The so-called Israeli Civil Administration has earmarked 35,000 dunums (8,650 acres) of land currently defined as "State Land" to expand settlements and outposts in the West Bank, Haaretz daily reported Tuesday.
The administration has been surveying and mapping the old state lands recently, although these are firing zones ,Haaretz said.
However, the newspaper explained that the Israeli government had seized one million dunums from West Bank lands and turned them into military training bases, but following the Oslo Accords these bases were moved to the Negev. Nevertheless, Haaretz explained that the Israeli authorities are still keeping Palestinians out of these areas and demolishing buildings that are sometimes erected there.
Dror Etkes who has been heading the Peace Now Settlement Tracking Project said that 99 percent of this "State Land" in the territories has been allocated to settlers. So far, 260,000 dunums have been mapped throughout the West Bank – 35,000 dunums of which are in firing zones, Etkes said.
The mapping survey of state lands can be used to legalize outposts by issuing building permits retroactively for existing structures there and earmarking land reserves for additional construction, Etkes explained.
Etkes told Haaretz that the fact so much effort is being put into marking the state lands that were previously firing zones "goes together with the fact that these are areas that, either were never used for training or have not been used for training for many years."