Israeli settlement activities – Letter from Jordan

Letter dated 24 January 1983 from the Chargé d'Affaires a.i.

of the Permanent Mission of Jordan to the United Nations

addressed to the Secretary-General

I have the honour to convey to you information concerning the latest Israeli acts of confiscations, colonization and annexation of Palestinian lands in the occupied West Bank of Jordan and Jerusalem during the month of December 1982.

I request Your Excellency kindly to circulate the enclosed information as an official document of the General Assembly, under the item entitled "Report of the Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Population of the Occupied Territories", and of the Security Council.

(Signed) Saad BATAINEH

Minister Plenipotentiary

 Chargé d'Affaires a.i.

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ANNEX

Letter dated 8 January 1983 from the Minister for Occupied Territory

Affairs of Jordan to the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Jordan

concerning Israeli settlements during December 1982

On 26 December 1982, the occupation authorities established a settlement called Yekirly in the region of Nablus on a lot of land of 2,800 dunums, which comprises 640 housing units. On 4 December 1982, the Israeli authorities confiscated 200 dunums of land belonging to Ellar village in Tulkarm district in order to set up an Israeli army camp there.

Other settlement news reported during this month include the following:

1. An internal document drawn up on 21 December by the Israeli Deputy Minister of Agriculture, Mikael Dikel, indicates that the Israeli Government is due to complete within the next four years 42 new settlements in the West Bank to accommodate some 80,000 settlers, in addition to the 29,000 settlers who already reside in the existing settlements.

2. On 21 December, Ariel Sharon announced that 14 settlements would be established for the Nahal movement, south of Hebron and in the outskirts of Nablus.

3. On 11 December, a secret plan prepared by the Settlement Division of the Jewish Agency and the Settlement Division of the Zionist Histadrut was revealed. The plan provides for the following:

(a) The value of settlement projects to be established in the occupied areas up to 1987 will amount to $610 million, of which $150 million Will be allocated for the construction of road networks, and the extension of electricity, water and telephone lines, while $160 million will be earmarked for construction work, and $300 million for the building of industrial compounds and centres as well as workshops;

(b) Up to 1985, 80,000 Jews will be settled in the West Bank;

(c) Settlements established by the Settlement Division will absorb 2,800 new Jewish families until 1987;

(d) Four new settlements will be established in the Gaza Strip to absorb 450 families until 1987;

(e) Six new agricultural settlements will be established south of Mount Hebron;

(f) Expansion of the settlements established in the Golan Heights and increase of their population by 530 Jewish families during the next five years, as well as the establishment of seven new settlements in the Heights to accommodate 200 new families;

(g) Doubling the number of Jews living in Al Aghwar until 1987, and starting up agricultural projects there, in addition to the touristic projects planned to be established in the Dead Sea and Jericho area, and the establishment of two settlements there every year during the next five years;

(h) Allocation of $640 million for the establishment of new settlements and other projects along the line separating that part of Palestine which was occupied in 1948 and the areas which were occupied in 1967 so as to prevent the Arabs from urban expansion in the vicinity;

(i) Establishment of 18 new settlements in Wadi Araha to absorb 500 new Jewish families.

4. On 8 December, the Israeli Ministry of Agriculture set up a special committee entrusted with leasing State-owned land in the West Bank to private sector businessmen and companies.

5. On 21 December, the Israeli Minister of the Interior, Youssef Borg, formed a committee to investigate security arrangements in settlement villages and towns located on the Israeli border lines.

6. On 22 December, Israeli Deputy Premier and Minister of Housing, David Levi, said that 7,000 housing units were currently under construction in the West Bank for settlement purposes.

7. Since 16 December, a special committee at the Israeli Ministry of Agriculture has been studying the process of industrial development in the Al Aghwar settlements in the light of the stifling crisis facing these settlements and the danger posed to them by the emigration of their inhabitants. It is to be noted that there are 14 settlements in Al Aghwar, stretching between Bissan and Jericho on a 90 km. area, in addition to the settlement town of Maaleh Ephraim which has a population of 3,500 persons.

8. On 1 December, a new Jewish university institute was founded in Kadumim settlement in the region of Nablus (called the Judea and Samaria Institute) which is academically associated with the Bar Ilan University, and in the future it will be transformed into an integrated national university. Currently, it accepts the enrolment of all the inhabitants of Jewish settlements in the region.

9. On 20 December, former Israeli Premier and currently member of the Knesset, Yitzhak Rabin, said that when facing the question of the future of the Israeli settlements that will be turned over to Jordanian sovereignty, Israel will not agree to the dismantling of its settlements; rather the solution will be reached on a mutual basis, as there will be Arab villages in Israel carrying Jordanian nationality, while there will be Jewish settlements in Jordan, carrying Israeli nationality.

For your information.

(Signed) Hasan IBRAHIM

Minister for Occupied Territory Affairs

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