NABLUS, October 27, 2015 (WAFA)
– The Israeli authorities issued on Tuesday a military order to seize
Palestinian-owned land to the north of Nablus, according to security sources.
Ghassan Daghlas, who monitors
settlement activities in northern West Bank, told WAFA Israeli authorities had
issued orders to confiscate seven tracts of Palestinian-owned land in the
villages of Beit Furik, Salem, Awarta, Yasuf, Sawiya, and Azmout.
The six villages are located in
an active settlement zone, referred to by the Israel as the Shomron Regional
Council, which comprises 29 Israeli settlements.
According to the Israeli
anti-settlement group, Peace Now, “Over the years, Israel has used a number of
legal and bureaucratic procedures in order to appropriate West Bank lands, with
the primary objective of establishing settlements and providing land reserves
for them.”
“Using primarily these five
methods: seizure for military purposes; declaration of state lands; seizure of
absentee property; confiscation for public needs; and initial registration,
Israel has managed to take over about 50% of the lands in the West Bank,
barring the local Palestinian public from using them.”
According to OCHA weekly report
covering the period between 1 and 7 of September 2015, “In the southern West
Bank, dozens of demolition and stop work orders were issued in Area C,
including against 18 residential structures and a donor-funded school serving
40 students in three communities in the Massafer Yatta area (Hebron), which has
been designated by the Israeli authorities since the 1980’s as a closed
military zone for training, also referred to as the “918 firing zone”.
OCHA said, “Around 1000 people
currently living in this area are at risk of forcible transfer.”
M.N/M.H
