5 January 2010 By Stephen
Lendman On February 1, 2009, the
International Solidarity Movement reported that Israel
continues its E 1 area homes and infrastructure work
that includes linking its Ma'ale Adummim settlement
with East Jerusalem and other settlements around it.
It said Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, while in office,
promised to expand E 1 development - the land
northeast of Jerusalem, west of Ma'ale Adummim
comprising about 12 square kilometers, all of it
illegally annexed. On November 15, 2009, the
International Middle East Media Center reported that
construction began in Ras al-Amud, Pisgat Ze'ev and
elsewhere in East Jerusalem as part of Israel's
scheduled 3,000 unit project. On November 18, Al Jazeera
headlined, "Israel moves to expand settlement," saying
approval was given to construct 900 housing units in
East Jerusalem's Gilo settlement. Overall, Israel's E 1 Plan
involves building about 15,000 new homes, a large
industrial zone, hotels, other recreational
facilities, a police station, garbage dump and more to
be shared by Occupied Jerusalem and Ma'ale Adummim
settlers. Israel's 121 West Bank/East
Jerusalem official settlements, another 100 so-called
"unauthorized outposts," and 12 Israeli (de facto
settlement) neighborhoods annexed to Jerusalem's
municipal area are illegal under international law,
including Fourth Geneva's Article 49 stating: "Individual or mass forcible
transfers, as well as deportations of protected
persons from occupied territory to the territory of
the Occupied Power or to that of any other country,
occupied or not, are prohibited, regardless of the
motive." In addition, UN Resolutions 446,
452, 465 and others condemned Israel's settlement
building by declaring they have "no legal validity" to
exist. Yet they do and keep expanding in defiance of
the law. B'Tselem is the Israeli Center
for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories. Bimkom,
Planners for Planning Rights, helps communities
throughout Israel and the West Bank "in matters
concerning home demolitions, infrastructure and public
services, local and neighborhood development plans, as
well as the separation barrier....to strengthen
democracy and human rights in the field of planning." In December 2009, they jointly
produced a report titled, "The establishment and
expansion plans of the Ma'ale Adummim settlement:
Spatial and human rights implications." With 34,000 residents occupying
10,000 housing units, Ma'ale Adummim is Israel's
largest settlement in land area and third largest in
population (after Modi'in Illit and Beitar Illit).
Expanding it will separate East Jerusalem Palestinians
from other West Bank cities and villages, reduce any
chance for a viable Palestinian state, and further
confine them to isolated cantons on the Territory's
least valued land, giving Israel unlimited control of
the rest. In 1999, B'Tselem published "On
the Way to Annexation" explaining how Ma'ale Adummim's
earlier development violated international law by
expropriating Palestinian land and expelling Jahalin
tribe Bedouins. After the Separation Wall construction
began, the planned route leaves Ma'ale Adummin and
smaller adjacent settlements on the Israeli side,
creating a partition between the southern and northern
West Bank sections. Additional E 1 development since
then seized more land illegally, demolished
Palestinian homes, and expelled their residents to
more constricted areas. The present report has two main
objectives: -- "to describe the spatial
changes that have taken place" since the first
publication and how they affect Palestinian human
rights; and -- "to examine these changes in
light of the history of Ma'ale Adummim and the
intentions that lead to its establishment." Recently revealed Israeli
documents show that in 1974 the first Rabin government
secretly decided to annex Ma'ale Adummim to Jerusalem
with no official announcement. Doing so, of course, is
illegal. In March 1975, 3,000 hectares of village
lands were seized. Several years earlier, the IDF
commander declared most of these lands a closed
military zone. In 1977, another 194 hectares were
taken for future use plus 200 expropriated for roads
and infrastructure. In total, it comprises 73% of
Ma'ale Adummim's jurisdiction area. The rest is
Israeli state property. In 1991, the settlement
attained city status, the first one to do so. Its expropriation procedure was
unique. Until 1979, settlements were established on
land requisitioned by military order claiming these
communities would serve an important security
function. Three times, Israel's High Court concurred
until it held (in 1979) that the Elon Moreh order was
illegal because it failed to meet that definition. Thereafter, declarations
arbitrarily classified over 90,000 West Bank hectares
as state land, most of it later included within the
jurisdictional boundaries of local and regional
settlement councils. The major Ma'ale Adummim
expropriations occurred in 1975 and 1977 for military
needs, before the Elon Moreh ruling. "The difference between the two
procedures relates to their validity over time." Land
requisition is temporary, but may be repeatedly
extended. It doesn't change ownership, just the
temporary right to use it. Payment is also offered,
so, in fact, the landowner is forced to "lease" the
land to the state. In contrast, expropriation is
permanent, switching ownership from Palestinians to
the state against the owner's will, even though
payment is offered that may be refused and often is to
make a political statement. Israel expropriated land for
Ma'ale Adummim to make it an integral part of
Jerusalem. Shortly after the 1967 war, the government
annexed West Bank land to expand the city's borders
for demographic reasons, "a mere" 7,000 hectares to
avoid an adverse international reaction. The order
included large areas to the east and south to ensure
Israeli control of a strategic location, controlling
passage between the northern and southern parts of the
West Bank to Jerusalem, Jordan and Jericho. The development planned
residential neighborhoods and an industrial zone with
more land expropriated than needed for future use and
to make Ma'ale Adummim a Jerusalem suburb. In 1977, the Likud government
recognized two former "work camps" as civilian
communities, Ma'ale Adummim and Ofra. The latter set a
precedent as an "unauthorized outpost." As the first
northern West Bank settlement, it broke "the barrier
that blocked settlement attempts in the heart of the
Palestinian population" and established events on the
ground for dozens more to follow - illegal settlements
and outposts "in opposition to the stated official
position of the government," only on paper to be
ignored. Prior to the Elon Moreh ruling,
the Israeli High Court held that expropriating
Occupied Territory private property for a security or
civilian settlement was prohibited under international
law (the Hague Convention), while temporary
requisitioning was legal. International law states that an
occupying power must respect existing local
legislation. Applicable Jordanian law allowed private
property expropriation if compensation was paid,
provided it was for a "public purpose," such as roads
and public buildings. The statute remains in effect. However, Israeli settlement
development constitutes a non-public purpose land
grab. In a May 1980 position to the Israeli Cabinet,
attorney general and later Supreme Court Justice
Yitzhak Zamir said: "It is not permissible to act
under Jordanian Law to expropriate land in Judea and
Samaria." Pli'a Albeck, head of the State
Attorney's Office civilian division, held a similar
position. Eyal Zamir, former Judea and Samaria deputy
legal advisor, summarized Israel's official policy
that: "Expropriation of land for public
purposes is not prohibited. Three pre-conditions
(must) exist: first, the acquisition is made in
accordance with the local law; second, the landlord is
fully compensated; and third, the acquisition is for a
public purpose....It should be emphasized that Israel
is not expropriating land to establish settlements in
the area." Nonetheless, Ma'ale Adummim was
created in violation of this policy, based on the 1974
inter-ministerial team's recommendations, headed by
the then-attorney general and later Supreme Court
president, Meir Shamgar, who said: "Regarding expropriation in Judia
and Samaria, it should be mentioned that international
law generally denies the military government the
authority to expropriate land in occupied territories;
however, there is evidence supporting the position
that it is permissible to expropriate land for the
needs of the local population upon payment of
compensation." Having previously done it for roads and
public buildings, "it may also be permissible to (do
so) for an industrial zone....whose construction is
approved under the local planning and building laws." The justification was that
factories would benefit Palestinians as well as Jews.
Yet, settlement development was intended that under
international and local law as well as High Court
decisions at the time are illegal. Settlement planners claimed the
expropriated land was uncultivated, so Palestinians
weren't harmed. According to architect Tommy
Leitersdorf, who prepared the first Ma'ale Adummim
plan: "The state inherited it from
Jordan....These were state lands, state land proper.
So, there was also a consensus (that) we didn't take
it from anybody." Israel's Civil Commission said: "In those years (1975 - 77),
there was no procedure for declaring state land, so,
due to the doubt, land was expropriated even though
the land concerned was unregistered and not
cultivated." Ignored was that local law
stipulated that "uncultivated" land could be owned by
individuals. In villages under Jordanian rule, many
such areas were registered to Palestinians, not the
state. After their land was seized,
dozens of Palestinians filed compensation claims with
the Jordanian government that concluded that 78% of
the expropriated land was privately owned. Israel illegally designated the
Ma'ale Adummim area arid, abandoned, and uncultivated
even though it earlier was declared a closed military
zone, off-limits to cultivation, and the Ministry of
Construction and Housing said it's: "in the Mediterranean flora area
(where) the wadis (valleys) are being
cultivated....East of this area, on land that can
still be cultivated in rainy years, cultivation is
done in accord with the Masha (collective) ownership
method....The more arid land is used for communal
grazing...." "Ma'ale Adummim was (thus) built
in complete disregard" of international and local law.
The initially ordered 3,500 hectares were increased to
4,800 to connect the area to Jerusalem's municipal
borders. It's now the largest land area settlement. Then in March 2009, a Change of
Borders Commission recommended a further 1,150 hectare
increase by integrating the Qedar settlement, all
state lands lying between it and Ma'ale Adummim, and
additional lands within the enlarged city limits. The
Commission ignored objections and the fact that
there's no justification or need for further expansion
except to seize more Palestinian land, sever the
southern and northern West Bank sections, and
exacerbate the forced separation between East
Jerusalem and the rest of the West Bank toward
eventually making the entire city Jewish. In 2005, a new master plan was
prepared that doesn't comply with Jordanian planning
law, applicable to the West Bank. Statutory documents
are binding and open to the public to object. However,
master plans are unpublished and unavailable for
public viewing. "....they define, in a
general-outline manner, the zoning of the area to
which they apply and dictate its development. (In
addition), the public cannot object to them, so that
the burden of hearing public objections and
considering them is avoided. Hence, master plans often
serve as a means to bypass the legal requirement (to)
prevent any involvement of the public - Palestinians
in particular...." After a Civil Administration's
Higher Planning Council (HPC) hearing, its minutes
showed plan's main objective is to facilitate
substantial population growth up to 103,000 residents.
To accommodate it, a new road system will be built
connected to Israel's national network. Also, an
airstrip, rail line, exhibition center and garbage
facility besides everything in earlier plans. Ignored completely is
Palestinian-owned land, enclaves not part of Ma'ale
Adummim's statutory outline plans, although they're
surrounded on all sides by the settlement's
jurisdiction area. The idea is to include them
incrementally while continuing a policy of home
demolitions and forced expulsions. The Separation Wall is another
issue. In April 2006, the government amended its route
14 km east of the Green Line and 11 km from
Jerusalem's post-1967 border. It leaves most of Ma'ale
Adummim's jurisdiction area on the Israeli side,
except for some desert lands east and south. The route will create a 6,400
hectare enclave which, besides the settlements,
includes the Palestinian a-Za'ayem village of 3,500
residents and 3,000 al-Ka'abaneh, a-Sawahrah and
Jahalin tribe Bedouins. The result will trap thousands
of Palestinians in the "seam zone" between the Wall
and Green Line, making their lives a bureaucratic
nightmare requiring permits to live in their own homes
and villages besides free movement restrictions. The communities of al-Eizariyah,
Abu Dis, 'Anata, and as-Sawahrah ash-Sharqiya are also
trapped between the "Jerusalem envelope" western
barrier and the eastern one in Ma'ale Adummim that
impede their development west or east. In addition,
disrupting the existing road system will hinder access
to Ramallah in the north and Bethlehem in the south.
After the forced separation from Jerusalem, they're
the only cities able to supply vital services,
including healthcare and administration. Harm to Palestinians Ma'ale Adummim's establishment
and expansion violates Palestinian rights three ways: -- individual Palestinians whose
lands were seized and then forcibly expelled from
their residences; -- entire Palestinian communities
unable to develop; and -- "infringement of the
collective right of the Palestinian people to a viable
state, with reasonable territorial contiguity." Even under the Civil
Administration's narrow law interpretation that only
land cultivated for an extended time, past and
present, is private property, much of what was
expropriated for Ma'ale Adummim is Palestinian owned,
especially where residential neighborhoods were
built. Throughout the West Bank,
settlement establishment and expansions have meant
land seizures and Palestinian expulsions. The result
has forced them into smaller more isolated areas,
unable to expand for future needs. Because of its location and
expansion plans, Ma'ale Adummim impedes the
Palestinians' right to self-determination "within the
framework of a viable state that enjoys reasonable
territory contiguity." Its location lies at the West
Bank's narrowest area, covering about one-half of its
total width. In addition, the surrounding topography
is hilly, especially in the north and south valleys.
Thus, Ma'ale Adummim creates a "physical and
functional partition" between the West Bank's northern
and southern sections, splitting it into two cantons. Further development will
exacerbate the problem by severing East Jerusalem from
the rest of the West Bank. Jewish neighborhoods will
surround the city on all sides, an ongoing process
further affected by the Separation Wall's
construction. Summary and Conclusions Israel contends that Ma'ale
Adummim's purpose is to serve Jerusalem even though
the area has been illegally occupied since 1967, and
international law prohibits an occupying power from
exploiting the territory for itself. After the 1967 war, the
government considered annexing the Ma'ale Adummim area
entirely, but feared a harsh international reaction.
As a result, it's done it incrementally by expanding
Jerusalem's municipal's boundaries well beyond their
limits. "In recent years, Israeli
governments have taken a number of measures to ensure
that Ma'ale Adummim will be, for all practical
purposes, a functional and spatial part of Jerusalem"
to seize as much West Bank territory as possible, deny
it to Palestinians, and prevent their having a viable
sovereign state. More than other settlements, Ma'ale
Adummim's development is key to this strategic purpose
that includes seizing all of East Jerusalem for
exclusive Jewish use. In late December, that's
precisely what Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had
in mind by announcing another 700 apartment expansion
in three East Jerusalem's settlements - Pisgat Zeev,
Neve Ya'akov and Har Homa. More Palestinian land will be
seized. Homes will be demolished, their residents
uprooted and displaced for the new project. Others
will follow as part of a process that won't stop until
all East Jerusalem is Jewish with Palestinians
entirely excluded, including from the Dome of the Rock
and Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount, Islam's third
holiest site. According to Israel's US ambassador,
Michael Oren, Obama will exert no pressure to stop it
or on new settlement development to come. Stephen Lendman is a Research
Associate of the Centre for Research on Globalization.
He lives in Chicago and can be reached at
lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net. Also visit his blog
site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to the
Lendman News Hour on RepublicBroadcasting.org Monday -
Friday at 10AM US Central time for cutting-edge
discussions with distinguished guests on world and
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