A military order in the Hebron area gives landholders seven days after an inspection to clear almond trees and wild vegetation from farmland covering 37,782 square meters, the Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission said.
Landowners or property managers also have seven days from the inspection to file objections. The Israeli liaison authority will set the inspection date, the Commission said. If the vegetation is not removed by the deadline, a military commander may authorize others to carry out the work.
Signed Oct. 28 and numbered 139/26, the order applies to land in Tarqumiya and six areas near Dura: Tars, Wadi Khuzem, Khirbet Deir Samit, Khirbet Sabr, Jabal al-Saadi and Khirbet al-Deir. The Commission said the route measures 7,558 meters and covers about 3.8 hectares.
The Commission said clearing the vegetation would diminish the land’s productive and ecological value, interfere with Palestinians’ right to use their property and weaken farmers’ ties to the land. It said the order cites security measures as the grounds for restricting land use. The order itself does not transfer ownership, the Commission said.
Separate Israeli military orders in September prompted U.N. human rights experts to warn of risks to agricultural land and olive trees in Jenin, Qabatiya and Beit Rima. Those orders affected 339,000 square meters and included vegetation-clearing provisions that could lead to olive trees being uprooted, the experts said, as detailed in EconoTimes’ report on the warning.
