Halt of work notice target water harvesting cistern in Deir Istiya / Salfit governorate

• Violation: Halt of work notice target an under construction water harvesting cistern.
• Location: Deir Istiya village / West Salfit.
• Date: May 30^th 2020.
• Perpetrators: The Israeli Occupation Civil Administration.
• Victims: Citizen Muneer Mansour.

Description:

Sunday, May 3^rd 2020 , The Israeli occupation accompanied by the building and organization officer in the civil administration raided “Wad An-Najara” area to the west of Deir Istiya , only 300 m away from “Yakir” illegal settlement , the occupation gave citizen Muneer Mansour (56) a military notice numbered (050364) to halt work on a cistern with a storage capacity of 72 m³, the cistern will be implemented by Union of Agricultural Work Committee with the supervision of the ministry of agriculture.

The targeted cistern is under construction, and the occupation set June 10^th as the date of the building and organization session in Beit El military court to decide the fate of the structure.

Affected citizen told LRC:

“I own a plot in Wad An-Najara area 1.5 km away from the village’s houses , the plot has a total area of 7 dunums planted with olives , and agriculture is my main source of income , I support a family of 6 ( 2 of them are children) , early this year I got funding for a cistern to provide water for my trees and other trees planted with olives through UAWC , noteworthy “Wad An-Najara” is threatened of confiscation , and surrounded by several settlements such as “Nofim” and “Yakir” . I paid 15,000 NIS (about 4200$) in the construction of the cistern, hoping to get back the money soon enough, to face my tough financial circumstances. But as usual, the occupation hinders any agricultural development projects in the area. Sunday morning , two  military vehicles related to the civil administration and the Occupation forces raided the area and gave me a halt of work notice on the pretext of building without licenses , and unfortunately I do not have enough money to hire a lawyer.”

Deir Istiya village: [1]

10 km north Salfit , Deir Istiya is surrounded by Ematin , Jinsafut and Kafr Laqif (north), Azzun and Kafar Thulth (west), Zita, Jama’en and Kafl Haris (east), Haris and Qaraqwat Bani Hyssan (south)

Deir Istiya has a population of (3,696) people in 2017 census.

The town has a total area of 34,125, of which 640 dunums are a built up area.

• The Israeli occupation confiscated (4,257) dunums for the following purposes:

• Bypass roads 55 and 5066 devoured 118 dunums.
• The segregation wall (1,148 m ate up115 dunums , in case its construction plan was completed it will isolate 8,408 dunums and eat up 160 dunums.

Oslo accords classified Deir Istiya as the following :

• B area : 6,132 dunums.
• C area 27,993 dunums.

[1] GIS-LRC