In early 2009, the Israeli Civil Administration declared some 1,700 dunams ( 170 hectares ) of land called “Givat Eitam” (Eitam Hill) by the settlers and “Jabel Abu Zeid” by the Palestinians, previously considered part of Bethlehem and the village of Artas to be "state land", after a military appeals committee approved an August 2004 decision which rejected objections against the confiscation of the land filed by Palestinian landowners.