LONDON: Israeli authorities issued two military orders on Wednesday to seize about 25 dunums (2.5 hectares) of Palestinian land for settlement expansion and development near the Qalqilia governorate in the occupied West Bank.
Muneef Nazzal, who monitors settlement activity in Qalqilia, reported to Wafa that the Israeli army has issued an order to confiscate three dunums and 712 sq. meters of land in the town of Azzun, located east of Qalqilia. The seized plot will be used to construct a road that will connect the settlement of Alfei Menashe with the Qalqilia–Nablus road, also known as Road 55.
Nazzal said that the second Israeli order approved the seizure of about 21 dunums and 307 sq. meters of land in Azzun and Jayyous for a “security wall” around the settlement of Tzufim.
Both Alfei Menashe and Tzufim were built on land that belongs to residents from the towns of Azzun, Jayyous, and Kafr Thulth.
Israeli settlements continue to expand in the area, taking over agricultural grounds, which directly threatens the livelihoods of Palestinian families who depend on farming as their primary source of income, according to Wafa.
Israeli settlements in territories occupied in 1967 are considered illegal under international law and hinder the establishment of a viable Palestinian state.
Last week, French President Emmanuel Macron warned that the expansion of Israeli settlements in the West Bank “fuels tensions, violence and instability” in the region, while threatening US efforts that led to a Gaza ceasefire and posing an “existential threat” to the establishment of a Palestinian state.
