Friday 2 September 2011

PA asks IOA to confiscate Palestinian lands



[ 02/09/2011 - 10:46 AM ]
RAMALLAH, (PIC)-- The Palestinian Authority in Ramallah city has urged the Israeli occupation authorities to confiscate Palestinian land in the city after owners of the land refused to sell it to them to use is as dumping site, the local Watan TV channel reported.
According to the channel, the incident wasn’t isolated asserting that a couple of months ago, Hassan Abo Libda, the minister of economy in Fayyadh government, urged the IOA to confiscate Palestinian lands in the industrial zone in Jenin city after owners of the land refused to sell it. Abo Libda is now on trial on corruption charges.
The channel added that the PA wants to use the land in Ramallah as dumping site for solid waste serving the joint dumping council as it is located in the C area under the Israeli control, revealing that confiscation request was made on orders of Khalid Kawasmi, the local government minister in Fayyadh government, after he got an approval from Salam Fayyadh and PA chief Mahmoud Abbas.
The request was channeled to the Israeli "civil administration department" in Beit Eil settlement, thus putting it as a broker between the Palestinian people and the PA in Ramallah.
Kamel Jubail, member of the municipal council in Ramallah, pointed out that only part of the land was purchased from the owners but the great majority of them refused to sell their land.
However, Jubail highlighted the risk of placing the Zionist administration as the middle man between the PA and the Palestinian people, noting that no one would guarantee that the Zionist administration would hand the land over to the PA in the event it indeed confiscated it, and no one could guarantee that the Zionist administration would give the owners their money in case the land was sold through it.
"Do we trust the Israeli civil administration? Are we sure that they would hand the land over to us after they confiscate and own it? How could we be sure that the Israelis wouldn’t extort owners of the land?," said Jubail in an interview with the TV channel.
In this regard, Jubail made it clear that the municipal council in Ramallah would decide on the matter after consultation with national and Islamic forces in the city, adding that the decision would be in harmony with what those forces opine.
The construction of the dumping site is financed by the German government and could cost up to 14 million Euros.
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