TUBAS, February 1, 2017 (WAFA) – Israel plans to seize over 36 dunums of the Palestinian village Bardala, northeast of Tubas, in the northern Jordan Valley, said a local monitor Wednesday.

Mutaz Bsharat, who monitors settlement activity in the Tubas district, told WAFA the so-called Israeli Civil Administration staff escorted by a military vehicle stormed Bardala and handed locals an official notice to seize 36.88 dunums of their land for security purposes.

Bsharat said the land would be seized to complete the construction for parts of Israel’s separation wall near the village.

He said the land belongs to Nimer Sawafta, Sami Tamimi, Rashid Swafta, Mustafa Sawafta, Rateb Sawafta and Saleh Sawafta.

The Civil Administration is an Israeli military entity responsible for the administration of the Palestinian population in Area C in the occupied West Bank in coordination with the Palestinian Authority.

Israeli forces frequently target local Palestinian farmers, confiscating their tractors and water tanks and imposing heavy fines in order to forcibly displace them.

Israel is planning to annex the Jordan Valley into a completely Israeli area, primarily in agriculture, which some speculate to prevent a territorial contiguity between a future Palestinian state and the rest of the Arab world.

To this end, tens of settlements and agricultural outposts have been established by Israel in the Jordan Valley, which makes up about one-third of the total area of the occupied West Bank.

K.F/M.H