Israel plans to seize 140,000 dunums of Dead Sea land 21May11 May 22, 2011
The Palestinian Information Centre -Â 21 May 2011
Israeli occupation authorities have declared a new project aimed at seizing 140,000 dunums of land in the receding Dead Sea to be used for the interest of Jewish settlers.
Israelâs government property official has submitted 12 petitions for land along the Dead Sea, some of those lands being under water, to take control of it and declare it state property.
The official has claimed that the land was left as the sea has been depleting since 1946. He has also requested lands currently under the sea that are expected to dry out.
Attorney Gayath Nasser, hired to defend the Palestinian villages adjacent to the Dead Sea, has objected to the petition saying that there is no security reason for the government to directly register such a large amount of land, and that the project is not in the interest of the local Palestinians.
Meanwhile, settlers in Ariel, which was erected in Salfit province, have continued to pollute the local environment with waste water, which has seeped several kilometers into the valleys and surrounding soil.
Locals in Bruqin have complained that waste water from Ariel has seeped through waterways adjacent to the illegal West Bank settlement.
Separately, the national and Islamic forces in Silwan in southern Jerusalem have called on all Palestinians working for Israelâs nature authority and the Elad settlement fund to immediately stop working for those parties in order to preserve Palestinian lands.
The national and Islamic forces group regarded that those who oppose the calls âhave left the national and Islamic ranks.â
The group said in a statement received by Quds Press on Saturday that the nature authority has exploited the youthâs employment needs for the interests of settlement activity.
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