Photo Credit: Yedidya Botser/TPS
Site of the Arab construction, near Amichai.

A group of residents from the Shiloh bloc in Samaria on Thursday morning arrived at an Arab construction site situated right on top of a new Israeli community to prevent the construction with their bodies. The work was halted for a short while.

Several scuffles ensued during the incident, but no injuries were reported.

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A new Arab city is currently being built adjacent to the Israeli communities of Amichai and Adei Ad, apparently a part of the Fayyad Plan.

The comprehensive, strategic Fayyad Plan was publicized 10 years ago. Known as the Plan for the Creation of the State of Palestine, then-prime minister of the Palestinian Authority (PA) Salaam Fayyad laid out a clear and methodical program for seizing control of territory in Area C, under full Israeli control as prescribed by the Oslo Accords, to form a broad and viable basis for a Palestinian state, specifically in the areas under Israeli control.

Fayyad’s plan essentially bypasses all negotiation or compromise with Israel and creates facts on the ground.

According to data collected by the Regavim organization, in 2009 the number of illegal Arab structures in Area C stood at 29,784, while in 2018 the number surged to 58,435.

The Israeli residents in the Shiloh bloc area have launched a campaign against the new Arab city, saying it threatens their security, but the IDF and Israeli authorities are so far enabling the construction.

As part of the implementation of the Fayyad Plan, the Arabs have begun to build a new city adjacent to Amichai and Adei Ad in the Shiloh Valley, with “the aim of strangling, threatening and causing the leaving of the Israelis,” the Israeli residents say.

This incident occurred just days after the PA announced in no longer recognized Israeli jurisdiction over Area C and would work to broaden its presence in the area.

The PA’s Undersecretary of the Ministry of Local Government, Ahmad Ghoneim, stated that his ministry is in the process of coming up with an action plan for “the implementation of a government decision to do away with the Oslo classification of West Bank land into areas A, B and C, especially with regard to areas classified as C.”

Similarly, the PA’s Ministry of Local Government issued a circular to local authorities calling on them to “exercise their powers and responsibilities to expand the structural plans of their villages and towns to accommodate their natural population growth and urban development, without any regard to the classification of land under the Oslo agreement.

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Aryeh Savir is director of the International division of Tazpit News Agency.