Saed Bannoura, IMEMC:  Thursday August 23, 2012

On Wednesday, Israeli soldiers invaded Bardala village, in the northern plains area of the Jordan Valley in the occupied West Bank, confiscated three agricultural tractors that belong to Palestinian farmers, and imposed heavy fines on the owners.

Aref Daraghma, head of Wadi Al-Maleh village council, reported that the army claimed that the residents “have no permission to plant in the area”.

Daraghma added that, over the past two months, the army confiscated more than 24 Palestinian tractors in the area, and also confiscated 14 water tanks used by the residents for irrigation. The army also imposed very high fines on the villagers. 

Furthermore, Daraghma sated the Israeli violations in the area are aimed at forcing the residents to abandon their lands, especially since the lands are close to an Israeli military base, and the army is likely trying to confiscate them under the pretext of “military and security considerations”.

On Wednesday, soldiers handed six residents from Beit Ummar and Al-Arroub, near Hebron, military orders informing them that the army intends to demolish their under-construction homes. 

The army claims that the constructions are being conducted without official construction permits. 

The residents live in area “A” and “C”, under Israeli security and military control under the peace agreements signed between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. The areas do not receive any civil services from Israel.

Area A, includes major Palestinian cities, and is under the civil “control’ of the Palestinian Authority. 

Area B, includes most of the Palestinian rural areas, and is under “shared” security responsibilities by Israel and the Palestinian Authority (P.A.), and is under civil control of the P. A. 

Area C, around %62 of the occupied West Bank, in under Israeli military control, and Israel also controls construction and planning in it.

The Oslo peace agreement calls for gradual transfer of both power and responsibility of area C to the P.A. but Israel violated the agreement and froze the transfer in 2000.

The West Bank is around %20 of historic Palestine, but Israel’s illegal settlement activities and its military bases in the occupied West Bank turned the Palestinian territories into isolated ghettoes surrounded by the Annexation Wall and settlements.