- Violation: serving an eviction military order on lands.
- Date: 20/01/2019.
- Location: Umm Al-Khair – Yatta town / Hebron governorates.
- Perpetrators: The Israeli occupation civil administration.
- Victims: people from Al-Hathaleen clan.
Description:
The Israeli occupation authorities served an eviction military order targeting a natural reserve in Umm Al-Khair east Yatta – Hebron governorate.
The military order (45359) issued by the Israeli civil administration and was attached by aerial map shows the targeted lands. The military order gave the landowners 45 days to vacate the area.
Photos 1+2: military orders targeting lands belong to farmers from Al-Hathaleen.
The landowners with the cooperation of Union of Agricultural Work Committees decided to transform their lands into a natural reserve (750 dunums) by surrounding the area with barbed wires, establishing cisterns and cultivate it.
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Photo 3-6: a view of the natural reserve.
In 2004, 9 cisterns were established inside the reserve and 400 dunums were cultivated with trees, the rest of the land was used to cultivate several crops.
The natural reserve became a an escape and a park to people of south Hebron.
In 2013, a play ground was established on 1 dunums, but the occupation authorities served a military order asking to remove it on the pretext that it lacks licensing.
The Israeli occupation claims that the natural reserve is built on a military training zone.
The occupation authorities’ military orders targeted 400 dunums out of the natural reserve total space of 750 dunums, which shows the occupation’s scheme to take over the parts they want of Palestinian lands.
The owners pointed out that the colonial institution “Regavim” is behind the military orders, as they noticed members of the institution taking pictures of the reserve and watching it with a “drone”.
Legal Feedback:
The constringing policy by the Israeli occupation authorities of confiscating Palestinian lands in order to build illegal random outposts and settlements can only be regarded as a violation of all international conventions and agreements like:
The Geneva Fourth convention relative to the protection of civilian persons in the times of war:
Security council resolution 242 year 1967: Withdrawal of Israel armed forces from territories occupied in the recent conflict; and Termination of all claims or states of belligerency and respect for and acknowledgement of the sovereignty, territoial integrity and political independence of every State in the area and their right to live in peace within secure and recognized boundaries free from threats or acts of force.
Security council resolution 446 year 1979: Determines that the policy and practices of Israel in establishing settlements in the Palestinian and other Arab 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;
Security council resolution 452 year 1979: the resolution once again denounced Israel’s settlement activities in territories occupied in 1976 including (East) Jerusalem, this activity constituting a violation of the Fourth Geneva convention, and called on Israel to cease planning and construction of settlements
Security council resolution 465 year 1980: calls to dismantle the existing settlements and in particular to cease, on an urgent basis, the establishment, construction and planning of settlements in the Arab territories occupied since 1967, including Jerusalem; Calls upon all States not to provide Israel with any assistance to be used specifically in connexion with settlements in the occupied territories;
Security council resolution 478 year 1980: Censures in the strongest terms the enactment by Israel of the “basic law” on Jerusalem and the refusal to comply with relevant Security Council resolutions,Those States that have established diplomatic missions at Jerusalem to withdraw such missions from the Holy City.
Hough convention 1907 :
Article 46: the occupying power must not confiscate Private property .
Article 55: The occupying State shall be regarded only as administrator and usufructuary of public buildings, real estate, forests, and agricultural estates belonging to the hostile State, and situated in the occupied country. It must safeguard the capital of these properties, and administer them in accordance with the rules of usufruct.
Geneve forth convention 1949:
Article 49: The occupying power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own population into the territories it occupies.
Article 55: Any destruction by the Occupying Power of real or personal property belonging individually or collectively to private persons, or to the State, or to other public authorities, or to social or cooperative organizations, is prohibited.
Article 174: taking of hostages and extensive destruction and appropriation of property, not justified by military necessity and carried out unlawfully and wantonly.
Prepared by
The Land Research Center
LRC
