Ramallah, August 10 (QNA) - The Israeli occupation authorities issued a new military order to seize 2,224 dunams (2,224 square meters) of land belonging to the village of Marda in Salfit in the occupied West Bank under the pretext of "military purposes".

In a statement on Monday, the Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission (CWRC) indicated that the military order targets lands from Basin No. 3 of the lands of Marda, in the locations of 'Wadi Qasim' and 'Kafif Al Abhar,' and explicitly stipulates taking possession of the specified area and transferring its ownership to the commander of the occupation army through the official responsible for the affairs of the ministry of the occupation army.

CWRC pointed out that the maps attached to the military order reveal that the targeted plot of land is located directly south of Route 505, at the intersection of a local road leading to the area north of the settlement of Ariel, at a point that is approximately midway between the village of Marda and the town of Jammain, which gives the site importance in terms of supervising and controlling the axis of movement in the area. The purpose of the seizure is to establish a tower facility for collection and communications, according to the data of the military order.

The commission added that the military order comes in an escalating context of the occupation authorities' use of 'seizure orders for military purposes' to temporarily acquire Palestinian lands and re-engineer control over axes, roads and sites surrounding settlements. (QNA)