The Israeli occupation authorities confiscated today 3,492 dunums of Palestinian-owned land in the village of Aqraba, to the southeast of Nablus in the northern West Bank, according to the Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission.

Moayyad Shaaban, head of the Commission, said the Israeli occupation authorities claimed that the land confiscated is classified as state land, a claim Israel has long been using to grab Palestinian land in favor of colonial settlement construction and expansion.

Shaaban added that the latest confiscation order is part of a larger Israeli plan to control the area overlooking the Jordan Valley region and the eastern mountains of the West Bank, all in favor of the colonial Israeli settlement enterprise.

He pointed out that since the beginning of this year, the Israeli occupation authorities have issued three orders converting private Palestinian lands in the village into state land, banning Palestinians from cultivating or using them in any way.

Of note, more than 650,000 Israeli settlers live in Jewish-only settlements across the occupied Palestinian Territories in a breach of international law.

Source: Palestine News & Information Agency