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Israel Department of Antiquities notify agricultural well of stop-work I Bethlehem city

January 20, 2017

Violation: serving stop-work order on well
Location: Al-Khadr town- Bethlehem
Date: January 19, 2017
Perpetrators: Israel Department of Antiquities
Victims: Citizen Alaa Issa

Details:

The officer of antiquities department at Israel Civil Administration served on January 19, 2017 a stop-work order targeting water well in the area of Faghoura in Al-Khadr town. The structure is owned by citizen Alaa Isa and was notified on the claim of it being located in antiquities area.

Citizen Alaa told LRC the following: " I dug the well to be of 100m³ and its cost totaled 4500 dollars. My brothers and I are always present in the land to take care of it and hinder any colonists' attacks since they target the lands of Al-Khadr town"

It should be noted that the targeted land is nearby Elazar colony, which is founded on confiscated land from Bethlehem governorate. The colonists of that area are reported to carry out attacks on Palestinian and their properties founded in the area. The targeted well serves 1 dunums of agricultural lands and many families. The military order mentioned that the structure harms the antiquities of the area and that it must be removed within a 14 day deadline. Below are some information on the well's owner:

Land owner	Family	Minors	Facility	Volume	Order
Alaa Issa	5	3	Agricultural well	100m³	0064

The order targeting the well of Alaa Isa

Al Khadr:

Located 4 kilometer west of Bethlehem, Al Khadr village is surrounded by Beit Jala and Battir (north), Husan and Nahhalin (west), Ad Doha, Wadi Rahall, and Beit Jala (east), Wadi An Nais (south). Al Khadr has a population of 9774 according to statistics conducted in 2007. It has a total area of 8279 dunums, 184 of which are built-up area.

The Israeli occupation confiscated 29 dunums of Al Khadr lands for Efrat and Daniel colonies. Efrat was built in 1979 and devoured 5.8 dunums of Al Khadr. It is inhabited by 7037 colonists. Daniel was built in 1982 and confiscated 23 dunums. 1073 colonists live in the colony.

Bypasses number 60 and 375 devoured more than 487 dunums. Not to mention the Apartheid Wall that destroyed 280 dunums and isolated 5638 dunums of the village. The Wall in Al Khadr is 2805 meters long.

According to Oslo Accords, 10% of Al Khadr is under Area A (PA has full civil and security control) while 6% is under Area B (PA is in charge of civil matters with Israel responsible for security). However, most of the village lands (84%) is under Area C (Israel maintains full security and administrative control). Here are the area in dunums: