Land Seizure Through Military Orders: Strategic Settlement Expansion

In recent months, Palestinian institutions, including the Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission, have officially documented that the Israeli army has issued approximately 36 land seizure orders under military pretexts, in addition to other orders for roads and facilities purposes, covering about 800 dunums over the past six months since January 2025. All these lands have been identified as private property belonging to Palestinian farmers, being used as "security buffer zones" around settlements such as Sidi Boaz southwest of Bethlehem.

Settlement Strategy and Outpost Policy

This method is employed within the policy of "pastoral" settlements or "outposts" that were primarily established after 1967 to impose Israeli presence in Palestinian territories, extending to more than 138 settlement outposts spread throughout the West Bank.

Legal Analysis: International Law Violations

In this legal analysis, we find that there are no genuine Israeli legal justifications for seizing and confiscating these lands, which explains the army's use of military orders to justify this. However, under international law, establishing settlements and seizing private property is considered a violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention. The International Court of Justice's advisory report (2024) confirmed the necessity to "halt all settlement activity" and "evacuate settlements" from the 1967 territories.

Private Land Ownership

We are discussing "private lands" in evidentiary terms, meaning these lands represent registered Palestinian ownership, and any action without the consent of their owners constitutes illegal settlement and violation of property rights, entrenching the concept of creeping annexation of private lands in Area C. This explains the necessity of filing complaints by landowners.

Creating Facts on the Ground Strategy

These measures come in the context of an understandable attempt to establish facts on the ground through applying the "Create facts on the ground" pattern, which confuses security, sovereignty, and urban expansion. There is no explanation other than this, as relations with the extreme right in the Israeli government, such as Smotrich, entrench this approach and strategy that works to expand settlements and despair from agreements (Oslo), leading to the consolidation of geographical and political division.

Impact on Palestinian Communities

Regarding its impact on the Palestinian side, these measures increase forced displacement of Palestinians, as occurred in Masafer Yatta south of the West Bank, the Jordan Valley, and other areas, making life continuation very difficult through policies of:

• Destroying homes and trees
• Cutting off sources of livelihood
• Exacerbating all humanitarian conditions
• Weakening the ability to persevere and resist
• Exposing communities to violence from semi-armed settlers

International Law Perspective

Finally, as a researcher, I believe that international law rejects this approach and imposes an obligation to stop the action and hold legal responsibility for any assault on the rights of the Palestinian people. Everyone in the international community knows that these are strategic steps to expand settlements and dismantle the possibility of establishing a connected and continuous Palestinian state.

Conclusion: Systematic Military Settlement Vision

I also believe that this step indicates a systematic military settlement perspective, aimed at destroying hope in the two-state solution on the ground, deepening the occupation and obliterating Palestinian national rights.