Misuse of closed zones in the West Bank

Published: 5 March 2016

Last updated: 4 March 2024

How Israel keeps Palestinians off a third of all West Bank land – Amos Harel – Haaretz 25.09.2015
A detailed report by Israeli NGO Kerem Navot reveals how orders creating closed military zones have worked since 1967 to shape the map of the West Bank in the settlers' favour. At date of the report, nearly one third of the West Bank was subject to such orders (1,765,000 dunams or about 436,000 acres) about 78% of which was not being used for military purposes at all.
Read article here and see full Kerem Navot report here

And see:

In rare move, IDF returns over 1,700 dunams to Palestinian landowners in Area C - Tovah Lazaroff - The Jerusalem Post 02.03.16
In response to High Court of Justice petitions by Yesh Din [see note re Yesh Din at end of this post] on behalf of two Palestinian village councils, the IDF has returned about 420 acres of land to five Palestinian villages. The land was seized in the 1970s and 1980s for military use but had in fact been little used by the military. Petitioners’ attorney calls on IDF to review all Palestinian land seized on ground of military necessity but not used, or no longer used, for military purposes.

Jordan Valley settlers took 150 acres from Palestinians in 2015 – Chaim Levinson – Haaretz 29.02.16
During 2015, Jordan Valley settlements appropriated 600 dunams (150 acres) of Palestinian farmland in an area that is off-limits to Palestinians for ‘security reasons.’

Settlers using security zones to expropriate Palestinian land July 12, 2015

Settlers farming land Israeli army has closed off to its owners May 7, 2015

Yesh Din – Volunteers for Human Rights is an NGO recognised by the Israeli government whose Public Council includes a former Attorney-General of Israel and Supreme Court Acting Justice, a former Deputy Attorney-General of Israel, a former Israeli Consul General in New York and head of the Ministry of Defence delegation to Europe, an Em. Professor of Physics at the Weizmann Institute of Science, an Israeli historian who is an Israel Prize winner and one of the world’s leading experts on Fascism, a former Deputy President of the Knesset and Em. Professor at the Hebrew University and other leading Israelis.