The Israeli army ordered the confiscation of land in the northern West Bank to build a new military base, according to Palestinian residents who received notification of the move on Wednesday.
In an order distributed to 12 residents of the northern district of Tubas, Israel’s army commander for the West Bank said the military would take control of 37 hectares of land until the year 2012.
“Lands will be seized for military purposes to build a base,” the order read, according to the residents.
The military denied any new land would be confiscated.
Instead, the military said in a statement, “We renewed the contracts in order to give back to the owners land the army doesn’t need any more.”
Israel has said it would no longer confiscate West Bank land to expand Jewish settlements, but that does not apply to the military.
The new order added to Palestinian mistrust of Israel as it pursues peace talks with moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
While not extending the boundaries of the settlements, the Israelis are building new housing inside some of them, angering the Palestinians.
“Every procedure that confiscates lands or expands settlements ... adds to the doubt Palestinians feel about Israel’s intentions in reaching a peace deal,” said Jamal Zakkout, a Palestinian government spokesman.
The Israeli military confiscation order allows residents to demand compensation — a move few Palestinians undertake because they believe it signals approval.
There are already two military camps nearby, residents said. That means they are banned from entering much of the area.
“We people here live off the land and raise animals, we need our land,” resident Ibrahim Badawi said.
The 60-year-old farmer said he hadn’t been able to reach his fields in years because of checkpoints that dot the area, as well as surrounding military bases and settlements.
Sarit Michaeli of Israeli human rights group B’Tselem said that under international law, the army is permitted to seize lands for military purposes. But she said that in the past Israel had taken land for military purposes only to convert bases into Jewish settlements later.
James Watson — the Nobel laureate co-credited with the pivotal discovery of DNA’s double-helix structure, but whose career was later tainted by his repeated racist remarks — has died, his former lab said on Friday. He was 97. The eminent biologist died on Thursday in hospice care on Long Island in New York, announced the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, where he was based for much of his career. Watson became among the 20th century’s most storied scientists for his 1953 breakthrough discovery of the double helix with researcher partner Francis Crick. Along with Crick and Maurice Wilkins, he shared the
OUTRAGE: The former strongman was accused of corruption and responsibility for the killings of hundreds of thousands of political opponents during his time in office Indonesia yesterday awarded the title of national hero to late president Suharto, provoking outrage from rights groups who said the move was an attempt to whitewash decades of human rights abuses and corruption that took place during his 32 years in power. Suharto was a US ally during the Cold War who presided over decades of authoritarian rule, during which up to 1 million political opponents were killed, until he was toppled by protests in 1998. He was one of 10 people recognized by Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto in a televised ceremony held at the presidential palace in Jakarta to mark National
US President Donald Trump handed Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban a one-year exemption from sanctions for buying Russian oil and gas after the close right-wing allies held a chummy White House meeting on Friday. Trump slapped sanctions on Moscow’s two largest oil companies last month after losing patience with Russian President Vladimir Putin over his refusal to end the nearly four-year-old invasion of Ukraine. However, while Trump has pushed other European countries to stop buying oil that he says funds Moscow’s war machine, Orban used his first trip to the White House since Trump’s return to power to push for
LANDMARK: After first meeting Trump in Riyadh in May, al-Sharaa’s visit to the White House today would be the first by a Syrian leader since the country’s independence Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa arrived in the US on Saturday for a landmark official visit, his country’s state news agency SANA reported, a day after Washington removed him from a terrorism blacklist. Sharaa, whose rebel forces ousted long-time former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad late last year, is due to meet US President Donald Trump at the White House today. It is the first such visit by a Syrian president since the country’s independence in 1946, according to analysts. The interim leader met Trump for the first time in Riyadh during the US president’s regional tour in May. US envoy to Syria Tom Barrack earlier
RSS