Jerusalem24– WAFA – Israeli authorities handed eviction notices today to several Palestinian landowners in Tarqumiyah, northwest of Hebron in the occupied West Bank.
The Israeli authorities say the 600 dunums of privately-owned Palestinian lands are registered state lands – a tactic that Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem says is “the principal tool used to take control of land.”
Most of the 600 dunums are agricultural lands used for olive and grape cultivation.
Suleiman Ja’afra of the Turqumiyah Land Defence Committee told WAFA news agency that the owners have proof of ownership of their lands.
Ja’afra claimed that the seizure is intended to transfer more land to the illegal settlements of Telem and Adora southwest of Tarqumiyah.
Activists in the Hebron area say that settlers have harassed residents for months, including by burning Palestinian olive groves in order “to connect the Adora and Telem settlements.”
