WEST BANK: Israeli court rules that a one-family Jewish settlement is illegal and should be dismantled

Record ID: 559926

  • Title: WEST BANK: Israeli court rules that a one-family Jewish settlement is illegal and should be dismantled
  • Date: 2nd May 2007
  • Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) LAND OWNER SAEED KHADDER SAYING: "The problem started years ago when we planted the land with olive trees, and he (settler Hanan'el) cut the trees. One Saturday, we came to harvest the land, he sent settlers and they attacked us. Every day we come here and he kicks us out of here. He is trying to steal the land, the land is not his land, this is not legal."
  • Embargoed: 17th May 2007 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: Legal System
  • Reuters ID: LVA3JU7HYR97W7E6CJOV8J61GW9T
  • Story Text: The Israeli supreme court has ruled that a one-family Jewish settlement in the Palestinian village of al-Khader in the West Bank is illegal and should be evacuated, but local Palestinian farmers fear the tiny settlement will not be evacuated and they will lose their land on which they rely for a living. Palestinian owners of pieces of land and olive groves near the one-family Jewish settlement Hanan'el of the outskirts of the West Bank village of al-Khader tend their trees under the watchful eyes of Israeli soldiers.
    Last month, the settler family was informed by the Israeli supreme court that they had to evacuate the settlement and the land owned by the Palestinians.
    The family has not yet been evacuated from the settlement, and the Palestinian land owners have not been allowed to return to the area settled by the Hanan'el family after which the settlement was named. Israeli soldiers have been deployed in the village to prevent clashes between the two groups.
    But locals with deeds to the land fear the soldier's presence means they will be prevented from reaching their land currently settled by the Hanan'el family for a prolonged period, and will subsequently lose their land to the Israeli state.
    They say intensive Israeli military presence in the area has allowed Israeli settlers into the settlement while preventing access by Palestinian residents into the area.
    "We faced the soldiers and the settlers. The (Israeli) soldiers, after they checked us, found that this land is Palestinian and papers were not faked, and these lands were not sold either legally or illegally to the Israelis. But the (Jewish) settlers are saying that the Palestinians' existence near them is dangerous for their security. So the (Israeli) soldiers are here to drag out the situation and not permit us to stay on the land under the pretext of protecting the Palestinians (from the settlers)," said Samer Jaber, head of 'Stop The Wall' campaign in al-Khader village.
    "We have noticed that the settlers here are trying to take over the land in a violent and malicious way, by preventing the (Palestinian) people from tending their land for more than three years, after which time these lands will become owned by the state (according to Israeli law), therefore making it easier for the settlers to take it. Our return to our lands, which are ours according to legal paperwork, will guarantee that generation after generation of people will farm these lands," he continued.
    Israeli settlements on the West Bank are considered illegal under international law.
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