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Israeli authorities have issued a military order to seize 30 hectares (74 acres) of Palestinian land near Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank under the pretext of expropriation for public purposes, a Palestinian official said on Tuesday, Anadolu Agency reports.
Moayad Shaaban, head of the Palestinian Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission, said the order targets land in the Jabal Al-Fureidis area near Bethlehem and is intended to facilitate the development of what Israel describes as an archaeological site.
In a statement, Shaaban said the measure was the third expropriation order issued by Israeli authorities since the beginning of 2026.
He warned that the decision forms part of a broader policy aimed at imposing legal and administrative control over Palestinian land and redirecting it to serve housing projects for occupiers.
According to Shaaban, Israeli authorities had already declared 17.1 hectares (42 acres) of land surrounding the site as state land in 2024.
READ: Israeli forces arrest 4 students in West Bank raids, hold 89 women in detention: Rights group
He said targeting Palestinian archaeological and heritage sites goes beyond land control and is part of efforts to reshape the historical and cultural landscape in support of the settlement enterprise.
Shaaban described the policy as one of the most dangerous tools used to impose de facto annexation of Palestinian territory through unilateral measures that violate international law.
The announcement comes amid increased Israeli measures involving archaeological sites in the West Bank, which Palestinian officials say are being used to expand control over land and strengthen settlement activity in Area C.
Under the 1995 Oslo II Accord, Area C, which comprises about 61% of the occupied West Bank, remains under full Israeli control.
In February, the Israeli government approved a measure allowing authorities to register large areas of West Bank land as state property for the first time since 1967, according to Israel’s public broadcaster.
Israeli violence has surged across the occupied West Bank since October 2023, with Palestinian officials reporting 1,168 deaths, 12,666 injuries, nearly 23,000 arrests and the displacement of around 33,000 people as of May 26.
READ: Settler council advances plan for 18 settlements in the northern West Bank
This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
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