Report: Israeli forces seizes 28 thousand dunums, demolishes 600 homes during 2012

(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - The Palestinian Land Research Center confirmed that the Israeli occupation authorities (IOA) have stepped up significantly, over the past year (2012), the confiscation and demolition policies in the West Bank, where they confiscated 28 thousand dunums (1dunum=1000 square meters) and destroyed 600 homes.The center said, in a report, said that in 2012 was "the most formidable in terms of seizing land and uprooting, burning, and bulldozing trees, and the most formidable in terms of demolishing Palestinian houses and terrorize and displace their owners.The center has documented the confiscation of about 28 thousand dunums (2,800 Hectares) of Palestinian land for Jewish settlement, an increase to more than double the area of land confiscated in 2011. Most of the confiscation took place in occupied Jerusalem.The center also documented in 2012 the demolition of around 600 Palestinian homes and properties in the West Bank, including about 106 in Jerusalem, 121 in al-Khalil, an increase of 12 per cent over the year 2011, pointing out that the demolition orders have increased by about 60 per cent compared to 2011.According to the center, 37 thousand trees were burned or uprooted, including about 31 thousand olive trees, an increase of about 85 per cent compared to 2011, including 5600 trees in al-Khalil, 500 trees in occupied Jerusalem, and 10260 trees in Nablus.The Israeli occupation authorities demolished more than 60 wells in the West Bank, including 6 in Jerusalem, 31 in al-Khalil, while new demolition orders were issued for about 47 wells, about seventy per cent of them in al-Khalil, while confiscating 21 water tankers concentrated in the northern Jordan Valley.End item/ 149