Israel rules on former Nablus settlement .
Palestinians should be granted access to their land in Burqa village, the Attorney General ruled last week.
by Dalia Hatuqa Last Modified: 28 Sep 2013 09:56
Burqa, West Bank - When Israel withdrew its settlers from the Gaza Strip and from four small West Bank settlements under its 2005 “disengagement plan,” the villagers of Burqa near Nablus thought they would finally take back land originally confiscated from them 35 years ago.
But only last week was a decision made by Israel's Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein to allow Palestinians access to their land, and to reiterate that settlers would be forbidden from entering the area.
The Israeli human rights group Yesh Din, which originally petitioned the Israeli High Court of Justice to demand the return of the property said in a statement, “We hope that the law will now be enforced and Israelis present in the area will be removed, so that the Palestinian landowners may safely access their land and begin the work of rehabilitation.”
(snip)
In total, about 1,950 dunams (1,950,000 square meters) of land were confiscated, according to Seif. The area was first used as an Israeli military base. Soon after, settlers began to pour in and Homesh was created. And even though the settlement was destroyed after then-Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon carried out the unilateral “disengagement plan”, the land remained under the grip of the Israeli military.
Court rulings ignored
In 2011, Burqa's villagers turned to Yesh Din to try and regain access to their land. Only four months ago, the Israeli state nullified the land seizure order but that still did not allow Palestinians back into the area, which was designated a closed military zone.
(snip)
Yesh Din's legal advisor Michael Sfard said there is still work to be done.
“We are left with the issue that settlers are still there,” Sfard said. “We would now need to campaign for the army to secure safe access [for] the owners to their land and the removal of the trespassers, the settlers...It is possible that we will need the aid of the Supreme Court once again if the army will not [fulfil] its duty to protect the owners once they go back to their land.”
A precedent is set
Sfard believes this is the first time - except in the case of Gaza - that an area used for a settlement is being given back by Palestinians.
“This proves that it is possible: that the erection of a settlement on Palestinian land is not irreversible,” he said.
continue reading @
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2013/09/israel-court-rules-illegal-nablus-outpost-2013924112222712625.html
