Israel to kick off the building of Giv’at Ya’el settlement on lands of Al Walajeh village

March 30, 2017

On the 28^th of March 2017, an Israeli company, named Giv’at Ya’el tried to seize land in the village of Walajeh, northwest of Bethlehem city in the southern occupied West Bank.  The company, under the protection of the Israeli occupation soldiers, accompanied by employees of the absentee property department in Beit El and Gush Etzion settlement bloc, as well as the director of the Israeli Tabo, raided Al-Ruwaisat Mountain in Al Walajeh village, the areas of Al-Sarj and Khallet An Nafla in the east and began to place border marks with the aim to seize  land in the village, a total of 618 dunums.

Note that on the 25^th of October 2015, the Land Registry Office at Ma’ale Adumim settlement issued a “Request for correction of borders and area” application of 618.14 dunums of land of Al Walajeh village northwest of Bethlehem city. The application requested that any individual or entity who consider themselves the rightful heirs and owners of lands described in the application, is entitled to file an objection to the Beit El District coordination office within 45 days of the issuance date of the application; Details of the application are listed below
 

 
Photos 1 & 2: a copy of the Registration Application

Earlier in September 2009, the Israeli daily newspaper, Haaretz[1] ”published on its website that “a new master plan for Jerusalem about to be approved, efforts are underway to secure approval for building a large new Jewish neighborhood in East Jerusalem.” The proposed new settlement neighborhood, to be named as “Giv’at Ya’el” would be established on lands of Al Walajeh village. The settlement neighborhood is being developed by two Israeli businessmen, brothers Benjamin and Daniel Cohen and with the collaboration of Kim Lustigman Development and Building Ltd., to build 12,000 housing units on the northern, western and southern side of Al Walajeh village, bordering its built-up area and strangulating its future urban development. Part of the area where the “Giv’at Ya’el” settlement neighborhood would be established is in the jurisdiction of the illegally and unilaterally redrawn Jerusalem Municipality boundary, and the remaining part is in the occupied West Bank. See Table 1 for more details:-

Map 1: Giv'at Ya'el Settlement Plan

A news article published by the Israeli globes[2] website back in 2009 stated developers of Giv’at Yael settlement neighborhood do not deny that the Israeli Ministry of Interior is supporting the plan along with the Jerusalem Municipality, and that both entities are working behind the scenes to have the project approved and later implemented. The plan was drawn up back in 2004 with the aim to accommodate some 45,000 Israeli settlers in the area in addition to establishing commercial areas and sports club.

It seems that Giv’at Yael company is moving ahead with its plans to establish a new settlement neighborhood on lands of Al Walajeh village and the neighboring Palestinian communities, that would ultimately cut the territorial contiguity of these Palestinian communities, at the same time, The completion of the Israeli expansion plans will lead to the construction of a belt of Israeli settlements that will bloc the southern gate of East Jerusalem and physically separate it from Bethlehem.