Thursday, November 1, 2018

Report exposes Palestinian ploy to use agriculture to usurp land in Judea and Samaria ‎ - Ariel Kahana


by Ariel Kahana

Regavim advocacy group claims Palestinians are using extensive EU-funded ‎agricultural activity to take over strategic areas with the aim of creating facts on the ground ahead of any peace deal



The Bedouin village of Khan al-Ahmar
Photo: AP 

A new report presented to the Knesset's Subcommittee ‎on Judea and Samaria on Thursday claims that the ‎Palestinian Authority is using extensive EU-funded ‎agricultural activity to take over lands in the ‎area.‎

The report was compiled by Regavim, a ‎nongovernmental organization that describes its mission as seeking to ‎‎"ensure responsible, legal, accountable and ‎environmentally friendly use of Israel's national ‎lands."‎

The findings claim that the PA's activity follows a ‎specific plan that focuses on Area C of Judea and ‎Samaria, which under the 1993 Oslo Accords is under ‎full Israeli control, with aim of setting facts on ‎the ground so that such agricultural ‎lands would be ‎recognized as Palestinian in any future peace deal.‎

The report also criticizes Prime Minister Benjamin ‎Netanyahu's for his decision to postpone the ‎eviction of Khan al-Ahmar, a Bedouin village that ‎was illegally built some 6 miles east of Jerusalem. ‎

The High Court of Justice cleared the way for the ‎village's eviction, but international uproar has ‎given the government pause and it was eventually ‎decided to defer the move. ‎

The report slams the government's response to the ‎‎"Palestinian takeover" of the area where Khan al-‎Ahmar‎ is located, between the Israeli communities of ‎Maaleh Adumim and Kfar Adumim, calling it "weak to ‎nonexistent." ‎

Regavim claims that the Palestinians' agricultural ‎takeover of lands in Area C takes place in three ‎ways: first, paving hundreds of miles of roads that ‎access lands in strategic locations such as the ‎Jordan Valley, Gush Etzion, Ariel and Mount Hebron; ‎second, usurping water resources and setting up ‎illegal grids of water pipes; and third, usurping ‎hundreds of acres of land and setting up ‎agricultural infrastructure.‎

The report outlines the careful Palestinian choice ‎of areas of diplomatic and security importance and ‎names the various organizations involved in this ‎activity.‎

‎"If the government does not come to its senses and ‎does something now, the Palestinian plan will create ‎irrevocable changes and facts on the ground," the report ‎warns. ‎


Ariel Kahana

Source: http://www.israelhayom.com/2018/11/01/report-exposes-palestinian-ploy-to-use-agriculture-to-usurp-land-in-judea-and-samaria-%e2%80%8e/

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