Israeli colonization activities in the Occupied Palestinian Territories after Aqaba Summit

Introduction

The Madrid conference in 1991 offered a historic opportunity for arriving at a just and lasting peace in the Middle East based on international legitimacy. The guiding principles of negotiations were 'land for peace' and the implementation of United Nations Resolutions 242 and 338, which call for a withdrawal of Israeli forces from the areas it conquered in the 1967 war. The Madrid Conference faltered, but secret negotiations were held between Israel and the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), which culminated in signing of the Declaration of Principles (DOP), on September 13, 1993. The DOP called for an interim period of 5 years during which the Israeli military would gradually withdraw its army from the Palestinian territory and the repatriated PLO, as representatives of the Palestinian people, and the Israeli government would initiate negotiations over the unresolved (final status) issues. A series of subsequent agreements, popularly known as the Oslo Accords were signed in order to implement the Declaration of Principles but marathon negotiations took place and agreements were only partially implemented without reaching an end to the conflict and on September 28, 2000 the second Intifada erupted following the provocative entry of Mr. Ariel Sharon to the sacred vicinity of Al Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem. The situation ignited and the Palestinian Territories once more erupted in defiance of Israel's occupation. 

Several initiatives were primed later on to resolve the conflict but without success. A new initiative known as the 'Road Map' in June 2002 was initiated by the Quartet (United States, Russia, EU, and the UN) in an attempt to resolve the conflict and put the peace negotiations back to its track. The Road Map states that the Israeli leadership should issue statements affirming its commitment to the two-state vision of an independent, viable, sovereign Palestinian state living alongside Israel as expressed by U.S. President George W. Bush. The Road map states also that the Government of Israel should take no actions undermining trust, including deportations, attacks on civilians, confiscation and/ demolition of Palestinian homes and property.

During Al-Aqaba summit that took place in Jordan in June 2003 between the four leaders (President of the United States George Bush, King Abdalla of Jordan, Israel's Prime Minister Sharon and Palestinian Prime Minister Abbas) statements were declared to end the 32-months of  violence in the region and to implement the Road map for peace. Unfortunately,  the Road Map has not yet come with fruitful results, and violence is still taking place, on the ground, Israel continued expropriating Palestinian land, expanding Jewish settlements, building new Israeli bypass roads, and constructing segregation walls and zones, casting doubt on Israel's genuine aspirations for a resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, on the other hand, the Palestinian government has tried its best to control the anger of the  Palestinian people and the militant groups reactions to the Israeli violations. 

This report however will highlight the latest Israeli colonization activities in the Palestinian Territories since Al-aqaba summit and which contradict with the Roadmap.    

1. New Israeli settlement outposts

Freezing of settlements construction and dismantling of settlement outposts was one of the hot topics of the roadmap. The question of dismantling the outposts erected at the hill tops of the West Bank gained a lot of interest and media coverage, while the efficiency of this dismantling process was never achieved. Since Al-Aqaba summit and until recently only 8 outposts were dismantled (according to the Israeli movement: Peace Now). However, the Israeli settlers re-erected another 12 new outposts but the Israeli government under international pressure forced them to dismantle only 4 of those new outposts. Therefore, the settlers were successful to maintain the same number of outposts in the Occupied West Bank and even developing the infrastructure of some existing outposts.

The Israeli Knesset took a decision on the 22nd of July 2003 to dismantle all 'unauthorized' outposts, while in reality no real action was taken by the Israeli army to dismantle those illegal settlement outposts.  On the other hand, if there is an israeli military order to demolish a Palestinian house, the Israeli bulldozers rush to the site and raze and demolish that house and any sign of its existence.

According to Peace Now, the number of newly erected outposts is 8 which are the ones remained from the 12 newly erected outposts after Al- Aqaba summit. Those outposts are shown in table 1: Outposts established after Aqaba summit 3rd of June 2003 and still exist

The other outposts that were established after the Aqaba summit and then dismantled are the following outposts:

Table 2: New outposts established after the 3rd of June 2003 and dismantled

See Map 1

In addition, there is evidence that many existing settlement outposts in the West Bank are still under ongoing development processes, such as the construction of infrastructure networks. An example is the construction of an electricity network at the settlement outpost of Neve Daniel located at the northern part of Bethlehem district, and at the outpost of Gilad Farm 4 new additionl caravans were placed at the construction site. 

While the Road map proposed by the Quartet stresses on freezing all settlement activities in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT), there is a clear evidence that these activities are increasing daily (see aerial photos below). It can be noted also here that all colonial and settlement activities in the Palestinian Territories are illegal according to the international law and the fourth Geneva Convention which mentions that the occupying power is not allowed to transfer a part of its population into the territories it occupies. See Figure 1 & Figure 2.

 New Israeli erected settlement Outposts on Palestinian Lands in the West Bank
(Ofra outpost ( left) , Eli ouput (right) )

2. Israeli military checkpoints

For the past two and a half years, the Israeli Occupation Forces erected more than 190 checkpoints and roadblock all through the main and secondary roads of the West Bank. These checkpoints divided the Palestinian cities and villages into disconnected cantons and made it very hard for people to move and to maintain a normal life. Recently, and upon an understanding between the Palestinian National Authority and the Israeli government, a total number of 12 out of 197 checkpoints and earth mounts have been removed from the West Bank.

Three checkpoints or road blocks were removed from Bethlehem district, another three in Ramallah, two in Jenin district, four in Qalqiliya, and one between Ramallah-Nablus main road. Despite the fact that the removal of these roadblocks supposed to ease the movement of thousands of Palestinian villagers and passengers, it remains that around 185 roadblocks and checkpoints scattered all around the West Bank deprive hundreds of thousands of Palestinian from the right of freedom of movement, the right to work, the right to health and to education. See Map 2

 Map 2: Israeli checkpoints in the Northern Part of the West Bank

 Figure 3: Human Suffering at checkpoints 

The following table gives the numbers of checkpoints and roadblocks in the West Bank including those which have been removed recently. Table 3:

 Source: ARIJ GIS Database 2003

* In Bethlehem and Ramallah Districts, at least 5 all of the re-opened Checkpoints have been closed recently.

A number of 24 Checkpoints and road blocks dividing the Gaza Strip into 3 cantons

According to ARIJ field survey of August 2003, a total number of 24 checkpoints and road blocks are dividing the Gaza Strip into three separate geographical units. One tragedy case is the harsh restrictions imposed on Al-Mawasi residents' movement. Because of its coastal location and closeness to Gush Katif Jewish block, the Israeli occupation forces-IOF restricted the entry and exit of the residents from the area to three routes: through the Tufah crossing in Khan Younis, the Rafah crossing in Rafah, and via the costal Road.

Since the outbreak of Al-Aqsa intifada, the IOF has placed additional restrictions on the movement of residents in al-Mawasi area. Entry was restricted only to residents having a magnetic card with a number from the Israeli Authority; moreover only one checkpoint is opened for those card holders and within specific hours during the day.  See Map 3

 Map3 : Israeli Military checkpoints in the Gaza Strip, ARIJ, August 2003

 Table 4: The Palestinian population affected by Israeli checkpoints in Gaza Strip

Source:   PCHR field survey, August 2003.

3. House Demolition:

The case of Al walaja Village in Bethlehem District

On Wednesday morning, August 13, 2003, while the cool breeze of the mountains is still embracing the Palestinian village of Al-walaja located at the Eastern part of Bethlehem district, a large number of Israeli troops accompanied by armored ironclad vehicles and bulldozers with a number of rackety police dogs broke up the usual calmness of the small village. Five houses were demolished and 7 Palestinian families became homeless as a result of this obtrusion.

Table 5: House demolition figures in the West Bank and Gaza Strip  2003

The Israeli bulldozers started closing the secondary roads of the village with earth blocks and a sudden curfew was imposed over 1234 Palestinian inhabitants. The massed Israeli Occupation Forces-IOF moved into the village and specifically to the demarcated five houses forcing their residents to go out and leave everything behind.

Some of the demolished houses were still under a legal dispute in the Israeli court of Jerusalem for many years. In some cases, the Israeli court foiled the people by asking them to pay a fee that reaches 50000 NIS (10638 EURO). A final deal between the householders and the Israeli court came out in order not to issue demolition orders through splitting the payment of the fee to be paid over several months. This deal was still ongoing when the Israeli bulldozers demolished the houses. See Figure 5.  

4. The Segregation Wall:

Since Al- Aqaba summit the construction in the Segregation Wall was not halted but continued to accelerate rapidly especially in Occupied East Jerusalem along the boundaries of Bethlehem and Ramallah Governorates. According to the Israeli administration those parts confiscated from Bethlehem or Ramallah are considered as a part of the illegal Israeli Jerusalem municipality border unilaterally declared in 1967 by Israel and thus should be included within the so-called 'Jerusalem Envelope' i.e. the Wall surrounding Jerusalem.

In Jenin, Tulkarm, Qalqiliya, and Salfit Governorates, the work to finalize phase I of the segregation Wall continues. The Segregation Zone expands from the village of Salem north of Jenin up to the village of Mas-ha in Salfit district. The following tables show statistics of the land area that was confiscated during the period between June and August 2003: Table 6: Area of Land confiscated and segregated for the Separation Wall since June 1 to August 31, 2003

Figure 6: Work continues in the Segregation Wall East of Beit Sahour,
 Bethlehem Governorate, ARIJ, August 2003
 

Table 7:-

The Segregation, northwest of West Bank and around Jerusalem, ARIJ, August 2003  

Table 8:- Uprooted trees in the period between ( June 1 to August 31, 2003) for the Segregation Wall and the construction of By-pass roads:  

Table 9: Military orders issued after Aqaba Summit to seize lands for the construction of the Segregation Wall around East Jerusalem' Jerusalem Envelope':   

Concluding remarks:   

The Israeli government policies with regard to the colonization activities in the Occupied Palestinian Territories continued to accelerated after Al-Aqaba Summit, the rate and the number of Israeli violations increased, the work to segregate the Palestinian Territories into disconnected cantons and to annex East Jerusalem went even faster, which will have its negative effects on any future Israeli-Palestinian negotiation as well as hindering the implementation of the roadmap designed by the Quartet and putting obstacles in front of any peace resolution to the Israeli -Palestinian conflict.

Prepared by:  
The Applied Research Institute – Jerusalem