Overview
Bardala is a Palestinian village within Tubas governorate, located 13 km northeast of the city of Tubas in the northern Jordan Valley. The village has a population of 1,577 (PCBS 2006) with a built-up area of 480 dunums out of the 20,000 dunums (the total village area) which constitute 4% of the Tubas governorate’s land area.
The village of Bardala is surrounded by Ein Al Beida, Kardala and the illegal Israeli settlement of “Mehola” (established in1968) from the east and the southeast, the Green Line and the Israeli Apartheid Segregation Wall from the north and the Jordan Valley mountains from the west and southwest. It is worth mentioning that 93% of Bardala’s residents are engaged in the agricultural sector since 10,000 dunums of the village lands (50%) are arable lands.
Looting under Flimsy Pretexts
On April 28, 2007, the Israeli Army handed Palestinian residents living in the northern Jordan Valley, a military order to confiscate 238 dunums of their lands under the pretext of installing security fence to prevent “terrorist attacks.” The military order hold number (15/4). The lands owned by the following Palestinian farmers:
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Mr. Dieb Sadek Sawafta.
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Mr. Mahmoud Al ‘Askal.
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Mr. Suleiman Al ‘Osak.
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Mr. Hassan Mohammad Taher.
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Mr. ‘Abed Husni Khdeirat.
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Mr. Tawfeeq Siba’i.
The Israeli military order to build a fence will result in isolating Ka’oon Valley north of Bardala village where the bulk of the agricultural lands are located, which is total area exceeds to 5000 dunums of agricultural lands; meaning that 50% of the village’s arable land will no longer be accessible to its owners.. See Map 1
Map of Bardala Village/Tubas Government
General Glance about the Israeli Colonial Activities in Tubas Government
On November 5, 2003, Palestinian residents from the villages of Bardala, Al Raba, Al Mugheir, and the city of Tubas in Tubas Governorate received the Israeli military order number (03/81/T) to notify them that 424 dunums of their agriculture lands had been confiscated under the pretext of “Security Needs”. naturally, the order did not elaborate on the nature of the proclaimed “security needs” but it was easy to speculate and later on affirmed that it was related to the so-called security fence better known by the Palestinians as the Apartheid Israeli Segregation Wall.
On August 25, 2005, the Israeli Army issued a military order to confiscate 1.3 dunums of Bardala’s lands to build Israeli military “observation towers.” The military order holds number (162/05/T). The confiscation order is not enormous to the usual extent, but its repercussions exceeds it actual impact as the observation tower has caused a lot of damages on the scale of movement restrictions for people and their agricultural products as the location of the tower turned to a flying checkpoint.
On September 15, 2006, the Israeli Army started construction work on a new road under the pretext of military purposes. The road, which later on was designated for the Army’s use and to connect the illegal Israeli settlement of “Mehola” with its neighboring illegal Israeli settlement of “Giv'at Sal'it”.The new road was constructed on the on stretches of lands confiscated from Bardala, Kardala and Ein Al Beida in Tubas Governorate.
Israeli Bypass road # 90
Bypass road # 90 stretches along the Jordan valley area; east of Tubas Governorate and parallel to the Jordan River. It commences from the upper Jordan Valley and runs southward to bypass the lands of Kardala, Bardala villages towards the settlements of Mehola and Giv'at Salit and then it continues to reach the settlements of “Shadmot Mehola” and “shilla”, after that the bypass road continues towards the south connecting multiple number of illegal Israeli military bases established south of Tubas Governorate. See Table 1
Table 1: Summary of the Israeli Activities in Tubas Government
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Illegal Israeli Settlements |
Illegal Israeli Outposts |
Illegal Israeli Military Bases |
Illegal Israeli Bypass roads |
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9
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3 |
60 |
2 |
Source: ARIJ Database 2006
To Conclude
Over the years the Israeli occupation, the international law was and still is subject of Israeli manipulation to take control of most of the Palestinian lands in the West Bank. These lands had been looted mainly to construct the Illegal Israeli settlements and create land reserves for future expansion of these settlements and later on to build the Israeli Apartheid Segregation Wall in the occupied Palestinian Territory.
Under the International law and the signed agreements between the Palestinian and Israeli parties, Israel is prohibited from confiscating and looting the private Palestinian lands or taking any steps leading to change the status on the ground which might result to undermine any chance for a future “just and lasting” peace process.
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The Forth Geneva Convention in Article 174 prohibits the 'extensive destruction and appropriation of property not justified by military necessity and carried out unlawfully and wantonly.'
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Article XXXI, Oslo II, 1995 provides: Neither side shall take any step that will change the status of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
Related Links
Prepared by
The Applied Research Institute – Jerusalem
ARIJ
