Violation: Blocking an agricultural road leading to numerous fields.
Location: Al Khader – Bethlehem.
Date: September 20, 2011.
Perpetrators: the Israeli Occupation Army.
Victims: various families.
Details:
On September 20, 2011, the Israeli Occupation Army blocked the old ‘Dahr al Ryah’ road which leads to 2000-3000 dunums of land in Al Khader. The 2-km-long, 6-meters-wide road was opened by Al Khader Municipality in cooperation with the Palestinian Ministry of Agriculture to facilitate access to the fields. However, the Israelis blocked the road rendering it accessible only by animals or on foot.
Most of the fields are planted with olives and grapes and are considered a source of income for several families. The blockade will hinder the olive picking efforts and will make it a more difficult task. The Municipality and a number of the town folks removed the rubble blocking the way the next day before being blocked again by the Israelis. The Municipality filed a complaint via the attorney of law, Mr. Ghayyath Nasser in an attempt to persuade the Israelis to reopen the road.
Al Khader:
Al Khader is located 5 km to the west of Bethlehem city; it is connected by a road to the main road, Jerusalem – Hebron road which connects it to the surrounding cities. It is administered by a local Municipality and is named after Saint George (Al Khader in Arabic).
The village holds within a football stadium, a donation of the Portuguese Government; the work in the stadium started in 2000 through Bethlehem 2000 project, however, the construction stopped for a long time because of the second Intifada (uprising) events considering the location of the stadium near by-pass road (60). It was opened in 2007.
Area and Location:
Al Khader is 20100 dunums in area including 800 dunums of built-up area.
Previous violations:
The Israelis conquered 218 dunums of the village in 1948 and are trying to capture the rest of Al Khader fertile lands using the segregation wall. The Israeli authorities confiscated huge parts of Al Khader lands to construct Ezyon colony in 1967(4500 dunums in area inhabited by 461 colonists) and Daniel in 1983 (200 dunums in area).
