• Violation: declaring validity of master plan for colony
• Location:  Arab Al-Ta'amreh Bethlehem city
• Date:  September 19, 2016
• Perpetrators: Planning Higher Council\ Colonization Sub-Committee- Israel Civil Administration
• Victims:  residents of Arab Al-Ta'amreh

Details:

High Planning Council\ Colonization Sub-Committee- Israel Civil Administration featured on September 19, 2016 an advertisement in AL- Quds newspaper declaring the validity of master plan no. 1/4/6/411 for Nokdim colony. The plan included change in use of some lands from agricultural to public institution and establishments and roads.

According to the plan signed by the head of Colonization Sub-Committee, Natalia Aburbukh, the targeted lands are founded within the natural block no.4; more specifically from the locations of K'eibnah, Ara and Mahrab

Nokdim colony was established in 1982 on 463 confiscated dunums from  the villages of Janata and Tuqu.  The colony confiscated 345 dunums from Tuqu' and 118 dunums from Janata village. Now, Nokdim is home for 646 colonists.

Objectives of the plan:

1. Change the use of some lands from agricultural to public institutions, educational facilities, roads and open areas.
2. Determining the rules and regulations for construction within the plan

 

Photo 1 : the advertisement featured in Al-Quds newspaper -page 25 on September  19, 2016

Photo 2:  the master plan no. 1/4/6/411

Photo 3: an aerial image of Nokdim in 2014 with the notable expansion on it

 

It should be also marked that depositing master plans every now and then is an Israeli means to create a de facto impossible to change and to serve colonies by making them regional council of settlements, which later become big colonial cities in the heart of the West Bank.

Land Research Center sees Israel continuous expansion on colonies in the West Bank and Jerusalem at the expense of Palestinian and lands a flagrant violation of Human Rights and all international laws and conventions, which prohibit disposition of public properties in occupied countries.

UN Resolutions

UN Security Council Resolution 242 of 1967: calls for

• the Withdrawal of Israel armed forces from territories occupied in the recent conflict;
• Termination of all claims or states of belligerency and respect for and acknowledgment of the sovereignty, territorial integrity and political independence of every State in the area and their right to live in peace within secure and recognized boundaries free from threats or acts of force." [4]

UN Security Council Resolution 449 of 1979: the Security Council determined:

• "that the policy and practices of Israel in establishing settlements in the Palestinian and other Arab territories occupied since 1967 have no legal validity and constitute a serious obstruction to achieving a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in the Middle East"

UN Security Council Resolution 452 of 1979: states that

• "the policy of Israel in establishing settlements in the occupied Arab territories has no legal validity and constitutes a violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War of 12 August 1949"  and "calls upon the Government and people of Israel to cease, on an urgent basis, the establishment, construction and planning of settlements in the Arab territories occupied since 1967, including Jerusalem."

UN Security Council Resolution 465 of 1980:

• It expressed concern at Israeli settlement policy in the Arab territories and recalled resolutions 237 (1967), 252 (1968), 267 (1969), 271(1969) and 298 (1971). It further called upon the State and people of Israel to dismantle such settlements. The resolution calls on all states ‘not to provide Israel with any assistance to be used specifically in connection with settlements in the occupied territories’.

 

 

Prepared by
 The Land Research Center
LRC