied West Bank issued four military orders this week to seize over 22,000 square meters of land belonging to residents of the Palestinian towns of Arraba and Qabatiya, located south of Jenin.
The area has been designated for military purposes, and the move comes as tension in the West Bank escalated since last week after the deaths of four Palestinians and two Israelis in clashes in the village of Tel, southwest of Nablus, according to Palestine News Agency.
Israeli authorities confiscated over 4,379,000 square meters of Palestinian-owned land in the first half of this year, citing reasons such as military needs and settlement expansion, according to the Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission affiliated with the Palestinian Authority.
Israel allocated $434 million this month to build 34 settlements and an additional $355 million for road construction to support these projects. Six of these new settlements are planned to be built in the Bethlehem Governorate, which includes the predominantly Christian towns of Beit Jala and Beit Sahour.
Israeli land grab and settlement expansion in the West Bank and East Jerusalem have long been condemned by many members of the UN. Israel’s actions are widely considered to be illegal under international law.
