The Occupation Notifies of the Demolition of Homes and Land and Their Evacuation in Qalandia in Preparation for Establishing a Waste Incineration Plant

SadaNews - Over the past few weeks, the Israeli occupation authorities have notified homeowners and agricultural landowners in the village of Qalandia, north of Jerusalem, of demolition and evacuation in preparation for establishing a waste incineration plant.

A report released by the "Peace Now" movement on Wednesday highlighted that there is an Israeli project to establish a waste incineration plant in Qalandia, which will result in the demolition of two buildings housing dozens of Palestinian families, in addition to the appropriation of about 150 dunams of agricultural land for the purpose of demolishing and rebuilding the separation wall.

The report noted that the Israeli government assigned a development company affiliated with the occupation municipality in Jerusalem to identify a site for the waste incineration facility, and the company proposed a plot of land measuring 130 dunams in Qalandia, most of which consists of agricultural land and includes at least seven residential buildings housing hundreds of citizens.

The report indicated that last April, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich signed a notice under Article 19 of the Israeli Lands Law, which activates two previous appropriation decisions dating back to 1970 and 1982, covering the same area. The occupation authorities are now using this notification as the "legal basis" for the eviction orders issued against citizens.

In May, the occupation government decided to build the waste facility at the site in Qalandia proposed by the municipality's affiliated company in Jerusalem, and to amend the route of the separation wall so that the facility's location is outside the wall. The occupation has also allocated millions of shekels for planning and construction, including about 12 million shekels (approximately 3 million dollars) from the Israeli Ministry of Environmental Protection's cleanliness fund to finance the relocation of the separation wall.

The report indicated that this decision essentially means the displacement of citizens from their homes and agricultural lands to make way for the planned plant.

For its part, the Israeli "Peace Now" human rights movement states that "the government's greed for annexation and displacement knows no bounds. It seems that there is no other place in the Jerusalem area to build the plant, except for the few remaining dunams belonging to the residents of Qalandia after numerous confiscations and the walls built around them. This constitutes a blatant violation of international law and the most basic moral values, as dozens of residents under occupation are displaced from their homes and lands for the benefit of a plant that serves the residents of the occupying state."