On the 15th of June 2015, the Israeli Occupation Army stormed Khirbet Hamuda area, west of Husan village, west of Bethlehem governorate, and cut more than 200 olive seedlings planted in 20 dunums of Palestinian land owned by local resident Ibrahim Lafi Shosha and Adel Sa’di Shosha.
In a visit carried out by field worker from the Applied Research Institute – Jerusalem (ARIJ) to Husan village, the targeted land which is located west of Husan village, is adjacent to the Israeli Bypass road No. 375.
Moreover, ARIJ fieldworkers interviews the owner of the land Mr. Ibrahim Shosha who indicated that ,three years ago, the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) granted him a number of olive seedlings to plant them in his land in a way to protect the land from the Israeli colonial purposes and mainly from confiscation.
Photos 1-8: uprooting trees in Husan village
For more than 15 years, Mr. Shosha used to work in his land. But on the 30thof January 2013, Mr. Shosha indicated that he received an Israeli confiscation order for his land under the pretext of “State land”. The order issued by what is so-called “Custodian of State property” where the military order hold the number 2206.
Mr. Shosha also provided that during the operation, the Officer in the Israeli Civil Administration, informed him that the olive seedlings planted in his land must be uprooted since his land classified as “State Land”
It’s worth to mention that after the Israeli Authorities issued the evacuation order No. 2206, Mr. Ibrahim Shosha submitted against the aforementioned expropriation order to the Israeli court while his case still processing.
An analysis conducted by the Geo-informatics Department at ARIJ ,showed that the targeted land located within an area classified as “Area C” according to the Oslo II agreement signed in 1995 (area c: under full Israeli control). But the controversial point that the targeted land , and contrary to the Israeli allegations, is not classified as “State Land”.! Where the Israeli claims are null and void.
However the clear truth standing behind the Israeli violations against this land is a desperate Israeli way to push Mr. Ibrahim Shosha to stop his work in the land and to keep it without reclamation to it be enable the Israeli Authorities to confiscate it according to the Othman law that the Israeli Authorities used it in the occupied Palestinian territories. The Othman law allowed the Authorities to confiscate land if they can prove that the owner of the land did not cultivate it for about 10 years. Noted that the targeted land located adjusted to the Israeli Bypass road No. 375, which means that the targeted area is a very important and strategic point for the Israeli Authorities, because by the controlling this area and the surrounded areas they also will keep the Israeli bypass road under their control.
Obviously, the Israeli occupation authorities used to invoke deceitful pretexts to keep targeting the Palestinian residents and their properties in all parts of the oPt including East Jerusalem.
It’s worth to mention that it’s not the first attacks carried out by the Israeli Army against Palestinian lands in Husan village, where according to Husan village council , on the 2nd of June 2015, the Israeli bulldozers escorted by the Israeli Occupation Army stormed Wad Abu Hamra area, south of Husan village (located between Husan and Nahalin villages), and razed 20 dunums of land owned by Mohammad Khalil Aliyan. Noted that the razing operation took place after Mr. ‘Aliyan started the reclamation of the land.
Husan village, a Palestinian village located west of Bethlehem city. Husan village is bordered by Battir village for the north, Hadar Betar settlement and Wadi Fukin village from the west, from the south the Israeli settlement of Betar Illit and Nahalin village, and from the east Al Khader town. The total area of Husan village about 7361 dunums, and after the signed of Oslo II agreement in 1995, about 6433 dunums of Husan land classified as area C which it under the Israeli full control, while the rest of the land around 928 dunums classified as Area B, where the administrative matters under the Palestinian Authorities control but the security matters under the Israeli Occupation Authorities control.
For more information About Husan village: http://vprofile.arij.org/bethlehem/pdfs/VP/Husan_vp_en.pdf
Legally, Israel in all their practices against the occupied Palestinian land breach the International laws and International community consensus and the Security Council and General Assembly resolutions in the United Nations, and also violate international charters and conventions, in particular dealing with human rights:
- The confiscation and destruction of Palestinian land is a violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention, Article 147 of which clearly prohibits, ''extensive destruction and appropriation of property, not justified by military necessity and carried out unlawfully and wantonly.'' Violations of Articles of the Fourth Geneva Convention constitute breaches of the Convention and should be prosecuted as War Crimes.
- United Nations Security Council resolution 446, adopted in 1979, concerned the issue of Israeli settlements in the " Palestinian territories of the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip. In the Resolution, the Security Council determined: "that the policy and practices of Israel in establishing settlements in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967 have no legal validity and constitute a serious obstruction to achieving a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in the Middle East"
- United Nations Security Council resolution 465 (1980), demanded Israel to dismantle the existing settlements and stop the planning and building of the settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories, included east Jerusalem.
Prepared by:
The Applied Research Institute – Jerusalem
