HEBRON, February 1, 2011 (WAFA) - The Israeli military authorities Tuesday informed landowners in Beit Ummar, north of Hebron, that it was going to seize more than 600 dunums of their land, according to local activists.

spokesman for the National Committee against the Wall Muhammad Awad,, said that the Israeli authorities handed Beit Ummar local council the land seizure order issued by the Israeli civil administration, a department of the military government.

The land will be used to build an Israeli educational institute for settlers’ purposes but at the expense of Palestinian agricultural land.

Farmers in the area said that they were the legal owners of the 600 dunums Israel plans to expropriate, stressing that they possess Turkish, British, and Jordanian tabou (land deeds).

They said the land is planted with grape vines and that these were the only source of living for many families.

The Gush Etzion settlement bloc, the largest in the West Bank, seized nearly 30% of Beit-Ummar’s land and the settlement of Karmi Tsur seized up to 53%. The Apartheid and Separation Wall also took away some of the land.

Y. Y