The commencement of circulating the orthodox Housing Project in Beit Sahour

01,September,2003

On August 25, 2003 the Israeli bulldozers commenced the construction of the secondary military road that enclaves the Orthodox Housing project in Beit Sahour. Despite the local and international pressure exercised on the Israeli Authority in order to eliminate the brutal military order issued on April 29,2000 and determine the construction of a military fenced road to enclave that area, the fact reveals that the Israeli government is insisting on enclaving the Orthodox Housing project inhabited by 20 Palestinian families leaving their fate unknown. See Photo 1 & Photo 2     The new military zone will enclose the housing project; besides, 300 dunums of land, see previous case study. This plot of land will be considered as a buffer zone between the military fenced road and the new one and residents have no clear vision of how they would access their homes in the future. In the area, there are more than 20 houses in addition to the housing project that is composed of 7 apartment buildings that contain 8 housing units each with an area of 1071 square meters each and inhabited by 20 families. See Satellite image      Israeli military order no. 29/03/C. The order shows  the trajectory of the military  road to surround the Orthodox housing project, Beit sahour   The continuous Israeli restriction over the natural contiguity of Palestinian lands and communities is creating a discriminative segregation case that revives in the mind of the racial policies founded during the past decades. Moreover, The Israeli policy of land grab under the pretext of security should has never been considered legal in any way in addition to the brutal collective punishment exercised by the Israeli Occupation Forces-IOF over Palestinian civilians. In this case, violating the right of having an adequate calm housing, should be condemned by the International community and be considered as a direct violation of Human rights.   Related Topics:   Ghettos are still created in Bethlehem District, May 7,2003  House demolition alert in Beit Sahour, April 2003. Israel intends to demolish the Orthodox housing Complex in Beit Sahour, October 2002  Bethlehem District Under Apartheid , June 2002

Prepared by The Applied Research Institute - Jerusalem ARIJ