The Applied Research Institute "ARIJ" said today, Tuesday, that the Israeli occupation army issued new military orders that contain, in their content, Israeli racist laws and orders to confiscate more occupied Palestinian lands in the West Bank.
In the (ARIJ) analysis of military orders during the month of September, the number of Israeli military orders issued 101 targeting six Palestinian governorates in the occupied West Bank, with a total area of ​​confiscated lands (that were targeted in military orders) 9,740 dunums. It should be noted that 68.4% of the Palestinian lands that have been targeted by military orders are fields planted with olive trees, which are considered a source of livelihood for tens and even hundreds of Palestinian families in the occupied West Bank.
The issuance of these Israeli military orders coincided with the Palestinians´ preparation to start the olive harvest season in the occupied West Bank, in a step that would limit the access of Palestinian landowners to their lands and thus lose the olive season that they await from year to year for economic reasons in the first place.
It is also worth noting that 87 of the Israeli orders issued (86% of the total number of orders) targeted olive fields with a total area of ​​6,658 dunums.
The targeted lands are located in close proximity to settlements and outposts, which witness events and attacks every year between the Israeli settlers living in those settlements and the Palestinian landowners, with the aim of preventing them from accessing their lands and picking olives to seize them and thus annex them to the nearby settlement.
In the vast majority of orders issued, Israel has relied on a number of racist laws to facilitate the process of confiscating Palestinian lands, including:
First: It is the vast majority of the orders, “An Order Concerning Security Instructions (Judea and Samaria) (No. 1651), 5770-2009 Declaration Concerning the Closure of an Area (Prevention of Entry and Stay)”, Article 318 of the Military Order which states that.
Second: Expropriation by announcing the lands for "public uses" by Military Order No. 321 of 1969, which authorizes the Israeli military authority to confiscate private lands for public uses (the meaning of public uses has not been determined) without providing compensation to the affected party.
The Israeli army used the above law mainly to build a road network for the army inside the occupied Palestinian territories, as well as the case for Israeli settlers, for whom the Israeli army provided alternative roads away from Palestinian residential communities in the occupied territories.
Nablus governorate is on the throne of the Palestinian governorates targeted by the Israeli military orders in terms of the confiscated area, as through the analysis issued, it was found that 5,050 dunums of land in the governorate were targeted by Israeli military orders issued in the governorate, especially those close to the settlements of Itamar and Alon Moreh. And Rehalim, Bracha, and Adei outpost, as lands were widely targeted in those areas; It is followed by each of the governorates of Qalqilya, with 1,375 dunums (the Palestinian lands located near the settlements of Kedumim and Elkana and the settlement outpost of Givat Gilad); And the Hebron governorate by 1,243 dunums, especially in the areas close to the settlements of Kiryat Arba and the Tel Rumeida neighborhood, where the most religious and extremist settlers live, and Adura, Telem, Nijuhut, Bani Hever, Beit Ayin, and a number of outposts in the governorate; The same applies to Ramallah Governorate by 1,
Settler attacks and targeting Palestinian lands and trees
The Israeli settlement attack was not limited to the occupied West Bank through military orders only, but Israeli settlers ´attacks against Palestinian citizens, their lands and properties were clearly manifested in all parts of the occupied West Bank, especially in light of the spread of the Corona virus in the Palestinian territories and the Palestinians´ preoccupation in dealing with this dangerous epidemic and limitation. From its spread.
And settlers´ attacks have become more dangerous to the Palestinians than those recorded by the epidemic itself. In an analytical study of the Applied Research Institute - Jerusalem (ARIJ) of settler attacks since the beginning of the year 2020 (from January to the end of September), ARIJ recorded more than 410 attacks in various regions of the occupied West Bank, including attacks on citizens, property, and lands. In particular, attacking fruit trees, burning them, uprooting them, stealing them, dumping them with wastewater, and other violations, especially in the areas close to the Israeli settlements, with the aim of seizing them and annexing them to the borders of the nearby settlement, thus depriving the Palestinians of them.
Targeting Palestinian trees during the year 2020
The targeting of Palestinian fruitful trees, especially olive trees, and the destruction of agricultural crops was among the most severe Israeli violations that the Occupied Palestinian Territory witnessed during the year 2020, whether by the Israeli occupation forces or the herds of Israeli settlers living in Israeli settlements near Palestinian villages and agricultural lands.
In a statistic prepared by the Applied Research Institute - Jerusalem (ARIJ) and the Land Research Center during the period between January 2020 and the end of September 2020, nearly 9,000 fruit trees were uprooted, bulldozed, confiscated and burned in the occupied West Bank, 80% Including olive trees. The governorates of Salfit, Nablus, Hebron, Bethlehem, and Tulkarm were the most affected by these attacks.
This violation has had a significant and clear impact on the agricultural sector, especially since most of the trees that were uprooted are olives, which constitute a basic source of income for many Palestinian families.
The attacks and restrictions by the Israeli occupation forces from building the Segregation Wall, erecting barriers, denying access to lands, confiscating agricultural equipment and attacking Palestinians, severely affected the ability of many Palestinian farmers to support their families and endangered the survival of many Palestinian communities. However, the Israeli settlers´ attacks on Palestinian farmers were the most dangerous, and settler attacks on the Palestinian olive harvest became an annual ritual during the olive season.
During the past years, the Israeli settlers stepped up their attacks on the Palestinians, where they seized the lands and olive groves and attacked the Palestinian farmers who were trying to harvest the olives, all in full view of the Israeli occupation army, which does not move a finger in such situations, but is content to expel the Palestinians. From their lands and terrorize them.
The Israeli occupation soldiers often allow Israeli settlers to occupy and control Palestinian lands, including olive groves, which constitute a basic source of income for many Palestinian families. Israeli settlers often act with the policy of "impunity" when attacking Palestinian farmers. Many crimes of assault, beatings and murder go unpunished by the competent Israeli authorities.
These systematic Israeli attacks not only target the Palestinian people, but also the roots of the Palestinian presence on the lands that Palestinian generations have cultivated. For example, settlers usually steal olives from Palestinian orchards before their owners can pick trees. The theft of olives is rarely stopped by the Israeli occupation forces, who often intervene in the interest of Israeli settlers. In addition to these attacks, there were also widespread and systematic examples of the destruction of Palestinian olive groves.
During the past twenty years, the Israeli occupation forces and settler herds have uprooted and destroyed more than half a million fruit trees, the vast majority of them, olive trees throughout the West Bank, excluding those that were uprooted and destroyed in the besieged Gaza Strip. It should be noted that olive groves have been cleared of strategic sites in the occupied West Bank in order to facilitate Israeli settlement of the Palestinian lands, expand existing Israeli settlements, construct bypass roads, build the apartheid wall and establish outposts.
