Large swath of Palestine land seized.

Byline: Mohammed Mar'i

RAMALLAH, West Bank: Israel declared some 1,700 dunams of Palestinian land in the northern part of Efrat settlement as state land last week, paving the way for the West Bank settlement to start the process of seeking government approval to build there, a report said yesterday.

The daily Haaretz said that the Israeli Civil Administration issued the declaration this week after rejecting eight appeals by Palestinians from Bethlehem area against the move. A ninth appeal was accepted, and the land covered by this appeal was consequently removed from Efrat's jurisdiction.

However, construction is still a long way off. First, the …