Publications
Summaries |
|
Summary
Index |
|
The
By-Pass Road Network in the West Bank: An Analysis of the Effects
of the Network on the Palestinian Territories.
By Samira
Shah
al-Haq 1997, English, 72 pp., $3.00.
Preface
Table
of Contents |
|
|
|
PREFACE |
|
For at least ten years
before signing the Oslo Accords, road construction by the Israeli
occupying power in pursuit of Israeli interests provoked concern
amongst Palestinians. While the so-called "by-pass roads"
are superficially associated with the Israeli-Palestinian agreements,
in particular the Interim Agreement also known as Oslo II, Israel's
activities in the field of road construction, regardless of labeling
or means of execution, continue to pursue the continuation of
the road construction plan which began to be executed in the
early 1980s. Israel has succeeded in exploiting the current peace
process and the Israeli-Palestinian agreements, which maintained
the settlements and placed responsibility for their security
with Israel, to escalate the execution of this road construction
plan. Israel's objectives are to maintain its control over the
Occupied Palestinian Territories and even achieve actual annexation
of most of the area by altering its character and legal status,
in particular by destroying the area's territorial integrity
and preventing the Palestinian people from exercising its national
and inalienable right to self-determination, following the elimination
of the occupation. |
|
If by-pass roads are
generally associated with settlements and may seem a logical
outcome of settlement construction, in reality they are designed
to pursue these same objectives by changing the infrastructure
of the Occupied Palestinian Territories and linking them ever
more closely to Israel. By-pass road construction runs parallel
with settlement building and is designed to achieve the same
goals. |
|
In this study, al-Haq
attempts to examine different aspects of the by-pass roads question
and expose their dangers and side-effects, particular in the
way in which they extend Israel's physical occupation of Palestinian
land, isolate Palestinian population centers from each other,
uproot Palestinians from their land, and impose firm military
control over the Occupied Territories. Israel's construction
of by-pass roads contravenes principles of international humanitarian
and human rights law, and, additionally, undermines the current
peace process. Al-Haq attempts in this study to discuss various
critical issues, many of which are on the agenda of the Israeli-Palestinian
final status negotiations, with the aim of exposing how the real
intentions of the Israeli occupier are diametrically opposed
to what is needed to achieve a permanent, just and comprehensive
peace based on the principles of international law. |
Riziq Shuqair
Research and Studies Coordinator
Al-Haq |
|
|
TABLE
OF CONTENTS |
|
1. Introduction
2. History of Road
Plans in the West Bank under Occupation
2.1 "Trans-Samaria"
Highway
2.2 Gush Emunim Settlement Plan
2.3 World Zionist Organization Master Plan for Settlement in
"Judea and Samaria"
2.4 Road Plan Number 50
2.5 IDF By-Pass Roads Plan
3. A History of
Land Acquisition in the West Bank under Occupation
3.1 Land Acquired
as "State Land"
3.2 Land Acquired as "Abandoned" Property
3.3 Land Expropriated for "Public Purposes"
3.4 Land Seized for "Military Purposes"
4. Effects of the
By-Pass Roads
4.1 Fragmentation
of Palestinian Areas
4.2 Expanding and Solidifying Settlements
4.3 Erasing the Green Line
4.4 Annexation of Jerusalem
4.5 Socio-Economic Effects
4.5.1 Economic
Effects
4.5.2 Urban Planning and Land Use
4.5.3 Environmental Effects
4.5.4 Social and Cultural Effects
5. International
Law
5.1 Humanitarian
Law
5.1.1 The Hague
Regulations of 1907
5.1.2 The Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949
5.2 Human Rights
Law
5.2.1 The Universal
Declaration of Human Rights
5.2.2 The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
5.2.3 The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural
Rights
5.2.4 The International Convention on the Elimination of All
Forms of Racial Discrimination
5.3 The Oslo Agreements
6. Conclusion
7. Appendices
A Case Study on
Bethlehem
B Military Orders Concerning Seizure of Land
C Military Order Concerning Acquisition of Land for "Public
Purposes"
D Damage Caused by Road Number 60 in the Hebron Area
8. Maps
A Geo-Political
Map of the West Bank
B Map of the West Bank: Roads and Israeli Settlements
C Map of the West Bank: By-Pass Roads and Palestinian Cities
and Villages
D Map of the West Bank: Israeli Settlements and Palestinian Cities
and Villages
|
|
|