The Israeli colonization activities in the Eastern Segregation Zone

Introduction

The Eastern part of the West Bank encompasses the middle and lower parts of the Jordan Valley and the upper part of the Dead Sea western shores. It occupies an area of 1640 Km2. It hosts a total population of 52132  Palestinian inhabitants (the Palestinian Central bureau of Statistics, PCBS 2005). The Jordan Valley is a geographical region formed around the Jordan River and is part of the Great Rift Valley. Part of it lies in the West Bank and is enclosed between the mountains of the West Bank to the west and the Jordan River to the east.  

The Jordan Valley lies in a climatic zone that is distinguished by being several degrees warmer than the rest of the surrounding climatic zones. This feature in addition to the presence of the fertile soils and the presence of water resources makes the valley an agricultural rich area. See Map 1

The Jordan valley is situated over the Eastern Water Basin which has an annual safe yield of 172 MCM. The Palestinians are only allowed to utilize about 40% of the water of this basin. Jordan River is one of the main sources of water in the region. See map of water resources.

Today the Valley is divided between three political authorities: Palestine, Jordan and Israel. In addition, the Jordan Valley has historical, religious and political importance for many people around the world. The Jordan River played an important role in several biblical events, the most important of which is the baptism of Jesus Christ by John the Baptist. The area's fertile lands were also recorded in the Old Testament.

The colonization of the eastern region following the 1967 war

The Alon plan

Directly, following the 1967 war, Yigal Alon, the defense minister and head of the Israeli Ministerial Committee on settlements at that time, presented a plan to colonize the newly occupied territory of the Jordan Valley. In the first stage, the plan demanded securing the region to the west of the Jordan River and west of the Dead Sea shores and build a strip of Jewish settlements to act as a buffer between Jordan and the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT). This in turn, would surround and control the OPT from all sides and turn the Jordan River into the political and security boundary for Israel.

Within the Jordan Valley area, the plan called for the construction of a bloc of Israeli Settlements at a width of approximately 20 kilometers as a first step towards their formal annexation to the state of Israel. The plan also called for the construction of a string of settlements around East Jerusalem, the Etzion Block southwestern Bethlehem and in Palestinian lands south of Hebron.

The role of the successive Israeli Governments in Colonizing the Jordan Valley

The successive Israeli governments had designated the Jordan Valley as one priority area for colonization. In July 2004, Israel39;s Agriculture minister proposed a plan to confiscate 31,000 Dunums of land from the Palestinians in the Jordan Valley to expand the Israeli settlements and increase the settler39;s population. According to the plan, incentives are to be set by the government of Israel for Israeli settlements39; agricultural sector in the Jordan valley area, in addition to increase the number of housing units; even though many of the settlements in the Valley are barely occupied. 

The development proposal did not gain approval at that time, however in June 2005 the plan was reactivated, when the Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and the financial committee preliminary approved the plan to invest 50 million $ yearly over the coming five years to strengthen the settlements in the Jordan Valley. 

Today, a total of 42 Illegal Israeli settlements exist in the Eastern Zone, occupying about 38 Km2 (2.3% of the total Eastern Zone area 1640 Km2) and accommodating about 12000 Israeli settlers. Table 1 below lists the Israeli settlements in the Eastern Zone along with their date of establishment and population.  Note that the area of the Israeli settlements in the Jordan increased by 2.3 Km2 area during the years 2002 and 2004.

Source: ARIJ database 2004 and Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics 2004.

Israel, throughout the years, also managed to establish a number of military bases and declared large areas of land as closed military areas. Today, the total area of the established military bases are round 27 km² (1.7% of the total Eastern Zone area 1640 Km2); while the total area of the lands declared as 39;closed military areas39; and fall under the full Israeli control is 920 Km2 (56% of the total Eastern Zone area 1640 Km2). In Total, the area of the Israeli settlements along with the Israeli military installations and closed areas constitute about 60% of the total eastern Zone area and are off limits to Palestinians.

In a statement by Benjamin Netanyahu in June 3, 2005, a former Israeli prime minister said that 39;the Jordan Valley would never be included in any Israeli withdrawals. 'The Jordan Valley will stay under Israel 39;control forever39;, It is the eastern defensive shield of Israel39;. We will not return to the 39;6739; borders, which were indefensible.39;  Quoted from: Israeli National news website, June 3, 2005. 

Another article published on Al Jazeera website on June 25, 2005 unveils another plan by the 39;the Israeli ministry of agriculture39; to double the number of Illegal Israeli settlers living in the Jordan Valley39;. The plan, according to Al Jazeera website, has already won approval from within different ministries will increase the number of residents in 21 settlements by 50% in a year and then by 50% in a year and then by a further 50% in the following year,' Benjamin Rom, spokesman of the Israeli ministry of Agriculture. Full article 

The Israeli Government will never give up on its colonization plans in the Jordan valley; thus violating all international laws and signed agreements to which Israel is a signatory. See Appendix 1: Settlement expansion in light of the United Nations Security Council resolutions, international laws, human rights and international covenants.

Israeli Checkpoints along the Eastern Segregation Zone

The Israeli Army erected several checkpoints and roadblocks in order to control the Palestinian movement to and from the Jordan Valley. The area enclosed by this group of checkpoints and roadblocks incarcerates over 51,845 Palestinians. At these checkpoints, Israeli soldiers do not allow Palestinians to cross unless they are residents of the valley's villages.  This means those workers, traders, researchers and the average Palestinian travelers who are simply trying to go into or out of the area are denied the right to do so. This forces the Palestinians to search for alternative routs (if found) which are longer in distance and time consuming in order to reach their destinations. The Israeli soldiers sometimes make exceptions and allow the passage of those Palestinians who show documents proving that they are traveling to Jordan and therefore need to use the road network in the area.

Today, a total of 25 checkpoints block the access of the Palestinian residents into and out of the Jordan Valley zone. The most difficult checkpoints are Tayaseer (5 kilometers to the south-east of Tubas city)and Al Hamra checkpoints (in the central Jordan Valley) located on the Trans-Samarian highway, an Israeli constructed by-pass road that is the main passage for Palestinians in the region. 

Israeli soldiers guarding these two checkpoints have imposed a series of restrictions on Palestinian residents trying to access them, exemplified in physical harassment and long waits where Palestinians are forced to wait for hours and have to go through a process of questioning and searching before they are allowed or prevented to get through.  

In addition, the opening and closing of those two Israeli checkpoints is controlled by the Israeli soldiers guarding them. Palestinian civilians can only access the checkpoints in certain hours, from 5:00-8:00 and from 15:00-18:00 daily.  These restrictions make it difficult for Palestinians to travel in the area.  Access to hospitals and health professionals is especially difficult given the circumstances.  To make matters worse, Israeli soldiers act arbitrarily in opening the checkpoints late or closing them early.  Such restrictions imposed on the movement of Palestinian citizens in the Eastern Zone area has severely affected their ability to carry out daily activities and maintain a stable way of life.   

The following table shows the total and the type of Israeli checkpoints in the eastern zone, (See table two and map two). 

 Map 2: The Israeli checkpoints along the Eastern Segregation Zone

The checkpoints and Israel39;s closure policy are often used as a means of enforcing collective punishment on the inhabitants of a certain area, or even the entire population of the OPT.  The restrictions placed upon the OPT, are clearly intended to target the civilian residents of the areas.  The use of collective punishment is strictly forbidden by the Fourth Geneva Convention, Article 33 of which states: 39;39;No protected person may be punished for an offence he or she has not personally committed. Collective penalties and likewise all measures of intimidation or of terrorism are prohibited.   Reprisals against protected persons and their property are prohibited.39;39;[16]. See Appendix 2 (Checkpoints in International Law and signed agreements).  

The Palestinian localities in the Eastern Segregation Zone 

There are 36 Palestinian localities in the Jordan Valley with a total population of 52132 inhabitants (PCBS 2004, the Palestine Water for Life Campaign) .  Most of the Jordan Valley residents depend on agriculture sheep breeding as their main source of income. The following table lists the name of Palestinian communities in the eastern slice along with their population. (See table three)     

These localities lie in Jericho and Tubas governorates, and  most of them  are small villages that do not have adequate basic services such as health and education, except for Jericho, which is the major city in that area. This means that the villages depend on the urban centers for employment, health services and higher education. The localities northern the Jordan Valley are separated from Tubas which is the nearest urban center for them. Enclosing them in this area means nothing less than cutting them off from their life support system. Except for Jericho, which itself is tightly closed by Israeli checkpoints, these Palestinian villages have relatively small populations and are hence too small to endure Israel's harsh polices. It is feared that the continuing strangulation of the Eastern zone will force its citizens out of it.

Incidents of violations exercised against the Palestinian Communities in the Eastern Segregation Zone

Most of the Palestinian communities listed in Table 3 were and still subjected to the Israeli aggression throughout the years despite the fact that these communities are spread over areas classified as A & B (according to Oslo agreement of September 1993). They are prohibited to develop and prosper even on the simplest level.

The IOF escalated their violations against these communities to include destruction of private properties such as demolition of houses and animal barracks under the pretext of being un-licensed, land confiscation and denial of access to their own lands. 

Lately, on June 21, 2005, the IOF demolished eight Palestinian houses near Al Jeftlik area in the middle valleys which belong to Sa39;ud 39;Ali Ka39;abneh, 39;Ali Ahmad Saleh Bani Odeh, 39;Awad Mas39;ud Bederat, Jum39;a Hasan Sbetan, Nayef Ibrahim Jahalin, 39;Amid Al Masri and Suleiman Jahalin.

Other violations were reported by the Palestinian Independent commission for citizens rights showed that during the period of September and October 2002, 14 Palestinian houses housing a total of 125 inhabitants were demolished for security reasons. The report also shows that during the period of September 2002 and December 2002, a total of 10 dunums were bulldozed for the purpose of erecting a security fence.   

The Eastern Segregation Zone 

When the unilateral segregation plan was launched by the Israeli government, a wall was projected to be constructed along the slopes of the eastern West Bank. The map approved by the Israeli government and issued by the Israeli Occupying Forces on February 20th, 2005 indicates that the section previously marked in earlier maps from the Matallah village northeastern the West Bank going south to the village of Al Aqaba is cancelled. However, the Israeli Prime Minister Sharon on April 2004 indicated that the eastern barrier will be maintained by blocking access to the Jordan Valley region, he added that a wall is not likely to be erected in the near future, unless there are military necessities. He also pointed that the Jordan valley area will remain under Israeli control even after reaching a settlement with the Palestinians as it is considered to be a strategic security zone. Furthermore, on July 12th, 2005.

The Israeli Defense Minster Mofaz said in an interview with Aljazeera: 'We will never give up on [the Jordan Valley], so we can ensure we can continue living here in all changing realities,39; The Jerusalem Post, July 11, 2005. 

The Plot of the Eastern Segregation Wall 

The Israeli plans for the eastern Segregation Wall is set to grab some 29% (1664 Km2) of the West Bank total area. The wall will have no physical structure to segregate the area; nevertheless, the Israeli Army is set to hold control over the area with military controlled checkpoints along the 200 Km stretch from north to south. It should also be noted that 920 Km2 of the eastern segregation zone is already classified as closed military area since the 1967 Israeli occupation of the West Bank; in addition, there are 703 Km2 of the eastern segregation zone which has been illegally classified as State Land over the years of occupation (following the 1967 war).  See Map 5.

The eastern Segregation zone will effectively isolated 36 Palestinian communities with population exceeding 52,000 Palestinians who were and still are systematically subjected to all kinds of coercion (house demolition, confinement, land confiscation, denial of basic medical services or proper educational facilities, hygienic drinking water, etc) exercised by the Israeli Army to push them to abandon their lands although these communities are spread over areas classified as A (occupying 69 Km2  out of the Eastern Zone area) & B (2 Km2 out of the Eastern Zone area) (according to Oslo agreement of September 1993) and are no where connected to the West Bank except through Israeli controlled areas and via Israeli checkpoints.  

Conclusion

The daily harassments and troubles impose by the Israelis are meant to strangulate and segregate the Palestinian localities in the Eastern zone. The Israeli authorities hope that these harsh activities will depopulate the valley from its Palestinian people. In other words, they aim to affect a slow transfer of the people ending in an ethnic cleansing of the area. The current attack marks a new and dangerous stage in Israel39;s attempts to shrink the size of the future Palestinian state and make its sustainability open to question.

Appendix 1: Settlement expansion in light of the United Nations Security Council resolutions, international laws, human rights and international covenants

Israel39;s Settlement Program in International Law

Israel39;s colonization of the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) violates numerous United Nations Security Council and General Assembly Resolutions, primarily

·         UN Security Council Resolution 242 (1967).  UNSCR Resolution 242 calls for 39;the withdrawal of all Israeli armed forces from territories occupied39; in the 1967 war. 

·         UNSC 242 effectively outlaws Israel39;s 37 year occupation of the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) and the Gaza Strip. 

The principles of Resolution 242 are reiterated again in Security Council Resolution 452 (1979) which calls upon 'the Government and people of Israel to cease, on an urgent basis, the establishment, construction and planning of settlements in the Arab territories occupied since 1967, including Jerusalem,39; the Security Council Resolution 446 (1979) which '[d]etermines 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 East39; and a further time in Security Council Resolution 465 (1980) .  

Israel39;s settlement policy is also strictly forbidden by the Fourth Geneva Convention.  In addition to violating the prescriptions against destruction to civilian property, Israel's program of populating the settlements with Jewish citizens violates Article 49 of the Convention.  Article 49 states that 'the occupying power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own population into the territories it occupies.39; 

Appendix 2: Checkpoints International Humanitarian Law 

The system of Israeli checkpoints that cover the Occupied Palestinian Territory also violate certain distinct principles of humanitarian law as codified in the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949.  Among the rights which checkpoints violate are: the right to healthcare (Article 56), the right to education (Article 50) and the right to freedom of religion (Article 58).  Article 3 of the Convention also strictly prohibits the occupying power from initiating 'violence to life and person39; and 39;outrages upon personal dignity, in particular humiliating and degrading treatment39;.  

International Human Rights Law 

Israeli checkpoints violate the right to freedom of movement, the right to healthcare, the right to education, the right to religious freedom, the right to work, the right to food and water, the right to freedom from collective punishment, and other basic human rights.  These rights are covered under various international treaties and covenants. 

Freedom of Movement is protected by Article 12 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) which states: 39;39;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.39

International Humanitarian Law 

The system of Israeli checkpoints that severs the OPT also violates certain distinct principles of humanitarian law as codified in the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949.  Among the rights which checkpoints violate are: the right to healthcare (Article 56), the right to education (Article 50) and the right to freedom of religion (Article 58).  Article 3 of the Convention also strictly prohibits the occupying power from initiating 39;violence to life and person39; and 39;outrages upon personal dignity, in particular humiliating and degrading treatment&39;.[12]  

References

1. Hal Feiveson.39;http://www.wws.princeton.edu.39;  http://www.wws.princeton.edu/wws401c/nawal.pdf. 5 January 2000. Princeton University. <http://www.wws.princeton.edu/wws401c/nawal.pdf>.

2. (ARIJ), Applied Research Institute – Jerusalem.39;Assault on the Jordan Valley.39; www.arij.org. 8 Oct. 2005. Applied Research Institue – Jerusalem (ARIJ). 

Assault on the Jordan Valley

3. PCBS, Palestinian central Burea of Statistics. 20 Aug 2005. Palestinian central Burea of Statistics. <http://www.pcbs.gov.ps/>.

4.   ARIJ, Applied Research Institute – Jerusalem . 39;Undermining Peace, Israel39;s Unilateral Segregation Plans in the Palestinian Territories.39; www.arij.org. 12 Dec 2003. Applied Research Institute – Jerusalem. <http://www.arij.org/paleye/Segregation-Wall/index.htm>.

5. Foundation for Middle East, (2005). Settlement information – statistics. from: http://www.fmep.org/settlement_info/statistics.html.

6. PHG, The Palestinian Hydrology Group. 39;http://www.phg.org/.39; The Palestine Water for Life Campaign. 16 Aug 2005. <http://www.intertech-pal.com/monitoring/data/data.php>.

7.PICCR, The Palestinian Independent Commission For Citizens39; Rights. 39;Israeli Violations of Palestinian Citizens39; Rights .39; 31 Dec 2002. <http://www.piccr.org/violations/ereport4.pdf>.

8. ARIJ, Applied Research Institute – Jerusalem.39;The Plot of the Eastern Segregation Wall.39; 16 Jul 2005. 

The Plot of the Eastern Segregation Wall
 

9.39;Netanyahu Warns Against PA Terror State, Leaving Jordan Valley .39; www.israelnationalnews.com. 3 Jun 2005. Israel National News. <http://www.israelnationalnews.com/news.php3?id=83197>.

10. UNSC Resolution 338 (1973), UNSC Resolution 478 (1980), and UNSC Resolution 1397 (2002). [26]  39;Israel is at crossroads of peace, says Sharon.39; The Associated Press. February 15, 2005. (http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/02/15/africa/web.sharon.html).
 ). 

11 .Chapter two, Article 31, item 7 of the Israeli-Palestinian Interim Agreement on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip (Oslo II), Washington, D.C., September 28, 1995.

12. Newspaper, Al Jazeera. 39;Jewish settlers in Jordan Valley to be doubled.39; www.aljazeera.com. 25 June 2005. Al Jazeera News Agency. 18 Oct. 2005 .

Prepared By  
The Applied Research Institute – Jerusalem
ARIJ