For More Information, Call:
Land and Water Establishment For Release 1:30 p.m. Tel: (972) (02) 812364/824559 January 3, 1995 Fax: (972) (02) 811072
Rabin Appeases the Settlers
Yesterday, after a long discussion concerning the settlement of Efrat's expansion on Al Khader village's lands, the Israeli Cabinet decided to stop the construction activities at the highly contested site near Al Khader, and to allow the settlers to relocate their construction site to other confiscated lands nearer to Efrat itself.
Land and Water Establishment considers this step as a clear violation of international laws and conventions, especially article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention. Settlement expansion is also in violation of the Declaration of Principles between the PLO and Israel.
Land and Water Establishment withdrew its court petition yesterday in order to force the Israeli government to confront the issue of settlement expansion and land confiscation in all of the Occupied Territories. Rabin's government, however, has tried to portray the dispute as one about settlements and their "legally" held lands, and not as one about confiscation and expansion in general with serious ramifications for the peace process.
We consider the conflict as one not about the expansion of Efrat, but as one about all the land confiscation and settlement expansion in all of the Occupied Territories, especially in the West Bank.
Land and Water Establishment calls on the international community to protest continued land confiscation and settlement expansion, which aims to create new facts on the ground to influence the final decisions during the peace negotiations. For this, again, we call on the international community and the diplomatic missions in Jerusalem to demand that the Israeli government begin the final phase of the peace process, and most especially to address immediately the issue of settlements.
** The Land and Water Establishment is a Palestinian human rights advocacy organization. The lawyers represent the people of Al Khader Village.