Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will hold a discussion on the construction of the illegal Palestinian city being built in eastern Gush Etzion, in an area defined as a treaty reserve and where construction is prohibited, after Israel Hayom exposed the construction of the city.
Last June, Israel This Week published an extensive article about the Palestinian city of Al-Malha or Za'atra, which is being built in the Eastern Gush Etzion Accords Reserve. The article revealed that the Palestinian Authority is building a new city in the heart of the Judean Desert, within an agreement nature reserve that must not be developed. The construction of the city includes paving roads, laying infrastructure, dividing into plots and extensive marketing to an Arab target audience. This was done in contravention of the Oslo Accords and the Wye Agreement. The project causes irreversible destruction of the desert and severe damage to the environment, with Israel and the Civil Administration failing to take significant enforcement measures against illegal construction.
In the heart of the desert: the hidden city built by the Palestinians // Photo: Regavim
Yesterday, the Minister of Defense arrived for a tour of the area together with Gush Etzion Council Chairman and Yesha Council Chairman Shlomo Ne'eman on a work visit to the Agreement Reserve. During the tour, he said that "construction activities are being carried out at the site, the goal of which is to encircle Gush Etzion and the Jewish settlement on Mount Hebron from the east. This goes against all the agreements that were made in the past."
Recently, Gush Etzion and Yesha Council Mayor Shlomo Neaman launched a broad public campaign to raise awareness of the issue. Among other things, he brought Settlement Minister Orit Struk and members of the Eretz Israel lobby in the Knesset to draw their attention to the failure. In addition, he established a bureau there.
Yoav Galant and Shlomo Neaman at the Treaty Reserve in the Judean Desert, Photo: Arik Marmor, Gush Etzion Council
Now, following a request by Minister Orit Struk and members of the Eretz Israel lobby in the Knesset, the Prime Minister has ordered a discussion on the issue. This morning, Minister Strzok raised the issue for discussion at the Cabinet table. It presented the danger and the problematic activity of the PA, which is building a new city in the territory (on Area B), in stark contrast to what was agreed in the Oslo Accords that this area would remain as a treaty reserve. In addition, she presented a booklet prepared with a trustee on the subject of construction in the reserve.
After the presentation, and following the seriousness of the matter, the prime minister promised to deal with the issue. He instructed the Defense Ministry to present data and an action plan within two weeks, and then convene a discussion headed by him with the participation of the ministers of defense, finance, settlements, heritage and the Diaspora in order to monitor the progress of things.
Recently, Knesset members from the Eretz Israel Caucus, headed by MK Yuli Edelstein, MK Limor Sun Har Melech and MK Simcha Rotman, sent an urgent appeal to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Galant to halt construction there.
"We were exposed to a large-scale, well-funded strategic Palestinian project to establish a new city in the Accorded Nature Reserve," they began their letter to the Prime Minister and Defense Minister. "In recent years, the Palestinian Authority has deliberately harmed the treaty nature reserve through development work, paving roads, building houses, dumping and burning waste, and turning a blind eye to illegal construction, in blatant violation of the agreements between the State of Israel and the Authority."
Yoav Galant with Gush Etzion Council Mayor Shlomo Neaman on a working visit to the Agreement Reserve // Photo: Noam Kedar, Gush Etzion Council
"Over the past year, however, these violations have become a widespread and strategically significant event: a road that was breached for many kilometers deep into the nature reserve, paved to a branched asphalt road, according to European standards. Other roads are on the verge of paving. Thousands of plots are marked and sold, hundreds of which are already under development while wildly quarrying in the desert landscapes, and dozens have already begun building houses. From the scope of the development work and its enormous cost, it is clear that this is a national project that the Palestinian Authority is promoting and encouraging in one way or another. In addition, the signs scattered around the area indicate that part of the construction of the infrastructure is funded by the European Union."
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