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In early
January, the Civil Administration's Supreme Planning Council approved the
amended outline plan for the new neighborhood in the Modi'in Illit settlement,
which is located west of Ramallah. The plan for the neighborhood, called
Matityahu East, took effect on 23 February and retroactively "rendered
fit" forty-two buildings, containing hundreds of new housing units, that
were built in violation of the relevant planning and housing laws. Twenty-two
of these forty-two buildings were built, according to the Civil Administration
and the State Attorney's Office, pursuant to building permits that the Modi'in
Illit Local Council issued illegally, given that no valid outline plan existed
for the area. The other twenty buildings were built by construction companies
and developers that did not have building permits. Most of the apartments have
been sold to Israelis and some are occupied.
The
neighborhood lies completely on land belonging to the Palestinian village of Bil'in , which lies to its east. In the
early 1990s, most of the land was declared "state land." Village
residents appealed the declaration to the Civil Administration's Appeals
Committee, contending that the land was privately owned. The Appeals Committee
held, in September 1992, that 183 dunams (of the 780 dunams) covered by the
declaration orders were under cultivation and, therefore, could not properly be
registered as state land.
In the
framework of a petition filed by Peace Now in 2006 against the illegal
construction in the settlement, it was learned that, contrary to the Appeals
Committee's decision, those 183 dunams were in fact registered as state land.
The recently approved plan for the construction of hundreds of housing units
involves this land. The state argues that the registration was proper:
following the Appeals Committee's decision in September 21992, the Committee
cancelled its original decision at the request of the Civil Administration, on
grounds that a "scribe's error" had been made. In addition to the
impudence in relating to such a significant decision as a "scribe's
error," it was subsequently learned that the Appeals Committee cancelled
its earlier decision without carrying out a hearing and without even notifying
the Palestinian landowners or their attorneys.
In
February 2005, the government approved the amended route of the separation
barrier in the area of Modi'in Illit, and construction of this section has been
almost totally completed. The barrier separates Bil'in from most of its
residents' farmland lying west of the village. This farmland includes, in
addition to the land on which "Matityahu East" is built, hundreds of
dunams that are now under cultivation. This additional land is undisputedly
privately owned by residents of Bil'in.
Research
conducted by B'Tselem and Bimkom in December 2005 revealed that, in 1998, the
Housing Ministry and the Civil Administration prepared a "master
plan" for the area of Modi'in Illit. This plan attached to "Matityahu
East" 600 dunams of privately-owned Palestinian land, which now lies between
the settlement and the barrier, on which more than 1,000 housing units are
planned. This plan has no official status, but clearly expresses the Israeli
authorities' intention to continue their land grab.
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