a_unique_person
3rd July 2003, 08:05 PM
As promised earlier, here is some more info on the land grab process. Right when the roadmap is to be followed, state sanctioned land grabs are still happening.
The sign says 'State Land'. That means it is now only available for Jews, as Palestinians will not be granted a building permit.
The Israeli Government has confiscated large swaths of Palestinian land in the West Bank this week - for the purpose, Palestinians allege, of building settlements - in flagrant breach of commitments under the US-led road map to peace.
On Wednesday an Israeli official and soldiers were marking out olive groves and other ground outside the villages of Beit Eksa and Beit Souriq, north of Jerusalem.
"State land. Entry prohibited," read a sign erected on village land in the name of the Civil Administration of Judea and Samaria, the Israeli body that oversees military rule in the West Bank. The Palestinians say the Israelis plan to build settlements to link two Jewish towns built on land seized from the Arab villages in the 1980s. The accusation would fit with Israeli plans for a "greater Jerusalem".
The new land seizure came on the day Israel handed back the West Bank city of Bethlehem to Palestinian police.
One Palestinian cabinet minister, Yasser Abed Rabbo, said Israeli President Ariel Sharon was using the military's withdrawal from Bethlehem, and Gaza earlier in the week, as a cover for land seizures. "The road map says they should stop the confiscation of land, they should stop the demolition of homes, but all the Israelis do is talk of the difficult decisions they have to make," Mr Rabbo said.
The sign says 'State Land'. That means it is now only available for Jews, as Palestinians will not be granted a building permit.
The Israeli Government has confiscated large swaths of Palestinian land in the West Bank this week - for the purpose, Palestinians allege, of building settlements - in flagrant breach of commitments under the US-led road map to peace.
On Wednesday an Israeli official and soldiers were marking out olive groves and other ground outside the villages of Beit Eksa and Beit Souriq, north of Jerusalem.
"State land. Entry prohibited," read a sign erected on village land in the name of the Civil Administration of Judea and Samaria, the Israeli body that oversees military rule in the West Bank. The Palestinians say the Israelis plan to build settlements to link two Jewish towns built on land seized from the Arab villages in the 1980s. The accusation would fit with Israeli plans for a "greater Jerusalem".
The new land seizure came on the day Israel handed back the West Bank city of Bethlehem to Palestinian police.
One Palestinian cabinet minister, Yasser Abed Rabbo, said Israeli President Ariel Sharon was using the military's withdrawal from Bethlehem, and Gaza earlier in the week, as a cover for land seizures. "The road map says they should stop the confiscation of land, they should stop the demolition of homes, but all the Israelis do is talk of the difficult decisions they have to make," Mr Rabbo said.