Ramallah, June 3 (Petra) -- Israeli forces on Wednesday issued an order to seize dozens of dunams of Palestinian-owned land east of the city of Tubas in the northeastern occupied West Bank.

Mutaz Bisharat, the official responsible for settlement affairs in Tubas Governorate, said in a statement that Israeli authorities had issued a military order to seize 42 dunams of land belonging to the village of Tayasir, east of Tubas, for what they described as Israeli "military purposes." Palestinian National Council President Rawhi Fattouh said the decision constituted an "illegal land seizure crime" against Palestinian territory and represented "a blatant violation of international law and international legitimacy resolutions," which prohibit an occupying power from confiscating land or altering its legal and demographic character.

Separately, Israeli military bulldozers demolished a house and a commercial workshop in the town of Jaba, north of occupied Jerusalem, according to the Jerusalem Governorate.

The governorate said in a statement that the structures had been standing for 11 years. It added that Israeli authorities had imposed a fine of 10,000 shekels (about $3,000) on the owner a week earlier, which he paid before receiving a demolition notice last Sunday on the grounds of building without a permit.

In a separate development, governorates across the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem witnessed a wide-ranging Israeli military campaign involving raids, searches and arrests targeting dozens of Palestinians, amid continuing field escalation and tighter military measures at the entrances to Palestinian cities and towns.

The Palestinian Prisoners Club said in a statement that the campaign targeted former prisoners and university students and was concentrated in the governorates of Nablus, Tulkarm, Ramallah and Al-Bireh, as well as towns surrounding Jerusalem and Bethlehem.

The group said approximately 41 Palestinians were arrested during the latest campaign.

//Petra// AF