Violators: the Israeli Occupation Organization and Construction Committee.
Victims: families of Marda.
Date: June 17, 2010.
Introduction:
People of Marda are living in a roof-less prison. The Israeli segregation wall and the colonies are strangling the village leaving the daily life matters hanged to the moods of the Israeli soldiers. There is no difference whatsoever between the lives of Marda villagers and prisoners incarcerated in the Israeli prisons. The village is fenced using barbered wire and there are only two gates controlling the flow of people in and out the village.
There are no specific times where the Palestinians are allowed to pass through the gates; it is all up to the Israeli soldiers’ state of mind! The Israelis are trying to force the people out of the village by imposing strict and extreme measures besides strangling the village. The Israelis tend to cleanse the village of its Palestinians residents since their existence obstruct Ariel colony expansion.
Details:
On June 17, 2010, the Israeli Construction and Organization Committee notified the residents of the village of their decision to demolish the recently milled and paved 300-meter-long-road that serves most of the inhabitants especially the ones living on both sides of the road who uses it on daily basis.
It also facilitates reaching the northern part of the village which is isolated by by-pass road 505 that passes through the village northern end. According to the notification, the Village Council is obliged to destroy the road since it is located in area classified ‘C’ according to Oslo Agreement. If the do not comply, the Israeli Army will do the job. It is the second notification issued in relation to this road; the first was issued on March, 2010.
Order 1: Stop-work and Demolition Order
A Huge Loss:
The 300-meter-long road was milled and paved in a project funded by the Palestinian Ministry of Finance. According to the Village Council President, Mr. Sadiq al Kafsh, the total costs were 200000 $. The road is considered vital part of the village infrastructure; demolishing it obstructs any development plans. The houses benefiting from the road are ‘legally built’ since they received permits from the Israeli Civil Administration. In addition, 50 dunums of land will become unreachable if the road was destroyed.
Marda… a Constant Target:
On the eve of signing the First ‘Camp David’ peace agreement, Marda suffered from a vicious attack; 400 dunums of land were confiscated in that night.
The confuiscated area was used as the spot to place the corner stone for Ariel Colony, the colony which has been expanding on Palestinian lands ever since.
The total area of Ariel has reached around 20000 dunums; it expanded over lands in Eskaka, Kafl Haris, and Marda. 3660 dunums were confiscated from Marda’s villagers alone. In mid 1980, 120 dunums of land and more than 240 olive trees were destroyed in order to build by-pass road (5).
After the beginning of the second Intifada, Mrda suffered from constant raids on its perimeter; many aggressions were recorded by the ICRC. In addition, the colonists release large numbers of wild boars in the village fields causing trample damage to the farms. Children are terrified from the boars roaming the village; no one dares to go anywhere by himself because of the spread of these wild animals.
The Israeli Occupation seems to never have enough satisfaction out of the misery it is imposing on the Palestinians. As part of the Israeli separation plan, the Israelis placed by-pass road 55 which passes through the northern part of the village. Milling the road required confiscating and leveling 110 dunums of land and uprooting 230 olive trees. The construction of a wall around Ariel colony resulted in the loss of thousands of dunums of Salfit land.
The section of the wall passing through Marda is 5-kilometers-long and 60 to 80-meter-wide. This resulted in the destruction or isolation of more than 1000 dunums of land. As a consequence, 4000 olive trees were destroyed and more than 5000 were trapped behind the wall.
Land grab fever comes along an organized campaign conducted by the Israeli Army and Ariel colonists in order to suffocate Marda. The Israelis placed huge pipes used to pump sewage towards the agricultural lands to the east of Marda leaving tens of dunums unsuitable for cultivation. In addition to the regular attacks on the farmers and herders of Marda. The Israeli Army frequently break storm the village and imposes curfew on the villagers. They claim to be chasing the young men stoning the colonists’ cars. The Israeli Forces placed a gate on the eastern entrance of the village after permanent closure of the western one using earth mounds and fences.
It must be known that the Israeli fenced the parts of the village edging by-pass road (5) in 2005 to separate the village from the road.
The Israelis totally control the flow of people through the gate they placed on the village eastern entrance which, if closed, paralyzes the whole village.
Marda:
Marda is located to the north east of Salfit. Its total area before 1978 was around 9326 dunums. In 2007, its built up area was around 519 dunums inhabited by 2500 people. See Map 1
Prepared by
The Land Research Center
LRC
The Land Research Center
LRC
