Israeli settlers annexing extra West Bank land, report says

[Donald Ian Rankin]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/sep/11/israelandthepalestinians

Israel and Israeli settlers have effectively annexed about 400 hectares (1,000 acres) of land in the occupied West Bank, some of it privately owned by Palestinians, an Israeli human rights group said today.

B'Tselem, which opposes settlements on land occupied in the 1967 war, said some settlements were up to two and a half times larger than their designated area, either through fencing land off or intimidation.

In a report, it said this harms Palestinian farmers, who face almost impassable bureaucratic obstacles when trying to reach their property. As a result, many are forced to stop cultivating their land.

Control of the land is maintained primarily by settlers and sometimes by Israeli security forces.

Palestinians who go near settlements are attacked and harassed, and lands are fenced off by physical and electronic means to block Palestinian access, B'Tselem said.

It said Israeli officials sought to justify their policy by citing the security need for a "warning space" around the settlements in order to help protect settlers.

It acknowledged that Palestinians killed 31 Israeli civilians in settlements in the West Bank between 2002 and 2004, wounding many others. "However, B'Tselem's research has demonstrated that the authorities permit settlers to access these purported 'warning areas'.

"B'Tselem has documented settlers living on, and tending to, closed off Palestinian lands. This contradicts the security logic cited by the army and defies the closure orders issued by the military commander."

[LeftishBrit]

1. These settlements need to be disbanded.

It will have to happen one day, so why not start now - or at least call a COMPLETE halt to all expansion.

[Donald Ian Rankin]

2. What do you mean by "will have to".

I agree with "would have to for peace to be possible", but my bet is that the future for the settlements will entail them getting larger and larger, not shrinking.

[Scurrilous]

3. Access Denied: Israeli measures to deny Palestinians access to land around settlements

<snip>

"For years, Israeli authorities have both barred Palestinian access to rings of land surrounding settlements, and have not acted to eliminate settlers’ piratical closing of lands adjacent to settlements and blocking of Palestinian access to them. Blocking access is one of the many ways used to expand settlements. In recent years, Israel has institutionalized the closing of such lands in an attempt to retroactively sanction the unauthorized placement of barriers far from the houses at the edge of the settlements.

For years, Israeli authorities have both barred Palestinian access to rings of land surrounding settlements, and have not acted to eliminate settlers’ piratical closing of lands adjacent to settlements and blocking of Palestinian access to them. Blocking access is one of the many ways used to expand settlements. In recent years, Israel has institutionalized the closing of such lands in an attempt to retroactively sanction the unauthorized placement of barriers far from the houses at the edge of the settlements.

Settlers pave patrol roads and place physical obstructions on Palestinian lands adjacent to settlements, at times with the authorities’ approval, at others not. Settlers also forcibly remove Palestinians, primarily farmers, from their lands. B'Tselem has documented cases of gunfire, threats of gunfire and killing, beatings, stone throwing, use of attack dogs, attempts to run over Palestinians, destruction of farming equipment and crops, theft of crops, killing and theft of livestock and animals used in farming, unauthorized demands to see identification cards, and theft of documents.

The authorities entrusted with enforcing the law not only fail to take sufficient action to end the violence and prosecute lawbreakers, they join them and block Palestinian access themselves. Soldiers regularly expel Palestinians from their farmland, often under the direction of settlers. Israel has also established a physical system of barriers – barbed-wire fences, patrol roads, illumination and electronic sensory devices – far from the homes at the edge of the settlements, in effect annexing large swaths of land to the settlements.

Especially blatant in this context is the “Special Security Area” (SSA) plan, in which framework Israel surrounded 12 settlements east of the Separation Barrier with rings of land that are closed as a rule to Palestinian entry. As a result of the plan, the overall area of these settlements is 2.4 times larger, having increased from 3,325 dunams to 7,793 dunams. More than half of this ring land is under private Palestinian ownership. The amount of land attached to settlements other than through the SSA plan is much larger, given there are no official limitations and less supervision of the piratical closing of land by settlers. B'Tselem estimates that such piratical closing has blocked Palestinian entry to tens of thousands of dunams, thus annexing them de facto to the settlements. Experience shows that this land grab will be perpetuated and become part of official policy to the extent that the plan is implemented at additional settlements.

Palestinian farmers seeking access to their lands must cope with a complex bureaucracy and meet a number of conditions. First and foremost, they must prove ownership of the land. They also have to “pressure” the Civil Administration time and again to set times for them to enter. Also, the defense establishment subjects Palestinian access to the good will and caprice of the settlers. On this background, many farmers give up and stop trying to gain access and to work their land."

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