Israeli sources revealed that the Israeli government motivates and encourages the expansion of Israeli settlement in the Dead Sea area by offering special privileges and perks to attract new Israeli settlers to the area.
The Israeli 'Regional Council of Tmar' and the “Israel Land Department” revealed a new colonial plan called “Nafeh Zohar “to build 140 new housing units in settlements adjacent to the shores of the Dead Sea. The plan includes the building four models of housing units (cottages and parks), on a land its area ranging from 250-500 square meters, including two to three external cabins for commercial and tourism purposes. It is worth mentioning that the price of the housing units will be $ 42,000, which is considerably low for housing units within Israeli settlements, even the one located on the shores of the Dead Sea area. See Map of location
The new constructions will include, a shopping center, bakeries, and other essential services centers, in addition to renovating an existing school which was built last year to motivate the Israeli families to purchase housing units and settle in the area.
The area where the housing units are set to construct is of recreational nature, and many of Israeli five-star hotels and resorts concentrated in and around the area like 'Ein Bokik' resort and the Lake # 5.
Dov Litvinov, the head of “Tmar Regional Council” indicated that the plan had already received approval from the related Israeli authorities and the land allocated to the project ,had been subjected to scrutiny by the natural resources department that granted the project a go after confirming that there are no natural reserves or Salt wealth detected underneath.
Litvinov also added that the land allocated to the project is overlooking on industrial ponds and manmade lakes, and not on natural ones, as the Israeli law prohibits building on the Dead Sea Shores.
It must be noted that this new Israeli plan coincide with the Israeli Army controversial military order issued just few weeks ago to prevent the Palestinians holding West Bank ID cards from accessing the Dead Sea area. What Israel is doing in the Dead Sea area is menuvering to intensify the Jewish settlements there to eliminate any prospect of the Palestinian to acquire their rights on and in the Dead Sea shores.
Abstract
Contrary to the International law and legitimacy, and since the 1967 Israeli aggression, Israel deliberately, classified hundreds of thousands of Palestinian lands including the area to be developed (140 housing units), as closed military areas under security pretexts.
Clearly, the Israeli plan to build new housing units in the Dead Sea area contradicts with the International law rules which prohibited any transfer by the occupation power of its population into the territory it occupies.
Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War provided that:
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'The Occupying Power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies'.
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'Also individual or mass forcible transfers, as well as deportations of protected persons from occupied territory to the territory of the Occupying Power or to that of any other country, occupied or not, are prohibited, regardless of their motive'.
Prepared by
The Applied Research Institute – Jerusalem
ARIJ
