WEST BANK (Dispatches) – The Zionist regime’s army issued two edicts on February 10 to confiscate more than 10,000 dunums (1,000 hectares) of Palestinian land in the occupied West Bank.
Referred to as “temporary military decisions”, the army is targeting 8,734 dunums in the Tubas areas and 2,394 dunums in several villages east of Ramallah.
The text of the two orders stated that they were issued by Yossi Segal, the official responsible for regime property and absentee property in the West Bank, to approve a temporary decision on lands occupied by the regime for the purpose of grazing.
Recently, Zionist settlers have seized large areas of land in the West Bank under the pretext of grazing their livestock. To impose de facto control, they release cows and sheep into the plains and mountains, control them, and prevent Palestinians from reaching them.
Pastoral settlement constitutes one of the most serious challenges to Palestinians looking to preserve their land.
Najeh Rustom, mayor of Kafr Malek, east of Ramallah, told Middle East Eye that he had received a decision to confiscate at least 1,500 dunams of the town’s land.
He explained that these lands were used by the local community, which had cultivated various crops on them before the Zionist regime’s army shut off access to the land following October 7 operation and the subsequent war on Gaza.
“Little by little, we became unable to reach this area, which was also inhabited by dozens of Bedouin families, but the settlers expelled them from it months ago with their attacks,” Rustom said.
One settler with some sheep and cows controls the area, as well as others in neighboring villages against which a confiscation order has been issued, such as Deir Jarir, Abu Falah, and al-Mughayer.
The Israeli army has protected settlers during their incursion into these lands and prevented Palestinians from getting there. An official confiscation decision was recently issued, initially under the pretext of grazing, but it is believed that the reason will be changed to another, such as the conversion of lands into a nature reserve or military zone.
“The settlers deprived us of our grazing and agricultural areas. We used to depend on livestock for our livelihood, but now we only graze them between our homes and many were forced to sell them due to the lack of pastures despite the vast areas they own,” Rustom explained.
The Palestinians believe that these confiscation decisions are merely a prelude to an accelerated annexation process, which the Zionist regime seeks to complete this year.