Description

Deir Istya council head Nazmi Salman, right, says Israel’s order to remove 1,400 olive trees is discriminatory.
Photo by Nir Keidar


Palestinian farmers say discrimination, not a concern for the land, are at the root of an order to uproot olive trees in a northern nature reserve.

By Zafrir Rinat for Haaretz

One of the most complex challenges facing the Israel Nature and Parks Authority is finding the balance between protecting the nature in its reserves and allowing agriculture to flourish. This has become a particularly complicated issue in the Wadi Kana nature reserve in the northern West Bank, where the debate is not only focused on land, nature and the environment, but as is often the case in this country, it has become a question of politics.

Last week, residents of the Palestinian village of Deir Istya, including village council head Nazmi Salman, asked the High Court of Justice to halt an order to remove 1,400 olive trees from the nature reserve. In response to their petition, submitted through Attorney Alaa Mahajna, the court ordered that the removal be put on hold until justices have a chance to discuss the petition.

The Wadi Kana Nature Reserve, one of the largest reserves in the region, features typical Mediterranean woodlands, unique habitats centered on natural pools and privately-owned Palestinian farmland on which Palestinians have worked for generations. According to the bylaws of the reserve, the Israel Nature and Parks Authority must allow the continuation of all farming that was practiced on the site before it was declared a nature reserve in 1983.

Despite this, two months ago, the INPA and the Civil Administration ordered the Palestinians to remove their trees, because the authority said the trees represent a creeping expansion of cultivation at the expense of natural growth, which is being destroyed. In addition, the authority claimed that the Palestinians have built farming terraces and water diverting ditches.

"This type of damage, to the tune of millions of shekels, is being financed by special interest groups in the area," wrote Yossi Wurtzberger, an aide to the director general of the INPA, in a letter addressed to Mahajna. He did not specify which interest groups were funding the work, but it seems he was likely referring to the Palestinian Authority.

The Civil Administration, in its response to Mahajna's request to halt the removal order, claimed that the planting of the olive trees caused heavy damage to the reserve, as it entailed clearing the ground for farming and installing irrigation systems. "The rules of conduct for nature reserves state that one cannot bring any plant into reserves that is likely to propagate, in order to protect existing natural values." The director general also said that INPA inspectors do not keep owners of agricultural land from farming species that existed in the reserve prior to 1983. "This arrangement is not unique to Judea and Samaria. It is the law of every nature reserve in Israel where there is privately owned land," he added.

In the petition he submitted to the High Court after receiving these official responses, Mahajna notes that the INPA failed to provide any factual basis that proved the olive trees had caused environmental damage. According to him, installing irrigation systems and constructing terraces have nothing to do with planting olive trees.