Date: November 12th, 2010.
Location: The village of Beit Iksa in Jerusalem Governorate.
Details:
Israeli occupation forces delivered on the said date a confiscation order effective “immediately” on Palestinian lands in the village of Beit Iksa. The Order indicated that “As per the authorities provided to me in the Land Confiscation Law No. 321 of 1969 and Law 2 Article For the year 1953, I have decided to confiscate the land effective immediately for the Public Benefit as to build tunnels and a bridge for the railway connecting between Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.” It gave the affected Palestinians only 10 days (including the days of Eid Al Adha) to object to the Order.
The Confiscation Order and the associated Map.
Israeli occupation has already started constructing the section of the railway that will run through the lands of Beit Surik-Beit Iksa-Lifta-the Central Bus Station which is built of the lands of Lifta occupied in 1948. In case of Beit Iksa, the railway is planned to run through its lands from the east to the west via a 280-meter bridge that starts from the lands of Lifta and ends in Khirbet Al Alawneh in Beit Iksa. The railway continues its route via a tunnel starting from the khirbet and ends in Khirbet Samri of the same village only to be continued via another bridge connecting between Khirbet Samri and Khirbet Al Loza in the same village. Another underground tunnel is planned to connect the railway between Khirbet Al Loza to Beit Surik.
All told, the railway is planned to run about 1,000 meters in Beit Iksa’s lands while the lands isolated by it will be considered as a Military Closed Area to which Palestinian access will be prohibited. These lands are agricultural planted with olive trees. The Order, also, emphasized that part of the confiscated lands (about 30 dunums and denoted as Area B in the map associated with the Order) will be used to store the heavy equipment used in the digging process. The area to which Palestinian access will be prohibited is estimated to be around 1500 dunums.
The planned route of the railway in Beit Iksa is expected to connect between Beit Iksa and Lifta starting from the top of the southwestern ridge of Lifta and moving eastwards in parallel with the Yafo-Tel Aviv-Jerusalem Highway. It would, then, move to the east where it enters a tunnel beneath the area of Al Aqaba in Lifta in a location between the Lifta School and the Star of David Ambulance Center until it reaches the Nation Buildings and the Central Station.
The following table lists the names of the affected Palestinians whose lands will be used for the railway to go through.
|
Name
|
Area in Dunums
|
No. of Olive Trees
|
|
Khaled Yasein Hamayel
|
10
|
100
|
|
Ahmad and Mahmoud Hamayel
|
7
|
50
|
|
Shihada clan
|
20
|
100
|
|
Ibraheim Abdel Razzaq Ghaith
|
8
|
100
|
|
Abdel Hadi Ghaith
|
5
|
70
|
|
Mohammad Abdullah Ghaith
|
3
|
20
|
|
Ahmad Kharouqa Ghaith
|
5
|
50
|
|
Naser Mahmoud Ghaith
|
5
|
50
|
|
TOTAL
|
63
|
540
|
As for the Palestinians who would be denied access to their lands, they are as follows:
|
Name
|
Area in Dunums
|
No. of trees
|
|
Hababa clan
|
40
|
300
|
|
Taha Ismaeil Al Khateeb
|
5
|
25
|
|
TOTAL
|
45
|
325
|
On the 12th of November, 2010, (i.e. before Al Adha Eid by few days) the so-called Israeli “Civil” Administration carried out a field trip with a number of the affected population and members of the Beit Iksa Village Council as to show them the route of the railway and the location of the confiscated lands.
Sources in the Beit Iksa Village Council indicated that the Council offered alternative lands that have no trees as to be used for equipment storage. Moreover, the lawyer of 45 affected families will appeal the Order in a collective manner. Also, the refugees of Lifta will file an appeal through the Lifta Charitable Society against the Order which will threaten their evicted village as well as the Lifta Spring which will be affected due to the planned diggings.
It has to be flagged that this Order (and other similar ones) are issued in direct contradiction with International Law, the Geneva Fourth Convention and even with the Oslo Accords which declared both Beit Iksa and Beit Soreik as “West Bank lands”
Prepared by
The Land Research Center
LRC
The Land Research Center
LRC
