Violation: colonists plant Palestinian lands and raise Israeli flags.
Location: Um al Fahem, al Khader – Bethlehem.
Date: September 2, 2012.
Perpetrators: colonists of Neve Daniel colony.
Victim: Hasan Hasan.
Details:
On September 2, 2012, a group of colonists leveled a 3-dunum-plot, property of Hasan Hasan, before planting it with forest trees and placing Israeli flags in between the seedlings. The owner’s family owns over 70 dunums in the area, most of it is planted with grapes. The owner heard about the aggression from another farmer; he gathered some of the countrymen and headed towards the plot to remove the seedlings.
No clashes were recorded as it was obvious that the colonists act was not supported by any ‘official’ orders. Also, the planted trees prove that the purpose is laying control over the lands only.
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 council 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).
