HEBRON, May 18, 2016 (WAFA) – Israeli occupation authorities Wednesday notified to remove four water tanks used for the allocation of rain water in Hebron’s town of Beit Ummar, under the pretext of being present in are C of the West Bank, under full Israeli military control, according to a local activist.
Coordinator of popular committee against the wall and settlements, Mohammed Awad, told WAFA, Israeli forces stormed several areas to the north and east of the said town, and handed locals notices to remove four water tanks used for irrigating around 30 dunums of agricultural land.
The water tanks belong to locals Waheed Abu Mariya, Jameel Abu Mariya, Ghassan Bregheeth, and Khaled Bregheeth.
To be noted, the tanks were placed at the beginning of 2016, as part of a an EU-funded project for the development of water resources and Marginalized land in the West Bank.
Israel rarely issues construction permits to Palestinians in area C, forcing many to embark on construction without obtaining a permit.
Area C covers 60% of the West Bank, which was temporarily divided into three parts – A, B and C – under the 1995 Interim Agreement on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, signed by Israel and the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO).
Today nearly 300,000 Palestinians live in Area C, while nearly 360,000 Jewish settlers live in 135 settlements and 100 settlement outposts, which are illegal under international law.
According to a report by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), between 1988 and 2014, Israel’s Civil Administration, the governing body that operates in the West Bank, issued 14,000 demolition orders, of which more than 11,000 are still outstanding and could result in the demolition of up to 13,000 structures owned by Palestinians in Area C, including houses, sheds and animal shelters.
The report found the planning and zoning regime applied by the Israeli authorities, including the way land is allocated, “made it virtually impossible for Palestinians to obtain building permits in most of Area C”.
T.R.
