RAMALLAH: The head of the Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission, Moayad Shaaban, said that since the beginning of this year, the Israeli occupation authorities have seized an estimated 40 thousand dunums of privately owned Palestinian lands.
During a press conference held today at the commission’s headquarters in Ramallah, he said that 24 thousand dunums of seized land was declared “state land”, in the largest land seizure in more than 30 years of using this pretext.
Shaaban said the occupation authorities systematically targeted nature rserves to seize a total of more than 15,000 dunums. Within the same period, the authorities set up 20 new colonial outposts, proposed studies on over 19,000 new colonial units, turned 11 outposts into colonies and gave the green light to intensify demolition operations in areas classified as Area B; under Palestinian administration and Israeli military control. and Area C; under full Israeli military and civilian control.
He said the occupation incited the colonists
to implement forced displacement schemes, by displacing 26 Bedouin communities and carrying out more than 1,300 attacks and 23 fires in villages and towns, underscoring the dangerous data which indicated the occupation’s control over 43% of the total area of the West Bank.
Shaaban stressed that according to available data, these measures no longer constitute a threat to the two-state solution, but have completely destroyed the possibility of achieving it.
He stressed that Israel is no longer targeting Area C only, but also targets Area B, in declarations that abolish what is left of political agreements and challenge UN Security Council resolutions and the global common position that condemns colonization and the acts of the occupying power, Israel.
He emphasized the need to provide international protection that would deter the brutality of the occupation and curb the terrorism of the colonists.
In the meantime, Issam Arouri, General Director of Jerusalem Legal Aid Center, underscored the dangerous rise i
n demolitions all over the West Bank since the onset of the Israeli aggression on the West Bank, including Jerusalem.
He stressed that 2023 was the worst year in almost 30 years, noting that the first half of 2024 recorded an increase in demolitions by 43% compared to 2023, and by 65% compared to 2022.
He said that such practices constitute grave violations of international law and international humanitarian law, in particular the Fourth Geneva Convention on the Protection of Civilians, which prohibits the forcible transfer and deportation of civilian populations, and the confiscation or destruction of property.
Source: Palestine News and Information Agency – WAFA