BETHLEHEM
, Wednesday, August 25, 2021 (WAFA) –
Israeli forces today razed a large tracts of Palestinian land in Kisan village,
east of the occupied West Bank city of Bethlehem, according to a local
official.
Member
of Kisan Village Council, Ibrahim Ghazal, told
WAFA that Israeli military bulldozers
razed a large tract of land belonging to the Ebayyat
family to make room for the construction of a settler-only bypass road that
would connect the colonial settlement outpost of Ibei Hanahal to surrounding settlements.
He
added that the village has been a regular target for Israeli army and settler
attacks, including land pillage besides to chasing livestock herders and
denying them access to pastures.
Located 11 kilometers to the south of Bethlehem city, Kisan has a population of some 600 and occupies a total area of 133,330 dunams.
Under
the Oslo Accords, an agreement made 25 years ago that was supposed to last just
five years towards a self-governing country alongside Israel, the Palestinian
Authority was given limied control over a tiny pocket
of land occupying 112 dunams, accounting for less
than 1 percent of the village’s total area. Israel maintains control over
108,952, classified as Area C, accounting for 81.7 percent. The remaining part
of 24,266 dunams, accounting for 18 percent, is
classified as nature reserve.
Israel
has established three colonial settlements, namely Ma‘ale
Amos and Mizpe Shalem
besides to the settlement outpost of Ibei Hanahal on lands confiscated from the village. It has confiscated further
land for the construction of settler-only by-pass road no. 901 and road no.
3698, which extend for 16.1 kilometers on the village land.
Israel
has constructed a section of the apartheid wall, confiscating and isolating
some 87,344 dunams of fertile land, accounting for
65.5 percent of the village total area, for colonial settlement activities and
pushing the villagers into a crowded enclave, a ghetto, surrounded by walls,
settlements and military installations.
K.F.