(MENAFN- The Journal Of Turkish Weekly) Two UN officials have called on Israel to halt plans to transfer Palestinian Bedouin tribesmen in the central West Bank from the areas in which they are currently living.
In a joint statement, UN Humanitarian Coordinator for the Occupied Palestinian Territory James W. Rawley and UNRWA Director of Operations in the West Bank Felipe Sanchez expressed grave concern over Israeli plans to relocate Bedouin residents of the West Bank village of Abu Nwar.
"History has shown that these [population] transfers have not proven to be in the interests of the Bedouin communities," Sanchez said in the statement.
On April 28, Abu Nwar residents were told that some local families would have to move to the Al-Jabal area outside East Jerusalem.
The village is one of 46 Palestinian Bedouin communities (representing a total of 7,000 people, 70 percent of whom are Palestine refugees) in the West Bank's Area C residents of which are slated for transfer to three proposed "relocation" sites.
Area C, which covers nearly two thirds of the West Bank, remains under full Israeli civil and security control, as stipulated by the 1995 Oslo II Accord between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.
"Israeli practices in Area C, including a marked increase in the demolition and confiscation of donor-funded structures in the first quarter of 2015, have compounded an already untenable situation for Bedouin communities," Rawley said.
The two officials voiced fear that the plan was being carried out against the backdrop of a "discriminatory zoning and planning regime that facilitates the development of illegal Israeli settlements at the expense of Palestinians, for whom it is almost impossible to obtain building permits."
The pair also voiced concern that the forced urbanization of Bedouin communities at the three relocation sites would destroy their traditional culture and livelihoods.
"For Abu Nwar" this will represent a continuation of developments that commenced in 1997, when Palestine refugees were loaded on trucks and taken to the same urban site in Eizariya before an illegal settlement was built on their former land," said Sanchez.
"We are fast approaching the point of irreparable damage," he added.
"As occupying power ,Israel is obliged to ensure the wellbeing of these communities and to respect international law," he went on.
Sanchez added: "I strongly urge the Israeli authorities to halt all plans and practices that would directly or indirectly lead to the forcible transfer of Bedouin and call on the international community to support the Bedouins' wish to remain where they are, pending their return to the Negev, and prevent this transfer from occurring."
Rawley also highlighted concerns over the "strategic implications" of the plan, given that many Bedouin communities were located in areas slated for further Israeli settlement.
For decades, Israel has continued to misappropriate Palestinian land in the West Bank on which it continues to build Jewish-only settlements in breach of international law.
The number of Israelis living in settlements across the West Bank and East Jerusalem is estimated to be over 500,000.
International law considers the West Bank and East Jerusalem "occupied territories" captured by Israel in 1967, deeming construction of Jewish settlements on the land in question to be illegal.
Palestinian negotiators insist that Israeli settlement construction must end before stalled peace talks € which broke down one year ago € can resume.
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