Israeli Settlement plans further threaten the existence of Jabal Al Baba Bedouin community

The Israeli High court issued Tuesday, the 19th of April 2016, its ruling regarding Jabal Al Baba Bedouin community, located to the north of Al Ezariyah town in Jerusalem Governorate and ordered the demolition of 11 Palestinian homes and structures in the community owned by Mazar’a and Jahhalin families. The court also ordered the demolition of the only Mosque in the area (150 square meters area). The 11 homes are sheltering around 50 Palestinians in the area.

Note that on the 21st of January 2016, staff of the Israeli Civil Administration escorted by the Israeli occupation Army and accompanied by Israeli machinery and bulldozers raided Jabal Al Bab community in Al Ezariyah and demolished six homes in the area, some of which are funded by the European Union and ACF. The demolitions targeted the families of Ali Abu Kteifeh, Suliman Jahalin, Nayef Jahalin, and Imteira Jahalin, and Talib Jahalin. Fore more information, click here: The Israeli Occupation Forces demolish Bedouin residences funded by EU

Later in February 2016, residents of Jabal Al Baba community were notified to  stop the construction of their homes and facilities, all built in a primitive way, citing “unlicensed building” as a pretext to go on with the demolition and evacuation of this Bedouin community. Note that the land on which Jabal Al Baba community resides is classified as area “C", which according to OSLO II interim agreement of 1995, Israel retains full and extensive control, including over security, land zoning and planning.  Copies of some of the military orders are listed below including the one order targeting the only mosque in Jabal Al Baba community

Photos 1-4: Israeli Stop work orders handed to Jabala Al Baba community back in February 2016

Photo 5: israeli military order targeting the only Mosque of Jabal Al Baba Community

Also map 1 gives a glimpse of the Israeli settlement plans in the vicinity of Jabal Al Baba community

Map 1: Location of Jabal Al Baba Bedouin community

Eviction of Palestinian Communities vs Settlement Building

To the east of Jabal Al Baba community lies the Israeli settlement of Ma’ale Adumim, the largest settlement in the occupied Palestinian territory in terms of area (6730 dunums) and the third largest in terms of population (50972 Israeli settlers- ARIJ 2015). The settlement of Ma’ale Adumim along with eight others in the area constitute what Israeli refers to “the Ma’ale Adumim settlement bloc" in east Jerusalem. It is the largest settlement bloc in the occupied Palestinian territory with a population of more than 61,000 Israeli settlers and occupies more than 13,600 dunums (72.5 km²) of confiscated Palestinian lands from Abu Dis, Ezariya, Isawiya, At Tur, and 'Anata towns.

Since the establishment of Ma’ala Adumim settlement and the nearby settlements, the consecutive Israeli Governments has invested significant resources in expanding and developing them; as a result of this investment, large tracts of Palestinian lands were illegally seized from the neighboring Palestinian communities. Today, these settlements constitute a great danger on the neighboring Palestinian communities (Jabal Al Baba community is one of them) because they continue to expand on the expense of the neighboring Palestinian lands, and threaten their existence in the near future.

Additionally, in the late nineties, the Israeli Government unveiled plans to expand the Ma’ale Adumim settlement westwards. The expansion plan was referred to as the “E1 Plan”[1]. It includes the construction of 3910 settlement units west of Ma'ale Adumim settlement in addition to the building of 2152 hotel rooms, an industrial zone and a Police Station. This construction will come on more than 13,000 dunums of Palestinian land in East Jerusalem which belong to Al 'Issawiya, At Tur, Al 'Ezariyeh, Abu Dis and 'Anata communities.

Note that Jabal Al Baba Bedouin community stands in the area that was designated by Israel for future settlement expansion, as seen in Map 1, and the implementation of this colonial project, would amount to the displacement of Jabal Al Baba Bedouin community to make room for its implementation.

Furthermore, in 2002, Israel commenced the construction of the segregation wall in the occupied Palestinian territory with great focus on Jerusalem city. Accordingly, the latest update route of the segregation wall showed that the wall is set to annex three major Israeli settlement blocs surrounding the city of Jerusalem, including Ma’ale Adumim settlement bloc, while excluding 12 Palestinian communities nearby (pop +130,000) from the city’s municipal boundaries, to become on the eastern side of the wall.

Jabal Al Baba Bedouin community also battles eviction by Israel due to the construction of the segregation wall. The route of the segregation wall surrounds Jabal Al Baba community from all directions and isolates it from Al Ezariya town and other nearby Palestinian communities. See Map 2

Map 2: The route of the Segregation Wall around Ma’ale Adumim settlement bloc

At the time Israel is pursuing the demolition and evacuation of a whole Palestinian community in east Jerusalem; several plans and tenders are being deposited for building and expanding in Ma’ale Adumim settlement. Earlier this week, the Americans for PEACENOW movement published on its website a report indicating that Israel has been advanced building plans in a number of settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt) during the first quarter of 2016, including the settlement of Ma’ale Adumim. For more information, click here: Netanyahu’s Government towards approving raft of settlement construction in the oPt

Additionally, a huge number of construction plans were deposited and approved by the Israeli Government[2] in 2015, for expanding Ma’ale Adumim settlement and the settlements nearby such as Kfar Adumim, the Industrial settlement of Mishor Adumim[3], Nofei Prat and many others in the area. Below is a short list of the plans deposited for the expansion of Ma’ale Adumim settlement during the year 2015.

To sum-up

The Israeli Government plans to annex most of the land where Jabal Al Baba community stands and the area surrounding it, slowly by dispossessing it and other Palestinian Bedouin communities in the area from their land and sources of livelihood, to implement its settlement projects. The construction of the Israeli Segregation wall will further control Palestinian lands in the area and reserve it for future settlement expansion since Palestinians won’t have access to these lands once the construction of the wall is completed; thus, foreclosing any possibility of Palestinian urban development in this area and effectively undermining any possibility of a meaningful Palestinian territorial contiguity.

[1] Plan No. 420/4/7 and plan No. 420/10/7

[2] Represented by the Israeli Ministry of Housing and Construction and the Ministry of Interior and the Israeli Land Authority

[3] Israel Unveils new tenders in Mishor Adumim Industrial settlement in Jerusalem
http://www.old.poica.org/details.php?Article=9268

Prepared by:
The Applied Research Institute – Jerusalem