Violation: closing an agricultural road.

Location: Aqraba town / East Nablus city.

Date: 27/02/2019.

Perpetrator: The Israeli occupation army.

Victims: people of Aqraba.

Description:

Israeli troops raided Aqraba town at 10:00 am and closed an agricultural road through earth mounds, for the fifth time in  a raw , as activist Yusif Deiriyeh told LRC reporter.

Deiriya asserted:

 “the 2 km road was rehabilitated by a project implemented by Premiere Argence International and serves 1000 dunums of agricultural lands, and leads to wide areas that will be used in a project for solar cells and alternative energy”

Noteworthy, the closure came as a response of “At-Taleh 777” settlers’ requests, At-Taleh 777 was built on thousands of confiscated lands from Aqraba, the real owners of the land were denied from the right of accessing it.

About Aqraba:[1]

18 kilometers to the southwest of Nablus, Aqraba can be set as an example of a recurrent target for the Israeli occupation attacks.

The village totals 34,660 dunums in area, mostly, agricultural lands. However, the Israeli occupation announced more than 281,000 dunums of the village lands as "military zone" inaccessible for Palestinians while soaking the area with various colonies including Gittit. That left only 1,350 of Aqraba lands to be built-up area for the village.

The colonies founded on Aqraba lands are expanding on daily basis and are classified as “agricultural settlements”. In addition, the Israelis have placed numerous watch towers and military encampments in order to control the whole region.

More than 500 Palestinians are residing in nomads gatherings around ‘Aqraba; they face day-to-day threats against their houses, tents, shacks; basically, their existence. Additionally, the Israeli colonists try to chase these people out of their fields in an attempt to take over the area.

‘Aqraba is inhabited by around 8,180 people with unemployment rate of 50% because of the restrictions imposed by the Occupiers.

Legal Commentary:

The constringing policy by the Israel occupation authorities towards the Palestinian civilians in all West Bank's governorate including closing roads and obstructing their movement can only be regarded as a violation of their right in the liberty of movement pledged by all international conventions and agreements like:

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights(1948) article(13) states:

Every person has the right of liberty of movement and to choose his place of residence inside the borders of each country.

Each person has the right to depart or to come back to any country including his country.

The Universal Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (1965) article 3(5)paragrah2-d

Every person has the right of liberty of movement and to choose his place of residence inside the borders of each country.

Each person has the right to depart or to come back to any country including his country.

The Universal covenant on civil and political rights (1966) article(12-3)

Each person legally has the liberity to move and to select his residence place.

[1] GIS-LRC

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