***image1***More land has been confiscated from the village of Ya’bad in the northern West Bank. Ya’bad and the surrounding communities have already lost thousands of dunums with the construction of the Wall around the Rehan, Shaqed and Hinnanit settlements, and the most recent confiscation will sever more residents from their livelihoods.
On 22 May, soldiers and a representative from the so-called Civil Administration entered an area between Ya’bad and at-Tura al-Gharbiya where they distributed confiscation orders and maps clarifying which lands will be stolen. In total, 300 dunums will be lost.
The threatened land, which is agricultural and planted with mature olive trees, belongs to nine Palestinian owners. Their possession of complete legal documentation of ownership has done little to prevent the theft.
Five small communities in the area consisting of a great number of families utilize this land. For many of them, it serves as their sole source of income. The confiscation will compound the hardships faced by these residents, who face frequent military raids and have already seen thousands of dunums swallowed up by nearby settlements and related infrastructure.