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The unauthorized West Bank outpost of Migron. (Daniel Bar On)
Last update - 09:24 17/03/2008
Court case reveals how settlers illegally grab West Bank lands
By Meron Rapoport
Tags: West Bank, Israel 

West Bank settlements have expanded their jurisdictions by taking control of private Palestinian land and allocating it to settlers. The land takeover - which the Civil Administration calls "theft" - has occured in an orderly manner, without any official authorization.

The method of taking over land is being publicized for the first time, based on testimony from a hearing on an appeal filed by a Kedumim resident, Michael Lesence, against a Civil Administration order to vacate 35 dunams (almost 9 acres) near the Mitzpe Yishai neighborhood of the settlement. Official records show the land as belonging to Palestinians from Kafr Qaddum.

Lesence's lawyer, Doron Nir Zvi, admitted at the hearing that the land in question was private Palestinian property. However, Lesence claims ownership on the grounds that he has been working the land for more than a decade, after he received it in an orderly procedure, complete with a signed agreement, from the heads of the Kedumim local council.
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Affidavits from Civil Administration officials stated that Lesence began cultivating the land only in the past six months.

Attorneys Michael Sfard and Shlomi Zecharia, who represent the Palestinian landowners on behalf of Yesh Din - Volunteers for Human Rights, insist their clients continued to work the land, and that the army and settlers from Kedumim are denying their access to it.

Kedumim residents who testified before the board said that the Palestinian have no problem reaching their lands. However, a visit to the area reveals a different picture: The guard at Mitzpe Yishai announced that "it is forbidden to allow Arabs in" to the lands abutting the neighborhood. After the Palestinians approached their property on foot, an army patrol arrived and moved them off. When the commander was told they have Civil Administration documents proving they own the land, the commander replied: "Documents don't interest me."

The land-takeover method was developed in Kedumim and neighboring settlements during the mid-1990s, after the Oslo Accords, and continues to this day.

Zeev Mushinsky, the "land coordinator" at the Kedumim local council, testified as to how it works: Council employees, Mushinsky in this case, would map the "abandoned lands" around the settlements, even if they were outside the council's jurisdiction, with the aim of taking them over. The council would "allocate" the lands to settlers, who would sign an official form stating that they have no ownership claim on the m, and that the council is entitled to evict them whenever it sees fit, in return for compensating them solely for their investment in cultivating the land.

Kedumim's former security chief, Michael Bar-Neder, testified that the land "allocation" was followed by an effort to expand the settlement. Bar-Neder said that once the settlers seized the lands, an application would be made to the military commander to declare them state-owned, since under the law covering the West Bank, anyone who does not cultivate his land for three years forfeits ownership of it.

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      1.   Caught with hand in the cookie jar 03:12  |  Harold 17/03/08
      2.   These racist-terrorist settlers should be deported home to Europe 03:29  |  anti-racist 17/03/08
      3.   Return the Land - Then Pay Back Rent 03:33  |  Mark of Lewiston 17/03/08
      4.   Land Theft 03:36  |  Roland 17/03/08
      5.   Israel`s illegal Settlers Methods Have Finally Been Exposed 03:51  |  Johan Odin 17/03/08
      6.   Disgusting Land Theft 03:52  |  gearoid 17/03/08
      7.   All The Settlements are land-grab and theft! 04:15  |  Johnson 17/03/08
      8.   It has been going on for decades 04:16  |  Mark Lincoln 17/03/08
      9.   and MUslim countriies must return land stolen from Jews! 04:25  |  judith 17/03/08
      10.   This is funny 04:35  |  x 17/03/08
      11.   #1 Bad idea 05:53  |  maoriboy 17/03/08
      12.   #9 Let`s go futher back... 06:14  |  Mozes 17/03/08
      13.   settlements 06:28  |  Gregor 17/03/08
      14.   to anti-racist #1 06:28  |  israel winicki 17/03/08
      15.   Mark of Lewiston - pissing to the win`ard 06:29  |  Mark Lincoln 17/03/08
      16.   The Master Race, and what it means 06:44  |  Mark Lincoln 17/03/08
      17.   # 7 to mark lincoln re: new mexico 06:48  |  eric 17/03/08
      18.   Reparations 06:48  |  Denise 17/03/08
      19.   This asks again the question 06:48  |  Mark Lincoln 17/03/08
      20.   Grabbing 06:57  |  franky 17/03/08
      21.   one of MANY recent revelations regarding land theft 07:21  |  eric 17/03/08
      22.   It does not really matter HOW they are doing 07:45  |  Kris Lazar 17/03/08
      23.   So what`s new in the land of Canaan? 07:55  |  JW 17/03/08
      24.   # 8 to judith in NEW YORK 08:00  |  eric 17/03/08
      25.   Address the problem in an earnest manner 08:05  |  dovvod 17/03/08
      26.   Why are there settlements? 08:20  |  dovvod 17/03/08
      27.   unattractive homes 08:28  |  Denise 17/03/08
      28.   #24 Just to point out something, dowod 08:48  |  Johnboy 17/03/08
      29.   Israel 48 8000 sq kms 10:53  |  trumpeldor 17/03/08
      30.   #1 11:29  |  Mike 17/03/08
      31.   To disappropriate land thieves would be justice 11:49  |  Ivar 17/03/08
      32.   Not new news 11:57  |  Chook 17/03/08
      33.   #2 Mark 12:46  |  Moshe 17/03/08
      34.   Land Grab , ugly face of Jewish Behaviour 12:55  |  Jacob 17/03/08
      35.   #4 John 13:01  |  Moshe 17/03/08
      36.   Zionism At Its Best 13:32  |  Yaakov Sullivan 17/03/08
      37.   How Can Israel Call Itself A Democracy? 13:50  |  Yaakov Sullivan 17/03/08
      38.   @8 Judith on fairness 14:17  |  Mark B. 17/03/08
      39.   #30 ivar and jumping to conclusions 14:27  |  v hardman 17/03/08
      40.   #35-36 Yaakov 14:29  |  Moshe 17/03/08
      41.   Land theft 14:34  |  Axel 17/03/08
      42.   shock shock 14:45  |  al 17/03/08
      43.   Legal...Thieves....This is Israel... 14:57  |  Ali 17/03/08
      44.   Army & Settlers are in Control 15:02  |  David James Vickery 17/03/08
      45.   dowod on why there are settlements 15:03  |  Ibrahim 17/03/08
      46.   Legal...Thieves....This is Israel... 15:04  |  Ali 17/03/08
      47.   #41 Ibrahim 15:31  |  Moshe 17/03/08
      48.   Ali, that`s my thinking too..... 15:42  |  David James Vickery 17/03/08
      49.   Moshe ! 15:46  |  David James Vickery 17/03/08
      50.   Where is Margie from Tel Aviv? 15:47  |  Guido 17/03/08
      51.   Moshes, this is nothing but rationalisation 16:05  |  Yaakov Sullivan 17/03/08
      52.   What illegaility of Olmert being PM? Bibi was 2nd on Likud list 16:07  |  Hypocritic Meron 17/03/08
      53.   Eureka! 16:13  |  Esther 17/03/08
      54.   business as usual, not shocking 16:21  |  Ernst 17/03/08
      55.   illegal...? 16:22  |  ravi 17/03/08
      56.   It is all done with the BLESSING of the army and politicians 16:52  |  Antonio 17/03/08
      57.   Moshe I disagree 17:04  |  Ibrahim 17/03/08
      58.   #38 Mark 17:08  |  judith 17/03/08
      59.   #2 "anti-racist" 17:11  |  Jeff 17/03/08
      60.   David James Vickery 17:20  |  Axel 17/03/08
      61.   Jewish land 17:23  |  Hilda 17/03/08
      62.   west bank land grab 17:50  |  nathan 17/03/08
      63.   If they want homes 17:50  |  W 17/03/08
      64.   Hilda 17:58  |  Axel 17/03/08
      65.   Don`t Rush to Judge; No "Collective Guilt" Please 17:59  |  Yaakov Sullivan 17/03/08
      66.   it is not theft 18:03  |  G.George Duraisingh 17/03/08
      67.   #43 Ali and #48 David James Vickery 18:05  |  Yaakov Sullivan 17/03/08
      68.   west bank land grab 18:05  |  nathan 17/03/08
      69.   #65 False Yaakov Sullivan 18:25  |  Yakov Sullivan 17/03/08
      70.   I don`t know why, but the words "pirate colony" comes to my mind. 18:26  |  John 17/03/08
      71.   #16 Mark Lincoln 18:28  |  Yaakov Sullivan 17/03/08