The Israeli Occupation Authorities Targeted Al Walajeh Town northwest of Bethlehem Governorate with a new Seven Demolition Orders

On May 11, 2011, the Israeli Occupation Army handed over seven Palestinian residents from Al Walajeh village northwest of the city of Bethlehem demolition orders notifying them that their houses will be demolished under the pretext of lacking building license. The demolition orders issued by what is so-called “The Israeli Planning and Construction Committee of Jerusalem District” related to the Israeli Ministry of Interior. The owners of the threatened houses and according to the demolition orders have only 48 hours to demolish their houses by themselves, otherwise the Israeli bulldozers will do so, and they will pay about 12,000 NIS for the demolition fees. See the table below:

 

Table of  the details about  Targeted houses
Name of the Owner	Date of Construction	Area – m2	Cost- NIS
Mahmoud Mohammad Radwan	2011	260	120,000
Kamal Mohammad Radwan	2011	120	60,000
Nidal ‘Adel Abu Sorour	2010	200	150,000
‘Alaa Ahmad Shihadeh Khaliefeh	2010	306	500,000
Mahmoud Youseph Shihadeh	2011	200	100,000
Rizeq Atallah	2011	80	80,000
Mohammad Shihadeh Hassan Shihadeh	2011	140	120,000
Source: ARIJ Field Workers

 

  

  

  

 

Walajeh Village is located 8.5 km southwest of Jerusalem city, and about 4 kilometers northwest of Bethlehem city. It has a population of 2,130 (PCBS 2010) and is bordered by Battir and Husan villages from the southwest, by Sharafat village and Gilo settlement (established in 1971) from the east and by Har Gilo settlement (established in 1972) from the southeast. Before the 1948 war, the village spread over an area of 17.8 km² and its boundary spread westwards beyond the Armistice Line of 1949 (Green Line). After the 1948 the village lost 75% of its lands and came to spread over a total land of 4.4 km².

 

In 1967 after the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, the Israeli government unilaterally expanded Jerusalem Municipal boundary from 6.5 km² to 71 km² to include lands from nearby villages, these lands where then annexed to the state of Israel. Part of Al-Walajeh village -Ein-Juwaiza neighborhood- an area of 2.095 km² –almost 48% of the remaining area-was included within this annexed land.

 

According to the Oslo IIInterim Agreement of 1995 which was signed between Israel and the PLO (Palestinian Liberation Organization) on September 24, 1995, Al Walajeh town lands as well as the rest of the Palestinian Territory was divided into areas A, B and C. See the table below:

 

Section 1	Areas Definition according to Oslo II Interim Agreement of 1995
Area A	the Palestinian Authority have complete autonomy over administrative and security issues;
Area B	the Palestinians have only civil responsibilities
Area C	Israel has full control over the area which constitutes 61% of the total West Bank area
Section 2	Area- Dunums	% From the village Area
Area A	0	0
Area B	140	2.6
Area C	4289	97.4
Total	4403	100

 

The impracticality of attaining a building license (permit) is another story, as Palestinians must meet a list of demands set by the Israeli Civil Administration to prove ownership of the land where premises are to be constructed. However, the permits are frequently rejected, thus the Palestinian residents at such areas -C- have no choice but to build without the authorization, which happen frequently by the Palestinians who are compelled to take such action to deal with the population growth and other necessities to their daily lives.

 

According to the updated Wall plan of April 30, 2006, the Wall will place Al Walajeh town in an isolated enclave, sealed off from all directions, east, west, north and south and from the neighboring Palestinian communities; Battier, Hussan, Beit Jala and from Bethlehem city center.

 

The Wall, according to the map, was shifted northwards to include the neighborhood of ‘Ein Al Juwaiza on the Palestinian side of the Wall, but sealed off the town completely from its southern part with a 2.5 km long Wall that will run alongside bypass road number 436, and will be protected from both sides with barbed wires and ditches (ranging between 80 and 100 meters wide).The road protection will cause the isolation of an additional 1100 dunums of lands from Al Walajeh town, where these lands will fall south of the Wall and will be inaccessible to the  Palestinian residents.

 

In Total, the Israeli segregation Wall plan will extend for 7.2 km on the lands of Al Walajeh, of which 3.5 km will be barbed wires. The Wall will isolate a total sum of 1980 dunums of the town’s lands that is 45 % of the total town area. Currently 0.5 km of concrete wall exists around the town, 1.2 km are under construction and 5.5 km are in planning phase. Below photos for the building of the Segregation Wall in Al Walajeh town captured by ARIJ field workers in May, 12, 2011:

On February 19, 2006, the Israeli Occupation Army issued a new military order (#25/06/T) to confiscate 39.8 dunums from Al-Walajeh town (parcel Block 3) and Beit Jala city (parcel Block 2). The order identified the reason for the confiscation to “military purposes,” which was later defined for the construction of a new Terminal in the area, (Har Gilo Terminal).

 

The terminal aims to control movement of Al-Walajeh residents between their town and the center of services in Bethlehem Governorate and beyond. The military order comes in parallel to the Israeli Segregation Wall plan, which is set to encircle Al-Walajeh. Residents of the town will only have this terminal to move in and out of their town. The terminal will be under the Israeli Army’s control, which virtually makes the residents prisoners in their own village. See the map below:

 

 

 

Enclaved and strangulated by an Apartheid Wall form its three sides and by a bypass road –military controlled road- from the fourth side, Al Walajeh town transformed into a prison for its residents where the only access to/from the village will be through an Israeli controlled terminal.

 

Accordingly, the daily life of the residents of Al Walajeh town became an ever-ending suffering with a disastrous consequences imposed on them economically, socially and humanly, where they arbitrarily deprived from their legitimate rights to live and move freely in their own lands.

 

These unjustified, Illegal, colonial, practices conducted by the Israeli Occupation clearly violate the Universal Declaration of human rights, the International covenants as well as the rules of International Humanitarian Law.

In addition, the Israeli practices violate: