Israel cracking down on Arab land grabs in Judea & Samaria, ministers say

There has been a 50% increase in demolitions of illegal Palestinian construction over the past year.

By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News

Two top Israeli ministers vowed on Tuesday to continue protecting Judea and Samaria from an Arab “takeover” of land that threatens Jewish settlements, focusing on a crackdown on illegal Palestinian building in the territory.

During a tour of the western Benjamin region that overlooks the Israeli coastline, Defense Minister Israel Katz and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said, “We will not allow Abu Mazen and the Palestinian Authority (PA) to use illegal construction as a tool to create a strategic threat to the settlements,” referring to PA President Mahmoud Abbas by his nom de guerre.

“Just as we are crushing Palestinian terrorism in the terror camps of Jenin, Tulkarem and Nur a-Shams,” said Katz about ongoing IDF efforts in the region, “so we will prevent any attempt by the PA to take over the territories of Judea and Samaria and harm Jewish settlement.”

“Our policy is clear and the instructions to commanders in the field are clear: deepen enforcement, expand oversight and destroy every illegal structure – without exception,” he added. “Judea and Samaria are the heart of the country, and we will defend them by all means.”

The ministers spoke in the presence of the top defense personnel responsible for the region, IDF Central Command head Maj. Gen. Avi Bluth, Coordinator of Government Activities in Judea and Samaria Maj. Gen. Ghassan Alian, and Civil Administration head Brig. Gen. Hisham Ibrahim, among others.

According to Smotrich, the government “is enforcing regulations in areas that were previously ignored” and that over the past year, “a record was broken for illegal Arab construction demolitions” in Judea and Samaria.

Specific data mentioned included 50% more demolitions and a drop of 30% in new illegal construction in 2024 in comparison to 2023.

“Settlers are not second-class citizens and the government will insist that they be entitled to security like all citizens of Israel,” Smotrich said, calling out the “rampant illegal Arab construction” as “a scourge of the state in recent decades.”

Right-wing politicians and those in charge of the settlement movement have long complained about the deliberate PA land grab to extend its territory, especially in Area C, which is officially under full Israeli military and civilian control.

According to Regavim, a watchdog group that monitors unlawful seizure of state land, over recent years the Palestinians have built some 80,000 structures, including businesses and even quarries, constructed miles of roads, and taken over parts of closed military zones, nature reserves and archeological sites, all illegally and without almost any effort on the part of Israeli authorities to stop them.