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B'Tselem: Ofra an illegal outpost
Human rights organization issues report saying settlement northeast of Jerusalem illegally built on Palestinian land, fails to meet government criteria for legal Israeli community. Group demands State dismantle settlement, return land to rightful owners
A report released by the B'Tselem human rights group on Monday states that the settlement of Ofra, located northeast of Jerusalem, is in fact an illegal outpost which must be evicted under the stipulations of the Sasson Report.
Ofra, which is part of the Mateh Binyamin Regional Council, is a 168-acre community located along Route 60, between Jerusalem and the West Bank city of Nablus. It has approximately 3,000 residents.
Legalities
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The 2005 Sasson report, complied by Attorney Talia Sasson at former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's request, found that more than 150 communities in the West Bank lacked the proper authorization and recommended the majority of them be evacuated.
The report further stated that a legal Israeli settlement must meet the following criteria: The Israeli government must issue a decision to establish the settlement; the settlement has a defined jurisdictional area; the settlement has a detailed, approved outline plan; and the settlement must be built on State land or on land that was purchased by Israelis and registered under their name in the Land Registry.
The B'Tselem report said that Ofra, which was established in the mid-1970s, meets the first criterion only: It was officially recognized by the State as a viable Israeli community in 1979, "but it was never assigned any official jurisdictional area, nor has any detailed outline plan been approved for it or any formal building permits issued for the area."
The report goes on to say that the titles to many of the lands used by Ofra are actually held by Palestinians, and since according to both a government decision and a High Court ruling an Israeli settlement cannot be built on Palestinian-owned land, the entire community of Ofra, with its hundreds of residential units, was built illegally.
The land, continues the report, is owned by Palestinians from the villages of Ein Yabrud and Silwad. "The titles to at least 58% of the lands in Ofra are held by Palestinian.
B'Tselem claims that the mere existence of Ofra is an infringement of the human rights of the Palestinians residing in the area, and that since the Israeli government's own criteria has deemed Ofra an illegal outpost, the government must order its immediate evacuation, and return the land to its rightful owners.
