TUBAS, Monday, March 25, 2019 (WAFA) – Israeli forces Monday morning ordered a halt on the construction of a water well in the northern West Bank village of Tayasir, east of Tubas.
Motaz Bsharat, who monitors Israeli violations in the Jordan Valley, told WAFA that Israeli forces handed Mohammad Debek, a villager, a notice allowing him only until April 10th to halt the construction of his water well purportedly for being built without a permit.
Based on data provided by the Applied Research Institute of Jerusalem (2006 statistics), Tayasir village occupies 26,000 dunums, including 500 dunums which are classified as ‘built up‘ area, 5,000 dunums as agricultural, and as much as 82 percent of the villagers were involved in agriculture for their livelihood, relying on livestock and farming.
Israel has seized at least 7,900 dunums, including 5,000 dunums following the second Intifada in 2000, mainly for the construction of military bases and checkpoints.
Israel has restricted farmers’ access to their lands, placing checkpoints and barriers on roads, conducting military drills in their farmlands and uprooting their crops.
Israeli forces have frequently demolished residential structures for the villagers as a means to forcefully displace them and confiscate their lands for settlement construction.
Considered the most significant Palestinian land reserves, the Jordan Valley and the northern Dead Sea make up approximately a third of the West Bank, with 88 percent of its land classified as Area C, under full Israeli military control, and at least 44 percent appropriated by Israeli forces for military exercises.
K.T. /K.F.
