RAMALLAH, May 12, 2011 (WAFA) – Israel dispossesses and exploits natural sources of the Jordan valley in the West Bank For the benefit of settlers at the expense of Palestinians, according to a report by B’Tselem, the Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories.
Israel has instituted a regime in this area to intensively exploit its resources to an extent greater than elsewhere in the West Bank, demonstrating its intention of annexing the Jordan Valley and the northern Dead Sea area to the State of Israel.
B’Tselem added: “Israel taking control of most of the water sources in the Jordon Valley and earmarking them for the almost exclusive use of the settlers violates international law, which prohibits the exploitation of resources of an occupied territory.”
As a result of this practice, Palestinians have been forced to neglect farmland that had been cultivated and switch to growing less profitable crops.
B’Tselem accused Israel of taking control of 77.5% of the Jordan Valley lands, including most of the prominent tourist sites in the area on the northern shore of the Dead Sea.
The water allocated to the settlements, which amounts to almost one-third of the quantity of water accessible to the 2.5 million Palestinians living in the West Bank, has enabled 9,400 settlers to develop intensive farming methods and to work the land year round.
It should be noted that Israel enables its entrepreneurs to exploit the area’s resources. The Ahava cosmetics firm produces products from the high mineral content mud of the northern Dead Sea and exports them worldwide. An Israeli quarry next to the settlement Kokhav Hashahar produces building materials. Israel has also established facilities in the Jordan Valley for treating wastewater and for burying waste from Israel and from settlements.
In the framework of easing restrictions on movement in the West Bank in 2009, Israel did not eliminate the movement restrictions in the Jordan Valley despite the calm security situation in the area, and still operates four checkpoints in the Jordan Valley.
Israel’s planning policy in the Jordan Valley makes it impossible for Palestinians to build and develop their communities. The civil administration has prepared plans for only a tiny fraction of the Palestinian communities.
Furthermore, these plans are nothing more than demarcation plans, which do not allocate land for new construction and development.
B'Tselem calls on Israel to 'evacuate the settlements, to enable Palestinian access to all the lands that have been closed to them, and to allow them to use the water sources for their purposes. In addition, Israel must remove the restrictions on movement in the area and enable construction and development in the Palestinian communities. Israel must close down the enterprises that profit from the minerals and other natural resources in the area, and it must also shut down the facilities for disposal of Israeli waste.'
T.R./F.J.
