Violation: Prohibit opening an agricultural road.

Location: Karam Hdidon- Battir village / Bethlehem governorate.

Date: 19/06/2019.

Perpetrator: The Israeli Occupation Forces.

Victims: Battir village people.

Description:

A vehicle related to the civil administration accompanied by an army patrol raided Battir village and halted work on an agricultural road.

The occupation forces forced the excavator’s driver to stop the work, and confiscated the tools in the location, on the pretext of working in C area.

Lara  Samara, from Battir municipality told LRC reporter:

“The Israeli occupation forces raided the area and dropped tear and noise bombs on the location were the road was being opened , the bombs forced workers to rush away from the location leaving their tools behind.

The road was going to lead to wide areas of agricultural lands. The occupation forces confiscated the ID card of Battir municipality head as the responsible on the tools.”

Noteworthy, the municipality started opening the road six months ago , the road was going to be 2600 m , 2000  were completed, 600 left.

The occupation excessively targets Battir lands and put pressure on its people to give up on their plots, in order to take them for the expansion of settlements.

About Battir[1] :

The village is located 7km to the western side of Bethlehem. It is edged by the occupied lands of 1948 from the north and west, al-Walaja village from the northeast, and Husan village from the south.

Battir has a total population of 4696 people until 2017 and has a total land area of 6681 dunum, 832 of which are built-up area.

Oslo Accords divided the lands of Battir as follows:

1467 dunums are classified as area B

5214 dunums are classified as area C

The contents of this document is the sole responsibility of LRC and can under no circumstances be regarded as reflecting the position of the European Union

[1] GIS-LRC