Violation: The takeover of forty agricultural dunums by "Mevo Dotan" colonists in Arraba town
Location: Arraba town- Jenin governorate
Date: July 02, 2014
Perpetrators: The colonists of Mevo Dotan
Victims: The farmer Emad Jaber and his family
Details:
The colonists of "Mevo Dotan ", situated on Arraba lands, continue for the twentieth day in row the bulldozing work on Emad Jaber's land from Arraba town. It should be marked that the farmer's land is situated outside the colony borders; 2km away from the western part, and 5km away from southern eastern part of the built-up area of Arraba in the Al Was'ah area.
Mentioning the bulldozing works, Jaber; the 54-year old farmer stated to the LRC researcher: " I own an agricultural land with a total area of 40 dunums( 80% planted with olives and almonds and 20% is unplanted). The land is originally owned by my father- in- law where we have sharecropping contract between us for ten years. I am the sustainer of a family of eleven members, including four kids.
He also added: "On Wednesday, July 02, 2014, I was surprised by massive troops of the occupation military and colonists heading to my land. I also saw a bulldozer leveling my own land to the ground. I tried so hard to reach out the place but soldiers denied me access while other colonists were moving freely and supervising the bulldozing works. I, then went to the Palestinian- Israeli military District Coordination Office in order to submit an official complaint against the occupation army and the colonists where I was asked to show a property proof of the land I planted for more than 15 years. The DCO submitted the complaint which was rejected by the Israeli side under the pretext of the land being a "state property" as claimed.
Jabber stated that: "I try every now and then to reach out my targeted land to check on the ravaging acts done by the colonists. Taking into consideration that my land is far from the colony ,yet it appears that there are some implicit plans by colonists. Until today, the ravaging affected four out of forty dunums and no plansprojects behind that were yet disclosed."
Ongoing harassment:
Jaber said to the LRC researcher that: "Since long ago, the colonists have harassed me in my own land and the occupation soldiers deny me access to it. Despite all obstacles and imminent danger , I insist on being in there until the last moment."
About Arraba:
Arraba is located 12km from the southern west of Jenin city. It is surrounded by both colonies; al-Manshiyya and Kufeirat (north), Fahma, al- Hafira, and Al Damayra towns (west south) and Fahma and Al Jadida towns (south).
It has a population of 12,792 people until 2014 and has a total area of 33,436 dunums , 1195 of which are built-up area. 1514 dunums were confiscated by the occupation as follows:
Mevo Dotan colony ; established in 1987 and inhabited by 289 colonists, took over 696 dunums of the village's lands. There is also an army camp for the occupation in the southern part of thw town founded on 129 dunums of the village's lands. The colonial roads also confiscated 370 dunums for the favor of the bypass road no.585.
According to Oslo Accords , the village lands are classified as :
- (13869) dunums are classified as areas "A"
- (3916) dunums are classified as areas "B"
- (15623) dunums are classified as areas "C"
Prepared by
The Land Research Center
LRC
