- Violation: banning the opening of a road
- Location: Aqraba town- Nablus
- Date: July 20, 2016
- Perpetrators: Israeli Occupation Forces
- Victims: farmers from the town
Details:
At the early hours of July 20, 2016, a massive force from Israeli occupation army raided the eastern area of Aqraba town, southeast Nablus city and targeted the area known as "Al-Mahforiya". It is indicated that the occupation force obliged a number of workers and the contractor, who are opening an agricultural road , to halt all works on the claim that the activities are implemented in area classified as area "C" according to Oslo Accords, which is under Israeli control.
The mayor of Aqraba, Bilal Abdelhadi, told Land Research Center the following:
" The targeted road is located to the east of Aqraba; it is being implemented by Union of Agricultural Work Committees with funds from Netherlands Representative Office in Palestine. The road is of 1500m2 and cost around 25,000 dollars. When implemented, the road will serve an area of 150 dunums from Al-Mahforiya including some recently reclaimed lands and olive groves"
The mayor also added: " Around 9:30 in the morning, we were surprised when the occupation force raided the area and verbally banned the workers from continuing works on the road. Workers were threatened of arrest if they continue what they do"
It should be also marked that the Israeli Occupation Forces raided the town of Aqraba on June 2016 and banned the opening of an agricultural road that is founded in the area known as Khirbet Al-Twayyel.
Photos 1-3: the targeted road
About Aqraba:
18 kilometers to the southwest of Nablus, Aqraba can be set as an example of a recurrent target for the Israeli occupation attacks. The village totals 34,660 dunums in area, mostly, agricultural lands. However, the Israeli occupation declared more than 281,000 dunums of the village lands as military zone that Palestinians are not allowed to exploit in any way while soaking the area with various colonies including Gittit. Thus, Aqraba is left with only1, 350 as a built-up area.
Colonies founded on Aqraba lands are expanding on daily basis; they are classified as “agricultural settlements”. In addition, the Israelis have placed numerous watch towers and military encampments in order to control the whole region.
More than 500 Palestinians reside in nomad gatherings around ‘Aqraba; the residents of these communities face day-to-day threats against their houses, tents, shacks; basically, their existence.
Additionally, the Israeli colonists try to chase these people out of their fields in an attempt to take over the area.
‘Aqraba is inhabited by around 8,180 people with unemployment reaching up to 50% due to the hardships imposed by the Occupiers.
Prepared by
The Land Research Center
LRC
