The so-called Civil Administration Office, run by the Israeli military in the occupied Palestinian territories, designated around 28,000 Dunams of Palestinian lands, beyond the Annexation Wall, as state lands. The move will be later followed by constructing and expanding Jewish settlements.Israeli daily, Haaretz, has reported that Maj. Gen. Yoav Mordechai, who coordinates his government’s activities in the occupied territories, told a subcommittee of the Knesset, last week, that the 28,000 Dunams (Around 6.199 Acres) received the approval the Civil Administration’s taskforce “for demarcating state land”.
The taskforce, known as “Blue Line Task Force”, was created by the Israeli government, back in 1999, to reexamine lands shoddily considered in the 1980’s as lands “that belong to Israel.”
The Israeli paper further stated that most of the lands, recently declared as “belonging to the state”, hold a strategic value to the settlers, and could lead settlements close to the Green Line, the line between historic Palestine and the West Bank, to be linked to Israeli towns.
Israel intends to confiscate around 3,476 Dunams of Palestinian lands near Ariel settlement, in the northern part of the West Bank, adding that around 2,302 Dunams in the southern Hebron Hills of the occupied West Bank have been claimed by Israel as “state land”.
Talking to Haaretz, Dror Etkes of Rabbis for Human Rights said the Israeli decision is another indication that Tel Aviv is not interested in peace talks with the Palestinians.
He said that the illegal activities of the Israeli government, and adding more lands to the jurisdiction of Jewish settlements, indicate that the Israeli Government of Benjamin Netanyahu believes there is no Oslo agreement, no Wall and no peace negotiations with the Palestinians.
Etkes told Haaretz that the amount of lands, and their locations in the occupied territories, shows that the Civil Administration believes all lands in Area C, (under full Israeli military control in the occupied West Bank, and should become part of the Palestinian State) are all designated for settlement activities.
He added that this has been taking place on the ground over the past twenty years. Such activities prevent the establishment of a viable and contiguous Palestinian State as the occupied territories became fragmented and isolated by the Annexation Wall, and Israel’s illegitimate settlements.
Israeli Peace Now Movement said that, during the 9 months of direct talks mediated by US Secretary of State, John Kerry, Israel advanced plans and tenders for constructing more than 13,851 units in Jewish settlements, in occupied East Jerusalem.
Israel’s illegitimate settlements and the Apartheid Wall are preventing the Palestinians access to what is left of their orchards and lands.
They have isolated entire Palestinian communities and turned them into ghettos, fragmented and isolated.
Such activities are also meant to keep and boost Israel’s hold on all vital areas in occupied Palestine, especially in and around occupied Jerusalem, the Jordan Valley and its fertile lands, hilltops and all areas with natural resources, including water.
Peace Now Report on Israeli Settlement Activities during the Nine Months of Talks;
9 Months of Talks, 9 Months of Settlement Development
