The Israeli occupation authorities issued two military orders on Thursday to confiscate approximately 16 dunams of privately owned Palestinian land in the village of Jinsafut, east of Qalqilia in the northern West Bank, for the construction of new colonial, segregated road segments.
The Colonies Monitoring Department in Qalqilia Governorate stated that the orders aim to establish two colonial road links: one connecting the illegal colony of Yakir to Karnei Shomron, and another linking Immanuel to Karnei Shomron.
These colonies are built on lands belonging to the villages of Jinsafut, Immatin, Kafr Laqif, Far’ata, and Deir Istiya.
The new road segments form part of a broader network of bypass roads designed to serve Israeli colonies while further isolating Palestinian communities and restricting their movement.
The department warned that the orders will effectively deny access to agricultural lands for approximately 150 Palestinian farmers.
Even those who obtain Israeli-issued permits will be barred from reaching their plots, under the pretext that the lands lie adjacent to segregated colonial roads where Palestinian presence is prohibited.
Human rights organizations and legal experts have condemned the move as a grave violation of international law, particularly the Fourth Geneva Convention, which prohibits the transfer of an occupying power’s civilian population into occupied territory and the destruction or appropriation of property not justified by military necessity.
Article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention prohibits collective punishment and acts of terror against civilian populations.
Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention states: “The Occupying Power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies.” It also prohibits the “individual or mass forcible transfers, as well as deportations of protected persons from occupied territory”.
Articles 53 and 147, which prohibit the destruction of civilian property and classify pillage as a war crime. Israeli colonies also constitute war crimes under International Law.
