Land Research Center

The so called settlement council imposed their control over 417 dunums of As-Sawahera Ash-Sharqiya lands, which is located 3 km to the south east of occupied Jerusalem, and urged settlers to bring their caravans to the plot.

Sunday, September 19, 2019, settlers put new outpost up the mountain east As-Sawahira Ash-Sharqiya, settlers raided the area early in the morning and put caravans and other facilities at the location.

During a meeting with As-Sawahera municipality committee, Mr. Younis Ja’afra told LRC the following:

“This plot belong to people of As-Sawahera As-Sharqiya since 1900 , which is proved with ownership deeds . But, the Israeli civil administration could find a pretext to lay their hands over 417 dunums of the town lands, this was followed by number of settlers , who brought their caravans to these plots.”

This procedure was facilitated by the so called the blue line committee , that allocated the state lands area , including the 417 dunums, which made it easier to confiscate them.

The targeted lands belong to three families from Shqairat clan, the area is planted with barley. Noteworthy, before 1989 the plot was used to conduct military trainings.

Lawyer Shadi Masarwa was assigned  to follow up the case in the Israeli court, the owners along with As-Sawahera Ash-Sharqiya municipality have decided to file an objection to the Israeli supreme court , hoping to safe the property, knowing that the civil administration claimed that they bought the plot, but  the seller in their papers is not even from the village, and does not own a dunum there.

On the other hand, The Sawahera Ash-Sharqiya municipality set up a demonstration tent close to the targeted plot, demonstrators performed Al-Juma’a prayer inside it ,the occupation forces showed up at the location and attacked them with tear bombs, destroyed and confiscated the tent then declared the area as a closed military zone for the next 48 hours.

As-Sawahera As-Sharqiya[1]:

5 km east Jerusalem, As-Sawahera As-sharqiya is surrounded by Abu Dis (north), Ash-Shaikh Sa’ed and Jabel Mukaber (west) , the Dead Sea (east) and Al-‘Ubaidiya (south).

The town has a total area of 69,398 dunums , of which 1040 dunums are a built up area for As-Sawahera As-Sharqiya.

The occupation confiscated 47,045 dunums for the following:

• Israeli settlements control 41 dunums, as the following:

• Bypass road 90 devoured 300 dunums.
• The Apartheid Wall:
• Constructed: the apartheid wall(833 long) ate up 83 dunums under its route and isolated 159 dunums.
• Planned: The planned segment of the apartheid wall is (3,314 m) long, it will devour (331) dunums and isolated 561 dunums.
• The Israeli occupation military camps devoured (3,630) dunums.

Oslo accords divided the town lands as the following:

• A area: 176 dunums.
• B area: 4,987 dunums.
• C area: 61,866 dunums.
• Natural reserve: 2,369 dunums.

Legal Feedback:

The constringing policy by the Israeli occupation authorities of confiscating Palestinian lands in order to  build illegal random outposts and settlements can only be regarded as a violation of all international conventions and agreements like:

The Geneva Fourth convention relative to the protection of civilian persons in the times of war:

Security council resolution 242 year 1967:   Withdrawal of Israel armed forces from territories occupied in the recent conflict; and  Termination of all claims or states of belligerency and respect for and acknowledgement of the sovereignty, territoial integrity and political independence of every State in the area and their right to live in peace within secure and recognized boundaries free from threats or acts of force.

Security council resolution 446 year 1979:   Determines that the policy and practices of Israel in establishing settlements in the Palestinian and other Arab territories occupied since 1967 have no legal validity and constitute a serious obstruction to achieving a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in the Middle East;

Security council resolution   452 year 1979: the resolution once again denounced Israel's settlement activities in territories occupied in 1976 including (East) Jerusalem, this activity constituting a violation of the Fourth Geneva convention, and called on Israel to cease planning and construction of settlements

Security council resolution 465 year 1980: calls to dismantle the existing settlements and in particular to cease, on an urgent basis, the establishment, construction and planning of settlements in the Arab territories occupied since 1967, including Jerusalem; Calls upon all States not to provide Israel with any assistance to be used specifically in connexion with settlements in the occupied territories;    

Security council resolution 478 year 1980:  Censures in the strongest terms the enactment by Israel of the "basic law" on Jerusalem and the refusal to comply with relevant Security Council resolutions,Those States that have established diplomatic missions at Jerusalem to withdraw such missions from the Holy City.

[1] Source: GIS – LRC.