After many incidents of 'invasions' by Arab farmers from the villages within Israeli-controlled Area C Kana Nature Reserve where any activity by Israelis or Palestinians is forbidden, the Civil Administration For Judea and Samaria destroyed a number of Arab plots that had been planted in the reserve. However, late Thursday it became clear that the invading farmers do not intend to give up after the evacuation, and announced that they would return and invade the territory once more and that the Palestinian-Authority's Ministry of Agriculture and other organizations would stand behind the project.
As part of the support for the PA's stealth project to take over the reserve, in recent days the residents of the village were given hundreds of new trees by the Palestinian Ministry of Agriculture, as well as a large amount of fencing to demarcate the area and establish a Palestinian hold on it despite the fact that according to the agreements signed by the Palestinians, Area C is under Israeli sovereignty.
DOUBLE STANDARDS
— Jewish News Syndicate (@JNS_org) January 24, 2023
According to @RegavimEng there are more than 170 illegal outposts in Area C of #Judea and Samaria, created by the Palestinian Authority, funded by the European Union.https://t.co/Hqn3w9yIsO
The planned invasion operation joins another incident of agricultural terrorism that took place at the beginning of the week near the Nahal Kana reserve. On Monday night, under the cover of the Barbara storm that struck the entire region, Arab rioters invaded the territory of the Israeli-owned Shovi Eretz farm, which is adjacent to the Jewish community of Yakir that rises above the reserve, and destroyed an orchard of fruit trees that had been planted at the beginning of the month by Israelis.
The "Fight for Every Dunam" forum, which closely follows the activities of the Palestinian Authority, responded to the recent actions: "The planned invasion that the Palestinian Authority is publicly leading into the Israeli nature reserve territories, shows once again the extent to which the Palestinian Authority tramples on the Oslo Accords and builds freely and in an orderly manner in all the territories of Judea and Samaria, including the territories of Area C".
The legal battle over Khan al-Ahmar began in 2009, when NGO Regavim filed its first petition against “the Palestinian Authority’s flagship outpost in the systematic takeover of Area C” of Judea and Samaria.https://t.co/G1grhIjcok
— World Israel News (@worldisraelnews) February 2, 2023
They further added that "the campaign for the Nahal Kana reserve, like the occupation of Judea and Samaria as a whole by placing workers on the ground in the form of construction and agriculture, is being conducted by the Palestinian Authority through a variety of arms that combine terrorism and harm to Israeli citizens along with a systematic takeover of strategic ridges and nature reserves."
In the Palestinian Authority, farmers have been encouraged by the government to carry out actions that invade Israeli territories in Judea and Samaria. About two months ago, during the Sabbath, dozens of Palestinian farmers arrived in the Elazar community in ​Judea's Gush Etzion and planted about 400 fruit trees near the fence of the Jewish community, with the aim of preventing future expansion of Elazar by 'occupying the land' using agriculture. The tactic is common and used to create public relations wins when images and videos of Israel removing the plants are plastered across social media and inevitably picked up by global news networks. A few weeks prior to the Elazar planting, and also during the Sabbath when observant Jews do not conduct any acts of labor, over 200 trees were planted near the Gush Etzion community of Neve Daniel.
#EU working with #Palestinian Authority to take over Area C in Judeah & Samariah the indigenous homeland of Jewshttps://t.co/MkX5Ojzqh0
— Michael Weingardt (@Michael_Wgd) February 3, 2023
These plantings are a potential for friction in the future when in the following years the trees will grow and bear fruit, which will cause mass harvesting events.
