was still held by displaced Palestinians. Over the years, Mandate Palestine experienced several occupations and administrations: Ottoman, British, Jordanian, and Egyptian. Israel has selectively appropriated and discarded different laws from each of these administrations to assist its policy of land confiscation. In addition to selecting pre-existing laws, Israel also developed and ratified new laws and military orders to complement a tailored dual legal framework: Israeli civil law governing Israel and military orders governing the oPt. One of the most effective legal instruments is the use of the classification of ‘state land’.17 Israel inherited the land that was registered in the British High Commissioner’s name from the British government after 1948. In addition, Israel modified the ‘state land’ concept/definition to expand its applicability to other categories of Palestinian lands. By exploiting the traditional land registry system of, introducing new definitions of ‘state land’ through numerous military orders and deliberate misinterpretation of historic relevant provisions, Israel has blurred the line between state land and other categories of lands. The Israeli concept of ‘state land’ has been designed to encompass public lands, other categories of uncultivated land and private but unregistered lands.18 In 1980 Israel declared all uncultivated and unregistered lands as ‘state land’, including all Mewat and Miri19 land that had not been cultivated for more than 10 years.20 This and other modifications as well as laws enacted since the 1950s apportioned 93 percent of the land in Israel to be under governmental control.21 These state lands are owned directly by the Israeli government or by quasi17 When ownership of land rests in the hands of the state/government, as opposed to privately owned lands or lands administered by the state but for public use which constitute public lands. 18 See Lorenszo Kamel, “Israeli concept of ‘State Land’ Needs Another Look”, al-Monitor, 6 May 2013, available at: http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2013/05/settlements-land-ownershippalestine-israel.html#ixzz4pvgeW9Oa; BADIL, Israeli Land Grab and the Forced Population Transfer of Palestinians: A Handbook for Vulnerable Individuals and Communities, 12 June 2013, available at: https://www.badil.org/phocadownloadpap/Badil_docs/publications/handbook2013eng.pdf [hereinafter BADIL, Israeli Land Grab]. 19 Miri land is mostly agricultural or rural land. The ultimate ownership rests with the state; however, an individual could gain right of use. The transfer from the state to an individual can occur after 10 years of cultivation (Fredric M. Goadby and Moses J. Doukhan. The Land Law of Palestine (Tel Aviv: Shoshany Print Co., 1935), page 7.) Mewat land refers to barren, uncultivated, vacant areas lying at least one and a half miles away from inhabited areas. This land is not owned or possessed by anyone, but any person who started using mewat land with the administration’s consent would be entitled to cultivate it, and the land would become miri land. 20 Najeh S. Tamim, “A Historical Review Of The Land Tenure and Registration System In Palestine,” AnNajah J. Res.III, no. 9, (1995): 96, available at: https://journals.najah.edu/media/journals/full_texts/ historical-review-land-tenure-and-registration-system-palestine.pdf [accessed 19 September 2017]. 21 Knesset, “The State of Israel as a Jewish State,” n.d., available at: http://knesset.gov.il/constitution/ ConstMJewishState.htm [accessed 19 September 2017] 13