Occupation seizes 694 dunams of land in Qalqilya and Salfit governorates

SadaNews - The head of the Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission, Minister Muayyad Shabaan, stated that the occupation authorities seized approximately 694 dunams of citizens' land in the towns of Kafr Thulth, Deir Estiya, and Bedia in the Qalqilya and Salfit governorates under the pretext of state lands.

Shabaan added: The declaration by the occupation authorities, through what is known as the commissioner for government and absentee property, regarding new areas of Palestinian land as "government property or state lands," represents a qualitative and serious escalation in the policy of land seizure. It is part of a systematic context aimed at forcibly re-engineering Palestinian geography using colonial legal tools.

Shabaan clarified that the military order, which confiscated approximately 694 dunams, is part of the occupation's plan to establish a new colonial settlement bloc southeast of Qalqilya and north of Salfit, specifically south of the settlement of Karnei Shomron under the name "Dorot." He added that this announcement is based on a system of military orders and unilateral administrative procedures that completely disregard Palestinian property rights and violate the rules of international humanitarian law, particularly the Fourth Geneva Convention, which prohibits the occupying power from confiscating land or changing its legal status.

He added that the policy of declaring "state lands" is not a technical or administrative procedure but represents a central tool in the Israeli colonial project, used to dry up Palestinian ownership and later prepare the land for settlement expansion within the framework of the creeping annexation of Palestinian land.

Shabaan emphasized that this announcement comes at a dangerous political moment, where legislation, structural plans, confiscation decisions, and colonial tenders are integrated to form a comprehensive system aiming to impose irreversible facts on the ground according to the occupation discourse, transforming the occupation from a temporary situation into a permanent system of coercive sovereignty.

He stressed that the Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission is monitoring this announcement from all legal and field aspects and will work to support the affected citizens while completing possible legal procedures to thwart these plans, alongside exposing these policies to the international community and relevant UN institutions.

Shabaan concluded by asserting that Palestinian land is not a subject of administrative dispute but a rightful claim of a people living under occupation, and attempts to legitimize confiscation through declarations and military orders will not change the fact that what is happening is organized settlement colonialism, requiring a responsible international stance that goes beyond silence and verbal condemnation.