A statement by the Land Research Center / Arab Studies Society

Commemorating the 64th anniversary of the occupation of Palestine

On May 15, of every year, Palestinians commemorate the darkest moments of their history when Jewish Zionist brutal gangs took over most of Palestine with the economical, military, and legal aid of the British mandate in 1948.

The British Foreign Minister, John Balfour promised the Jews around the world with a "national home" on the lands of Palestine; he, who does not own, gave to those who do not deserve.

Because they know of the importance of the lands of Palestine to the Palestinians, because they know that generations of Arabs defended the land with their lives; the Israelis had in their mind colonizing the lands, taking over natural resources, and eventually, ethnically cleanse it.

The occupation forged history, forged documents, and planted phony memories in its people's minds to legitimate their crimes and to facilitate transfer of ownership from the Arabs citizens to the Jewish immigrants coming from the four corners of the world.

Land expropriating and disposition has begun with the British mandate which was preparing for the Jewish takeover. All the British "property" was handed on a plate to the Jewish occupiers who followed them.

As for the so-called Israeli State, its land capture attempts are unstoppable; in 1948, more than 600 Palestinian villages were wiped off the face of the earth in the most brutal bloodiest of ways.

In 1967, the Israelis gangs which were transformed into an Army destroyed the villages of "Al Latron" and part of the Old City of Jerusalem.

Since 1967, 423 Israeli colonies, inhabited by 404,356 Jewish colonists spread all around the West Bank.

Moreover, more than 60 % of the area of the West Bank is under Israeli Control despite the so-called peace agreements; needless to say that the rest of Palestine is under full control of the so-called Jewish state.

The Israelis went even further, in 2002, a decision was made to build a 700-km, snake like wall around the West Bank which had drastic consequences on the Palestinian communities.

The wall devoured lands, isolated whole villages, and its construction resulted in the destruction of tens of houses, thousands of trees, and severe environmental consequences.

Nowadays, the Israelis are planning the establishment of a railway network connecting towns in area occupied in 1948. its implementation will result in the loss of further 30 km2 in addition to 70 km2 of buffer zones.

Israelis measures during the past 64 years hit all the aspects of Palestinians' lives; house demolitions, construction prohibitions, land destruction and confiscations, murders, physical and oral abuses, movement restrictions, and many other aggressions became the trend of Palestinian daily lives.

LRC recorded numerous Israeli violations of Palestinian rights in the first months of 2012; these included:

• Demolishing 72 Palestinian residences, consequently, 506 Palestinians were rendered shelter-less (60 % children).
• Demolition orders for over 147 residences inhabited by more than 800 people.
• Demolition or eviction orders for another 350 residences inhabited by more than 3,000 Palestinians.
• Demolition of cisterns, sheds, barns, commercial shops, workshops, etc; around 200 structures benefiting 1310 people. Another 174 structures re facing the same fate.
• Cutting, uprooting, and burning of 3000 trees, 70 % were productive, in addition to 1000 other trees which were ravaged.
• 8000 dunums of Palestinian lands were confiscated in addition to colonists' attempts to capture 4500 dunums.
• 100 duunums of planted fields were leveled.
• A number of road blocks and checkpoints have always been added.

The Israeli measures against the Palestinians and their property in the West Bank occur in parallel with similar measures taken against the Arab citizens of the so-called Israel.

Al Araqeeb village in Negev was destroyed more than 40 times while 800 km2 were confiscated.

All of these actions and attacks are intended to give the Israelis the legitimacy they have been missing, a legitimacy that they will never get no matter how much support they gain.

Lastly, it is obvious that the Palestinian prisoners' heroic stand in their prisons is an evidence of the Palestinians commitment to their cause and to their willingness to establish their independent state with Jerusalem as their capital.

Land Research Center

Arab Studies Society

Jerusalem - 2012