Israeli authorities issued three military orders to confiscate Palestinian land in the West Bank governorate of Bethlehem to use for settlement expansion, the Qatar News Agency (QNA) reported yesterday.

The head of the Committee Against the Wall and Settlements in Bethlehem, Hassan Bureijia, said that the first military order is related to Palestinian lands in the area of Al-Makhrour in the city of Beit Jala.

He stated that the land is owned by the Palestinian people in Beit Jala and Al-Khader neighborhood.

This agricultural land, estimated to be hundreds of dunams in size, is to be used, Bureijia said, to expand settlement road number 60, which connects Jerusalem with the settlement bloc of Gush Etzion.

Bureijia said that the other military order related to lands in Al-Rashaydeh neighborhood east of Bethlehem.

He said that this land is to be used for the expansion of the illegal settlement of Maali Amos.

The third military order, Bureijia said, is related to Palestinian lands in the village of Taqu in the south of Bethlehem and it is to be used for the expansion of the settlements of Nikudim.

Bethlehem cities, villages, and neighborhoods have been subject to increasing Israeli theft of land in favor of expanding illegal Jewish settlement projects.