RAMALLAH, West Bank, 27 February 2007 — Jewish settlements have been annexing nature reserves in the occupied West Bank for construction, the Peace Now group said in a report yesterday. The anti-settlement watchdog said that annexation was detected in several central settlements in the Qana Stream area, west of Nablus in the West Bank.
The report said that the phenomenon is widespread and is the prime reason that attracts settlements in the area. The settlers have denied the report’s claims and have accused Peace Now of “spreading false rumors.”
Peace Now’s surveillance team analyzed aerial photographs of settlements and outposts and compared these to maps of nature reserves.
The analysis indicates that the territory claimed by 21 settlements and 10 outposts includes land belonging to nature reserves or national parks. According to the report, the settlements have claimed a total of 1,900 dunams in land in this manner.
In some cases, structures were built and roads paved on reserve and park lands. In other cases, settlements only annexed small plots of land and left them as open areas.
In extreme cases, dozens of structures were built. In the settlement of Karnei Shomron, east of Qalqilya, for example, 73 permanent structures were established within the confines of the Qana Stream Reserve. The settlements of Beit Arieh and Negohot, west of Ramallah, also saw the construction of over 20 new structures.
According to Peace Now’s data, the land of four outposts falls completely within the confines of nature reserves. The most significant of these is the outpost Alonei Shiloh, south of Nablus, which consists of 44 structures.
Meanwhile, Israeli Defense Ministry officials denied late Sunday that Defense Minister Amir Peretz was asked to involve himself in the decision by the Supreme Planning Council for Judea and Samaria (West Bank) to legalize the construction of the Matityahu East neighborhood of the settlement of Modi’in Illit, on Bil’in farming land west of Ramallah.
The officials said that “in any event Peretz was not a partner to the laundering of the plan, which was frozen by the Israeli High Court over a year ago.”
The coordinator of Israeli civil administration in the West Bank, who is subordinate to Peretz, must sign the development plan for the Matityahu East neighborhood of the settlement of Modi’in Illit for it to be legal.
Israel’s Haaretz newspaper said Sunday that the Supreme Planning Council for Judea and Samaria recently legalized the largest-ever illegal construction project in the West Bank. Part of the project is situated on private land, which belongs to Palestinian residents of the village of Bil’in.
The project calls for the construction of 42 buildings containing approximately 1,500 apartments. The buildings, already in various stages of construction, are in the neighborhood of Matityahu East, which is located in the large ultra-Orthodox settlement of Modi’in Ilit.
Peace Now and Bil’in residents filed a petition against the construction a week ago at the high court.
About a year ago, following another petition by Peace Now and Bil’in residents, the Israeli High Court ordered a halt to the construction and occupation of the buildings.
