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Bil'in, a disappearing village?
01/09/2005
The village of Bil’in is located several kilometers northeast of Ramallah. In 2004 the village numbered 1800 inhabitants. The surface area of the village was approximately 4000 dunums, 3500 of which constitute tillable soil. In 1948, the village lost more than 2000 dunums of its agricultural land to Israel, said land being added to the territory within the Armistice Line (Green Line). Bil’in and its neighboring villages (Saffa, Nil’in, Deir Qiddis, Al Midya, Rut Shilta, Beit Sira, Bir Ma’in, Al Burj, Kharbatha Al Misbah) depend almost entirely on agriculture for their living, particularly cultivation of the olive tree.
Since imposition of restrictions on passage from the Palestinian territories to Israel, the unemployment rate has risen to over 60%. Their only remaining means of livelihood is to live off the land – but for how long?
The two villages, Bil’in et Saffa, are hemmed in on the west by eight Israeli settlements which make up the Modi’in Illit block in the Governorship of Ramallah, and they occupy an area of 10.678 dunums. The block takes in the settlements of Kfar Rut, Shilta, Mattityahu, Makkabim, Hashmonaim, Lapid, Modi’in Illit (Qiryat Sefer) and Menora.
The eight settlements were established on territory originally belonging to Palestinians from Deir Qiddis, Khirbet Al Misbah, Ni’lin, Al Midya, Bi’lin, Saffa, Bir Ma’in, Al Burj and Beit Sira.
Those villages have lost much of their land due to the establishment of settlements and their subsequent expansion.
Settlements encroaching on Bil’in et Saffa
ARIJ GIS - 2005 data base
| Settlement | Date established | Surface (in dunums) | Estimated population in 2002 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Modin (Qiryat Sefer) | 1991 | 3973 | 26.400 settlers |
| Mattityahu | 1980 | 683 | — |
| Hashmonaim | 1985 | 1050 | 2.200 settlers |
| Shilta | 1977 | 978 | — |
| Menora | 1998 | 759 | — |
| Lapid | 1996 | 459 | 2.200 settlers |
| Kfar Rut | 1977 | 835 | — |
| Makkabim | 1982 | 941 | — |
| Total | — | 10.678 dunums, or 10,678 square kilometers | — |
Inventory of land expropriated from Palestinian villages for construction of settlements
ARIJ GIS - 2005 data base
| Settlement | Village | Land confiscated (in dunums) |
|---|---|---|
| Modin Illit (Qiryat Sefer) et Mattityahu | Deir Qiddis | 2174 |
| Modin Illit (Qiryat Sefer) | Kharbatha Al Misbah | 793 |
| Modin Illit (Qiryat Sefer), Mattityahu, Hashmonaim, Shilta et Menora | Ni’lin | 1963 |
| Hashmonaim | Al Midya | 116 |
| Shilta, Menora, Lapid et Kfar | Rut Shilta | 2455 |
| Modin Illit (Qiryat Sefer) et Menora | Bil’in | 811 |
| Menora, Lapid, Kfar Rut et Makkabim | Saffa | 1149 |
| Makkabim | Beit Sira | 847 |
| Makkabim | Bir Ma’in | 367 |
| Kfar Rut et Makkabim | Al-Burj | 3 |
| Total | — | 10.678 dunums, or 10,678 square kilometers |
This table shows that the total surface area of land expropriated from Palestinian villages for construction of Israeli settlements amounts to 10,678 dunums (10,678 square kilometers).
Of this total, 1.960 dunums (1,960 square kilometers) were taken from the villages of Bil’in and Saffa to make up part of the settlements of Mod’in Illit (Kiryat Sefer), Menora, Lapid, Kfar Rut and Mekkabim.
Other Palestinian villages have witnessed the loss of their lands for the construction of other settlements.
The Wall of Segregation threatens the territory of Bil'in and Saffa villages
On February 20, 2005, the Israeli Minister of Defence published a revised plan for the Wall on his internet site, unveiling the new route of the Wall to be implemented in the West bank, mainly in the southwest region of the West Bank.
The updated plan included the suppression of a certain number of secondary walls in the northern sectors, and a change of the Wall’s itinerary in the governorates of Bethlehem, Ramallah, Salfit and Hebron.
As for the governorate of Ramallah, the villages located to the west and northwest were still affected by the Segregation Wall since the Wall did not follow the Armistice Line, but continued confiscating Palestinians’ agricultural territory and open spaces.
The village of Bil’in, like other West Bank villages, is threatened with loss of its land for construction of the Wall.
Israeli bulldozers are presently operating on approximately 5000 dunums (5 square kilometers) of Bil’in and Saffa land that will become inaccessible to their original owners.
On top of that, the wall will extend 6 kilometers from north to south along the western sides of both villages.
From the 4000 dunums of surface area of Bil’in, 1964 dunums have been confiscated by Israel for the wall – approximately 49% of the land for 2 kilometers of wall. As declared by the councils of Bil’in and Saffa villages, the Palestinian land threatened with being imprisoned by the Wall is already slated for establishment of a new settlement and the expansion of existing ones, mainly the settlement of Modi’n city (Modi’n settlement bloc).
As a result, the construction of the Segregation Wall has facilitated the integration of existing Israeli settlements.
It must also be pointed out that the inhabitants of the two villages are thoroughly aware of Israel’s plan to interlink the Israeli settlements so as to reinforce the Modi’in bloc, like Qiryat Sefer (Modi’in Illit), with the neighboring settlements of Mernora, Kfar Rut, Hashmonaim, Lapid, Mattiyahu, Shilta and Mukabbir.
The Israeli forces haven’t mentioned if they would require the Palestinian inhabitants of the two villages to obtain entry and exit permits for their land once the wall is built.
If the Israeli Occupation Forces require permits, the process of obtaining a permit will be long, tiring and often impossible for Palestinian families since the permit system employed by the Israeli Occupation Forces is a method of institutionalized discrimination and dispossession, as is seen in the case of cities and villages in the northern region of the West Bank.
The Segregation Wall and International Law
he Segregation Wall is being built less for security reasons than as a step towards expanding the Israeli border and Israeli settlements.
By building the Segregation Wall, Israel, is violating a number of international humanitarian laws, specifically the Hague Regulation of 1907 and the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949, which stipulates as follows:
The Hague regulation expressly forbids an occupying power from destroying or seizing enemy properties, except in cases where those destructions or seizures would be urgently dictated by the necessities of war (Article 23-g).
The Fourth Geneva Convention, the principal document of International Law governing the circumstances of a military occupation, stipulates in its Article 49 that: The occupying power cannot proceed to the deportation or transfer of a part of its own civilian population In the territory that it occupies.
Article 53 of the Fourth Geneva Convention is equally clear: The Occupying Power is forbidden from destroying the movable or immovable goods belonging individually or collectively to private individuals, to the state or public collectivities, or to social or cooperative organizations, except in cases where these destructions would be rendered absolutely necessary by military operations.
The appropriation and destruction of Palestinian land is a particularly serious violation of Article 147 of the Fourth Geneva Convention which clearly forbids it: The serious infractions referred to in the preceding article are those which involve any of the following acts if they are committed against persons or goods protected by the Convention: ….the destruction and appropriation of goods not justified by military necessity and carried out on a large scale in illegal and arbitrary fashion.
Violations of the Fourth Geneva Convention constitute serious infractions of the Convention and should be prosecuted as war crimes.
