The Israeli authorities issued on Tuesday a military order to seize Palestinian-owned land to the north of Nablus, according to security sources. Ghassan Daghlas, who monitors settlement activities in northern West Bank, told WAFA Israeli authorities had issued orders to confiscate seven tracts of Palestinian-owned land in the villages of Beit Furik, Salem, Awarta, Yasuf, Sawiya, and Azmout. The six villages are located in an active settlement zone, referred to by the Israel as the Shomron Regional Council, which comprises 29 Israeli settlements. According to the Israeli anti-settlement group, Peace Now, "Over the years, Israel has used a number of legal and bureaucratic procedures in order to appropriate West Bank lands, with the primary objective of establishing settlements and providing land reserves for them." "Using primarily these five methods: seizure for military purposes; declaration of state lands; seizure of absentee property; confiscation for public needs; and initial registration, Israel has managed to take over about 50% of the lands in the West Bank, barring the local Palestinian public from using them." According to OCHA weekly report covering the period between 1 and 7 of September 2015, "In the southern West Bank, dozens of demolition and stop work orders were issued in Area C, including against 18 residential structures and a donor-funded school serving 40 students in three communities in the Massafer Yatta area (Hebron), which has been designated by the Israeli authorities since the 1980's as a closed military zone for training, also referred to as the "918 firing zone". OCHA said, "Around 1000 people currently living in this area are at risk of forcible transfer."
