Occupation date: 29th of October 1948. The massacre of 70 blind folded men, also three cases of rape,
including the rape of 14 years old girl. The girl was raped while getting water for the soldiers.
The village has been mostly destroyed with the exception of few houses (some are inhabited by Jewish settlers). Its villagers fled to Lebanon after the Safsaf massacre in October 1948, during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. Some made it to Syria: Nahr El-Bared, Burj Al-Barajneh, Badawi, Ein Al-Helweh, Sabra/Shatila, Ghoro- Ba’labak, Wihdat (Amman-Jordan), Ein Elma, Burj Al-Shamali, Tal Al-Za’atar, Yarmouk (Syria), and Homs (Syria).
The Romans referred to the village by safsofa. Safsaf had an elementary school for boys founded during the British Mandate period. There was one mosque and the shrine of al-Ajami located in the southern borders of Safsaf. Nowadays, we can see in Safsaf an Israeli settlement named ha-Shahar and Bar Yochay. In 1596 the population was (138), in the 19th century (100), in 1931 (662) and in 1945 (910). The Arab’s land ownership was 5,344 dunums, Jewish 0 dunums, and public 2,047 dunums.
Source:palestineremembered.com
The E-1 plan and its implications for human rights in the West Bank In late November 2012, the media reported that the Israeli government had issued instructions to promote the planning of thousands of apartments that would constitute an expansion of the Ma’ale Adumim settlement as part of the E-1 plan, in the segment that connect Ma’ale Adumim to Jerusalem.
According to themedia reports, these instructions were issued following the UN General Assembly’s recognition of Palestine as a state with UN observer status. After the directive was issued, the Civil Administration approved two of the three E-1 residential plans to be filed for objections. In August 2013, the plans had not yet been filed and no progress has been made toward their approval.
The implementation of construction plans in E1 will create an urban bloc between Ma’ale Adumim and Jerusalem, exacerbate the isolation of East Jerusalem from the rest of the West Bank and disrupt the territorial contiguity between the northern and southern parts of the West Bank. The establishment of settlements in occupied territory is a breach of international humanitarian law, which prohibits the transfer of people from the occupying state into the occupied area. It also prohibits any permanent changes in the occupied territory, with the exception of changes mandated by military needs or in order to benefit the local population. In addition, the establishment of Israeli settlements leads to numerous violations of Palestinians’ human rights. In addition, the Civil Administration is planning to expel the Bedouin communities currently residing in this area. If the expulsion goes through, it will be a further breach of international humanitarian law, which prohibits the forcible transfer of “protected persons”, such as these communities, other than for their own safety or for an urgent military need. Even then, it is permissible only on a temporary basis. These exceptions are not applicable in this case.
What is E1?
The E1 master plan (Plan No. 420/4) was approved in 1999. It covers approximately 1,200 hectares of land – most of which Israel declared as state land in a legally dubious procedure. During the 1990s these lands were made part of the jurisdiction of the settlement of Ma’ale Adumim, so it now encompasses approximately 4,800 hectares. The northern and southern edges of the plan largely correspond to the route planned for the Separation Barrier in the area, which would leave Ma’ale Adumim on the “Israeli” side of the barrier and separate it from neighboring areas of the West Bank. The E-1 compound is interspersed with enclaves of privately owned Palestinian land. The overall area of these enclaves is approximately 77.5 hectares. Israel was unable to declare them state land and they are not officially included in the plans. However, it is clear that the physical reality resulting from the plan will greatly limit Palestinian landowners’ access to their lands.
In addition to residential units, the plan designates areas for tourism, commerce, regional services, a regional cemetery, roads, etc. Detailed plans have already been approved for two of the plans, enabling the building permits to be issued:
At least three detailed plans for residential construction in the E-1 compound are being prepared, proposing 4,000 residential units and ten hotels. To date, Israeli governments have delayed any further construction in the area, partly because of strong objections on the part of the US administration and the European Union. According to media reports, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu promised the US president that he would not build in E-1. Nevertheless, in response to the UN decision to admit Palestine as an observer state, the government issued directives in late November 2012 to promote the detailed plans. Further to the government instructions, the Civil Administration approved the filing for objections of two of the three E-1 residential plans. The plans had not yet been filed in August 2013 and no progress had been made in the process of their approval.
Whom does the plan harm?
Implementation of the E1 plan will have significant repercussions for the entire population of the West Bank. Jerusalem borders on the narrowest area of the West Bank, where it spans only about 28 kilometers from east to west. Construction in E-1 will further reduce the already narrow corridor that connects the northern and southern West Bank and will impede the establishment of a Palestinian state with territorial contiguity. Israel is planning to build an alternative road that would connect between the two parts of the West Bank for use by Palestinians, but this is no more than a traffic solution.
Although all settlements are designated as closed military zones, this order is generally enforced only for their built-up areas. Implementation of the plan will result in the privately owned Palestinian lands inside E-1 becoming enclaves surrounded by built-up areas of settlements and there is concern that the landowners will not be able to access and farm these lands. The implementation of the plan will also harm the Bedouin communities in the area, whose access to grazing lands will be denied. In any case, the Civil Administration is already planning expulsion of the members of these communities. In addition, the roads currently used by Palestinians will become local roads used by settlers and Palestinians will be denied access to them. If no alternate roads are built, this access ban will significantly reduce Palestinian freedom of movement in the area.
Construction in E-1 will enclose East Jerusalem from the east and link up with the Israeli neighborhoods built north of the Old City. East Jerusalem is part of the West Bank and had once served as an urban center for West Bank residents. However, the ban Israel imposed on the entry of Palestinians into the city has artificially separated it from the rest of the West Bank. This separation will be intensified with the implementation of the E-1 plan.
Source:
http://www.btselem.org
Posted on: December 2012
By Harriet Sherwood
Despite its prosaic name, E1 has the potential to kill off hopes for a viable Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital, according to opponents of Israeli development on the 12 sq km site .
Israeli officials say construction on E1 is the logical and necessary expansion of Maale Adumim, a vast settlement east of the pre-1967 Green Line, to meet demand for homes close to the city that Israel claims is its indivisible capital. Plans to develop the land have been in existence for almost 14 years, but they have been kept on hold largely due to pressure from Washington.
Mostly stretching towards Jericho, E1 is home to a number of Bedouin communities and their livestock, plus a huge Israeli police headquarters perched strategically on a hill. A network of roads has been constructed, but it is closed to civilian traffic.
Implementation of the E1 development plan, approved in 1999, would largely complete a crescent of Jewish settlements around the east of Jerusalem, separating it from Palestinian towns and cities in the West Bank. It would also almost bisect the West Bank, making a contiguous Palestinian state almost impossible.
According to the Israeli human rights organisation B’tselem, implementation of the E1 plan will have “far-reaching consequences and will interrupt the contiguity of the southern and northern West Bank”.
It added: “The construction in E1 will further increase the forced isolation between the West Bank and East Jerusalem. It will enclose East Jerusalem from the east, connect to the Israeli neighbourhoods built north of Jerusalem’s Old City, and create a physical and functional barrier between East Jerusalem and the Palestinian population in adjacent West Bank communities for which the city serves as the main metropolitan and religious centre.”
The Israeli authorities have taken steps to implement a plan to forcibly relocate more than 1,000 Bedouin who live and graze their livestock on the stony hills. Demolition orders have been issued for homes, animal pens and a school built from discarded car tyres. Israel says the buildings were constructed without permission, which is almost impossible to obtain.
The original plan entailed moving the Bedouin families to a site close to Jerusalem’s main rubbish dump. Following legal challenges and international pressure, Israel has said it will consult the communities on their relocation.
Israel’s decision to press ahead with the development of E1 in the aftermath of the United Nations general assembly’s recognition of the state of Palestine signals an intention to build, rather than the start of construction, which would be many years away.
Maale Adumim is home to around 40,000 people. Resembling a small city, it has more than 20 schools and 80 kindergartens, 40 synagogues and several shopping malls. The majority of its residents are secular Jews who do not consider themselves settlers but inhabitants of a suburb of Jerusalem. Israel says Maale Adumim and other main settlement blocks close to the Green Line must be on the Israeli side of any future border.
All settlements in East Jerusalem and the West Bank are illegal under international law.
Source:
http://www.theguardian.com
Posted on:
By Steven Erlanger
AL ZAYYEM, West Bank — They buried Rabi al-Essawy 14 months ago on land his family owns not far from this village, between East Jerusalem and the large Israeli settlement of Maale Adumim. Mr. Essawy, 65, was a member of an important clan, and thousands attended his funeral.
Israeli authorities have ordered the family to remove Mr. Essawy’s remains and bury him in the village cemetery, just outside E1.But Mr. Essawy’s grave is in a parcel of land known as E1, a largely empty patch of the West Bank that is among the most sensitive pieces of real estate in an intractable conflict that is fundamentally about the land. The Israelis mean to annex E1 — short for East 1 — and they do not want Muslim graves to complicate future plans to build more settlements here.
The fight over Mr. Essawy’s grave is a tiny skirmish in the long, intensifying battle over this parcel of land, a fight that speaks to the seemingly insurmountable differences, hostility and distrust between the Israelis and thePalestinians. It also stands as a symbol of the failure of negotiations as each side tries to outmaneuver the other with unilateral actions, and the international community is left on the sidelines to do little more than express discontent.
“It’s a big deal because for both sides, it looks like it’s in the heart of their dreams,” the columnist Nahum Barnea wrote in the newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth. “Nobody’s innocent here. Everybody’s trying to force his will on the other side.”
Israel sees E1, only 4.6 square miles and largely rocky desert, as the stone in the arch that connects East Jerusalem, which Israel has annexed, to Maale Adumim, one of the biggest of the so-called settlement blocs, with a population of 40,000. Israel says it intends to keep Maale Adumim in any peace settlement, hoping to swap land with any future Palestinian state. In fact, it was Yitzhak Rabin of the Labor Party who in 1994 attached E1 to the municipality of Maale Adumim.
For the Palestinians, E1 is seen as essential if they are ever to achieve a viable independent state with East Jerusalem as their capital. Palestinians say they need the land to preserve a workable, practical connection between East Jerusalem and the West Bank, and to build housing for Palestinian refugees and their descendants. As important, the Palestinians contend, E1 is central to a crucial north-south route through the West Bank from Ramallah to Bethlehem.
Israeli officials argue that a system of protected roads and tunnels through E1 could allow Palestinians passage. Palestinians say that Israelis could instead use such roads to travel between Maale Adumim and Jerusalem, where many of the settlers work. Israeli officials also argue that the West Bank is not obstructed farther to the east, and that Palestinians can drive north-south closer to the Jordan River; Palestinians say that the Jordan Valley is too far out of their way and that Israel has said it will demand a security presence there in any case.
E1 has been contentious for years, with Washington warning various Israeli governments not to start building there. But E1 burst back into the forefront recently after Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian Authority, won United Nations General Assembly approval to recognize Palestine as a nonmember observer state. Mr. Abbas pressed ahead despite warnings from the United States and Israel that such an action would be a unilateral step in violation of the 1993 Oslo Accords that set up the supposedly interim Palestinian Authority.
Mr. Abbas won handily in the General Assembly on Nov. 29, in a 138 to 9 vote. Even Germany, a strong Israeli ally, abstained. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel responded with a three-part riposte. He withheld taxes collected on behalf of the Palestinians to pay down their electricity debt to Israel. He announced final approval for the construction of 3,000 more housing units in East Jerusalem and existing settlement blocs — beyond the 1967 borders, but within current settlement lines. And finally, he accelerated planning for the construction of up to 3,400 housing units inside E1.
The decision set off a critical reaction, especially in Washington and Europe. Many countries called in Israeli ambassadors to complain. But there was confusion, too, with some critics presuming that construction would go ahead in E1.
Israeli officials explained later that any construction in E1, if it happened at all, was many years away, and that the move on E1 was “symbolism against symbolism” — a symbolic response to a symbolic recognition of statehood. But the new planning for E1 is also “a warning to the Palestinians that E1 is now in play if they do further outrageous acts,” one senior official said. “We don’t exclude the possibility that E1 moves from symbolism to something real — the prime minister has raised the stakes and put E1 back on the table.”
Mr. Netanyahu himself told the German newspaper Die Welt that “as far as our future action is concerned, it depends on the Palestinians.” He added: “In any case what we’ve advanced so far is only planning, and we will have to see. We shall act further based on what the Palestinians do. If they don’t act unilaterally, then we won’t have any purpose to do so either.”
But he has also argued that there is a political consensus in Israel that E1 should be used for more Israeli settlement, that previous governments agreed with him, and that the Labor Party, under Mr. Rabin, authorized E1.
For now, the only significant Israeli construction in E1, which is largely state land, is a regional police station. Built in 2008 high on a hill, it overlooks the village cemetery where Yusra al-Qaisi, believed to be 75, was buried last week.
Khaled al-Saidi, 33, was among the mourners. He is a Bedouin whose family has lived on this land, he said, for more than 80 years; more important, and unlike most of the Bedouins here, his family bought the land in the 1990s. Still, he has been told by the Israelis to move; the house of his brother, Ali, has already been destroyed, because it was supposedly in the path of a future security zone.
“Here I’m on the edge of the security zone and there I’m also in the way of your settlement,” he said. “Where do I go? I just want a place for my sheep to go.”
On the opposite hill, near the police station, the authorities of Maale Adumim set up a Hanukkahmenorah, their efforts to light a candle defeated by the wind. But the mayor of the settlement, Benny Kashriel, said that he believes that after 18 years of delay and hesitation, the Israeli government might finally be ready to authorize construction in E1.
Source:
http://www.nytimes.com
The Economic and Social Council,
Recalling General Assembly resolutions 3210 (XXIX) of 14 October 1974, 3236 (XXIX) and 3237 (XXIX) of 22 November 1974, and Council resolution 1978 (LIX) of 31 July 1975,
1. Invites the United Nations Development Programme, the specialized agencies and other organizations within the United Nations system to intensify, as a matter of urgency and in co-ordination with the Economic Commission for Western Asia, their efforts in identifying the social and economic needs of the Palestinian people;
2. Requests these agencies and organizations to consult and co-operate with the Palestine Liberation Organization, the representative of the Palestinian people, with a view to establishing and implementing concrete projects to ensure the improvement of the social and economic conditions of the Palestinian people;
3. Urges the heads of the organizations and agencies concerned to formulate and submit to their respective governing and/or legislative bodies proposals for ensuring the implementation of the provisions of paragraphs 1 and 2 above;
4. Requests the Secretary-General to submit a report to the Council at its sixty-third session on the steps taken to implement the provisions of the present resolution.
4 August 1976
Source: The United Nations Information System on the Question of Palestine (UNISPAL)
The Security Council
Grieved at the extensive damage caused by arson to the Holy Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem on 21 August 1969 under the military occupation of Israel.
Midful of the consequent loss to human culture, Having heard the statements made before the Council reflecting the universal outrage caused by the act of sacrilege in one of the most venerated shrines of mankind, Recalling its resolutions 252 (1968) of 21 May 1968 and 267 (1969) of 3 July 1969 and the earlier General Assembly resolutions 2253 (ES-V0 and 2254 (ES-V0 of 4 and 14 July 1967, respectively, concerning measures and actions by Israel affecting the status of the City of Jerusalem.
Reaffirming the established principle that acquisition of territory by military conquest is inadmissible, Reaffirms its resolution 252 (1968) and 267 (1969); Recognizes that any act of destruction or profanation of the Holy Places, religious buildings and sites in Jerusalem or any encouragement of, or connivance at, any such act may seriously endanger international peace and security.
Determines that the execrable act of desecration and profanation of the Holy Al Aqsa Mosque emphasizes the immediate necessity of Israel’s desisting from acting in violation of the aforesaid resolutions and rescinding forthwith all measures and actions taken by it designed to alert the status of Jerusalem;
Calls upon Israel scrupulously to observe the provisions of the Geneva Convention and international law governing military occupation to refrain from causing any hindrance to the discharge of the established functions of the Supreme Moslem Council of Jerusalem, including any co-operation that Council may desire from countries with predominantly Moslem population and from countries with predominantly Moslem population and from Moslem communities in relation to its plan for the maintenance and repair of the Islamic Holy Places in Jerusalem:
Condemns the failure of Israel to comply with the aforementioned resolutions and calls upon it to the implement forthwith the provisions of these resolutions;
Reiterates the determination in paragraph 7 of resolution 267 (1969) that, in the event of a negative response or no response, the Security Council shall convene without delay to consider what further action should be taken in this matter.
Requests the Secretary-General to follow closely the implementation of the present resolution and to report thereon to the Security Council at the earliest possible date.
Adopted at the 1512th meeting by 11 votes to none, with 4 abstentions (Colombia, Finland, Paraguay, United States of America.)
Demanding that Israel desist immediately from all excavations and transformations of the historical, cultural and religious sites of Jerusalem, particularly beneath and around the Moslem holy sanctuary of Al-Haram Al-Sharif (Al-Masjid Al-Aqsa and the sacred dome of the Rock), the structures of which are in danger of collapse.
The General Assembly,
Reaffirming that the Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, of 12 August 1949, is applicable to Palestinian and other Arab territories occupied by Israel since 1967, including Jerusalem.
Recalling its resolutions 2253 (ES-V) of 4 July 1967, 2254 (ES-V) of 14 July 1967, 3092 (XXVIII) of 7 December 1973,3240 B (XXIX) of 29 November 1974, 3525 B (XXX) of 15 December 1975, 31/106 B of 16 December 1976, 32/91 A of 13 December 1977, 33/113 A of 18 December 1978, 34/90 B of 12 December 1979 and 35 / 122 of 11 December 1980, Recalling Security Council resolutions 252 (1968) of 27 May 1968, 267 (1969) of 3 July 1969, 271 (1969) of 15 September 1969. 465 (1980) of 1 March 1980, 476 (1980) of 30 June 1980 and 478 (1980) of 20 August 1980.
Bearing in mind the need to protect and preserve the unique spiritual and religious character and dimensions of the Holy City of Jerusalem.
Expressing its very grave concern that Israel, as the occupying Power, persists in excavating and transforming the historical, cultural and religious sites of Jerusalem.
Noting with alarm that the excavations and transformations in progress seriously endanger the historical, cultural and religious sites of Jerusalem as well as its over-all configuration and that these sites have never been as endangered as they are today.
Noting with satisfaction and approval the decision of the World Heritage Committee of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization to include the Old City of Jerusalem and its walls on the World Heritage list.
Noting with appreciation the recommendation of the Executive Board of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural organization during its one hundred and thirteenth session that the World Heritage Committee should speed up the procedure for including the Old City of Jerusalem and its walls on the List of World Heritage in Danger.
1.Determines that the excavations and transformations of the landscape and of the historical, cultural and religious sites of Jerusalem constitute a flagrant violation of the principles of international law and the relevant provisions of the Geneva Persons in Time of War, of 12 August 1949;
2. Decides that such violations by Israel constitute a serious obstruction to achieving a comprehensive and just peace in the Middle East as well as a threat to international peace and security;
3. Demands that Israel desist forthwith from all excavations and transformations of the historical, cultural and religious sites of Jerusalem, particularly beneath and around the Moslem Holy Sanctuary of Al-Masjid Al-Aqsa and the Sacred Dome of the rock), the structures of which are in danger of collapse;
4. Request the Security Council to consider this situation in case Israel fails to comply immediately with the present resolution;
5. Request the Secretary-General to report to the General Assembly and the Security Council no later than 23 November 1981, on the implementation of the present resolution.
Adopted at the 42nd plenary meeting” In favor: 114
Against: 2 [Israel, United States]
Abstentions: 27
The United Nations General Assembly today discussed measures to end Israel’s construction of a separation barrier in and around the West Bank after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) declared it to be illegal.
The Assembly met in a resumption of its tenth emergency special session on illegal Israeli actions in occupied East Jerusalem and the rest of the occupied Palestinian territory following a request of the Arab Group.
Last week the ICJ – the UN’s principal judicial organ – issued an advisory opinion saying the separation barrier was illegal and that construction must stop immediately. The Court also said Israel should make reparations for any damage caused, and that the Assembly and the Security Council should consider what steps to take “to bring to an end the illegal situation” created by the situation.
Speaking at the outset of today’s debate, the Permanent Observer of Palestine, Nasser Al-Kidwa, said the ICJ’s advisory opinion constituted a strong, clear and comprehensive determination of the applicable rules of international law, as well as the legal obligations that had arisen from breaches of that law committed by Israel as a result of its construction of the separation wall.
He said a draft resolution before the Assembly had a two-fold purpose: acceptance of the advisory opinion and a call for compliance with international legal obligations from Israel and from other Member States. In the event of non-compliance, States must be ready to undertake actions consistent with their legal obligation, including actions against all settlement activities as well as sanctions against companies or entities involved in the wall’s construction.
Ambassador Zeid Ra’ad Zeid Al-Hussein of Jordan, speaking on behalf of the Arab Group of States, said his delegation was planning to circulate a draft resolution with the aim of not only having the Assembly react positively to the ICJ’s opinion but to see that the ruling’s salient points were reprinted in any subsequent resolution. By supporting the Court’s opinion, the Assembly would show the world that despite the realities of political power and expedience, justice, when sought, could be found.
Ambassador Dan Gillerman of Israel said his country, together with a large number of States, had not supported the request for the ICJ’s advisory opinion because the initiative was counterproductive and harmful. The General Assembly had acted wrongly, politicizing the Court and turning a judicial organ into an actor on the political stage. Now, all those States that had expressed concern about the misuse of the ICJ must be wary of allowing the process to dictate the international agenda, he said.
Israel recognized that it had responsibilities, Ambassador Gillerman said, but it was not alone. The Palestinian side must abandon terror as a strategic choice; that straightforward measure would lead to removal of the fence. In the months since the advisory opinion had been requested, it had become clear that the fence worked. There was now a genuine chance to restart the Road Map as a result of the disengagement plan, he said, crediting the fence’s security benefits for creating the new opportunity.
Ambassador Paul Badji of Senegal, speaking as the Chairman of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, said the ICJ decision was an historic one and if applied fully in good faith, would set the course for the international community to help re-launch the negations between the two sides towards implementation of the Road Map peace plan. Moreover, the Committee would reaffirm the continued leading role of the United Nations in efforts to resolve the Palestinian-Israeli conflict until the objectives of the Road Map had been attained.
Speaking on behalf of the Non-Aligned Movement, Ambassador Mohd Radzi Abdul Rahman of Malaysia said the bloc maintained that a just, lasting and comprehensive settlement to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict could only be ensured on the basis of relevant Security Council resolutions. The General Assembly must muster the political will necessary to respond to the present situation. As the consequences of allowing the construction of the wall to continue on its present route were fearful, adoption of the draft resolution would send a strong and clear message to Israel and express solidarity with the Palestinian people, he said.
According to a spokesperson for the Assembly’s President, a vote on the revised draft resolution circulated today is scheduled only for Monday.