New Colonial Activity in Deir Ballut Village – Salfit District

Location:

The village of Deir Ballut is located to 15 kilometers to the west of the city of Salfit. It is also located 33 kilometers southwest of the city of Nablus. Its population is approximately 4 thousand residents most of which work in agriculture and trade. A village council is administering the affairs of the village after the Palestinian Authority took control of the civil affairs of the village according to accords struck with Israel.(see map)

Israeli past and new colonial activity in the village:

Given the fact that the village is located on the Green Line, it has been a target for a number of Israeli attempts to confiscate and expropriate as much lands as possible. More than 4,000 dunums located west of the village has been declared as State Lands ever since 1967. Furthermore, a settlement called Ellie Zahav has been established on expropriated lands owned by villagers.

The new colonial activity is centered on a 12000-dunum piece of land on a location called Al Miziak or Arraq Al Tootah. The land in this location was confiscated in 1985 and construction right now in underway to establish a new settlement called Habad Elliet. The new settlement has been considered to be part of the existing Ellie Zahav which a false claim due to the fact that it is located about one kilometer away from the settlement and tracts of Palestinian lands separates the settlement from the new location. The declaration that the new Habad Elliet is part of Ellie Zahav is seen as a prelude to confiscate the rest of the Palestinian lands located between the two locations.

This new colonial activity, started in August 1999, calls for the establishment of 700 villas over a period of five years. The first stage of the activity calls for the construction of 200 villas 24 of which has been completed. The Palestinian owners of the 1200-dunum land include the following:

No.	Name of Owner
1	Idrees Jabarah Abdellah
2	Musa Abdellah Musa
3	Suleiman Abdellah
4	Abdel Al Ghafer Abdellah
5	Ameen Oadeh
6	Khaleel Oadeh Abdel Jawad
7	Younis Abdellah
8	Ismaeel Oudeh
9	Abdel Hameed Abedllah
10	Abdel Raheem Abdellah
11	Ibrahim Mohammad Hasan
12	Jaser Ahmad Mahmoud
13	Abdel Rahman Abdullah.
14	Abdelellah Oadeh Abdel Jawad

The new colonial activity carries with it a number of dangerous consequences. They include:

1. The Barak government gave the green light to begin the construction in the new location.

2. The ruining of more than 1200 dunums of Palestinian agricultural lands.

3. The clear and present danger of confiscating thousands of dunums located between the settlements of Ellie Zahav, Bedo Eil and the new location of Habad Elliet

4. This new settlement is being established for the purpose of settling ultra orthodox Jews who believe in the policy of ethnic cleansing and the mirage of Eretz Yisrael.

5. The new settlement is being built close to the main road connecting the village with the rest of the West Bank. Any future expansion of the settlement will lead to the quite strangulation of the village.