Democratic Palestine : 15 (ص 16)
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- عنوان
- Democratic Palestine : 15 (ص 16)
- المحتوى
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attempts to strangle Palestinian villages and towns. Coupled
with inadequate funding, exorbitant taxation, restrictions on
construction and political repression, the ultimate intent is to
drive Palestinians from their homeland altogether. The theft of
Palestinian land is accomplished through a variety of means,
ranging from evoking special Israeli laws designed for this pur-
pose, declaring areas as «military zones» and increasing taxa-
tion, to outright vandalism.
The residents of Laqiya in the Naqab (South Palestine)
were terrorized out of their homes, then had their property con-
fiscated under the Absentee Property Law and given to nearby
kibbutzim (Lahav and Ratamim). They are not allowed to build
on the land they now reside on; there is no running water, no
electricity, no telephones, no paved roads and no mail service.
The 6000 inhabitants make Laqiya the second largest town in
the Naqab, but of the 75,000 dunums of land it had prior to
1948, only 12,000 remain. The 50,000 bedouin of the Naqab
are also subject to systematic land seizure, as are the villages
around Nazareth in the Galilee, and the villages of the Triangle:
Mahfara, Ailot, Majd al Kurum, Nafr and Kufr Barra; Um al
Fahm originally had 148,000 dunums; 128,000 have been con-
fiscated. Abd al Latif Habib, head of Taibeh’s council, reports
the confiscation of more than half a million dunums since 1948.
No less criminal is the ploy of declaring large areas of land
to be «military zones». What makes the pretext so outlandish
is that no signs of warning or off-limits are put up, and then civi-
lian settlements are seen to sprout all over the confiscated
area! In the Sakhnin area of the Galilee, the Zionist settlement
Land Day rally in the Galilee.
Ma’aleh Zviah was built in the middle of what was declared to
be a «shooting range». The Zionist settlers are allowed to use
adjacent land for grazing, but the villagers of the Sakhnin and
Arrabeh area are prohibited from cultivating the very same
land which was originally theirs! These double standards only
go to underscore the discrimination practiced in all other fields.
Vandalism and terror are also common practice. During
the first months of 1985, thousands of fruit trees belonging to
Palestinian citizens were destroyed by government troops. In
the area of Saknin, 1345 olive trees were bulldozed. In another
instance, 140 trees were destroyed. In the Arrabeh area, 1100
saplings were crushed by Zionist patrol cars which zigzagged
over the land. Needless to say, these attacks are never taken
seriously by Zionist officials. The Knesset has gone so far as to
drop them from their normal agenda. In the Galilee, soldiers
rounded up farmers in the middle of the land they were cultivat-
ing and starting shooting in the air. A 70 year old woman, two
children and an 18 year old were injured.
Unjust taxation
The annual property tax levied on Palestinian-owned land
was the focus of protest, especially in May of 1985. The tax is
calculated per dunum according to estimates of the land’s
value which amounts to 300% of its real cash value. In 1985,
a new land tax was enforced which was 1500% of the 1984
value. Previously, people were allowed to pay the tax in install-
ments. In 1985, however, the Zionist authorities required that
the tax be paid in one lump sum. According to the mayor of
Nazareth, Tawfiq Ziad, the property tax levied on Palestinian
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ats - هو جزء من
- Democratic Palestine : 15
- تاريخ
- أبريل ١٩٨٦
- المنشئ
- الجبهة الشعبية لتحرير فلسطين
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