Land Confiscation


Since the beginning of its military occupation of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip in 1967, the Israeli government has used land confiscation as a means to retain permanent military control over the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

The Oslo Accords, in principle, were meant to be the vehicle through which the Palestinians would eventually achieve statehood. In reality, they have served to further Israel’s aims by compromising the territorial integrity of the West Bank, and dividing populated Palestinian areas into enclaves (Areas A), surrounded by Israeli military forces. In addition, under the peace administrations of Rabin and Peres during the supposed “era of peace and mutual understanding, an additional 294, 964 dunams of land (73,741 acres), or 5% of the total land area of the West Bank, were confiscated by the Israeli military after the signing of the Declaration of Principles (DOP). The DOP provides that the territorial integrity of the West Bank and Gaza Strip “will be preserved during the interim period.

Now, as a result of these accords, Israel exercises direct control over 73% of the West Bank (Areas C). These areas include Jewish settlements, settler by-pass roads, and Israeli military installations. The Israeli authorities are also attempting to clear these areas of a Palestinian presence by destroying Palestinian homes. Thus, Israel can consolidate its control over these areas, and pre-empt any possibility of returning these confiscated lands to the Palestinian people.

Israel’s confiscation of Palestinian land, and its establishment of Jewish-only settlements constitute the greatest obstacle to the current “peace” process. Under the Oslo Accords, the issue of settlements has been conveniently postponed until the final status talks, which has only bought Israel more time to accelerate its settlement policy. Furthermore, since the signing of the DOP, the Israeli government has spent hundreds of millions of dollars on a road network meant to link the various settlements to each other and to Israel itself, while by-passing Palestinian towns and villages. These by-pass roads, which have all been built on confiscated Palestinian land, clearly announce that as far as the Israeli government is concerned, the settlements are here to stay.

For more information on land confiscation please see the following LAW publications:



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