Land Seizure Through Military Orders
By Dr. Hassan Brijeyeh
Director of International Law Department, Wall and Settlement Resistance Authority
Recently, Palestinian entities including the Wall and Settlement Resistance Authority 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, covering about 800 dunams over the past six months since January 2025.
All these lands have been identified as private property belonging to Palestinian farmers. They are being used as "security buffer zones" around settlements such as Sidi Boaz southwest of Bethlehem. This method is used within the policy of "pastoral settlements" or "outposts" that were fundamentally established after 1967 to impose Israeli presence in Palestinian areas, extending to more than 138 settlement outposts spread across the West Bank.
Legal Analysis
In this legal analysis, we see that there are no real legal Israeli justifications for seizing and confiscating lands. This explains the army's use of military orders to justify this. However, under international law, establishing settlements and expropriating private property is considered a violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention.
The International Court of Justice advisory opinion (2024) confirmed the obligation to "stop all settlement activity" and "evacuate settlements" on 1967 lands. Here we are talking about "private lands" in evidentiary terms, meaning these lands represent registered Palestinian ownership. Any action without the consent of their owners is considered illegal settlement and a violation of property rights, consolidating the concept of creeping annexation of private lands in Area C.
This explains the necessity of filing complaints by landowners. These procedures come in the context of an understood attempt to establish facts on the ground by applying the pattern of "Create facts on the ground," which confuses security, sovereignty, and urban expansion.
Political Context
Relations with the far-right in the Israeli government, such as Smotrich, consolidate this approach and strategy that works to expand settlements and create despair regarding the Oslo Agreements, leading to the consecration of geographic and political division.
Impact on Palestinians
These procedures increase the forced displacement of Palestinians, as happened in Masafer Yatta in the southern West Bank and the Jordan Valley and other areas, making the continuation of life very difficult. The policy of destroying homes and trees, cutting off sources of livelihood, and exacerbating all humanitarian conditions weaken the ability to persevere and resist, especially when exposed to violence from semi-armed settlers.
Researcher's Conclusion
International law rejects this approach and imposes an obligation to stop such actions 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.
This step indicates a systematic military settlement vision aimed at destroying hope for a two-state solution on the ground, deepening the occupation, and obliterating Palestinian national rights.
Tuesday, July 8, 2025