The Civil Administration has recently published (on August 7, 2024) an updated blue line for the Migdal Oz settlement, located south of Bethlehem. The blue line represents the area that Israel has declared as state or public land. The delineation of the blue line is carried out by the Blue Line Team of the Civil Administration. Updating the blue line is necessary to approve a building master plan.
In the latest update to the blue line for the Migdal Oz settlement, an additional 116.2 dunams have been added. This correction to the blue line, which includes the expansion of the settlement’s area, is equivalent to the declaration of new state land. The total area within the settlement’s blue line now amounts to 244.2 dunams. According to media reports, it appears that the purpose of this declaration is to enable a plan for the construction of 500 housing units.
In the past, changes to the blue line of a settlement were not accompanied by a public announcement from the Civil Administration. However, following a petition by the organizations Bimkom and Yesh Din, which argued that changes to the blue line are akin to a new declaration of state land and therefore should allow for the right to appeal. It was decided to implement a procedure where the blue line is published, and appeals can be submitted within 45 days of the publication date.
The Migdal Oz settlement was established in 1977 based on a military seizure order. The seizure order, issued in 1976, covered an area of 527 dunams. The settlement currently spans 588 dunams, of which 33 dunams were previously declared state land, while nearly the entire remaining area is based on the military seizure order. In the late 1970s, the Israeli High Court ruled that a settlement could not be established based on a military seizure order, as a settlement does not constitute a security need. The declaration of a blue line for the Migdal Oz settlement retroactively legitimizes part of the military seizure area that was initially established under questionable circumstances.
In 2024, the Civil Administration has declared 24,193 dunams as state land (24,309 dunams including Migdal Oz). Although the year is not yet over, 2024 has already set a record for state land declarations. In just eight months, nearly half of all the land declared since the Oslo Accords in 1993 has been designated as state land. These numerous declarations are a direct result of the government’s policy to prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state and to legitimize the settlement enterprise. This accelerated pace of declarations has been made possible largely due to the transfer of authority to Minister Smotrich as an additional minister within the Ministry of Defense and the establishment of the Settlement Administration under his responsibility.
Peace Now: The Israeli government continues to legitimize the injustice and original sin of the settlement enterprise. Instead of evacuating settlements established through military seizure orders, which have taken hundreds of dunams from the Palestinian residents of Beit Ummar, the government perpetuates this injustice with regulations and laws that deepen the hostility between Israelis and Palestinians. This is a messianic government focused solely on annexation and the perpetuation of the war & occupation, with no regard for the security of either Israelis or Palestinians.
