TUBAS,
August 26, 2015 (WAFA) – Israeli forces Wednesday notified a nature reserve to
the East of Tubas, in the northern Jordan Valley, of their intentions to uproot
its forest trees, according to a local official.
Motaz
Bisharat, in charge of the Jordan Valley settlements file in the Palestinian
Authority, said that forces notified ‘Enoun’ nature reserve, which occupies an
area of 14 dunums, of their intentions to uproot the forest trees, which were
recently planted by the ministry of agriculture.
Meanwhile,
Israeli army ordered 14 families living in ar-Ras al-Ahmar, a small village in
northern Jordan Valley, to leave their homes for six hours on September 1 in
order to conduct military trainings in the area, according to a local source.
Aref
Daraghmeh, head of al-Maleh local council, said an Israeli army force broke
into the village in the morning and handed notices to 14 families ordering them
to leave their homes from 6:00 AM until 12:00 PM on September 1, to conduct
military drills in the area.
According
to B’Tselem, a human rights center, “Since 5 Aug. 2015, the Civil
Administration has demolished 34 residential buildings and 31 other structures
in Palestinian communities in the Jordan Valley, in the vicinity of Ma’ale
Adumim, and in the southern Hebron hills. A total of 167 people have lost their
homes in these actions, including 101 minors.”
On
August 18, A total of 22 structures were demolished [by Israeli forces] in
four communities (Khan al Ahmar Abu Falah, Wadi Sneysel, Bir Miskoob and Az
Zayyem Bedouin), displacing 78 Palestinians, including 49 children, the vast
majority of whom are Palestine refugees,” reported UNRWA.
“All
four communities are located in and around the area of the planned E-1
settlement. According to UN records, this is the largest number of Palestinians
displaced in the West Bank in one day in nearly three years.”
A
move that was widely condemned, including by the US, UN, and around 31 aid
groups, including Oxfam and Amnesty International.
Oxfam's
Catherine Essoyan said: 'Demolitions are pushing Palestinians to the brink and
destroying prospects for peace.
“These
demolitions take part in the context of efforts by the military and the Civil
Administration to push Palestinian communities out of Area C,” said the center,
adding that, “These expulsion plans run counter to the provisions of
international humanitarian law, which prohibit the forcible transfer of
protected persons, unless carried out for their own protection or for an
imperative military need.”
The
center stressed that, 'Even when the transfer meets these criteria, it must be
temporary.”
Meanwhile,
a statement issued Spokesperson for the United States Department of State, John
Kirby on august 21 said, “We are very
troubled by the recent escalation of demolitions and evictions, which include
the destruction of dozens of structures and the displacement of over 150 people
in the West Bank and East Jerusalem this month alone.”
He
described these demolitions and evictions as ‘harmful and provocative and
indicative of a damaging trend, particularly given settlement-related activity
and continued construction in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.’
In
the meantime, the Coordinator for Humanitarian and UN Development Activities
for the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt), Robert Piper, and the Director of
UNRWA Operations in the West Bank, Felipe Sanchez, expressed grave concern
about demolitions that were carried out [Monday] by the Israeli Civil
Administration in vulnerable Palestinian Bedouin refugee communities in Area C,
near East Jerusalem, reported the United Nations Relief and Works Agency
(UNRWA).
Both
officials called for an immediate freeze on demolitions in the West Bank.
Israel
is planning to annex the Jordan Valley into a completely Israeli area, primarily
in agriculture, targeting to ban territorial contiguity between a future
Palestinian state and the rest of the Arab world.
The
Israeli army conducts regular drills in the occupied West Bank, especially in
the Jordan Valley, and in most cases these drills are accompanied by a forced
displacement of dozens of local Palestinian families.
In
May 2014, a senior Israeli army officer admitted that military training in
live-fire zones in the West Bank “is used as a way of reducing the number of
Palestinians living nearby, and serves as an important part of the campaign
against Palestinian illegal construction.”
Col.
Einav Shalev also described the Israeli army policy of confiscating
humanitarian equipment destined for Palestinians whose homes have been destroyed
as 'a punch in the right places'.
According
to a United Nations' OCHA report, “Israeli settlers destroyed over 5,500
Palestinian-owned olive trees and saplings in the period between December 30
2014, and January 12, 2015.”
T.R.
