The Jewish community of Beit El in Judea and Samaria. Photo: Yaakov via Wikimedia Commons.

JNS.org – Senior Israeli Civil Authority officials warned Tuesday that Palestinian Arabs are engaging in a coordinated effort to take over Israeli-owned land in Judea and Samaria, and that senior Palestinian Authority (PA) officials may be involved in the effort.

“Over the past two to three years, there’s been a battle for Area C,” said Director of Inspection Unit Marco Ben-Shabbat, according to Israel National News. “It’s not like what we saw before, with a single Palestinian building a private home illegally. It is much more organized.”

Although the PA has signed agreements giving Israel control of Area C, it considers the Israeli presence in the area to be “occupation.” In a new book, Col. (res.) Daniel Reisner, the former head of the international law department in the IDF Military Advocate General’s Corps, writes that “since the territories of Judea and Samaria were never a legitimate part of any Arab state, including the Kingdom of Jordan, it is impossible to determine that Israel is an occupier in Judea and Samaria in the accepted legal definition.”

“It is inconceivable that the entire world will repeat the mantra about Judea and Samaria being occupied territory when from a factual standpoint there is no legal basis for this,” said Alan Baker, an attorney and former Israeli ambassador to Canada.