It seems that the tunnel is supposed to be used to transfer goods to the authority • The source involved in the details: "Governance has been lost" • The Civil Administration: "Enforced in accordance with procedures" • View documentation
The tunnel
Photo:
Isaac Weiss
Underneath everyone's nose, an impressive tunnel has been hewn under Road 35 (Trans-Judea) - Israel Today has learned.
The tunnel is about four meters high and about five meters wide, and is currently about 20 meters long.
The quarrying of the tunnel began a few years ago, but the works were stopped.
In the past year, in parallel with other operations carried out by the Palestinians in the Mount Hebron area to take over Area C, the quarrying work has resumed intensively and it appears from the size of the tunnel that it is intended for future transfer of construction materials and goods between its villages and surrounding villages.
This is not the only tunnel - a smaller tunnel is being hewn these days, not far from the big tunnel.
Photo: Yitzhak Weiss
During this period, when operations were taking over the area, the tunnels had a broad strategic significance.
For example, during the past year, about 70 new illegal Palestinian buildings have been added around the settlement of Telem, during a process designed to stifle the settlement that was already considered isolated along with the nearby Adora, to separate the two settlements and turn each into an enclave surrounded by Palestinian neighborhoods. Its arithmetic that dominates space.
The two localities, where about 200 families live, now surround about 150 illegal buildings that were placed on Area C.
In the nearby town of Adora, they were shocked to discover about two weeks ago that hundreds of olive trees had been planted by Palestinians in the area of the settlement, which is intended for the construction of new housing units.
The settlement, which has been struggling for years, has not had new construction for many years and is currently working on a new master plan of building about 100 housing units within the settlement's blue line. The residents, as mentioned, were shocked to discover that hundreds of trees were planted on their land reserve. Olives, during what appears to be a statement of facts on the ground by the Palestinians.
It should be noted that in December, the Civil Administration had already uprooted about 500 hundred seedlings planted in the land of Adora for construction.
"200 families from Telem and Adora hold the strategic axis between Kiryat Gat and Kiryat Arba and between the entire mountain and the lowlands, and the feeling is that the state has given up on what is happening here and lost governance in Area C," the source said in detail.
The response of the unit for coordinating government actions in the territories: "The cases described are known to law enforcement officials. Enforcement activities will be carried out in accordance with powers and procedures, as well as subject to priorities and operational considerations."
Yochai Damari, head of the Mount Hebron Regional Council, said: "This is a scandal and a blatant lack of governance. The Palestinians are building on state and C areas that were designated for Israeli construction as if there is no law and no justice. We make every effort to monitor and report the failure but the Palestinian Authority, "With the support of the European Union, it continues to mature. It is impossible for the Hebron Mountains to suffocate and the State of Israel to stand aside. I call on the Minister of Defense to use the security forces and the Civil Administration to put an end to this issue unequivocally."
Orit Struck, the religious Zionist candidate for the Knesset, responded: "This is one of the most serious security and government failures. While Israeli leaders say 'no Corona - not interesting', the Palestinian Authority used the Corona year for an intensive takeover operation in the western Hebron Mountains. This is what lawlessness looks like. Immediately after the election, the Authority is allowed to conduct the campaign on Area C. For us, this is a threshold condition in all coalition negotiations.
