With a heart that bears much sadness Ghalib Khalif wanders among his olive trees in Nabi Ilyas village to the east of Qalqilya city after a 104 dunums confiscation order was issued by the Israeli occupation authorities (IOA) to turn this area into a bypass road to be used by Israelis only which will effectively destroy the agricultural land lots and the commercial shops that are currently located on both sides of the street.
Khalif told the PIC reporter that he inherited 15 dunums planted with olive trees from his father stressing that these trees are his only source of income which will be lost for the sake of building Israeli roads.
Confiscation by force
For his part Jalal Rashid the Nabi Ilyas council head said that the IOA issued an order to confiscate Palestinian lands two years ago.
“We presented our proof of ownership to the Israeli Supreme Court through a lawyer; however the court rejected the plea last month and claimed that the papers were incomplete. The court made promises of compensating the owners which indicates that the confiscation order will be carried out regardless of the defense plea” he added.
“The bypass road according to the maps we have is 2 kilometers long and 20 meters wide” he continued.
The real reason behind building a bypass road according to the IOA is avoiding the extreme traffic congestion in the street near Nabi Ilyas village. The Palestinians living there however refute this by stating that the street is less than a kilometer long and with a normal width but drivers are forced to slow down due to the presence of the commercial area.
The village council head asserted that both the council and shop owners proposed a solution to expand the street instead of confiscating lands but unfortunately the IOA rejected it which proves that the real reason behind building the street is stealing more lands.
Massive destruction
The street that passes near Nabi Ilyas village is considered vital since it contains many commercial shops spread on its sides that constitute the owners’ main source of income. The villagers emphasized that opening a bypass road will destroy their only livelihood.
Hussam Redwan a restaurant and shop owner told the PIC reporter that the IOA aims at removing the necessities of life in the village in order to steal its lands and force the inhabitants to leave.
“We traders and shop owners proposed a way to expand the width of the street by pulling our goods back; however it was rejected by the IOA as means to carry out the confiscation order” Redwan underscored.
Jalal Rashid the village council head stressed that the village inhabitants will resist with all peaceful means so as to stop implementation of the order that will otherwise destroy the lives of the inhabitants.
Khalif on the other hand appealed to all official parties and factions to act against the confiscation order.
