FOR THE URGENT ATTENTION OF YOUR EXCELLENCY PRESIDENT YASSIR ARAFAT

AND MEMBERS OF THE PALESTINIAN COUNCIL

Explanation of the Current Situation of the Jahalin Bedouin tribe and the Orders for their Eviction

From: LAWE - The Palestinian Society for the Protection of Human Rights and the Environment

Tel: (972) (2) 812364/824559

Fax: (972) (2) 811072

31 August 1996

Advocate Lynda Brayer for the Society of St. Yves recently submitted a petition in which she charged that the Jahalin Bedouin were to be evicted from Area C of the West Bank (under continued Israeli occupation) to Area B (under the joint control of both the Palestinian authority and the Israeli occupation forces). This constituted, she charged, a Palestinian population transfer in contravention of Article 31, section 6 and 7 of the Taba Accords or Oslo 2.

Lynda Brayer charged that this would set a precedent for future population transfers out of Israeli controlled areas to areas under Palestinian control.

Furthermore, she had reservations regarding the habitat and environmental suitability of the allotted site, given the fact that this wind-swept area is extremely rocky and is located within half a kilometer of a main Jerusalem municipality garbage dump.

In response to this petition, the Israeli Civil Administration submitted new evidence, copies of which attached herewith, which claim that the area to which the Jahalin will be evicted, shown on the Oslo 2 maps as being in area B, was actually changed to area C on a document with an open date in January, signed by Major General Ilan Biran and General Abdul Razze Yahya. During this supposed negotiation, there appears to have been an exchange of territory - an area of land on the west side of Abu Dis was added to the Area B limits, and a tract of land to the east of Abu Dis and close to the Jewish settlement of Ma'aleh Adumim, which includes the Jerusalem municipality garbage dump site, was added to the Israeli controlled Area C.

The Israeli Civil Administration has stated to the Jahalin and to various members of the press that they do not feel restrained by the recent "stay of execution" order given by the Israeli High Court preventing the deportation until the final hearing is held on 4 September as they, the Bedouin, are "merely" being moved from one Israeli-controlled area of C to another area of C. In light of this, immediate action must be taken to prevent this unjust deportation of the Jahalin Bedouin. In addition, the landowners who own the land onto which the Bedouin are to be evicted have been forced to accept the upcoming residency of the Jahalin by the Israeli Civil Administration.

It is our understanding that the new area added to Abu Dis on the western side contains properties, previously in Area C but now located in Area B, owned by Ahmed Qreia amongst others.

LAWE - The Palestinian Society for Human Rights and the Environment views this development with the gravest concern. The fact that these documents have only now been submitted in support of the Civil Administration's case for eviction, and not before, calls into question the validity of the documents. LAWE urgently requests his Excellency the President to clarify the situation regarding this change of the Oslo 2 map and this "exchange" of territory.