They fought legal battles in the courts of occupation for years

Palestinians take their land from the tentacles of settlement

• 340 dunums, in Qaryut, the Palestinians succeeded in reclaiming.

  Emirates today

• Aied Marar: "We defend Palestinian real estate in all the villages and towns of the West Bank."

• Human rights activist Bashar Al-Qaryouti.

  Emirates today

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After a deprivation that has extended since 1991, the Palestinian citizen Fawzi Ghanem, a resident of the village of Amatin, east of the city of Qalqilya in the West Bank, returned five years ago to irrigate and cultivate his land again, after he succeeded in retrieving it from the settlement claws that had bitten it and prevented his access to it.

Ghanem (75 years) fought alone in a legal battle, which was fought in the corridors of the occupation courts for 25 years, in order to finally be able to regain his 37 dunums of land, which was confiscated under the pretext of its proximity to the settlement of "Emmanuel", which is set on the lands of his Palestinian village.

Qalqilya is not the only one

And the Palestinian Ghanem is not alone in defeating the policy of settlement annexation, and Qalqilya was not the only city that parts of its lands were liberated, as Palestinians in the villages of Nablus and Ramallah governorates in the West Bank succeeded in regaining their lands from settlers and the occupation, within the corridors of the courts of Israel, within a year 2020, and for the past five years, after they were deprived of it for many years, as a result of confiscating it, and preventing its owners from entering it, for the purpose of annexing it to the settlements overlying Palestinian lands.

Long struggle

The village of Qaryut, south of Nablus, witnessed the liberation of tens of lands and hundreds of dunams, near the settlement of "Shilo", to be returned to their owners after many years of dispossession and deprivation.

The human rights activist Bashar Muammar Al-Qaryouti, who is tasked with following up the cases of Palestinian landowners in Qaryut and the villages of Nablus, within the occupation courts, says that Qaryut is facing attacks and the confiscation of its residents' lands by the Shilo settlement, the largest of the extremist settlements, which is followed by 14 settlement complexes on the same site. Up to the Jordan Valley lands in the West Bank, towards the Jordanian border.

He shows that objecting to the confiscation was not an easy matter, represented by resorting to popular marches and peaceful collective struggle, where 116 mass rallies were organized to demand the opening of the streets and the restoration of lands, pointing out that the occupation met this with assault and abuse, the razing of agricultural land crops, and the arrest of demonstrators.

The activist in settlement issues said, in an exclusive interview with Emirates Today, that “since 2009, we have been able to reach the occupation courts, after pressure and support from international human rights and humanitarian institutions, through which we filed cases against the occupation and settlement, supported by documents and identity papers, to retrieve Lands confiscated from their original owners ».

He added: “In 2016 we succeeded in retrieving agricultural lands in an area located between the outposts in the Shilo settlement, belonging to several Palestinian families, with an area of ​​340 dunums, planted with olive and almond trees, to be directed to their original owners with protection from the occupation police, which the Israeli Supreme Court imposed on them to provide Security for Palestinian farmers throughout the agricultural period, and to go to their lands constantly.

In 2020, the Palestinians succeeded in obtaining a judicial decision from the Israeli court to regain lands for them, located in the middle of settlement villages, and this area was supposed to become a tourist project for settlers, but its owners returned to it after many years of confiscation and submission to the control of settlers, who tried variously The roads imposed their hegemony over the Palestinian lands in the villages of Qaryut and Jalud, south of Nablus, according to al-Qaryouti.

The human rights activist reveals that an 80-dunum Palestinian land will be evacuated in the Al-Misrara area in Qaryut village, in mid-March of this year 2021.

Great joy

On the other hand, the legal advisor at the Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission in West Bank cities, Aid Marar, confirms that the commission undertakes the task of legal defense of Palestinian real estate in all the villages and towns of the West Bank, as there are thousands of cases it is following up within the courts of occupation. Supporting the Palestinians to recover hundreds of dunams of their confiscated land, to free themselves from the settlements that were confiscated for decades, and to return to their owners, to take care of it again after long, lean years.

He added: “The joy of the Palestinian villagers was very great in regaining the land that is the title of survival and steadfastness in their homeland. What doubled the size of this joy was the extent of the suffering that the Palestinians faced over the past years, as the occupation tried to put obstacles that prevent the success of the cases submitted in the courts. But it is our long steadfastness that won in the end, so we can return to the confiscated lands. ”

He repeatedly notes that there are daily cases of demolition, confiscation and seizure of Palestinian lands in the cities of the West Bank, for military and settlement purposes.

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In 2020, the Palestinians succeeded in obtaining a judicial decision from the Occupation Court to regain lands for them, located in the middle of settlement villages, and this area was supposed to become a tourism project for settlers, but its owners returned to it after years of absence.

The village of Qaryut is facing attacks and the confiscation of the lands of its residents by the settlement of Shilo, the largest of the extremist settlements, which is followed by 14 settlement complexes on the same site, and extends to the Jordan Valley lands in the West Bank, towards the Jordanian border.

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