'The Israeli ‘defense' Forces permitted 3,000 Palestinian traders, residents of the West Bank and the Jordan Valley, who are over the age of 35 to enter Israel for the purpose of working …' (emphasis added).
By these words ‘Radio Israel’ started broadcasting the news. Nothing new in this news except the sentence which stated 'TheWest Bank and the Jordan Valley,' indicating that they are different entities. See Map 1
Using the term 'West Bank and Jordan Valley' reflects the Israeli government’s determination to go ahead with Olmert’s unilateral plan that aims to further divide the occupied Palestinian territory since 1967 into smaller cantons and formally and illegally annex parts of the West Bank to Israel. According to Olmert’s conversion plan, Israel will 'never agree to pull out of the West Bank to pre-1967 borders” (JPost, Jun. 13, 2006), rather Israel will keep hold of the settlement blocs which are mainly located west of the Segregation Wall; Jerusalem will be 'Jewish, inclusive, and united' under full Israeli control; and the Jordan valley will be under Israeli sovereignty. Many Israeli officials restated these Israeli demands such as cabinet minister Meir Shetrit who indicated that 'this border [the Jordan Valley] will not belong to anyone else except Israel' (Israelinsider, May 8, 2006).
The Israeli act of classifying and naming parts of the occupied territory according to their imposed ‘facts on the ground’ is not new. This act was first done after the war when east Jerusalem was unilaterally and illegally annexed to Israel and was considered as a separate entity than the rest of the West Bank territory and is referred to separately.
Plans to separate the Jordan Valley from the rest of the West Bank date back to 1967 when Yigal Alon (the head of the Israeli Ministerial committee on Colonies at that time) drafted a plan by which the Jordan Valley would be the eastern border of Israel and would extend to a depth of more than 20 km west of the Jordan river.
It is worth mentioning that the Israeli Occupation Forces are imposing an unjust and harmful restrictions over the 42Palestinian localities of the Jordan Valley ,whereby the residents of these localities are under daily Israeli aggression which take many forms such as imposing closures, tightening the grip on the residents, delaying them on the checkpoints which surround them, and mostly preventing the Palestinians from cross to and from the valley unless they are residents of the valley's villages. This means those workers, farmers, traders and the average Palestinian travelers who are simply trying to access the area are denied the right to do so.
The Israeli violations against the Jordan Valley communities have no limits, the Israeli soldiers at many occasions imposed curfews over the valley’s localities, and often they razed the agricultural lands owned by the local residents, uprooted trees and demolished many houses and sheds.
By all the ways and means, Israel is imposing its racism plans and polices, starting with the Segregation Wall, the unlawful terminals and crossing points and the confiscation of thousands of Palestinian lands for the construction of settlements and bypass roads. In addition to the daily Israeli barbarism practices against the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip and the 'Organized State Terrorism' practiced by the different state sectors in Israel against the Palestinians and their land.
Now, the Israeli media is taking a large share in the game, the game that depends on deceiving not only the Israeli citizens but also the whole world. In the same time the Israeli government is continuing the creation of facts on the ground and demanding from the Palestinians and the world to accept, live with and legitimize the internationally recognized illegal Israeli actions.
Resolution 242 demands the withdrawal of Israel armed forces from territories occupied in the recent conflict. 39 years after the issuance of this resolution, Israel is still imposing its occupation over the Palestinian territory and is further fragmenting the land into smaller cantons.
Prepared by
The Applied Research Institute – Jerusalem
ARIJ
