Ramallah: Israel has embarked on the legal process of setting up a new stone crusher on privately owned Palestinian land in the town of Aqraba, near Nablus.
The stone crusher is a giant machine used to reduce large rocks to smaller rocks, gravel or rock dust. The stone crushing industry is important to Israel, which uses crushed stones as raw material for various activities, including the construction of roads, highways, bridges and buildings.
The new crusher is expected to meet at least 25 per cent of Israel’s increasing demand for building materials.
While the crusher, once completed, would likely provide employment for unskilled and/or uneducated Palestinians, it is going to be built on land that is indisputably privately owned without the permission of the owners. The massive amounts of dust and pollution generated by the crusher will have devastating environmental impacts in the area.
Gassan Doghlous, the Palestinian official who oversees Israeli colony activities in the northern areas of the West Bank, said that it is an established pattern for Israelis to relocate factories and other activities which have severe environmental impacts from the Green Line to Palestinian land of the West Bank.
“A total of 37 industrial colonies have spread out around the West Bank. Israel has moved all its anti-environmental industries, including aluminium and plastic, to Palestine,” Doghlous told Gulf News. “All the Israeli environmental violations are closely monitored and followed up by Palestinian environmental authorities, but these complaints fall on deaf ears, even by the Israeli judicial system.”
Bilal Abdul Hadi, deputy mayor of Aqraba, explained that Israel seized 17,000 donams (17 square kilometres) of land which had been owned by families in the town back in 1974. The occupation forces subsequently used that land as a military zone, but later turned it into colonies, outposts and agricultural fields for Israelis.
“We are fully aware of the Israeli plans to set up a new rock crusher in the area, but will wait until they commence construction to act against it,” Hadi told Gulf News. “If the construction of this crusher moves ahead it will be the first in the town, and will be so huge that it will cause extensive harm to the entire region.”
Villagers from Aqraba have petitioned the Israeli Higher Court of Justice to force the occupation forces to release the land to their genuine Palestinian owners, who have proved their ownership.
The Palestinian National Authority (PNA) is awaiting a detailed report from the Aqraba municipal council before taking appropriate steps to thwart the Israeli plans.
Doghlous said that the PNA officials will remind the Israeli occupation forces and the civil administration about the ruling of the Israeli Higher Court of Justice that Israel is not permitted to set up rock crushers for products designed and prepared for use inside Israel.
Five years ago, the occupation forces pledged to the court never to set up such crushers on Palestinian land in the West Bank, as this lands is privately owned, and it would be unjust to expect the Palestinians to suffer the inevitable environmental impacts of the industry.
