Expansion works on the industrial zone of Barkan colony at the expense of the Salfit villages of Haris and Bruqin
Violation: expansion works on Barkan colony
Date: 01/04/2015
Location: Haris and Bruqin village
Perpetrators: Israel Council of Colonies in the West Bank
Victims: residences of the area
Details:
The colony of Barkan, located on the lands of Western Salfit, is witnessing a rapid activity in confiscating and Judaizing lands for the sake of expanding the industrial zone relative to the colony; more specifically in the southern and western part of it.
The team of field observation at Land Research Center documented the ravaging of 150 agricultural dunums from the villages of Haris and Bruqin within an Israeli plan to build new factories in that area.
In the same context, it is indicated that the Israeli occupation is building 6 new factories in the targeted area, which will be of a high financial returns for the colony itself and the Israeli economy as well. This comes in synchronization with destroying the Palestinian environment, nature and lands, which badly affect the residences of those areas.
Scenes of the expansion works on Barkan colony
Violation of international laws:
It should be marked that most of the Israeli factories established in the West Bank through massive colonial zones lack international standers and conditions of building industrial zones.
Barkan factories have grave negative impact on the Palestinian environment especially with all the toxic pollutants emitted from them. Barkan industrial colony does not abide to any international laws in chemical waste management. It takes advantage of being outside the state of Israel to not comply with the rules of chemical disposal management followed in Israel and takes advantage of the Palestinian environment leading to the damage of the latter. This proves the occupation's main objective of taking over the whole area regardless of the negative impact rendered.
Consequently, factories in such industrial zones enjoy many privileges in terms of exporting, services and tax exemption.
About Barkan colony :
Barkan colony was established in 1981 over confiscated Palestinian lands. The colony has been expanding ever since, reaching 800 dunums of built up area.The colony holds within its boundaries a large number of factories that has been moved from "Israel" to the West Bank due to their high pollution levels.
These factories do not follow the rules of the Israeli State and they are outside the PA jurisdiction, allowing them to commit many "environmental crimes". These factories do not follow the rules of the WHO causing drastic damage to the environment and biodiversity. In addition, Barkan has been expanding – for the sake of establishing more factories- causing damage to the surrounding environment despite all the calls for protecting the environment in the area.
Prepared by
The Land Research Center
LRC
