Head of the Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission, Walid Assaf, confirmed that during the past 6 years, the occupation authorities demolished 3,300 homes in "C" areas in various locations in the West Bank, most of them in the Jordan Valley.
Assaf said during a tour carried out by the commission, today, Thursday, to Tubas governorate, that the legal follow-ups that the commission is undertaking to prevent demolition have contributed to preventing the migration of the people of these areas, noting that 17,000 citizens live in Area C.
He added that the commission is leading legal battles in areas threatened with removal and deportation, which are followed up first through the Supreme Occupation Court, and then go to international courts, knowing that it requires that legal actions be exhausted locally before going to them.
Assaf touched on the Al-Baqi’a Plain, which two days ago Tubas Governorate and the Commission extracted an order prohibiting the demolition of five artesian wells in it.
He stressed that farmers and investors were encouraged to exploit the plain with irrigated crops, as it contains underground water sources, and this has already been done, as the plain began to cultivate irrigated crops after farmers used to exploit it for rainfed crops only, and drilling artesian wells were facilitated in it.
He emphasized that the authority would support farmers and go with them to plow and cultivate lands in the Jordan Valley in preparation for the next agricultural season.
Assaf touched on the plans and projects of the occupation that have worked for decades to try to displace the residents of the Jordan Valley, including the Alon project in 1967, which prevents recognition of any new residential community, and consequently every building, water or electricity line is given a notification to stop construction, then demolish and then remove.
For his part, the Governor of Tubas, Yunus Al-Assi, stressed the importance of documents to follow up on demolition issues and stop them legally, calling on citizens to constantly communicate with the competent authorities in the governorate and provide them with their documents to impede the seizure of their lands and demolish their facilities.
