Annual Report 2012 LRC Human Rights Department Land Research Center Arab Studies Society / Jerusalem Statistical Report February 2013 Preface Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood The year 2012 witnessed an International recognition of the Palestinian State with the City of Jerusalem as the capital city; this implicitly meant rejection of all the Israeli colonial activities on the Occupied Palestinian territories. The year 2012 witnessed the highest rate of Israeli attacks against Palestinian people, land, and properties in addition to the emergence of a new generation of radical Jewish politicians who raised to power in a glimpse of an eye. These politicians made it clear that peace is not a priority for the Israeli people and expressed their racist opinions publicly. Moshe Feiglin, a member of the Israeli Knesset suggested paying a certain amount of many for every Palestinian family that leaves Palestine. Jeremy Gimpel, another Jewish politician, spoke publicly about the importance of the demolition of the Dome of the Rock and erupting the temple on its ruins. Neftali Bennett, the leader of the right-wing political party The Jewish Home, said that he would prefer imprisonment over the removal of a colonists from the West bank. Representative of the left wing, particularly, Shelly Yachimovich, A member of the Knesset since 2006 and the current leader of the Israeli Labor Party, said that it is vital “not to reduce budgets for colonial units outside the major colonies”. All of these comments are apparently made to abide with Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli PM policy who claims that a colony, such as Ariel, is as important as Tel Aviv. At the same time, any Palestinian structure, no matter how simple or how insignificant is a major concern for the Israeli Government who rush to demolish or evacuate that structure while giving all kinds of support and protection to random colonies that spread all around the West Bank. One of these colonies is Migron, which is considered illegal even according to the Israeli racist and unjust laws; Migron was judged illegal by the Israeli Supreme Court which ordered its evacuation and removal, however, the Israeli Government overrode the Court decision and supported the colony with more residential units. This shows the true nature of the Israeli racist and colonial Occupation. Will the world ever realize that fact? are the countries of the world going to boycott Israel and impose sanctions on it till it abides with the international laws and agreements or is it going to be so late? Are the arrogance and stupidity of this occupation going to let the whole region blow? Jamal Talab AlAmlah General Director Land Research Center Jerusalem – 22nd. Jan. 2013 The Land Research Center – an overview LRC was established in 1986 as a branch of the Arab Studies Society; it is a nongovernmental, non-profit organization which aims to consolidating sustainable development in Palestine through encouraging economic independence by urging people to have more control over their natural resources, improving their scientific and technical abilities, introducing more effective methods of natural resources management, and introducing up-to-date technologies. LRC’s activities cover all the West Bank, including Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip. It has branches in Hebron, Ramallah, and Nablus. LRC is an active member of the Palestinian Civil Society; it also promotes for cooperation between local NGOs, international organizations, and the public sector. LRC is specialized in conducting land and water related researches and studies; consequently, it provides other governmental and nongovernmental organizations with important data needed to develop strategies related to critical issues, the likes of land, colonization, and water. The Human Rights Program It is viewed as one of the most imperative programs implemented on the national level. The program aims to monitoring the Israeli violations of Palestinians rights, gathering detailed and precise information in this regard and make the information available to the people of the world in order to gain more support for the Palestinian cause. The Center has also offered Palestinian families advisory opinions and recommendations in regard to con- fiscations, demolitions, and demolition threats; it has also adopted several cases where it provided financial, logistical, and legal support to victims. LRC operates in cooperation with a large number of local and international organizations in order to support the Palestinians’ right to adequate housing, guaranteed by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Methodology Information gathering is done in accordance with the International coalition for the right of property and residence: a specialized team of field observers follow up on Israeli violations. Information on ongoing viola- tions is usually obtained from news agencies, victims’ calls, interviews, and field visits. Information is then classified and distributed to field observers based on location. The field observers conduct visits to the attacked sites, record testimonies, take pictures, and let the victims fill special survey to obtain as much information as possible about the aggression. The gathered information is used to produce case studies, news feeds, and monthly and quarterly reports. All of the reported aggressions are recorded electronically on the LRC’s central database. It is worthy to mention that produced reports include pictures and maps and/or aerial photographs designed by the GIS and Mapping unit at LRC in order to provide visual aid needed to better understand the extent of the aggression. In the end, these reports are published on LRC’s webpage www.lrcj.org and the program’s special website which is developed and maintained in cooperation with the Applied Research Institute – Jerusalem (ARIJ) www.poica.org in both Arabic and English as well as being often published in the form of booklets and books. Content Chapter 1: Israeli violations of the Right to Residence 1 1.1 Demolition and Evacuation of Palestinian Structures 4 1.2 Demolition Threats 10 1.3 Raids 18 1.4 Colonists Raids 19 Chapter 2: Israeli violations against natural resources 2 2.1 Attacks on Palestinian lands, trees, and environment 23 2.1.1 Land confiscations 23 2.1.2 Leveling and Destruction of Lands 24 2.1.3 Attacks aginst Palestinians trees 26 2.1.4 Demolition of cisterns, reservoirs, pools, and natural springs 27 2.1.5 Demolition threats for cisterns, pools, and springs 29 2.2 Pumping Sewage towards Palestinian towns and villages 30 Chapter 3: Colonists’ Attacks on Palestinians and their Properties 3 3.1 Colonists attacks 37 3.2 Types of colonists attacks 37 3.2.1 Attacks on Palestinian individuals 38 3.2.2 Attacks on Palestinian shepherds and farmers 38 3.2.3 Attacks on Palestinian vehicles 39 Chapter 4: Siege and Blockade 4 4.1 Further movement restrictions 43 4.2 Checkpoints added in 2012 44 Chapter 5: Israeli violations against religious sites 5 5.1 Israeli violations against religious sites 53 5.1.1 Most targeted sites 54 5.1.2 Israeli attacks on religious sites (1967-2012) 57 5.1.3 Attacks on religious sites in 2012 57 Chapter 6: Colonial Expansion and the Segregation Wall 6 6.1 Colonization in the West Bank and Jerusalem in numbers 63 6.2 Expansions in colonies – 2012 64 6.3 Israeli colonies subject to expansion bids – 2012 65 6.4 The Israeli Annexation and Expansion Wall (segregation wall) 68 Recommendations 77 Annexes 7 Annex 1: E1 colonial Scheme 81 Annex 2: Railway Plan 82 Annex 3: Closed Military Zones 83 Annex 4: Barrack Plan 88 Annex 5: Types of Israeli military Orders 90 Chapter 1 Israeli violations of the Right to Residence Chapter 1: Israeli violations of the Right to Residence 3 Preface Since the Israeli Occupation of Palestine in 1948, a continuous Israeli attack against Palestinian residences and structures have been carried out. Several Palestinian towns and villages were wiped off where many others were evacuated. Today, the Israeli Government and Army campaigns against Palestinian residences are unstoppable with a sole purpose of ethnically cleansing the Palestinians by any means necessary. Since the signing of the Oslo Accords1, the Israelis have adopted several policies to prevent Palestinian urban expansion in the West Bank, especially within areas classified ‘C’ according to the agreement. The Israelis largely narrowed construction areas on various pretexts in order to facilitate colonial expansions on these lands. As a result, the Israelis conducted numerous demolition and evacuation campaigns in these areas which form 62 % of the total area of the West Bank. Furthermore, the Israeli Municipality in the Occupied City adopted a number of policies to prevent Palestinian expansions in the Occupied City; it limited master plans and classified large areas of Palestinian private properties as “green areas” where construction is prohibited. The Israeli Municipality in the Occupied City limited the areas designated for construction and set a series of complicated procedures that are required for granting construction licenses to the Palestinian residents. On the other hand, it facilitated colonial expansions by providing colonies with organizational plans and services. It also approved a number of colonial plans that include hundreds of colonial units. It also imposed what the Palestinian call “silent demolition” which is forcing a Palestinian to demolish his/her own residence in order to avoid huge penalties. As for the Jordan Valley area, the Israeli Occupation Authorities considers the area a closed military zone and have turned large portions of it to military training grounds and mine fields evicting tens of small communities in the process. Look annex 2. 1 The Oslo I Accord or Oslo I, officially called theDeclaration of Principles on Interim Self-Government Arrangements or Declaration of Principles (DOP), was an attempt in 1993 to set up a framework that would lead to the resolution of the ongoing Israeli–Palestinian conflict.