Land expropriation in the West Bank
[1] The mechanisms by which Israel seizes or expropriates West Bank land were set forth in a detailed work by B'Tselem in 2002[2] and many practices outlined there were confirmed in the official Israeli Sasson Report of 2005, which focused on government subsidies and support for the creation of illegal Israeli outposts in knowing contravention of Israel's own laws.
According to Customary international humanitarian law the expropriation of residents' property by an occupying power is prohibited, except for temporary possession.
[4] Subsequently, however expropriations continued, to build numerous bypass roads to settlements, with security needs cited, and this was endorsed by the Israeli court as legitimate.
[6] Israel's justification here was posited on its interpretations of articles 43 and 55 of the 1907 Hague Regulations and a 1967 order to possess and manage at the military commander's discretion "enemy property," namely Jordan's.
[citation needed] Even if an appellant can prove he owns this land, and is resident in the West Bank, he cannot retake possession if in the meantime the Custodian has allowed it to be settled, as in the case of Beit Horon.
Israel adopted part of this law dealing with urgent expropriations for the public weal, modifying the general thrust by cancelling the provision regarding prior notification which remained in effect for 12 years.
[1] Military order no.25 placed severe restrictions on land sales in the West Bank and for a decade only the Jewish National Fund engaged in purchases.
It is forbidden under Palestinian law and custom to sell land to Jews, a fact which entailed creating a variety of methods to transfer property without the sale being visible for long periods.
Rather than assuming the task of being the custodian of that property until the occupation ended, Israel chose to transfer the use of unregistered land to Jewish settlers,[16] and on that basis, from 1967 to 1984 the Israeli government requisitioned an estimated 5,500,000 dunams, or roughly half of the total area of the West Bank, setting aside much of the land for military training and camping areas.
[19] By 1983 the expropriation was calculated to extend over 52% of the territory, most of its prime agricultural land and, just before the 1993 Oslo Accords, these confiscations had encompassed over three quarters of the West Bank.
This led to a complaint over a settlement at Elon Moreh, and the Supreme Court ruled such practices were forbidden except for military purposes, civilians only being permitted on what Israel defined as "state land".
[21] This ruling actually enhanced the settlement project since anywhere Israelis settled automatically became a security zone requiring the military to guarantee their safety.
[25] Likewise at Tel Rumeida in 2015, a military closure guaranteed settlers free passage while Palestinians are denied access to visit those residents who remain.
The IDF declared the antennae would pose a security issue, and then expropriated the site from its owners, the villagers of Burqa and Ein Yabrud, who grazed sheep and cultivated figs and grapes there.
Israeli human rights activists who try to encourage harassed Palestinians to resist expropriation, such as David Dean Shulman, rabbi Arik Ascherman, Amiel Vardi and Ezra Nawi have often been beaten up by settlers who regard them as "Nazis".
