Tel Aviv, October 13 (RHC)-- The Israeli regime has notified the residents of a Palestinian village about its new plans to grab more land near the West Bank city of Bethlehem, according to news reports from Tel Aviv.

The Palestinians of the al-Khader village were told on Sunday that about 80 dunums of Palestinian-owned agricultural lands were about to be seized. The land grab is aimed at the illegal construction of new settlement units, parks, a synagogue and agricultural roads.

According to observers, the move will connect the settlements in that area with the settlements in the occupied West Bank. The residents, who've been being denied access to their lands in the past 20 days, were told that they had 60 days to appeal against the move at the Israeli Supreme Court.

Speaking to reporters on Sunday, an Israeli legal activist said: "Rarely has a Palestinian won such a court case. Usually, they use different laws and reasons to confiscate these lands and to ensure that in the occupation's legal framework, Palestinians will never win such a court case." 

The presence and continued expansion of Israeli settlements in occupied Palestine has created a major obstacle for the efforts to establish peace in the Middle East.

The UN and most countries regard the Israeli settlements as illegal because the territories were captured by Israel in a war in 1967 and are hence subject to the Geneva Conventions, which forbids construction on occupied lands.