• Violation:  building new Israeli factories
• Location: Jaba' and Mikhmas villages
• Date:  September  01, 2016
• Perpetrators:  Benyamin Settlement Council

Details:                                                                               

 Binyamin industrial zone founded on lands from Jaba' and Mikhmas villages has been facing rapid judization activities by Israel to serve greater colonial project in the area. According Land Research Center filed visits, expansion works were intense in the southern part of the zone. Around 25 dunums were reported ravaged in preparation to establish new factories in the area. It should be marked Israeli industrial zones around the areas of the West Bank and Jerusalem enjoy privileges by the government such like tax reduction, transportation and public services

Notably, the occupation's government is planning to impose a de facto on Jerusalem through sinking the area with colonial neighborhoods and communities in addition to establishing wide networks of roads in the periphery of Jerusalem , developed infrastructures and industrial zones to economically revive the area.

 

Photo 1: Binyamin Industrial Zone going under expansion

Aerial photo for  Binyamin Industrial Zone in 2001

Aerial photo for  Binyamin Industrial Zone in 2014

 

Ultimate support by the occupation's government:

The industrial zone of Binyamin was reported to gain a big share of infrastructure tenders. During the past two years, tenders to build four Israeli factories were deposited for Binyamin Zone  in addition to new master plan for the area to be designed. The master plan included expansion on the colony and establishment of "green areas" and public facilities in order for it to become an interest for investment since it is located nearby Jerusalem.

A pollution to the environment :

 In line with all of the aforementioned, factories never applied environment conditions and requirements of safety  in disposing waste be it solid or liquid. The occupation considers such factories as located outside the borders of the state of Israel. Therefore environment conditions and requirements are not applicable there. It should be marked that those factories pump their liquid waste into Palestinian agricultural lands causing wide-range pollution. For example, Binyamin  industrial zone pumps liquid waste into Mikhmas village causing damage to a distance of 2km.

About Jaba':

North of Jerusalem city, Jaba' is located with a total land area of 13,624 dunums, of which 670 dunums are considered the village's built-up area. Jaba' populates around 3,183 people  (2007 census). The occupation confiscated the following areas from the village for different purposes:

1. 1138 dunums were confiscated for the favor of Adam colony that was established in 1983 and is now inhabited by more than 1801 colonists
2. 555 dunums  were confiscated for the favor of Tsai'r Binyamin that was established in 1999
3. 398 dunums were confiscated for the favor of bypass road no. 60

The expansion that Binyamin Industrial Zone undergoes represented in building factories and infrastructure is reported to come in time with demolition attacks and violations on Palestinian structures in the nearby area. Arab Al-Maa'zi Bedouin community that is founded on  a hill nearby the Zone witnessed an attack on August 29, 2016. 

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’.
• Article 53 of the Geneva Fourth Convention (1948) declaring: “Any destruction by the Occupying Power of real or personal property belonging individually or collectively to private persons, or to the State, or to other public authorities, or to social or cooperative organizations, is prohibited, except where such destruction is rendered absolutely necessary by military operations.”
• Article 147 of  Geneva Fourth Convention Grave breaches to which the preceding Article relates shall be those involving any of the following acts, if committed against persons or property protected by the present Convention: wilful killing, torture or inhuman treatment, including biological experiments, wilfully causing great suffering or serious injury to body or health, unlawful deportation or transfer or unlawful confinement of a protected person, compelling a protected person to serve in the forces of a hostile Power, or wilfully depriving a protected person of the rights of fair and regular trial prescribed in the present Convention, taking of hostages and extensive destruction and appropriation of property, not justified by military necessity and carried out unlawfully and wantonly.

 

 

Prepared by
 The Land Research Center
LRC