RAMALLAH, February 14, 2017 (WAFA) – In its weekly meeting in Ramallah on Tuesday, the Palestinian cabinet discussed the work of the new Land and Water Planning Commission, which it said was vital for the protection of Palestinian property.

The commission, established last year by a presidential decree, is entrusted with the job of issuing land deeds to Palestinian landowners, mainly in areas of the West Bank threatened by Israeli takeover, so that they will have in their possession legal documents to prove ownership of their property.

The cabinet said in a statement issued at the conclusion of it meeting that “the government gives special attention to the issue of land and to the affirmation of people’s ownership of their land in all the Palestinian territories, including Area C,” which Israel wants to annex and build settlements by claiming absence of owners of these lands. Area C makes about 60 per cent of the area of the West Bank.

The commission was established, according to the cabinet’s statement, “to embody the Palestinian legal and historical right to our land and to realize the goal of affirming land ownership rights of citizens, and the issuance of land registration deeds in order to have legal proof of ownership to dispel Israeli allegations that there are no owners for these lands.”

Israel claims most of Area C is either state land or does not have legal owners and therefore justifies expropriating this land to build settlements on.

M.K.