Israeli Occupation Authorities Issue Land Confiscation Orders in the Villages of Al Yanoun and Awarta villages

Violation: The confiscation of additional lands in the villages of Yanoun and Awarta
Date: October 12^th, 2010.

 

 

Israeli occupation forces delivered on the morning of Tuesday October 12^th, 2010 (through the Israeli DCL) a military order number T/21/10 to Awarta Village Council. The Order called for the confiscation of agricultural lands northeast of Awarta in Parcel 2 as well as Yanoun’s western lands in Parcel 3. According to the Order, the area of the confiscated lands is about 0.5 dunums. Yet, on the ground the area is much bigger than indicated on the maps attached to the Order.

 

 

 

The Order (signed by the Commander of the occupation army on the West Bank, Avi Mizrahi) stipulated that the reason behind the confiscation is to establish a military base in addition to a military observation tower at a distance of 3 kilometers away from the colony of Itamar. A similar Order was issued and delivered to the village council of Jalud (south of Nablus) which called for the establishment of a military base and an observation tower in the vicinity of the colony of A’adi A’ad.

 

The village councils of Awarta and Yanoun are very concerned about the Order as the targeted lands (an area commonly known as Al Kawab and Yarnoun) are located on the boundaries between the two villages and at a mere 5 kilometers away from Awarta’s built up area. In addition, Al Kawab region is an area to which Israeli occupation forces and colonists have been preventing its Palestinian owners to access it for the past 10 years under the pretext of “providing security for the colony of Itamar.” According to the records of Awarta’s village council, the total area of Al Kawab is about 1647 dunums. It is considered to be one of the most fertile agricultural lands in the area that is owned by hundreds of Palestinian farmers from Awarta. Fear in abundant in both villages that the said Order would provide legitimacy for further colonial expansion especially in light of the presence of the colonial outpost of Jad’oun which is expanding at a feverish rate nowadays.

 

Yanoun and its Battle with the Cancer of Occupation:

Yanoun is located east of the village of Awarta as both are connected by an old and abandoned road as Palestinians are not allowed to use it due to its close proximity to the colony of Itamar. As indicated earlier, the area in which the road is located has been off limits for the past 10 years as a Palestinian farmer from the village of Awarta was killed in said area by one of the colonists.  

 

 

The village of Yanoun is a prime example of the war waged by Israeli colonists on everything that is Palestinian. The war takes the form of continuous harassment, stealing of crops and theft on land as a number of colonies and their associated outposts surround the village from all directions including the colony Jadonim (from the east and northern directions), the colony of Giv’at Alam Avri Ran (from the western direction) in addition to the colony of Itamar (also from the western direction). All told, these colonies have devoured 80% of Yanoun’s 16450 dunums which left it with only 2,000 dunums. And even the remaining lands are still under the threat of being evicted of its inhabitants due to the increase of the attacks carried out by extremist colonists.

 

It is worth pointing out that the latest confiscation order of Yanoun’s Parcel 3 lands means implicitly the termination any possibility of Yanoun’s population reaching their lands that were off limits for the past 10 years. The said orders coincide with an intensive campaign carried by the colonist to steal more Palestinian lands and planting it with mobile caravan especially in the aftermath of the end of the so-called “freeze” on colonial activities.