• Violation: Expanding “Leshem” settlement.
• Location: Deir Ballut- Salfit governorate.
• Date: March 05-2018.
• Perpetrator: “Leshem” illegal colonists.
• Victim: 17 Palestinian families from Deir Ballout village.

Description:

Deir Ballut is targeted by Israeli occupation assaults like land confiscation and Judaization projects, The Apartheid wall in the west , Leshem , Bedo’el and Eli zhaf settlements threaten Palestinian existence in the area.

“Leshem” settlement continuously grows which threatens the existence of 17 Palestinian families about 150 away from the growing settlement, 17 houses inhabited by 100 members. Field observation reported 19 new permanent housing units were constructed during 1 year in the area known as Bab el-Marj, east Deir Ballut town and is still expanding until the day of this report.

Photos 1-4:Leshem settlement expanding in Deir Ballut lands

Affected villager, Mohammad Abdullah lives only 40 meters away from the settlement told LRC observer:

“We spent the recent year anxiously watching daily what settlers do in the area, the settlement is creeping towards our neighborhood, noise of the dozers cause continuous discomfort, other than dirt and air pollution that cause respiratory system diseases for our children.”.

Affected villager Edrees Jbara told LRC observer:

“What is happening in the reality is a true crime. most of our agricultural lands were ravaged and destroyed. Moreover, settlers putting heaps of dirt in our land”

According to the Municipal council, there are about 45 dunums threatened of ravaging, most of them are cultivated with olive trees and targeted by daily illegal settlers assaults like putting heap of dirt in the targetedlands and throwing stones towards them.

Yehia Salem head of Deir Ballut municipality told LRC observer:

There are frequent assault against the town, especially from the eastern side, as the Israeli occupation is attempting to take over areas of it one way or another, the targeted area has 12 houses with stop- work military orders, even industrial facilities of the area received stop-work orders, in order to facilitate leaking the land to settlers for their colonial plans on the expenses of Palestinian’s and their propertirs”

He Added: “We filed many objections to the “Palestinian Civil Cooperation Office”, but in reality the occupation labeled most of our lands as “state’s property” which facilitate the confiscation process for Israeli illegal settlers.

“Leshem” settlement was established in September 2013 on Deir Ballut and Kafr Ad-Deik lands, until the day of preparing this report, their are 240 dunums of the area’s land targeted of Israeli ravaging and consist of about 56 stand-by housing units.

Photo 5: “Leshem” illegal colony.

The Village of Deir Ballut[1]:

The village is located on the Green Line west of the Governorate of Salfit at a distance of 20 kilometers from the City of Salfit. The total area of the village is about 13,941 dunums of which 503 dunums are its built-up area. Its population is about 4500, according to the Deir Ballut Municipality, most of whom depend on agriculture as the main source of income.

The dependency of agriculture has risen sharply after the inception of the second Intifada due to the inability to access Israeli job market.

The main agricultural products of the village include garlic, okra, cucumbers, wheat and olives. The presence of a water spring in Wadi Al Ain in the southern parts of the village has helped the agricultural sector to prosper. A for the drinking water of the residents of the village, they rely on water cisterns as well as on the Israeli Water Company.

In terms of the main clans in the village, there are 9 of them including Tuffaha, Khair, Abdullah, Qasem, Qaroush, Mishel, Mustafa, Musa and Hadrous.

Legal Feedback:

The constringing policy  by the Israeli occupation authorities   of confiscating Palestinian lands in order to  build illegal random outposts and settlements can only be regarded as a violation of all  international conventions  and agreements like:

The Geneva Fourth convention relative to the protection of civilian persons in the times of war:

Security council resolution 242 year 1967:   Withdrawal of Israel armed forces from territories occupied in the recent conflict; and  Termination of all claims or states of belligerency and respect for and acknowledgement of the sovereignty, territoial 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.

Security council resolution 446 year 1979:   Determines 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;

Security council resolution   452 year 1979: the resolution once again denounced Israel’s settlement activities  in territories occupied in 1976 including (East) Jerusalem, this activity constituting a violation of the Fourth Geneva convention, and called on Israel to cease planning and construction of settlements

Security council resolution 465 year 1980: calls to dismantle the existing settlements and in particular to cease, on an urgent basis, the establishment, construction and planning of settlements in the Arab territories occupied since 1967, including Jerusalem; Calls upon all States not to provide Israel with any assistance to be used specifically in connexion with settlements in the occupied territories;

Security council resolution 478 year 1980:  Censures in the strongest terms the enactment by Israel of the “basic law” on Jerusalem and the refusal to comply with relevant Security Council resolutions,Those States that have established diplomatic missions at Jerusalem to withdraw such missions from the Holy City.

Hague  convention 1907 :

Article 46:  the occupying power must not confiscate Private property .

Article 55:  The occupying State shall be regarded only as administrator and usufructuary of public buildings, real estate, forests, and agricultural estates belonging to the hostile State, and situated in the occupied country. It must safeguard the capital of these properties, and administer them in accordance with the rules of usufruct.

Geneva forth convention 1949:

 Article 49: The occupying power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own population into the territories it occupies.

Article 55: 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.

Article 174:  taking of hostages and extensive destruction and appropriation of property, not justified by military necessity and carried out unlawfully and wantonly.

[1] GIS-LRC