Roads, infrastructure appear on state & privately owned lands while authorities stand by.
Illegal construction near Karnei ShomronRegavim
In the heart of Samaria, near the Karnei Shomron industrial zone, massive development works are underway within Areas C on both state and privately owned Jewish land, including development of lots, construction of buildings, breaking and paving of new roads, and setting up connections to infrastructure.
Work began around six months ago, at which point the Regavim organization contacted the relevant authorities in the hope that they would enforce the law. When no response was received and construction work continued, Regavim submitted a petition to the courts.
The petition details the extensive scope of construction work near the Karnei Shomron industrial zone and the village of Lekef that is being carried out illegally, without permits, on state lands and also on private land including tracts belonging to the “Har Veguy” company owned by the Zer family.
Over the past few months, Regavim has repeatedly appealed to the authorities with the demand that they cease the work, with an emphasis on the privately owned area, but responses have been few and inadequate despite the significance – and meanwhile, construction continues apace.
Regavim points out that in similar cases such as Amona, Migron, and Netiv Ha’avot, the courts have not hesitated to rule against construction taking place on privately owned land, and have made the issues a priority for the authorities to address.
“The Palestinian Authority is taking advantage of the lack of the ineptness of the authorities and is in effect promoting a strategic plan for the establishment of a Palestinian state in Area C,” said Moshe Shmueli, Regavim’s coordinator of Judea and Samaria. “Before our very eyes we see how day by day, illegal construction is taking over huge areas of state land and private land of Jews. Only recently we documented another new building and planting of trees. We’re not talking about a lone house – what we’re seeing is the construction of infrastructure including roads, water, and electricity. Meanwhile, the authorities are doing nothing and the Jewish landowners are left to stand helplessly by. The situation is simply outrageous.”
The head of the Samaria Regional Council, Yossi Dagan, added, “The government is systematically abandoning Area C and now also private lands that were purchased by Jews. If this were about private lands belonging to Arabs, everyone would be up in arms. Selective enforcement is reaching a peak we have never seen before. We demand that the relevant authorities and the government immediately put a stop to the construction and takeover of Area C, on both private and state lands, assets belonging to the State of Israel and the Jewish people.”
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