Israel seizes more than 500 dunums of Palestinian land near Jerusalem to expand two illegal colonies

The Israeli occupation authorities seized 501 dunums of land from the town of Jaba, northeast of occupied Jerusalem, and declared them "state lands," today said the Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission. The Commission head, Muayyad Shaaban, said the occupation authorities are trying, by converting these lands into so-called state lands, to create geographical continuity between the Adam and Geva Benjamin colonies near occupied Jerusalem, which will lead to the expansion of these colonies. Meanwhile, Israeli colonists today seized 12 dunums of agricultural land south of Bethlehem, according to the director of the Bethlehem Office of the Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission Hassan Breijieh. He told WAFA that colonists seized the 12 dunums owned by a Palestinian resident in the Khallet al-Nahla area near the village of Wadi Rahhal, located between Efrat colony and the colonial outpost, Kivat Itam, and planted them with forest trees. It is noteworthy that the colonists seized about 300 dunums in th e same location a week ago, and planted it with forest trees as a way to assume control over the land. Source: Palestine News and Information Agency – WAFA