Violation: capturing a Palestinian field and planting it with citrus.
Location: Ein Qissis in al Khader – Bethlehem.
Date: August 23, 2012.
Perpetrators: colonists of Hanan.
Victims: a number of villagers.
Details:
On August 23, 2012, a group of Israeli colonists broke into Ein Qissis area in al Khader before planting a 5-dunum Palestinian field with citrus trees. When informed, the owners rushed to the site and drove the colonists out; they also uprooted the planted trees.
Several similar aggressions have been recorded of late and the perpetrators are usually colonists of Hanan which is built over Al Khader lands. An Israeli Supreme Court decision was taken to evacuate Hanan colony but it has never been implemented as the colony have been standing for years and has been the launching point of several attacks.
Al Khader:
Al Khader is located 5 km to the west of Bethlehem city; it is connected by a road to the main road, Jerusalem – Hebron road which connects it to the surrounding cities.
It is administered by a local council and is named after Saint George (Al Khader in Arabic).
The village holds within a football stadium, a donation of the Portuguese Government; the work in the stadium started in 2000 through Bethlehem 2000 project, however, the construction stopped for a long time because of the second Intifada (uprising) events considering the location of the stadium near by-pass road (60). It was opened in 2007.
Area and Location:
Al Khader is 20100 dunums in area including 800 dunums of built-up area.
Previous violations:
The Israelis conquered 218 dunums of the village in 1948 and are trying to capture the rest of Al Khader fertile lands using the segregation wall. The Israeli authorities confiscated huge parts of Al Khader lands to construct Ezyon colony in 1967(4500 dunums in area inhabited by 461 colonists) and Daniel in 1983 (200 dunums in area).
