Nablus: The Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission (CWRC) revealed Tuesday the Israeli occupation authorities' intention to seize a total of 4,600 dunams of land belonging to the towns of Sebastia and Burqa, northwest of Nablus in the occupied West Bank.

According to Qatar News Agency, this move constitutes a perilous escalation, part of a schematic plan that relies on heritage infiltration as a tool for incremental annexation, by exploiting Palestinian archaeological heritage to cement Israeli control and transform it into a colonial-political instrument, warned Head of the CWRC, Muayyad Shaaban, in press statements.

He stressed that this move is not an isolated action, but is part of the Israeli occupation's constant legislative movements to enforce an actual annexation of the West Bank under the guise of protecting archaeological sites.

The bill rendered by right-wing members in the Israeli Knesset calls for broadening the powers of the Israeli Archaeological Authority to include lands in the West Bank, implying the actual annexation of these territories within the Israeli administrative and legal structure, presaging some sort of cloaked legal annexation, Shaaban caveated.

Shaaban further noted that this escalation came following broader Israeli government measures to allocate large amounts of funds to take over the West Bank's archaeological sites, based on allegations of the existing 3,064 Jewish archaeological sites across various areas of the West Bank, including 2,452 sites in the zone designated as 'C', currently controlled almost entirely by the Israeli occupation.

He called for Palestinian, Arab, and global action to confront the ownership decision and expose the occupation's utilization of cultural heritage as a cloak for legal annexation.

In addition, Shaaban further stressed the importance of providing urgent legal pushbacks and operationalizing tools of diplomatic and human rights action on this issue.

The move entails the covert/legalistic annexation of approximately 445 acres of land in the town of Sebastia, representing nearly 40% of the town's total area.

This effectively means that the land will fall under the jurisdiction of the Israeli Antiquities Authority, overseen by Israeli Civil Administration officers and archaeological officers affiliated with this occupation authority.