Violation: Large-scale construction and expansion work in preparation of building a new colony
Location: Deir Saman, Kafr ad Dik- Salfit governorate
Date: 01 July 2014
Perpetrators: The Israeli occupation army
Victims: People of the towns of Deir Ballut, Rafat, and Kafr ad Dik
Details:
Khirbet Deir Abu Saman, located northwest of Kafr ad Dik in Salfit, has a strategic location, enjoying greenery scenery and overlooking the coastline of the 1948 occupied Palestine. Deir Abu Saman is also considered an archaeological site with remains dating back to the Roman era as well as Byzantine, Islamic, and Ottoman, making the area an attraction site and a destination for researchers and tourists alike.
The Israeli occupation has not spared the area nonetheless. On the contrary, it has embraced the most racist and radical of means to strip Palestinians of their rights to it, destroy the nature of the place, loot its historical treasures, and forge history. The Israeli occupation forces have carried out nonstop large-scale ravaging operations in Deir Abu Saman, destroying most of its monuments and uprooting many trees in the process. In addition to that, monuments have been systematically stolen and transferred into nearby colonies.
Construction and expansion of Leisham:
Two years ago and since the beginning of 2012, the Israeli occupation bulldozers have not stopped ravaging work, not even for a single day in Deir Saman, until the whole mountain over which it resides has been swept away and the nature of the place irreversibly altered.
Visitors of Deir Saman are shocked at the new reality on the ground, knowing that more than 400 dunums of land were leveled while hundreds of Roman trees got totally uprooted, forever changing the character of the place.
Today, one only hears the noises of the bulldozers and diggers. Fresh air is scarce as dust prevails the atmosphere.
Construction of prefabricated houses, gardens, and public utilities:
It should be marked, that according to LRC field research, about 35 houses are under construction for the new colony 'Leisham' in addition to the preparation of a road network and a number of public utilities within the colony to soon receive hundreds of Jewish families.
Destruction of a historical site:
Despite the international norms that ban any aggression on historical legacy and despite the signed conventions about the protection of people's property at time of war, especially the Fourth Geneva and Hague Conventions, which Israel is part of, it disregards all of mentioned and destroys the archaeological sites of Deir Saman by systematically sabotaging the historical place, in total disrespect for the international community.
According to eyewitnesses, the Israeli occupation stole the old stones adorning the area and moved them into Israeli colonies in an attempt to forge history and fool the world by proving they have always had connections to the place.
All these barbaric actions go unnoticed by the International community that stands helpless and passive.
A futuristic look at the area:
It is worth mentioning that while the Israeli occupation is planning to build Leisham, a new colony, only 2 kilometers away, is being built simultaneously in an area known as Dhahr Soboh, north of Kafr ad Dik, west of the West Bank city of Salfit.
And in parallel, the Israeli occupation is planning to connect all the new colonies with nearby ones: A road network that begins at Eli Zahav passing by Bedoel and then by Barkan up to Ariel and finally ending in Taffuh. Though the colonies are only 2 kilometers away from each other. But as one can see, the Israeli occupation tries to create a geographic connection and continuity between the Green Line and the Jordan Valley.
Prepared by
The Land Research Center
LRC
