JERUSALEM - One of Israel's oldest West Bank settlements was largely built on private Palestinian land in violation of the government's own rules for sanctioned construction, and should be dismantled immediately, an Israeli human rights group said Monday.
The report by the B'Tselem group was the latest highlighting of murky land transactions in the West Bank, often with government involvement, as part of Israel's settlement enterprise.
Earlier this year, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported that more than one-third of Israel's 122 authorized West Bank settlements were built on land confiscated from Palestinians on security grounds and then turned over to settlers.
B'Tselem said Monday it has obtained records showing that more than half the built-up area of the Ofra settlement, established in 1975 in the heart of the West Bank, sits on land registered as belonging to Palestinians. A flagship of Israel's settlement movement, Ofra is now home to some 3,000 Israelis.
Most of the records were obtained from government agencies through freedom of information appeals, meaning the information is likely "no secret to the Israeli authorities," said B'Tselem spokeswoman Sarit Michaeli.
An Ofra spokeswoman, Merav Gold, said settlers purchased the land from Palestinians but cannot make the transactions public or register them because that would endanger the Palestinian sellers. Such clandestine deals are common in the West Bank because Palestinians selling land to settlers are considered traitors and several have been killed.
"Therefore, things are done below the surface," Gold said, adding that Ofra "works to be a legal, organized, fair and moral community."
Israeli human rights attorney Michael Sfard, who represents Palestinian landowners in a case against Ofra, said the settlement has been unable to provide documents proving such sales.
Israel differentiates between sanctioned West Bank settlements like Ofra and dozens of squatter camps that were set up in recent years without formal approval. B'Tselem said that while all settlements on war-won land are deemed illegal under international law, Ofra should at least be treated like an unauthorized outpost.
"Given that, under the criteria adopted by the government, Ofra is an unauthorized outpost, Israel must dismantle the settlement, return to the Palestinian landowners the land that was unlawfully taken from them, and remunerate them for the use of their land," the B'Tselem report reads.
Israeli government officials declined comment. Earlier this year, Israeli Vice Premier Haim Ramon was quoted as telling a parliamentary committee that Ofra was built on private land.
Earlier this year, an Israeli court issued a temporary injunction against the construction of nine new homes in Ofra until an ownership dispute is settled.
The outgoing government of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has said it is willing to withdraw from large parts of the West Bank as part of a peace deal with the Palestinian. As part of such a withdrawal, dozens of settlements would have to be removed.
By KARIN LAUB
Associated Press
