PA: Israel planning to expropriate another 2% of West Bank land
By Avi Issacharoff and Amos Harel Haaretz Last update - 02:56 01/07/2009
www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1096955.html

The Palestinian Authority this week accused Israel of planning to declare
another 2 percent of the West Bank state land, thus effectively
expropriating it.

But the defense establishment rejected this claim, saying the land in
question had been under the Dead Sea until the shrinkage of that body of
water uncovered it and the goal of the declaration is to prevent the land
from being taken over by private or commercial entities.

It is not clear which claim is correct.

The storm erupted after 12 Arabic-language advertisements were published in
the East Jerusalem paper Al-Quds last Friday by the land registry office in
the West Bank settlement of Ma'aleh Adumim. The ads stated that the
Custodian of State Property had asked the registry to register additional
lands as state lands, and requested anyone who claimed ownership of these
lands to present their claims to the Civil Administration in the West Bank
within 45 days.

Each advertisement dealt with a different plot of land, detailing its
borders and giving map references. Altogether, the land in question totals
some 138,500 dunams (about 34,600 acres).

The ads aroused furious reactions in the PA, which described the move as
annexation.

"We denounce this," chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said yesterday.
"This attests to what is happening on the ground in practice: more land
expropriations."

"How," he added, "can Defense Minister Ehud Barak vow that Israel has no
intention of expropriating land when Israel openly states its intent to
declare lands amounting to almost 2 percent of the West Bank as state
lands?"

Erekat said he has brought the Israeli decision to the attention of the
United States, the European Union, Russia and other countries.

While the purpose of the move is not yet completely clear, Erekat continued,
"It will presumably, as always, begin with the expansion of a military base
and then [end with the expansion of] some settlement or another. That is
what they've done since 1967."

Israeli defense sources rejected these claims. They said all the land in
question abuts the Dead Sea and was once covered by it, but has been exposed
by the sea's steady shrinkage over the years.

Israel wants these areas declared state land in order to prevent private or
commercial bodies from taking them over, the sources said.