Violation: digging a 5-km-long trench in Al Bqe’a.
Location: Al Bqe’a – southern ‘Atouf.
Date: early April, 2011.
Perpetrators: the Israeli Occupation Army.
Victims: the nomad gatherings in the area.
Preface:
People living in the Jordan Valley area depend mostly on agriculture in their living; the climate and availability of water renders the area convenient for agriculture. The Israeli Occupation have been trying eagerly to take over the area by building tens of agricultural colonies and taking over the water sources. The colonies renders the Palestinians unable to exploit their lands captured by the Israelis or turned into mine fields. Even shepherds are disallowed from herding in these areas.
Capturing Al Bqe’a:
The Israeli Occupation Army started building a 5-km-long-2-m-deep trench; the trench will isolate 25,000 dunums, out of a total of 60000 dunums, the total area of Al Bqe’a. The isolated area will be used for colonial expansions by the Israelis.
Picture 1-2
It must be noted that such a trench is not the first of its kind; in 2000, the Israelis dug a 3-km-long-2-m-deep trench which isolated more than 15000 dunums in the area; the isolated areas were used for the expansions of Pig’ut colony. The isolated areas were used by various nomads who used to herd in the area.
The objective of building such a trench is not only colonial expansion but also drastically damaging the herding and agriculture that used to flourish in the region. The trench will also complicate communication and bonding between the various residents of various nomads gatherings in the targeted region knowing that the Israeli troops had warned the locals from getting near the trench. On April 7, 2011, the Israeli Occupation Army fined Raed Odeh and Yusuf Bisharat, 1000 NIS each, because of being near the trench.
Demolishing Nomads Gatherings in the area:
The Israeli Authorities forced the Palestinian nomads scattered around Al Bqe’a to reside in a 200-dunum-area called ‘Atouf. They had also forced people living in other gatherings like Al Hadidiyya and Al Riwaq after arbitrarily evicting their residents. The aim for such a step is suffocating shepherds after the confiscation of more than 60% of Al Bqe’a area knowing that herding is the main and only source of living of most of these herders.
It is also known that it is much harder for the Israeli colonists to control and harass herders if they were randomly scattered all around the area. The nomad gatherings in the area lacks the basic needs of living and they suffer from daily aggressions committed by the colonists and the Israeli soldiers.
They destroy barns, water tanks, chasing herders in addition to suffocating their property.Moreover, the residents are not allowed to add even the simplest thing to their simple residences; these residences that were none of them has been spared from receiving a demolition order. The Israeli Occupation took over water and land and turned the indigenous people into strangers roaming the area trying to find a place to settle.
Prepared by
The Land Research Center
LRC
The Land Research Center
LRC
