Israel orders ‘immediate’ seizure of Palestinian land in northern occupied West Bank

Israeli authorities issued a military order to immediately seize nearly 7.5 dunams (1.8 acres) of land in the town of Qabatiya in Jenin Governorate, northern occupied West Bank, Anadolu reports.

The Palestinian Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission said in a statement on Friday that the order was issued as “immediate and urgent” under “security and military” pretexts.

The order targets 7.498 dunams of land in Qabatiya, with one dunam equal to 1,000 square meters, the commission added.

The order is valid for 60 days, while the deadline for filing objections was set at only 24 hours from the date of issuance, it said.

The stated purpose of the order is “urgent military purposes” and the construction of a security road, according to the commission.

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The move comes amid escalating Israeli measures to take control of more Palestinian land in the occupied West Bank through military orders and other procedures.

On Thursday, Amnesty International said in a statement that Israel’s decisions to seize occupied Palestinian land reflect an expansion of its agenda and policy aimed at annexing the West Bank to Israeli sovereignty.

The group warned that the road Israel plans to build for illegal settlements in Jenin would isolate the governorate from the rest of the Palestinian communities.

Around 750,000 occupiers live in 156 illegal settlements and 360 settlement outposts in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and carry out near-daily attacks aimed at forcibly displacing Palestinians from their land, according to Palestinian figures.

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