More Palestinian properties to be destroyed in Al Auja village

The Israeli government insists on implementing its inexorable and creeping colonial projects in the occupied West Bank at the expense of the Palestinians village communities without any respite. This time, the victim is Al-Auja village.

On the 13^th of May, 2013, the Israeli occupation Army (IOA) stormed Al-Auja village in Jericho Governorate, and handed over 14 halt-of-construction notices to houses and animal pins owned by Palestinian families in Al-Najadeh neighborhood.

It is worth mentioning that the threatened structures are located in area ‘C’, where the Israeli government retains its full control over security and administrative matters. According to the Israeli narrative, the targeted Palestinian properties lack building permits from the Israeli Civil Administration and therefore they have to be demolished. (Table 1) gives details of the 14 notices that were handed to the families in Al-Najadeh neighborhood:

Table 1: The Israeli demolition orders in Al Auja village
No.	No. of Military order	Area of targeted structure
1	152389	80 m²
2	152390	30 m²
3	152391	200 m²
4	152392	80 m²
5	152393	50 m²
6	152394	40 m²
7	152395	80 m²
8	152396	80 m²
9	152397	60 m²
10	152398	40 m²
11	152399	40 m²
12	152400	200 m²
13	152403	100 m²
14	152404	50 m²
Source: Al Auja village Council, 2013

Map 1: Targeted Houses and structures in Al Auja village

The same scenario repeats itself daily; the Israeli government continues evicting and demolishing Palestinian houses and properties that are located adjacent to its illegal settlements under various pretexts of ‘security’. Obviously, the Israeli settlements surrounding Al-Auja village are hungry for more Palestinian lands to inflate their property.

Al Auja, general glance

Al Auja, a Palestinian village in the central Jericho Governorate and is located approximately 10 km north of Jericho city Centre. It’s bounded by the Jordan River to the east, the Israeli settlement of Niran to the north, an Israeli military base and the Israeli settlement of Yitav from the West, and An Nuwei’ma village to the south. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS), the total population of Al Auja village is 1,258 inhabitants (2013).

The geopolitical status of Al-Auja villlage

According to Oslo II interim agreement signed in 1995 between the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) and Israel, Al Auja lands were divided into areas ‘A’ and ‘C’. Approximately 16,519 (15.5% of the total village area) were classified as area ‘A’, where the PNA has full control over security and administrative matters; while the remaining of the village’s lands, 89,879 dunums (84.5% of the total village area), was classified as area ‘C’, where Israel retains full control over security and administration related to the territory. In area ‘C’ Palestinian building and land management is forbidden unless through a permission from the Israeli Civil Administration, which is most of the time hard to obtain. See (table 2):

Table 2: The geopolitical status of Al Auja village according to Oslo II interim agreement in 1995
Area	Area in dunums	Percent of total village area
Area A	16,519	15.5%
Area B	0	0
Area C	89,879	84.5%
Total	106,398	100%
Source: ARIJ-GIS Unit, 2011

The impact of the Israeli occupation practices on Al Auja village

Since the Israeli occupation of the West Bank in 1967, thousands of dunums of Al Auja village lands were confiscated by Israel for the purpose of establishing new settlements and later expanding them. Today, five illegal Israeli settlements occupy the lands of Al Auja village, on 8,120 dunums of lands and are currently inhabited by 812 settlers. (ARIJ-Urbanization Monitoring Unit, 2011) See (table 3):

Table 3: The Israeli settlement established on Al Auja village lands
Settlement Name	Year of Establishment	Lands confiscated in dunums	Population of settlers 2011
Niran	1981	421	60
Gilgal	1970	1096	191
Netiv HaGdud	1975	1227	195
Yitav	1970	526	252
Na’omi	1979	4940	114
Total		8,210	812
Source: the Geo-informatics Department, ARIJ 2013

The Israeli government has also expropriated tracts of lands from Al Auja village to establish military bases for its army in the area, allegedly, to protect its settlers’ from the neighboring Palestinian communities that constitute a constant threat to them (this is according to the Israeli claims). In fact, this army protects and provides the Israeli settlers with the necessary infrastructure to guarantee their continued existence in the area.

Additionally, Israel constructed two major bypass roads in the area, Bypass road No. 90 and Bypass road No. 449 to create a geographical network in the area that will link Israeli settlements in that area with each other and with the nearby outposts and military bases and settlements nearby.

Analysis:

The Israeli government systematic approach in looting and confiscating Palestinian lands located in area ‘C’ [1] Palestinians in Al Auja village find themselves obliged to obtain building permits for their properties located in Area ‘C’ from the Israeli Civil Administration despite the difficulties they face in order to prevent the demolition and eviction of their structures in that area. Nevertheless, the Israeli government, on one hand, makes sure that the Palestinians in area ‘C’ do not obtain these permits easily (or do not obtain them at all) by placing insurmountable obstacles that are usually based on various ‘security’ pretexts. On the other hand, Israel keeps publishing bids and tenders to build more housing units in existing Israeli settlements to encourage settlers to expand their settlements in the area so that it could imposes bitter facts on the ground to make the establishment of a Palestinian state almost impossible for the Palestinians in the future

To conclude

The Israeli government de facto annexation and expropriation of Palestinian properties in the occupied West Bank in favor of establishing its illegal settlements and other colonial plans is an ongoing process that aims at Judaizing the area for Israel’s favor. The Israeli attacks on the Palestinians and their properties are condemned by the international charter and all human rights conventions, some of which are listed below:

Article 53 & 147 of the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949 indicated that: Extensive destruction and appropriation of property not justified by military necessity and carried out unlawfully and wantonly, is a grave breach of the Convention.
Moreover Art. 23 of the Hague Convention of 1907 also provides: In addition to the prohibitions provided by special Conventions, it is especially forbidden to destroy or seize the enemy’s property, unless such destruction or seizure be imperatively demanded by the necessities of war.
Also under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted and proclaimed by General Assembly resolution 217 A (III) of, December 10, 1948, Article 17 reads: ‘No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his property.’ Which means it bans Israel from destroying or confiscating the property of the Palestinians at any case.
‘Article 12’ of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights Everyone lawfully within the territory of a State shall, within that territory, have the right to liberty of movement and freedom to choose his residence.
Article 13 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,: Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each State.