Mideast situation/Palestine – Israeli settlement activities – Letter from Jordan

Letter dated 1 March 1983 from the Permanent Representative of Jordan

to the United Nations addressed to the Secretary-General

I have the honour to transmit to you the latest information concerning Israel's settlement activities in the West Bank and Jerusalem. These activities include the confiscation of land, the establishment of new settlements and the strengthening and consolidation of the settlement machinery during the month of January 1983.

I should be grateful if you would have the text circulated as an official document of the General Assembly , under item 69 of the preliminary list, and of the Security Council.

(Signed) Abdullah SALAH

Permanent Representative

___________

ANNEX

Letter dated 16 February 1963 from the Minister for Occupied

Territory Affairs addressed to the Minister for Foreign

Affairs of Jordan

During the month of January 1963, the occupation authorities established the following settlements:

1. Naveh Dekakim, near the town of Rafah, on 6 January. This settlement, which is inhabited by 300 families, cost 800,000 dinars);

2. Tzoria, to the south of the town of Al-Khalil (Hebron). Construction of this settlement, which will have 25 housing units and accommodate 400 Jewish families, began on 10 January;

3. Yakim, to the south of Al-Khalil. Construction of this settlement, which is intended for 400 Jewish families, began on 10 January;

4. Ganim, to the east of Jenin. Work began on 10 January:

5. Mudan, in the Bethlehem region, near the Taqu' settlement. This is the second settlement to be established by the Israeli Ministry of Communications. It covers an area of 1,100 dunums and consists of 400 housing units;

6. Gerizim. Erection of prefabricated buildings and necessary structures began on 3 January at the summit of Mount Gerisim (Tawr) at Kafr Qalil, Burin and Hiwareh (Nablus). This settlement covers an area of 6,000 dunums.

Land confiscated by the occupation authorities during

the month of January

1. 20,000 dunums of land at Al-Dhahiriyeh (Al-Khalil district) were confiscated on 13 January for the expansion of Israeli settlements.

2. 28,000 dunums of land at Deir Al-Hatab, Beit Furik, Gharmut, Salem and Askar (Nablus district) were confiscated on 18 January.

3. 1,500 dunums of land at As Samu' (Al-Khalil district) were confiscated on 24 January for the establishment of a special settlement by Gush Emunim.

4. 5,000 dunums of land at Battir (Bethlehem district) were confiscated on 26 January.

5. 3,000 dunums of land in the villages of Dayr Istiya and Zita (Tulkarm district) were confiscated on 29 January to be annexed to the new urban settlement of 'Ama Nu-Ayl.

6. 3,500 dunums of land in the village of Sa'ir were confiscated on 29 January.

7. 2,000 dunums of land in the Jordan Valley were confiscated on 29 January for the expansion of the Mitzpe Jericho settlement (village of Ariha).

8. 1,600 dunums of land in the villages of Surif and Mukhmas, to the west of Al-Khalil, were confiscated on 29 January for the expansion of the Mitspe Adulam settlement.

9. 1,000 dunums of land in the village of Jab ', to the north of Al-Khalil, were confiscated on 29 January.

10. 1,000 dunums of land in the Jenin region were confiscated on 29 January for the establishment of the settlement of Sunur (B).

11. 700 dunums of land in the Nablus region were confiscated on 29 January for the expansion of the Quarnei Shomron settlement.

12. 250 dunums of land on Mount Sundus (Al-Khalil district) were confiscated on 29 January.

13. 30 dunums of land to the north of Jerusalem were confiscated on 29 January for the expansion of the settlement of Za-if.

14. 3,000 dunums of land in the village of Ash-Shuyukh (Al-Khalil district) were confiscated on 31 January.

Roads built in January to link the settlements

1. Road linking the Nablus settlements to those in the Jenin region.

2. Road leading to Mount Marir, to the south of Bethlehem.

3. Road linking the Ma'aliya Adumim settlement to the north of Jerusalem.

4. As part of the Allon project, a 9-kilometre road linking the settlement of Mukhmish to the village of Mukhmas and to Jerusalem.

Major settlement-related news published in January

1. On 15 January, the Ministerial Committee on Settlement Affairs decided to establish five new settlements to the south of Jibal Al-Khalil: Yakeer G, Lahav G, Beit Maseem, Node-il and Ishkulot.

2. On 10 January, 180 Jewish families began moving into the following West Bank settlements: Quarnei Shomron, Bani Zuf, Beit 11, Qadumim and Kifar Adumim.

3. On 12 January, the settlement authorities stated that 200 small technical workshops and factories had already been established in the West Bank.

4. The occupation authorities intend to found the first Israeli university faculty in the settlement of Qadumim (Nablus district), in response to the establishment of Arab universities in the West Bank.

5. On 23 January, the Sub-Committee of the Ministerial Committee on Settlement Affairs decided to consolidate all the Israeli agencies involved in establishing settlements in the Jordan Valley. This body will have its headquarters in the settlement of Ma'aliya Ishraym.

6. The local councils of the Israeli settlements have set up, in the West Bank, special teams to monitor construction work in which Arab citizens in the West Bank are engaged.

7. A study published by the Israeli newspaper Ma'ariv on 10 January 1983 stated that Arabs owned 1.5 million dunums of land in the West Bank, that the Israeli Government had managed to appropriate only 10,000 dunums and that it had seized 200,000 dunums by force in order to establish settlements.

8. On 29 January, the leader of the Kach movement, Rabbi Meir Kahane, sent a letter to the Israeli Prime Minister and to the Minister of Defence calling on them to expel Arabs from the West Bank, in the same way that Nigeria had expelled 2 million foreigners from its territory.

—–