Word: bireh
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Dates: during 1978-1978
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...mile south of Beth-El is the Palestinian town of Al-Bireh (pop. 22,000). Last month the Israeli military governor issued an order closing 7,000 dunams (1,750 acres) just north of Al-Bireh to Arab development and construction. The order further decreed that all construction work presently under way must be stopped. Al-Bireh officials and residents are angry because the ruling effectively prevents any kind of expansion for the town's growing population...
...Bireh, whose slogan is "City on the Move," has always prided itself on its progressive image. In 1972, pressed for more space, townspeople asked Israeli permission to expand municipal boundaries to adjacent lands owned by Al-Bireh residents. The Israelis not only rejected the request but forbade development in two areas, including a site on which Arab businessmen wanted to build a resort...
Israeli officials claim that the latest Al-Bireh order was necessary for security reasons. They point out that the disputed land adjoins the military governor's headquarters. As one official explained, "We do not want to be confronted one morning by houses on the borders of our military camps." That may be a valid point, except that Beth-El, meanwhile, is being built on land originally expropriated by Israel solely for military purposes. Abdul Jawad Hussein, a retired businessman who owns part of the land where Beth-El is being built, says that since 1969 the Israelis have fenced...
...West Bankers, who have sent complaints to the U.N. and to President Carter, the Al-Bireh case is the latest evidence that Israel is pursuing a policy of creeping annexation of the West Bank. Despite protests from the U.S. and elsewhere that Israeli policy contravenes the Geneva convention forbidding civilian settlements in occupied territory, construction at Beth-El continues...