Israel plans to set aside nearly 2,350 acres of West Bank land for occupiers’ livestock: Commission

Israeli authorities plan to set aside nearly 2,350 acres of land in the occupied West Bank for grazing by Israeli occupiers, a Palestinian government body said Tuesday. The Palestinian Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission said two notices dated Nov. 1 outlined plans to issue temporary grazing permits covering 9,488 dunams (about 2,345 acres) of land Israel classifies as “state land.” The notices cover land in Al-Zawiya, Rafat and Deir Ballut in Salfit governorate, and in Arraba, Kafr Rai and Ya’bad in Jenin governorate.

The commission warned that using the “state land” designation to grant grazing permits could extend the reach of illegal settlements across open land between Palestinian villages. It said the impact could spread beyond the sites where livestock are kept to surrounding pastures and routes used by herders, putting more pressure on Palestinian farmers and herding communities. Israeli authorities issued seven similar military orders in 2025 covering 16,733 dunams (about 4,135 acres) of Palestinian land classified by Israel as “state land,” the commission said.

The commission documented the establishment of 211 illegal settlement outposts across the occupied West Bank over the past three years, most of them set up for grazing. According to official Palestinian figures, around 750,000 Israeli occupiers live in 194 illegal settlements and 400 outposts in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem.