Hebron - Saba:
Today, Sunday, Zionist occupation forces announced the confiscation of Palestinian agricultural lands, prohibiting their use or access, in addition to seizing roads linking rural communities in Masafer Yatta, south of Hebron in the occupied West Bank.
Nidal Abu Aram, head of the Masafer Yatta Village Council, stated in press remarks that the occupation forces had notified him earlier today of the seizure of hundreds of dunams of citizens' land and several vital roads to expand settlements and connect them to the settler road network.
Abu Aram added that the occupation authorities handed the council a series of notices declaring the confiscation of agricultural lands and banning Palestinians from utilizing them.
He explained that the orders include the seizure of the road connecting the villages of Jinba and Bir Al-Ad, which will deny residents and farmers access to hundreds of dunams of land.
"The aim of this violation is to link the Metzad settlement with the bypass road No. 317, paving the way for the settlement's expansion at the expense of Palestinian land," he said.
One of the decisions also confiscates the road between the areas of Wadi Ma'in and Umm Al-Shuqhan, in addition to seizing nearly three dunams of land belonging to Al-Jabareen family under the pretext of "military use."
Abu Aram pointed out that this decision "will prevent landowners from accessing nearly 700 dunams planted with olive trees."
He warned that the pace of land seizures in Masafer Yatta "has escalated significantly since the start of the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip."
He added, "The enemy authorities are seeking to impose a new reality that entrenches settlement expansion and severs the ties between Palestinian villages and communities in the area."
The occupation authorities also issued a new order to confiscate vast areas of land to pave a new settler road near the "Givat Hanan" settlement, which was established illegally about four years ago on land belonging to the Houshiya family.
Additionally, the occupation forces seized an agricultural road in Al-Tha'la area to link the "Havat Ma'on" settlement with bypass road 317 and confiscated parts of Al-Arini family's land.
| more of (International) |