The Israeli Supreme Court ratifies a new adjustment to the apartheid wall path introducing more difficulties to Palestinians

Violation:  the Israeli Supreme Court agrees on the adjustments made on the wall track  western Jayyus.

Violators: the Israeli Occupation Army

Victims: Jayyus residents

Date: September 9, 2009

 

 

Violation: in September 9, 2009, the Israeli Supreme Court agreed on changing the track of the apartheid wall in Jayyus, more precisely, in Yobic area which belongs to 49 Palestinian farmers from Jayyus. The ruling was made upon recommendation made by the Israeli army leadership which was made in March, 2008. Despite the objections and appeals made by landowners, the ISC agreed on September 9, 2009 on the Army proposal.

 

 

 

It must be pointed that these plans are to be implemented soon, and they should give back 2.6 ^km2 out 8.9 ^km2 of Jayyus lands that were isolated behind the wall, whilst 2/3 of the isolated lands are to remain inside the wall. Furthermore, 2 out of 6 wells owned by Jayyus village will also remain unreachable behind the wall.

 

According to the new plan the wall is going to be 4720m long and 150m wide, that is, much more agricultural lands will be destroyed beneath it. The previous track was planned to be 2133m length and 150 wide meaning that the area used is doubled.

 

Since the year 2000, Jayyus residents were rejecting the schemes of the Israeli army in the area. Till today, the army made for suggestions to the court in order to modify the track of the apartheid wall, the first was to return 1.3 ^km2 which was adjusted to 1.9^km2 then to 2.4^km2 in 2007, and the final one was agreed upon by the ISC, giving the Palestinians 2.6^km2 from the total of 8.6^km2 of their confiscated lands.

 

On the beginning of the current olive picking season the Israeli authorities closed Jayyus southern gate the gate has taken this new position, near Tsofin settlement, in the beginning of 2009, concurrently with the construction of the wall according to the new schemes that were agreed upon by the ISC. The new track of the wall covered areas north of ‘Azzun Ashamaliyya, south of Jayyus, and east of Qalqiliya. These new plans resulted in turning 0.75 ^km2 out of        8.9 ^km2, which is the total of the areas isolated behind the wall, were turned to Palestinian control. In addition, houses owned by Bassam Abu Shareb family were considered part of Jayyus again after being cut off inside the wall.

 

Ma’zoz Qaddumi, a senator in Jayyus village senate commented on the closure of the gate by saying: ‘ The closure of the gate is politically driven, a request made by Tsofin settlement council to the Israeli army command requesting the closure of the gate. Everything becomes clear when we know that the new track of the wall construction was carried out after a sentence from the ISC which was rejected by the settlement council. Because of the modifications, the new gate became so close to the settlement  settlers cooperating with the Israeli army tend to keep the gate closed to prevent the Palestinians from reaching their land and gradually make it part of the settlement.’

 

The  district coordination office in Qalqiliya forces the locals to use the middle gate numbered 943 instead of gate 979 which adds to the suffering of the farmers taking into consideration that gate 943 is 2 km away from Hmeida ruins area near Tsofin. Furthermore, the lack of paved roads has and will have disastrous effects on the 400 farmers who own land behind the wall.

 

There are gates positioned around Jayyus along the apartheid wall:

 

 

 

The village total area was reduced to 3.3 ^km2 after building the wall, 0.6 km2 were destroyed or leveled for construction purposes and 8.9 square kilometers were isolated inside the wall. These contained 6 wells and more than 40000 citrus trees. Moreover, 4000 olive trees were uprooted.

 

The wall penetrates Jayyus from two sides, the North West, 4 km away from the green line, and the south east, 6km away from the green line. The wall is meters away from the residential areas in southern and western Jayyus. The wall in Jayyus is km long and it cut all the roads that lead to the lands behind the wall.

 

Jayyus is 12 km away from Qalqiliya; its total area was about 13 ^km2. The residential area is about 0.41 ^km2 and it lost almost 8 ^km2 which were reduced to 5.8km2 after the ISC ruling 

 

It was established on 1990, taking about 1 ^km2 from Jayyus lands. 1040 people live in the settlement.

[1]  GIS department at LRC

[2] Foundation for Middle East Peace-Washington DC