The Israeli Ministry of Defense approved on the 27th of November 2011 a plan to build and legalize 119 housing units in the illegal Israeli settlement of Shilo south of Nablus city. The Israeli plan was revealed when the Israeli Supreme Court heard a petition on November 28, 2011, filed by the Israeli movement “Peace Now” regarding the building of more than 50 housing units in Shilo settlement in December 2010. During the hearing session, the Israeli occupation authorities submitted formal documents clarifying that the Israeli Defense Minister, Ehud Barak, had approved on October 11, 2011, two separate plans to build 119 housing units in Shilo settlement, where the first plan holds No. 205/13 for constructing 94 housing units and the second plan holds No. 205/12 for constructing 25 units.
The PEACENOW movement revealed that the construction continues in three sites in Shilo settlement and most of the housing units will be soon populated since the construction started in December 2010 and about 40 housing units had been completely constructed by March 2011. Therefore, and according to the Israeli Defense Minister’s decision, the constructed units as well as the under construction units, along with the remaining units that will be built, became formally approved.
The Settlement of Shilo, location & population
The settlement of Shilo is located south of Nablus city and was built in the year 1978. The settlement occupied a total land area of 1364 dunums and is inhabited by more than 2300 Israeli settlers. The lands on which the settlement of Shilo was established were confiscated from three Palestinian villages, they are: Jalud and Qaryut and Turmusayya. Table 1:-
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Table 1: Confiscated Palestinian lands for the establishment of Shilo settlement
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ConfiscatedPalestinian lands for the establishment of Shilo settlement
(Area inDunums)
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LocalityName
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No.
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281
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Jalud
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1
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526
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Qaryut
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2
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557
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Turmusayya
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3
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1364
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Total
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The Geo-informatics department – ARIJ 2011
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According to the master plan of Shilo settlement adopted by the Israeli Civil Administration in 1991, the total area of the settlement, including the lands specified for future building and expansion is 4150 dunums, 3 times larger than the current area of the settlement.
The reason behind legalizing the building in Shilo Settlement
On the ground, the issue isn’t about increasing the size of the settlement by 60%, but Israel aims to find a geographical contiguity between Israeli settlements located in the eastern part of the West Bank and the settlements in the western segregation zone, mainly by building and expanding in Israeli settlements located in the corridors area, which is the only link between the two zones.
It is worth mentioning that the settlement of Shilo is one of 36 Israeli settlements located in the corridors area in addition to 100 Israeli settlements’ outposts located in the area as well. Therefore, the presence of Israeli settlements and outposts in the corridors area will keep the Israeli colonial project alive, and consequently will undermine the aspiration of a geographically contiguous Palestinian state, at the same time it will strengthen the Israeli presence and control over the area (corridors area) so as not to be handed back to the Palestinians in any future negotiations.
To Conclude
The Israeli expansionist and colonial plans in the illegal Israeli settlements all over the occupied Palestinian Territory (oPt) are considered illegal and undermine the status of “Two State Solution” in which a just and lasting peace agreement to be reached between the Israelis and the Palestinians.
The continuous Israeli building in the West Bank and East Jerusalem settlements contradicts with the International law rules and conventions in additions to the United Nations Security Council Resolutions as follows:
The United Nations Security Council Resolutions such as 237 (1967), 271 (1969), 446 (1979), 452 (1979) ,465 (1980.
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Resolution 446 March 22, 1979 ‘calls on Israel to rescind its previous measures and to desist from taking any action which would result in changing the legal status and geographical nature and materially affecting the demographic composition of the Arab territories occupied since 1967, including Jerusalem and, in particular, not to transfer parts of its own civilian population into the occupied Arab territories‘
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Moreover, resolution 452 of 1979 ’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.’
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Furthermore, theFourth Geneva Convention of 1949 provides in the last paragraph of Article 49 that “The occupying power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own population into the territories it occupies.” and Article 174 of the same Convention “prohibits the ‘extensive destruction and appropriation of property not justified by military necessity and carried out unlawfully and wantonly.”
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[1] The aread between the 1949 Armistice Line and the line of the Segregation Wall
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