A new colonial quarter in the outpost of Har Bracha in Nablus

Violation: announcing a new colonial quarter in Har Bracha

Date: 04/09/2014

Perpetrators: Israel Ministry of Housing

Victims: residents of Kfar Qlil and Burin villages

Details:

The so-called Israeli Ministry of Housing announced a tender to build a new quarter in the outpost of Har Bracha that is located on the lands of Kfar Qlil and Burin villages, south of Nablus city.

According to the tender, 48 residential units will be built in the periphery of the outpost as a substitute for the caravans set up at time of lands confiscation near the tomb of Salaman al-Farsi in 2001. This came to fulfill the request of the previous prime minister Ariel Sharon, who called on colonists to take over the top of mountains to establish their outposts on.

Photos 1-2:the outpost of Har Bracha that is located on Burin and Kfar Qlil

Dedication to colonial expansion:

This move of building new residential units in Har Bracha is considered part of the dedication given to the colonial expansion in the area and a technique to legitimize the colonial random establishment through lands confiscation under various pretexts. All in all, the occupation reflects its approach of lands Judaization.

It should be mentioned that the beginning of Har Bracha colony was by confiscating a piece of land located on a top of a hill that overlooks Bracha(500m away from it)and the mountains of Ebal and Gerizim in Nablus in 1998 for the sake of establishing a military watch-post.

In2011, the first caravan was installed in the area, which changed from a watch-post into a random outpost that expanded to be a full colony, accumulating more colonists inside.

About Burin:

4km to the south of Nablus city, Burin is located with a total land area of12,348 of which 335dunums is built-up area and a population of 2977 people until 2014. Burin is surround by Erak Burin form the north, Madama from the west, Kfar Qlil from east and Huwara from the south.

According to Oslo Accord, Burin lands are classified as follows:

9940dums (80% of the land total area) are classified as area C
2408 dunums (20% of the land total area) are classified as area B

The occupation confiscated around 1903 dunums from Burin lands for the favor of military activities and colonies described as follows:

1097 dunums were confiscated for the favor of the following colonies:

Bracha colony: it was established in 1982 with a total land area of 632 dunums and is inhabited by 880 colonists.
Yitzhar colony: it was established in 1983 with a total land area of 200 dunums in addition to its outpost that is of 7 dunums in area. The colony is inhabited by 440colonists.
Givat Ronen " Sni Yacoub" :it was established in 2002 with a total land area of 258 dunums.

115 dunums were confiscated for the favor of the bypass road no.557.
691 dunums were confiscated to have a military camp built there.

About Bracha colony2:

Bracha was built in 1982 on the Palestinian lands of Kafr Qlil, Burin, and Eraq Burin villages. Around 880 colonists now inhabit the colony .

Eraq Burin has a built-up area of 647 dunums, 291 of which were confiscated for the sake of the colony's expansion. (Source: Geographic Information System- Monitoring Israeli Violations Team- Land Research Center