Israel has declared about 183 dunums (45 acres) of land in the towns of Battir, Sa’ir and al-Shuyukh in the occupied West Bank districts of Bethlehem and Hebron as “state land”, the Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission said on Monday. The government body said in a statement that the two declarations were issued on 18th October and signed by the official responsible for government and abandoned property in the Israeli occupation’s “Civil Administration”. It said the measures were linked to settlement expansion and efforts to legalise settlement outposts. Declaring land “state land” allows Israeli authorities to take control of it and manage and dispose of it under the laws and procedures they apply, preventing its owners from using it or […]