34 Israeli Land Grab and Forced Population Transfer of Palestinians of the total value of the land.122 Generally speaking, this process is costly and risky. Most problematic is the fact that the Civil Administration might confiscate a portion of the land during the process, for example if the required documents are missing. Also, the Israeli Custodian123 may become a partner if one of the owners (usually an inherited descendant) is abroad. Therefore, many Palestinians prefer not registering their properties merely to avoid the five percent levy, the Custodian’s confiscation, or the costly fees. In addition, the administrative system itself is problematic. The registration committee’s decisions whether or not to award ownership can be appealed according to Military Order 172.124 However, the decision of the Land Registry Officer to forward the application to the registration committee in the first place – the first step in the registration process – cannot be appealed. In theory, the Israeli Supreme Court could still review a petition in this matter. LAND SEIZURE125 By the end of 2008, Israel had confiscated or de facto annexed approximately 70 percent (4,102 km2) of the land in the occupied West Bank. Some 60 percent of this land was already expropriated by the mid-1980s.126 Seizure for ‘Military Needs’ Between 1968 and 1979 almost 47,000 dunums (47 km2) of privately owned land was confiscated in the West Bank based on claims that it was “required for essential and urgent military needs”, which was the rationale adopted in the Bet El case.127 The Israeli Supreme Court found that: [T]aking possession of private property in occupied territory to build a civilian settlement does not contravene the principles of international customary law… if establishment… is required for military needs…128 122 Regulations Concerning Land Registration Fees [Combined Version] (Judea and Samaria) 2009. 123 See section on Absentee Land. 124 Military Order Regarding Appeal Committees (Judea and Samaria) 1967, 1967. 125 Israel employs international legal provisions to take possession of the land claiming military necessity. Military occupation, however, is intended to be of a temporary nature and as such the requisition of land under this mechanism must also be temporary. Therefore, the occupying power does not acquire ownership rights to confiscated land, but rather usage ‘rights’. 126 BADIL, Confiscation and Discriminatory Distribution of Land (June 3, 2010); available from http:// www.badil.org/es/monitoreo-continuo-de-los-desplazamientos/item/1369-land-confiscation?tmpl=co mponent&print=1; accessed 23 April 2013. 127 B’Tselem, Land Grab, 48; Ayyub Et Al V. Minister of Defense Et Al, 33(2) 113 Piskei Din (HCJ 1979) (Hereafter: Bet El). 128 Sheikh Suliman Hussein ’Udah Abu Hilu Et Al. V. Government of Israel (HCJ 1972).