Israel 'has annexed Jordan Valley and shut out Palestinians' (Independent)

[laststeamtrain]

Israel 'has annexed Jordan Valley and shut out Palestinians'
By Donald Macintyre in Jerusalem
Published: 14 February 2006
Israel has in effect "annexed" the Jordan Valley, or eastern strip of the West Bank, by severely restricting the movements of Palestinians inside it, it was claimed yesterday.

The accusation was made by B'tselem, a leading Israeli human rights organisation, following investigations by B'tselem and the newspaper Ha'aretz which showed that some 200,000 Palestinian West Bank residents are systematically prevented from entering the Jordan Valley area, including farmers seeking to cultivate their own land and seasonal farm workers who used to work there regularly.

The Jordan Valley is politically highly sensitive because by remaining under Israeli control it would further substantially restrict the scale of any Palestinian state. Ehud Olmert, the acting Prime Minister, while being careful not to be specific about the fate of Israeli settlements in the area when he foreshadowed further West Bank withdrawals last week, has made it clear that Israel would maintain control of the border with Jordan.

B'tselem said the general prohibition on the entry of any Palestinians into the Jordan Valley apart from those officially registered as living there "severely violates the human rights of the Palestinian population" by severing what amounts to a third of the West Bank area from the rest. <snip>
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article345298.ece

[Wordie]

1. And it's even worse...

According to Israeli law, if those Palestinian farmers in the Jordan Valley are prevented from accessing their land for a certain period of time, the land can be declared "abandoned," in which case it reverts to the state of Israel. Many Palestinians have already lost their land in that manner.

:(

[Poll_Blind]

4. Theft...plain and simple. Legislated theft of land...

?!

PB

[Violet_Crumble]

5. No need for such harsh terms!

I'm sure there's some mild sounding euphemism that can be used to describe it just like when someone tried to persuade us DUers that demolishing Palestinian homes in Jerusalem is merely 'urban resettlement'. How does 'rural redevelopment' or 'Absentee Guardianship and Development' sound? ;)

Violet...

[Tom Joad]

2. Link to map that shows the Sharon/Olmert plan to disenfranchise

the Palestinian people.

Dialup warning. Large pdf file
http://www.strategicassessments.org/library/Disengagement/SAI%20ITAG%20DISENGAGEMENT%20MAP.pdf

Note how broken up the West Bank will be. The plan will leave the Palestinian with up to 39% of the West Bank, the Israelis will take the remaining 60%.

[Tom Joad]

3. This is a border for war.

Ad for Gush Shalom:
Olmert wants to fix

The permanent borders of Israel "Unilaterally".

To annex Greater Jerusalem., The Ariel bloc, The Modi'in Illit bloc, The Gush Etzion bloc,

The Ma'aleh Adumim bloc, As well as the Jordan valley And several "security zones".

Neither the Palestinians and the Arab world, Nor the United States and The family of nations Will recognize these borders.
This is not a border of peace.
This is a border for war.
***************
Unfortunately, I am not sure the United States will not recognize these borders. The rest of the world may fall silent. Palestinians will always resist, however.