Governor of Hebron, Arif Al-Ja’abari stated on
Tuesday that Israeli army confiscated more land from Hebron district
raising the confiscated land up to 54.3 percent.
Al-Ja’bari told the French news agency, AFP, that Israel ‘keeps
expropriating more land in Hebron district. So far around 10,000
Dunams, [2500 acres] were confiscated to build the apartheid wall’
He added that the ‘Israeli have also raised their harassment of
Palestinians around the Ibrahimi mosque, by adding two extra gates and
force the worshipers to go through.’
The Governor accused the settlers of spraying poisonous material on agricultural land owned by Palestinian villagers.
‘The settlers sprayed poison on the fields of wheat and on green areas
where the cattle eat from, at least 20 sheep were poisoned because of
that’ he said, and expressed worries that toxic material might reach
the underground water especially after the rain.
A test done by Birzeit University laboratory proved that this material
is made only in Israel and is internationally banned. It usage is
limited to killing rats in the sewage only, the governor said.
Some International peace groups are helping the locals to clean the area in the past two weeks.
Volunteers from the Christian Peacemakers Teams and the International
Solidarity Movement started on March 26 to clean the area with the
local villagers who fear that more of their cattle will die if the
poison remains in the area.
The Palestinian Ministry of Health warned the resident of the area
against eating meat or drink milk of cattle in that area for at least
two weeks to ensure that it has not been contaminated.
