For More Information, Call:
Land and Water Establishment For Release 12:00 p.m. Tel: (972) (02) 812364/824559 6 January, 1995 Fax: (972) (02) 811072
Land and Water Est. and Al Haq Meet with 28 Consular Officials
To focus on the settlement expansion by Efrat on El Khader's lands specifically, and on increasing land confiscation and settlement expansion in the West Bank in general, Al Haq and Land and Water Establishment held a closed meeting with representatives from a number of consulates and embassies. This meeting was held at the Ambassador Hotel in East Jerusalem at 10:00 on Thursday 5 January, 1995.
Advocate Khader Shkirat, director of Land and Water Establishment, presented documentation concerning the land confiscation cases on which the Land and Water establishment is working. They discussed the need for comprehensive documentation for the work the Establishment is doing, specifically on land confiscation and the human rights of the owners.
Mr. Shkirat also gave the area of the affected lands of settler confiscation. He also confirmed that the settlement process in Al Khader village does not diverge from general Israeli settlement policy. The Al Khader confiscations are part of a series of growing settlement activity, which are claiming increasing areas of the West Bank.
Khaled Al Bitrawi, the coordinator of the field workers for Al Haq, presented a summary of Al Haq's documentation on the settlement's expansion activities. He also presented information on the results of the Cairo Agreement for the Palestinian people in the West Bank.
Mr. Fateh Azzam, director of Al Haq, spoke about the legal position of the settlements. Missing sentence. He also requested that the consular representatives ask their respective countries to demand an end to settlement expansion in the territories, and to stop the settler's activities against the Palestinian people. Mr. Azzam asked for a private course (?) to study the activity of settlement expansion and the resulting abuses of human rights. He also demanded that Israel comply with UN resolution #681 - 1990, which states that Israel should respect the Fourth Geneva Convention, and Resolution #904 - 1994 which guarantees protection for the Palestinian people in the Occupied Territories. Signatories to these conventions need to fulfill their obligations to international law. Israel too is a signatory, and therefore must fulfill its obligations also.
The two establishments concluded that Israel will probably continue its settlement policy, and this policy presents a clear obstacle to a just peace in this region. They asked those present to take immediate action to stop Israel's settlement policy. Missing Sentence. Palestinians will not be the only people that will lose - all will pay later for these policies now.
** The Land and Water Establishment is a Palestinian human rights advocacy organization. The lawyers for Land and Water Establishment represent the people of Al Khader, Al Janiyah, Deir Kedis, Skaka, Kufur Labad, Al Birra and Nahalin villages.