On March 19th of 2011, and under the protection of the Israeli Occupation Forces, a herd of Israeli settlers from the Illegal Israeli settlement of Susiya south of Hebron Governorate attacked 50 dunums of lands cultivated with wheat and barley owned by local Palestinian residents of Yatta town. The Israeli settlers turned the lands into pastures for their sheep which led to the destruction of the crops.
Moreover, in the same day, and in the northern parts of the West Bank, the Israeli settlers, and under the protection of the Israeli Occupation Forces, stationed in Wadi Qana area (Qana Valley) northwest of the city of Salfit and uprooted more than 20 Olive saplings owned by resident Abdul Karim Ahmad Mansur.
Mr. Mansur said that his 40 dunums land has always been targeted by Israeli settlers as this is the fourth time they attack his land within months, and just few weeks ago, the Israeli settlers destroyed a fence he installed around his land to protect it from settlers’ attacks.
Israel had made it a target to destroy the Palestinian agriculture by any means possible and regulated dozens of laws and pretexts to manipulate the methods to control the land and build settlements, roads, military basses and now the Segregation Wall, naturally, the most fertile and cultivated Palestinian land with trees were and still their favorite choice to drive the Palestinians from their lands. During the year 2010, the Israeli occupation army along with Israeli settlers uprooted around 11000 trees, most of which were olives. See Graph 1
Graph 1: Uprooted trees in the occupied West Bank during the year 2010
Yatta, a Palestinian town located 9 kilometers south of the city of Hebron in the southern parts of the West Bank. It is bordered by Ar Rihiyya village and Al Fawar Refugee Camp and Wadi As Sada from the north, As Samu’ village from the south, Beit ‘Amra village from the west, Zif and Khallet Al Maiyya communities from the east. The total population of Yatta town is 54,608 (PCBS 2010), where the total area is 270,000 dunums, of which, 14,000 dunums are classified as built-up area.
Wadi Qana (Qana Valley), is located northwest of the city of Salfit and surrounded by natural water springs and green trees from all directions. The Palestinian farmers who own the lands in Qana Valley have been working in cultivating and harvesting their lands for tens of years where agriculture is the main source of income for these families.
To Conclude
The Palestinian people all over the West Bank are being targeted by the ‘price tag’ policy which is initiated by Israeli settlers living in West Bank settlements. This policy seeks revenge from Palestinians by targeting their lands and properties in violation of International law rules and Human conventions:
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Article 53 & 147 of the Fourth Geneva Convention 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.
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In addition, the uprooting and the closures are a clear violation of Article 23 of The Hague Convention, which provides that: ‘it forbidden to destroy or seize the enemy’s property, ‘unless such destruction or seizure be imperatively demanded by the necessities of war’.
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Also under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted and proclaimed by a 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.
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[1] The illegal Israeli Settlement of Susiya was established in 1983, over 953 dunums of Yatta lands The settlement has a population of 792 settlers.
Prepared by:
The Applied Research Institute – Jerusalem
ARIJ
The Applied Research Institute – Jerusalem
ARIJ
