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ISRAELI BULLDOZERS WILL DESTROY the entire
village of Al-Daba’ in the Qalqilya district. The village consists of
250 Palestinians living in 42 houses. Sixty ton American made armored
Caterpillar D-9 bulldozers will make short work of 42 houses, 600-700
dunums of agricultural land, a mosque, and an elementary school for
132 children.
The military order was issued 30 days ago and
required the clearing of 50 meters of land next to the billion dollar
wall (financed by the United States) being built to separate
Palestinian land from Israel in the northern part of the West Bank.
The clearing operation has exceeded its orders and now the destruction
will extend 500 meters into the West Bank and engulf the village of
Al-Daba’.
Construction of the 8-meter high, 360-kilometer
long wall has been proceeding inside the 1967 armistice line. When
completed, an additional seven percent of Palestinian land will be
confiscated and if the wall is extended to Hebron, ten percent of land
will move to the Israeli side of the border. When completed, the wall
will be fitted with motion sensors, observation towers every 300
meters, barbed wire, and a two-meter deep ditch to prevent
Palestinians from entering Israel. Many observers believe that the
wall is being built because Israel has failed to halt Palestinians by
other means from crossing to Israel to find work to support their
families. The Israeli wall has been compared to the Cold War’s Berlin
Wall, separating the East and West Berlin, constructed by the East
Germans to prevent escape to freedom. To the contrary, the Israeli
wall creates a concentration camp of the West Bank.
The Al-Daba’ land confiscation is just the
latest outrage of land stealing. Thus far, since 1967, Israel has
confiscated 750,000 acres of the 1.5 million acres of Palestinian land
in the West Bank and Gaza. Ariel Sharon initiated land confiscation
and settlement construction in 1967 as Israel’s Minister of Housing.
It is clear that Israel’s confiscation and control of large portions
of the West Bank and Gaza for sites to construct settlements and its
refusal consider negotiations about the land is a strategy designed to
permanently annex the land and thus prevent a meaningful and fair
peace settlement.
Israel’s proposed action with respect to the
village of Al-Daba' will constitute a violation of the Geneva
Convention of 1949. Article 4 and 94 relates to denial of children’s
education, Article 17 and 49 relates to forced transfer of
populations, Article 39 relates to ability to work, Article 46 relates
to property confiscation, and Article 53 relates to destruction of
property. All of these violations represent indictable war crimes
punishable by imprisonment.
Support the people of Al-Daba’ and send
messages to demand intervention to prevent its destruction.
American Consulate, Jerusalem Email:
keenme@state.gov, Fax:
+972-(0)2-627-7230
European Union, Jerusalem, Email
mailto@delwbg.cec.eu.int,
Fax: + 972-(0)2-532 6249
UN Special Coordinator, Gaza, Email
unsco@palnet.com, Fax:
+972-(0)8-282-0966
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