Ramallah:The Israeli occupation army has issued a military order to seize 26.473 dunums of Palestinian land across the towns of Deir Nizam, Umm Safa, and Attara, located in the northwest of Ramallah. The seizure is justified under the pretext of using the land for "military purposes."
According to Palestine Info Center, the annexed land is intended for the construction of a new settler bypass road. This road is planned to connect the illegal settlements of Ateret and Halamish (Neve Tzuf), known as the Ateret–Neve Tzuf emergency axis, which aims to enhance connectivity between Israeli settlement sites in the area.
The military order, which will remain effective until the end of 2028, grants the Israeli army exclusive possession of the specified route as detailed in the accompanying maps. The Palestinian Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission has stated that 5.891 dunums of the seized land, representing approximately 22.3 percent of the total area, are classified by Israeli authorities as "state land." The remaining 20.582 dunums do not fall under this classification.
The Israeli occupation authority has been increasingly utilizing military orders to assert control over Palestinian land in the occupied West Bank. The United Nations considers these Israeli settlements in the West Bank, including east Jerusalem, to be illegal under international law.