Violation: Halt of Work Notice for a main Agricultural road.

Location: Rantis village / northwest Ramallah city.

Date: June  17^th 2021^st.

Perpetrators: The building inspector at the Israeli Civil Administration.

Victims: People of the village.

Description:

Thursday, July 17^th 2021, The Israeli Occupation Civil Administration raided the eastern side of Rantis village, and notified an agricultural road with a halt of work notice on the pretext of building without a license.

The targeted road is on the eastern entrance and is 1 km long, and was rehabilitated recently noting that it was mainly used as a main entrance for the village.

Village Council head Hassan Wahdan told LRC:

“The eastern road is considered the main entrance for Rantis, and it connects Rantis to number of villages in Ramallah and Al-Bireh governorate, the road used to be rough and unpaved, but we’ve got a grant from municipalities’ fund to rehabilitate the road. Before we realize it, the occupation halted the rehabilitation process.”

According to military order number (30769) , the building and organization session will take place in “Beit El” military court , to decide the fate of the structure.

Al-Wahdan asserted:

“Rantis village is completely besieged by the occupation, it is bordered by the Annexation and Expansion Wall (West) which blocks the village from the Occupied territories of 1948, and bypass road from both northern and eastern areas , while the southern area is considered an expansion space for ‘Afrim colony. The Occupation on the other hand prohibits any new constructions at the village, it also notified number of houses and agricultural structures. Moreover, until this day, the occupation refuses to expand the village built up area.”

Rantis town:[1]

The town of Rantis is located 35 km northwest of Ramallah, bordered on the north by the village of Al -Liban Al Gharbi, on the west by the the Green Line, on the east by Al- Liban Al Gharbi, and on the south by Shuqba. Its total population is 3179 people, according to the census of 2017. Its total area is 10,780 dunums, of which 647 dunums are a built-up area of the village.

Since the Israeli military occupation of the West Bank in 1967, Rantis’s land has been under constant confiscation as followed:

218 dunams were seized to build the bypass road No. 465 connecting Israeli settlements with Israel;

414 dunums were confiscated for the construction of the Apartheid wall, and 1616 dunums were isolated behind it.

The land of Rantis is classified according to the Oslo Agreement as followed:

• Areas classified as B – 1,328 dunums.

• Areas classified as C -9,452 dunums.

There are also a number of small old villages (Khirbets) around the mother town of Rantis that indicate the ancient character and authenticity of the area. They include the following: ‘Deir Alla, Barish, Khirbet Mesmar, Deir Degla, Al-Dur, Al-Ras, the shrine of Saad and Saeed and the shrine of Arbaeen.

The town of Rantis is inhabited by the following families: Khalaf, Hadan, Ballout, Riahi, and Abu Salim.

[1] GIS-LRC

[1] GIS-LRC

This Publication has been produced with the assistance of the EU

The Contents of the publication are the sole responsibility of LRC Only, and can in noway be taken to reflect the views of the EU