RAMALLAH, January 7, 2026 (WAFA) – Israeli occupation authorities seized 694 dunums of land belonging to the towns of Kafr Thulth in Qalqilya Governorate, and Deir Istiya and Biddya in Salfit.
The head of the Wall and Colonization Resistance Commission, Minister Mu’ayyad Shaaban, said the occupation seized the land under what it labels “state land,” noting that this move constitutes a serious and qualitative escalation in land seizure policies. He added that it comes within a systematic framework aimed at forcibly re-engineering Palestinian geography through colonial legal tools.
Shaaban explained that the seizure order falls within an occupation plan to establish a new colonial bloc east of Qalqilya, specifically south of the Karnei Shomron illegal colony. He added that this declaration is based on a system of military orders and unilateral administrative measures that completely disregard Palestinian property rights and flagrantly violate the rules of international humanitarian law, particularly the Fourth Geneva Convention, which prohibits an occupying power from seizing land or altering its legal status.
He stressed that the policy of declaring “state land” is not a technical or administrative procedure, but rather a central instrument in the Israeli colonial project, used to strip Palestinians of their land ownership and later prepare the land for colonial expansion, within the framework of the creeping annexation of Palestinian land.
Shaaban noted that this announcement comes at a highly dangerous political moment, where legislation, structural plans, seizure decisions, and colonial tenders converge to form an integrated system aimed at imposing irreversible facts on the ground, transforming the occupation from a temporary condition into a permanent regime of forced sovereignty.
He affirmed that the Wall and Colonization Resistance Commission is following up on this announcement on all legal and field levels and will work to support affected citizens and pursue all possible legal measures to thwart these plans, in parallel with exposing these policies before the international community and relevant UN institutions.
Shaaban concluded by stressing that Palestinian land is not an administrative dispute, but an inherent right of a people living under occupation, and that attempts to legitimize seizure through declarations and military orders will not change the reality that what is taking place is organized colonization, which requires a responsible international stance that goes beyond silence and verbal condemnation.
T.R.
