State moves to expand settlement on Palestinian land confiscated by Jordan

[Jefferson23]

Supreme Court ruled long ago that settlements may not be built on confiscated private Palestinian land, but move hinges on fact that it was Jordan, not Israel, who confiscated the land.

By Chaim Levinson

Israel is pushing ahead with a plan that would legitimize construction on land near the settlement of Ofra in the West Bank.

The Supreme Court ruled as early as 1979 that settlements may not be built on confiscated private Palestinian land. The move's legal foundation appears to hinge on the fact that it was the Jordanians, not the Israelis, who confiscated the land - before Israel took over the West Bank during the Six-Day War in 1967.

Jordan had confiscated land from the villages of Ein Yabrud and Silwad to build a military camp. When the settlement project began after 1967, the first settlers used the military buildings as sleeping quarters for a camp they established there. By 1975, the camp had become Ofra, the first Jewish settlement in the northern West Bank, now home to more than 700 families.

The land in the current plan contains a cluster of dilapidated buildings. In the past two years, amid a housing shortage, the settlers of Ofra began preparing the land for a new neighborhood. The land now lies within Ofra's fence; in effect, the plan would expand the settlement.

in full: http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/state-moves-to-expand-settlement-on-palestinian-land-confiscated-by-jordan-1.368136