Introduction Land confiscation and denial of use and access have been one of the main tools used historically by Israel to seize Palestinian land, and constitutes one of the root causes of the ongoing forced population transfer of Palestinians today. While certain instances of confiscation, home demolitions or blocked access are covered by the media, these reports rarely contextualize these actions as part of a broader Israeli policy of forced displacement of Palestinians. This paper mainly aims to demonstrate Israeli perpetrated land confiscation as a systematic policy resulting in the direct and indirect forcible displacement and transfer of Palestinians. The paper addresses the illegality of this policy and its impact by using international law to assess the main Israeli mechanisms of land confiscation and denial of use and access. A number of case studies are also provided to demonstrate the accompanying violations of human rights associated with the implementation of this policy. The Israeli policy of land confiscation encompasses an array of mechanisms designed to transfer Palestinian ownership or rights of ownership, particularly access of land, to Israeli bodies and authorities, Zionist organizations such as the Jewish National Fund, and Jewish-Israeli individuals. These mechanisms can be divided into two types: de jure and de facto confiscation. While de facto land confiscation does not immediately change the ownership status but rather reflects the situation on the ground, de jure confiscation constitutes the official transfer of ownership. In situations of de facto confiscation, Israel is in control of the land and applies numerous measures that seriously hinder or deny the landowner’s use and access of the land or property. Such limitations can come in the form of laws or Israeli military orders that designate parcels of land as closed military zones, nature reserves, national parks, seam zones,1 and/or the 1 Seam zones are sections of Palestinian land within the oPt which have been isolated as a result of the construction of the illegal Israeli Annexation and Separation Wall, with their location falling inbetween the Wall and the 1949 Armistice Line (Green Line), and are thus cut off from the rest of the West Bank. For more information, see BADIL Resource Center, Seam Zones, available at: http://www. badil.org/phocadownloadpap/Badil_docs/bulletins-and-briefs/Bulletin-25.pdf 9