Confiscation of 356 Dunums in Northern Jordan Valley

July 19, 2008

On June 15th, 2008 Israeli occupation military issued a military order number T/08/08 which called for the confiscation of 356 dunums from the lands of khirbet Samra. The khirbet is located 15 kilometers east of Tayseer checkpoint in the Jordan Valley. The confiscated lands are agricultural lands owned by 21 Palestinian farmers living in Wadi Al Maleh as well as in Tubas Governorate. The targeted lands are the most fertile in the region due to the presence of a large number of water springs. The lands are used for growing fruits and vegetables as well as wheat.

Photo 1 & Photo 2: The targeted lands.

The confiscated lands are located in parcels 221, 223, 224 and 226. A point of concern in this confiscation operation is the fact that there are 200 dunums surrounding the confiscated lands. This means that in case the confiscation is carried out and the land is declared as Military Closed Areas, then access to the surrounding lands will be prevented by the Israeli Army under “security” pretexts.

In addition to the afore mentioned land confiscation, Israeli colonists from the colony of Maskiot (established on Tubas land north of the West Bank) expanded the boundaries of their colony on June 26th, 2008. The colonists removed the metal fence surrounding the colony and rebuilt it after including large areas of Palestinian lands within the new boundaries of the colony. The following table lists the names of the landowners whose lands were confiscated:

No.	Name	Area in dunums
1	Eid Fleih Einbousi	21
2	Mohammad Abu Muta’awe	37
3	Mustafa Mohammad Abu Muta’awe’	5
4	Mahmoud Badawi Abu Muta’awe’	9
5	Ahmad Husein Abu Muta’awe’	10
6	Hamdan Salameh Abu Muta’awe’	9
7	Jameel Qasem Abu Muta’awe’	16
8	Naji Ali Dababat	25
9	Hamad Mohammad Dababat	14
10	Mohammad Ali Einbousi	13
11	Mohammad Soud Al Abed	17
12	Falah Einbousi	13
13	Mohammad Mahmoud Einbousi	42
14	Jamal Falah Einbousi	22
15	Mahmoud Soud Einbousi	8
16	Khalil Yousef Einbousi	20
17	Sa’eed Mahmoud Einbousi	17
18	Abdullah Ali Einbousi	3
19	Fayez Mohammad Dababat	19
20	Hussein Mohammad Dababat	12
21	Qasem Mohammad Dababat	24
TOTAL		356

It is worth mentioning here that the campaign of colonial administration, the Israeli colonies and closed military zones in Tubas and the Jordan Valley began in 1968 to face the 'risk' of the Palestinian demographic on the one hand, and to protect the so-called eastern borders of Israel on the other. To achieve this goal, the colony of Mikhola was established north of the governorate of Tubas on lands belonging to the villages of Bardala and Ein Al Baida. It was the first colony in the Jordan Valley that was built under the pretext that around 4,000 dunums in its vicinity were considered State Lands while an additional 1350 dunums were declared earlier as Absentee Properties.

The establishment of the colony was followed by giant strides during the 1980’s and 1990’s which made the number of colonies in the Jordan Valley reach 36 in addition to declaring large areas of the land in the Valley as Closed Military Areas to which Palestinians are not allowed to enter.

It is noteworthy that this step has very negative impact on the lives of citizens in the region through robbing their agricultural lands on the one hand, and through being a frequent target for colonists’ and soldiers’ attacks on the other. That is in addition to the psychological terror waged by the occupation in the hearts of unarmed citizens in preparation for their deportation from the region.