Israeli settlement activities – Letter from Jordan

Letter dated 25 May 1983 from the Permanent Representative of Jordan

to the United Nations addressed to the Secretary-General

I transmit herewith the latest information on the Israeli settlement activity during the months of March and April 1983 in the Arab territories occupied since 1967, including Jerusalem. This activity, which violates the principles of international law relating to military occupation, in particular the Hague Conventions of 1907 and the fourth Geneva Convention of 1949, includes the confiscation of Arab lands for the establishment of new settlements, the expansion of existing settlements, and the strengthening and expansion of the activities of the Zionist settlement machinery and its various bodies.

I need not stress the dangers of the continuation of such a policy for peace and security and for prospects for peace in the region.

I should be grateful if this letter and the annexes thereto could be 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

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ANNEXES

Annex I

Israeli settlement activity during March 1983

During the month of March, the occupation authorities established a new settlement, called Ain Tamar, to the south of the Dead Sea. They also confiscated 14,650 dunums of land in the West Bank, in the following manner:

1. Eight hundred dunums of the land of the village of Sa’ir in the Hebron district, belonging to the Shalalidah family, were confiscated on 3 March 1983.

2. Five thousand dunums of the land of Tarqumiya in the Hebron district were confiscated on.9 March 1983.

3. Five hundred dunums of the land of Tafuh in the Hebron district, belonging to the descendants of the late Abd As’ad Khamayisah, were confiscated on 9 March 1983.

4. Two thousand dunums of the land of Dura in the Hebron district, belonging to the Sharahah family, were confiscated on 9 March 1983.

5. Five thousand dunums of the land of Beit Hanina near the Hasma road in the Jerusalem area were confiscated on 20 March 1983.

6. One thousand three hundred and fifty dunums of the land of Sharafat in the Jerusalem district were confiscated on 29 March 1983.

The settlement plans disclosed during March included a plan for the establishment in the near future of 13 new settlements in the West Bank, which had been endorsed by the Ministerial Committee on Settlement Affairs at its meeting on 26 February 1983. The following is a list of the names of those settlements and the number of housing units to be built there.

The settlement-related news during the month of March included the following:

(a) Since 23 March 1983, Israeli bulldozers have been working in the Qatnah area of the Ramallah district on the construction of a settlement nucleus;

(b) On 31 March, the foundation-stone of an upper-level college was laid at the Elkana settlement in the Nablus area. The area on which the college will stand consists of 57 dunums of land; 100 girls from Israeli religious schools will study there.

Hasan IBRAHIM

Minister for

Occupied Territories Affairs

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Annex II

Israeli settlement activity during April 1983

During the month of April, the occupation authorities established two settlements on Mount Gerizim in the Nablus district. The first, called

Shechem Ilit, was inaugurated on 11 April 1983 and the foundation-stone for the second, to be called Avracha, was laid on 18 April 1983.

Furthermore, the Israeli authorities also confiscated during the month an area of 18,400 dunums of land, broken down as follows:

1. Two thousand dunums of land from the villages of Jabiba, Umm Safa' and Nabi Salih in the district of Ramallah were confiscated on 11 April 1983.

2. One thousand dunums of land in the Ras Salah area of al-Khidr village in the Bethlehem district were confiscated on 20 April 1983.

3. Ten thousand dunums of the land of the village of Surif in the Hebron district, were confiscated on 22 April 1983.

4. Four hundred dunums of the land of the village of Beit Ellou in the Ramallah district were confiscated on 23 April 1983.

5. Two thousand dunums of the land of Aqraba in the Nablus district were confiscated on 25 April 1983.

6. One thousand two hundred and fifty dunums of the land of Jabal al-Ras in the Tulkarm district were confiscated on 27 April 1983.

7. One hundred dunums of the land of Beitunia in the Ramallah district were confiscated on 28 April 1983.

8. Three hundred and fifty dunums of the land of Beit Ummar in the Hebron district were confiscated on 28 April 1983.

9. One thousand three hundred dunums of the land of Kufr Sur in the Tulkarm district were confiscated on 30 April 1983.

During the month, the Israeli authorities also drew up a new plan for the construction of strategic roads in the West Bank, one of which would bypass the city of Nablus and Ballatah Camp to reach the settlement of Upper Nablus, and another would bypass Qalqilia and connect the settlements with the Israeli road network. In addition, another new road will be built between Jerusalem and the settlement of Ma'aleh Adumim, situated in al-Khan al-Ahmar.

With regard to settlements to be established in the coming months, the Israeli Government intends during the remainder of the current year to establish 16 new settlements in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, the Golan Heights and Galilee. On 19 April 1983, the Israeli Ministerial Committee on Settlement Affairs gave its approval to the establishment of three new settlement towns in the Nablus area which will belong to the Mafdal party and will be called Deir Kalia, Berachot and Oranim. Among the settlement-related pronouncements issued during the month were the following:

1. David Levy, Israeli Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Housing, said in an interview with Israeli television, on 20 April 1983: "We shall intensify the settlements and we shall establish a Jewish quarter alongside every town in the West Bank."

2. Geula Cohen, a member of the Knesset belonging to the Tehiya party, speaking to employees of the Israeli Embassy in Washington, on 23 April 1983, said: "If Menachem Begin were to halt settlement in the occupied areas even for one minute, his Government would fall at once, since he would lose three seats in the Knesset belonging to the Tehiya and Mafdal parties".

Hasan IBBAHIM

Minister for

Occupied Territories Affairs

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Annex III

Israeli project to establish Greater Jerusalem

The newspaper Al Quds, in its issue of 16 April 1983, published a report from the 15 April issue of the newspaper Kol Yerushalayim, which stated that the Israeli Ministerial Committee on Settlement Affairs had approved a project for the establishment of "15" new settlements around the City of Jerusalem foe the purpose, as the Committee stated, of preventing Arab elements from getting possession of State lands on the outskirts of the city. The report added that the aim of the project was to establish a city of Greater Jerusalem, so that, in "seven" years, the number of its inhabitants would total "700,000". The plan drawn up by Matityahu Drobles, head of the Settlement Department in the Jewish Agency, provides for the establishment of a number of settlement suburbs to the north of Jerusalem, extending from the French Hill quarter to the settlement of Neve Ya'acov, thence to the settlements of Ramah and Beka'ot and from there, to the limits of Al-Ram and El-Bireh. The settlement zone will extend from Ramot to the settlements of Nabi Samwil, Geva'ot and Giv!at Ze'er to Beit Horon. Meanwhile, the settlement zone will be expanded between Ramot and the Radar Hill settlement as far as the heights of the Meshirat Birushalayim quarter. The newspaper stated that this plan is aimed at the extension of Jewish construction in Jerusalem in the direction of the town of Bethlehem, so that the circle of settlements will cover the area lying between the settlements of Gilo, Minhat, Har Gilo, Ir Gannim and Beitae, and the establishment of a settlement axis running from Talpiot Hill, passing by the village of Sur Bahir and extending to Takoah, Ma'ale Amos, Efron, Allon Shevut and Jerusalem to the east. There is a scheme to settle the entire area lying between Ma'ale Adumim and French Hill and then the area of Al-Khan al-Ahmar as far as Kidron. The settlements intended to be established are: Mitzpe Adullam, Surit, Negid, Kochbah, Halilim, Deragot, Ramat Kideon and Ramat Ze'ee.

Hasan IBRAHIM

Minister for

Occupied Territories Affairs

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