Israel is seizing 189 dunums of Palestinian land near Qaryut. Qaryut is south of Nablus, and near Yatma. A dunum is 1,000 square metres, so the seizure would be just shy of 50 acres, not a small amount of land in a tiny country.
It isn’t certain what the land will be used for, but it will become unavailable to the villagers and will be used by nearby settlers or the occupation army. No compensation is likely to be paid unless villagers can prove ownership of the land, which is very difficult due to the Palestinian system of ownership and the recent history of Palestine.
It’s not the first time that the Israelis have seized land. Last time it was 900 dunums to add to Route 60, a road linking illegal Israeli settlements. Route 60 is off limits to Palestinians and indeed cuts them off from part of their lands. According to the mayor of Qaryut, the cut off land is now used by Israeli settlers.
Canadian Friends of Yatma 