TEL AVIV — In the latest major land grab, the head of
the Israeli government’s military arm in the
occupied West Bank signed on April
12 an order declaring 22,000 dunums of land south of the ancient city of
Jericho as a “nature reserve”. 6,000 of the 22,000 dunums are Palestinian
land set to be stolen, reported the Palestinian News Agency, Wafa.
اضافة اعلان
This is the largest Israeli nature reserve established on stolen
land since the 1993 Oslo Accords were signed.
The declaration was published only a week ago, according to the
Israeli Peace Now movement, however, it will take effect 60 days after its
publication.
The Wadi Og
Nature Reserve declaration, in addition to the legal restrictions that normally
exist in Area C of the West Bank, which is under full Israeli military control,
will pose additional difficulties and restrictions to how Palestinians are
permitted to use their lands. This includes owners of the land that was
declared “nature reserve” not being be able to cultivate their land, plant any trees,
or graze their land without approval from the Nature Reserve Officer, said
Peace Now.
It will also further
prevent
Palestinian shepherds from pasturing their flocks in the Umm Zuka
reserve in the Jordan Valley, which will have direct adverse consequences on
the lives of vulnerable families making a living from agriculture.
Over the
years Palestinian shepherds have reported that soldiers and rangers have
prevented them from pasturing their flocks in the aforementioned areas.
Israeli settlers, however, have been allowed such use, according to Haaretz. In another
case, in 2020, Haaretz reported that Palestinian-owned cows were confiscated by
the Civil Administration after they entered a reserve, even as frequent grazing
was allowed by cows belonging to a settler from a nearby outpost.
The Israel Nature and Parks
Authority rangers are permitted to enforce these restrictions, reported
Haaretz.
Peace Now explained that any
declaration of a nature reserve by the head of the Civil Administration must
have the prior approval of the Minister of Defense.
“This is not
a matter of protecting nature but rather of taking control of land," said
Israeli liberal activist group Peace Now. "In the occupied territories,
nature reserves are one of the many tools that Israel uses to deprive
Palestinians of their land."
The group
added that the government “is losing its shame” and appears to be looking to
deepen the occupation "by any means possible."
To date, said Peace Now, Israel
has declared about 48 nature reserves in the West Bank, with a total area of at
least 383,600 dunums (95,000 acres), which are about 12 percent of Area C and
about 7 percent of the entire West Bank.
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