Violation:  cutting down and uprooting saplings

Date:  26/04/2015

Location: Halhul- Hebron

Perpetrators: Karmi Tzor colonists

Victims:  citizen Hasan Aqil

Details:

A group of colonists from Karni Tzor on April 26, 2015 cut down and uprooted 85 grapes saplings from the lands of farmer Hasan Aqil in the area of Wad al-Amir, north Halhul town.  Aqil(50) was shocked to find out that his trees were cut down from the stock where some of them were uprooted.

 

 

Photo 1-5: sings of the attack on the grapes seedlings

The citizen phone called attorney Qamar Mashrqi to inform her of the incident; she in her term guided him to approach the police station in the colony of Qiryat Arbaa to submit a complaint against the perpetrators.

Aqil headed to the colony of Qiryat Arbaa but was not received by them; instead he was asked to go the police station of Kfar Etzion colony where he finally submitted his complaint and got a receipt back.

Photo 6: the receipt of the complaint

Israel police came next day on April 27, 2015 to inspect and examine the scene; photos of the location were taken as evidences. Police  force identified itself as relative to Kiryat Arbaa colony and that they were sent by the police station of Kfar Etzion.

The attacked trees age 4 years and are planted on an area of 1 dunums;  the grapes seedlings are of American variety and were expected to produce fruits this season.

Aqil pointed out  that each seedling costs around 4.5 American dollars and that the cost of planting each sapling is 1.5 dollars. Aqil also said that he planted those saplings to provide livelihood for his 7 member family and that he used to move irrigation water from his house to irrigate the plants.

It should be marked Karmi Tzor is 200m away from Aqil's; colonists recently established a new outpost on a land nearby Aqil's that is owned by citizen Mohammad al-Badawi . This step came in the aftermath of the killing of three colonists in Hebron area. colonists also opened a dirt road to link the new outpost tent  with the colony's main road. In response to that, residents of the area submitted a complaint against the tent and the court's decision came to remove the outpost; demolition was carried out on April 01, 2015.  Rebuilt again by colonists, Palestinian submitted another complaint and a demolition decision was made by the court once again on May 02, 2015.

 

Photos 7-10: signs of the outpost

It should also be marked that the colony of Karni Tzor is undergoing recent expansions works where colonists annexed two caravans by the beginning of May. It is noted- based on building trucks going in and out the colony- that new expansion works are being carried out.

About Halhul:

It is 7km north Hebron city and is around 39,000 dunums in area; 9000 dunums of which are built up area where the rest is planted with grapes, peach and almond trees.

The town is 1050m above sea level and is considered the highest point in the West Ban. It has a total population of 22,413 people (Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics 2007)

About Karmi Tzor:

The colony is located on lands from Halhul town (Shu'ab al-Hajj, Wad al-Amir, Shu'ab Mu'aiser, Shu'ab Abu Yousef) and Beit Ummar village (Dhaher Jalis hill) and is 9km away from Hebron. The colony's built-up area is 160 dunums that is inhabited by 713 colonists.

Noteworthy, this colonial location was to be dismantled as agreed upon in Cairo agreement but the Israeli occupation authorities did not commit to it.

 

 

Prepared by
 The Land Research Center
LRC