Israeli Colonists Greet the New Netanyahu Government with Continued Colonization.

Israeli colonies spread throughout the West Bank have witnessed lately a construction boom as well as an active road construction, the largest since 2005. The boom comes as an extreme right government takes power in Israel under the premiership of Benjamin Netanyahu. The colonists are hoping that the ascending of such a government would provide them with an additional margin of freedom to expand the area of their colonies and acquire additional Palestinian lands. Given the fact that the illegal outpost  movement has started in the first Netanyahu reign of power in the late 1990’s, colonists are optimistic that they will continue their colonial activities with relative ease. There are a number of colonial projects that are currently ongoing including the following:

• The construction of a 1400-meter colonial road connecting between the colony of A’ale and the outpost of Hiovel. This road will lead to the isolation of hundreds of dunums of Palestinian agricultural lands. The construction is considered the largest violation carried out by colonists in the West Bank without any precautions. A similar project is the road linking the colonies of Shilo and A’ale (for more information in this regard, please refer to LRC’s case study here).

Photo 2: a colonial road near the outpost of Hiovel and the colony of A’ale

 
Photo 3 & Photo 4: The colony of A’ale atop Qariot lands

• The construction of a colonial road linking the colony of Gil’ad Farm, located west of Nablus, with By-Pass Road 60.

• The construction of a colonial road linking between the outpost of Hiovel and the colony of Shilo and then to the By-Pass Road 60

• The construction of a colonial road east of the outpost of “Adie A’ad” located close to the colony of A’ale. The lands belong to the village of Al Magheir in the Governorate of Jenin.

• The construction of a road south of the Giva’at Haroe’ outpost built atop the lands of the village of Sinjil north of Ramallah.

• The construction of a road by Efrat colonists in Bethlehem Governorate on the lands of the village of Nahla.

• The confiscation of 1,000 dunums surrounding the colony of Karmaeil located south of the town of Yatta. Work on the construction of a colonial road surrounding the confiscated dunums was embarked upon since the first weeks of February 2009. For additional information, please refer back to LRC’s case study in its regard here.

• The construction of 9 colonial housing units in the outpost of Rahaleim north of Ramallah. In addition, mobile caravans were placed in the outpost of Migron (an eviction order in its regard was issued, yet not carried out as of yet).

• Construction of the second phase of the colony of Ma’ale Zeitiem, located in Ras Al Amoud in Jerusalem, is on-going. Around 60 colonial housing units were added.

• Construction in Ma’ale Adumim started on January 1st, 2009 as the basic infrastructure for 1,000 colonial housing units in Area 07 of the colony was finished. Similar work is being carried out in the same colony in Area 04 to add more colonial units.

• Colonists have reached the final stages of completing three buildings (each has 16 apartments) in the colony Efrat in Bethlehem Governorate. The colony was established atop lands from Al Khader and Jourat Al She’ma villages.   

• In January 2009 the plowing stage was carried out to construct a new 3-kilometer colonial road in the vicinity of the colony of Kfar Tappuh as to connect it with a number of colonial outposts surrounding the villages of Yassuf and Iskaka in Salfeet Governorate. These outposts include Rahaleim A and B. For additional information in this regard, please refer to LRC’s case study listed here.

• The on-going expansion work on the lands of Masha village in Salfeet as 22 dunums were confiscated to enlarge the colonies of Al Kana A and B. Please refer to LRC’s case study in this regard following think link.

• The construction of a new colonial road aiming at changing the route of the entrance to the colony of Shavie’ Shomron as to make it located outside of the Palestinian communities of Deir Sharaf and Sabastia in Nablus Governorate.

Colonists consider the construction of colonial roads as the first step towards colonial expansion in both colonies and outposts. As such, they deal with it with the utmost seriousness and importance. On the other hand, the human rights organization Yesh Din has issued a number of statements indicating that placing colonists under the rule of law is, in general, extremely low. Colonial outposts have witnessed an unprecedented rise in building and construction since the beginning of the second Intifada in 2000 and during the first Netanyahu government between 1996 and 1999. It is worth pointing out here that it was uncovered lately that the Israeli Ministry of War intentionally stopped the implementation of a High Court order calling for stopping the building process in 9 buildings in the colony of Efrat built atop private Palestinian lands. The Ministry basically ignored the decision and even advised the Court to reconsider its decision.  The following tables lists the colonial activities that were taking place upon the ascending of Netanyahu to power in Israel in April, 2009. 

 Statistically speaking, the following table lists the frequency of the violations: 

This report indicates that the Israeli occupation is systematically using an anti-Palestinian policy while helping and aiding Israeli colonists in establishing tens and hundreds of colonial housing units. Hundreds of these units do not have the necessary permits, yet it does not receive demolition orders. On the other hand, a small Palestinian room or even a brux made out of wooden sheets gets demolished (such as what took place to a Jahallin family in East Jerusalem). In the first three months of 2009 Israeli occupation forces demolished 26 Palestinian housing structures in Jerusalem and gave demolition orders to about 250 other structures in Al Bustan Neighborhood in Silwan, in Ras Khamis neighborhood in Shu’fat Refugee Camp, Burj Alaqlaq in the Old City and in Al Abbassia Neighborhood in Silwan.

The demolitions were not confined to the City of Jerusalem as other Governorates faced similar occupational activity. For example, in Nablus Israeli occupation authorities issued demolition orders against 50 Palestinian houses (the entire Khirbet Tana) while in Hebron Governorate around 30 houses were given demolition orders while an additional 20 similar orders were distributed in Bethlehem Governorate. As such, we note here the racial discrimination policies employed by the occupation authorities which give a blind eye to Jewish colonial expansion while they come rushing to demolish any Palestinian infrastructure and building.

Prepared by:
The Land Research Center
LRC