{"schema_version":1,"citation_url":"https://567politics.com/news/palestine-jericho-ein-al-duyuk-homes-pa-arrests-forgery-nachala-ownership-dispute-idf-november-2026","title":"PA detains more than 10 over Jericho-area homes settlers say they bought; ownership claims clash","description":"The PA calls the sales forged and treasonous. Nachala says it paid full value for state land. The IDF says it was not consulted and is examining the deals.","author":"567 Politics staff","publisher":"567politics","date_published":"2026-11-10T14:24:42.161788Z","date_modified":"2026-11-10T14:25:02.26945Z","body_markdown":"The Palestinian Authority says it has detained more than 10 people across several governorates over the transfer of eight homes on the edge of Jericho to Israeli settlers. Its security spokesman says those involved should be held to account on a charge of \"treason.\" The settlers' sponsors, the Nachala movement and the Binyamin Regional Council, say they bought the properties lawfully and paid their full value. The Palestinian Land Authority says no sale was ever authorized. The Israeli military, which says the families moved in without its coordination or approval, is still examining the purchases while it escorts residents in and out.\n\nThe dispute in Ein al-Duyuk al-Tahta, a village just west of Jericho, has become a test of three competing claims. One is who owns the land. Another is who has authority over it under the Oslo arrangements. The third is whether a settlement can take root at the edge of a city the PA has governed since 1994.\n\n## The PA says an organized network forged the sales\n\nPalestinian security forces spokesman Maj. Gen. Anwar Rajab told [Raya radio](https://www.raya.ps/news/1228419.html) on November 8 that investigators were close to unraveling what he called the \"leaking\" of about eight homes to settlers. He said more than 10 people had been detained, spread across several governorates rather than Jericho alone, and that some hold Israeli citizenship or come from the Jerusalem governorate. He said the sales were carried out by \"illegal, unofficial and unpatriotic\" means and that those involved worked within \"an organized network with multiple purposes,\" linked to other land and organized-crime cases.\n\nRajab said people he described as weak-willed, tempted by money, had become tools of the occupation and the settlers, and should be dealt with firmly on the basis of a \"treason\" charge. Under Palestinian law, Israel Today noted, selling land to Israelis is prohibited and can be treated as treason.\n\nIn a longer interview with [Radio Alrabiaa](https://www.r4fm.ps/articles/12226) on November 7, Rajab said the investigation had found forged documents and powers of attorney. He said the aim went beyond profit to helping settlers take control of \"an entire neighborhood.\" He said results would be published once the law allowed, and he accused unnamed groups of circulating fabricated documents, some made with artificial intelligence, to implicate Palestinian figures. [Asharq Al-Awsat](https://english.aawsat.com/arab-world/5338861-palestinian-authority-arrests-brokers-over-alleged-sale-jericho-homes-settlers) reported that the suspects, described by security sources as property brokers, were remanded in custody for 15 days, and that the PA had formed a crisis committee.\n\nHow the brokers allegedly worked is still unconfirmed. [Israel Today](https://www.israeltoday.co.il/read/palestinian-authority-arrests-palestinians-after-house-sales-to-israelis/), citing the Palestinian news portal Sawti, reported an account that the brokers approached owners whose buildings faced Israeli demolition orders. The brokers allegedly told them they were selling to a Palestinian buyer who could fight the orders in Israeli courts. Israel Today said the circumstances remain under investigation. We could not open the Sawti report and treat the account as unverified.\n\n## Two different answers on who owns the land\n\nThe ownership question has produced conflicting official claims, and some of the conflict is inside each side's account.\n\nThe Palestinian Land Authority, according to Asharq Al-Awsat, rejected claims that preliminary sale contracts, official documents or powers of attorney existed. It cited land records from before 1967 showing that one of the two plots under the buildings belongs to the state and the other to its historical owners. It said no allocation, lease or other transaction had been authorized for the plot it called Plot 14. Rajab, in his Radio Alrabiaa interview, described the lands as private property registered in the names of their historical owners.\n\nOn the Israeli side, the Binyamin Regional Council said the eight homes are on state land in Area C, the part of the West Bank under full Israeli civil and security control, according to [VINnews](https://vinnews.com/2026/11/05/jewish-families-move-into-8-homes-purchased-near-jericho-in-covert-settlement-operation/). The organizers say the purchases are backed by ownership documents. Israel Today pointed out the tension in that account: it is unclear how Palestinian owners could have sold property that is in fact state land. The [Jerusalem Post](https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/defense-news/article-914148) reported on November 7 that the purchase process \"remains unclear,\" and that a security official said it was not known whether the Civil Administration, Israel's governing body in the West Bank, had approved it.\n\nThe location adds to the stakes. The [Jerusalem Post](https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-913952) reported that the homes sit several meters from the PA-run city, which is in Area A, though they are technically in Area C. VINnews said some are near the Hasmonean palaces archaeological site.\n\n## The settlers say they are returning\n\nNachala chairwoman Daniella Weiss said the move followed the settlement vision of Rabbi Moshe Levinger and opened \"a new chapter in the history of Jewish settlement in Jericho,\" according to VINnews. Yisrael Ganz, head of the Binyamin Regional Council and the Yesha Council, recalled being 16 when Israel withdrew from Jericho in 1994. \"We are beginning to reverse the direction and dismantle the Oslo Accords through practical action, house by house and family by family,\" he said. \"We purchased the properties for their full value, and we are coming home.\"\n\nAccounts of how many people moved in differ. VINnews and the Jerusalem Post reported eight families in eight homes. Asharq Al-Awsat reported 20 families. Peace Now, cited by the Jerusalem Post, said about 30 settlers arrived at noon on Wednesday, November 4.\n\n## The military says it was not consulted\n\nThe Israel Defense Forces said in a statement quoted by VINnews: \"The entry into the homes took place without prior coordination and without approval. The acquisition process and the security implications arising from it are currently being examined by the relevant authorities.\"\n\nHaaretz then reported that the head of Central Command, Maj. Gen. Avi Bluth, had several conversations with Binyamin and Nachala representatives before the entry and told subordinates to be left out of the loop, according to the Jerusalem Post's summary of the report. Asharq Al-Awsat, also citing Haaretz, said Bluth had \"wished them success.\" On the record, the IDF called the Haaretz report false. IDF sources told the Jerusalem Post that Bluth did meet the regional defense officer, Lt. Col. Elitzur Trabelsi, before the move, but said the meetings concerned routine matters, not the Jericho plan. Asharq Al-Awsat reported that the military called the accusations \"offensive and baseless.\"\n\nSince then, the military has assigned forces to the site. According to the Jerusalem Post, Bluth ordered that entry into and exit from the neighborhood be carried out several times a day under military escort. A military source said the force's mission was \"to ensure the security of all residents in the area.\" The paper reported that two Bedouin families living nearby left their temporary structures; the IDF said it offered to help them stay, but they chose to leave.\n\n```diagram\ntype: timeline\ntitle: The Ein al-Duyuk al-Tahta homes, week one\nsource: [The Jerusalem Post](https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-913952), [The Jerusalem Post](https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/defense-news/article-914148), [Radio Alrabiaa](https://www.r4fm.ps/articles/12226) and [Raya](https://www.raya.ps/news/1228419.html)\n---\n2026-11-04: Settlers backed by Nachala and the Binyamin council enter eight homes west of Jericho\n2026-11-05: IDF says the entry was not coordinated or approved; Peace Now calls for evacuation\n2026-11-06: Haaretz reports Central Command chief knew in advance; IDF calls the report false\n2026-11-07: IDF orders escorted entry and exit; PA spokesman says forged documents were found\n2026-11-08: PA spokesman says more than 10 people detained across several governorates\n```\n\n## Rights groups and Palestinian officials call it a takeover\n\nPeace Now, which supports a two-state solution, said in a statement quoted by the Jerusalem Post that \"establishing a settlement inside Jericho poses a security threat and constitutes a geopolitical disaster.\" It argued that a caretaker government \"that has not received a mandate from the public\" has no authority to impose such changes and that the IDF \"must, therefore, evacuate the new settlement in Jericho immediately.\" Palestinian National Council chairman Rouhi Fattouh condemned what he called the \"seizure\" of the properties.\n\nJericho Governor Hussein Hamayel called the sale a forgery, [Al Jazeera](https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/11/10/palestine-weekly-west-bank-on-fire-and-gazas-tents-under) reported. The Jerusalem Post cited the PA's WAFA news agency as reporting that settlers attacked Palestinians in Deir al-Dik al-Tahta, west of Jericho, on the morning of November 5. WAFA said three people were wounded by pepper spray and beatings. Al Jazeera, citing Peace Now, reported that a Palestinian man was shot in the leg, and said the United Nations reported that the army declared a closed military zone. We could not independently confirm those incidents.\n\n## A wider month of friction\n\nThe Jericho case comes during a period of record settler-related incidents by the UN's count. Al Jazeera reported that the UN humanitarian office, OCHA, documented 457 attacks causing casualties or damage in the West Bank in October. That was the most in any month since it began counting in 2006. OCHA also counted 377 harvest-related attacks since September 1. Our earlier reporting covered [OCHA's October figures and the PA commission's count](/news/palestine-west-bank-october-incidents-pa-commission-3133-ocha-olive-harvest-november-2026) and the [record olive-harvest season and Israeli arrests of activists](/news/west-bank-olive-harvest-record-settler-attacks-ocha-israel-arrests-activists-november-2026).\n\nThe PA's response also sits alongside other land disputes in Area C, including [new Israeli military seizure orders for roads](/news/palestine-israel-military-seizure-orders-ganim-kadim-ataret-roads-november-2026) and the [Gvaot settlement tender and the Abu Nuwar demolition notices](/news/palestine-gvaot-settlement-tender-732-units-abu-nuwar-demolition-notices-november-2026). Jericho itself has been the focus of a separate fight over economic development, which we covered in our report on [a proposed cement plant there](/news/palestine-jericho-cement-plant-abbas-pif-paris-protocol-security-concerns-november-2026).\n\n## Questions still open\n\nSeveral facts remain unsettled. Neither the PA nor Israeli authorities have published the documents behind their competing ownership claims. The PA has not named the detainees or said whether they have been charged. The IDF has not said when its examination of the purchases will end, or whether the Civil Administration approved them. And it is not clear whether the homes were bought from their owners, from intermediaries, or at all, which is the central point each side disputes.\n\n## How we reported this\n\nThis story relies on the PA security spokesman's own interviews with Raya and Radio Alrabiaa, Arabic-language Palestinian broadcasters. It also relies on Asharq Al-Awsat's account of the Palestinian Land Authority's statement, which we could not find in its original form. The settlers' position comes from statements quoted by VINnews, an Orthodox Jewish news site, and the IDF's from its statement and from sources who spoke to the Jerusalem Post. Peace Now's and Fattouh's statements are quoted from the Jerusalem Post. We did not have access to the Haaretz report or to Yedioth Ahronoth's reporting and describe them only through other outlets' summaries.","link_base":"https://567politics.com/news/palestine-jericho-ein-al-duyuk-homes-pa-arrests-forgery-nachala-ownership-dispute-idf-november-2026","citation_guidance":"Cite citation_url. Preserve source links, dates and qualifications. date_modified is an edit date, not proof that every claim was rechecked. Third-party images and quoted material retain their own rights."}