Civil Administration inspectors today (Tuesday) destroyed an illegal structure built by Arabs in Area C near the settlement of Peduel in Samaria. The demolition of the building comes after a long struggle by the Samaria Regional Council and the Regavim movement.
Yossi Dagan, head of the Samaria Council, welcomed the demolition of the building: "I want to thank all the partners in this important struggle: the Regavim movement, with whom we have the privilege of working to preserve the nation's lands, volunteers from Gush Maarava Land Committee, and to the staff of the land department of the Samaria Regional Council who are in the field every day. The victory comes from the daily joint work of all these together with the security forces and the IDF. Many thanks to the Civil Administration for the destruction today, which is important for both law enforcement and as a message that the nation's lands are not being abandoned."
According to Dagan, "The campaign for Area C and the preservation of the nation's lands is in our soul. We will never give up the Land of Israel; this is our war and we are determined to win it. The Israeli government must embark on a comprehensive operation to demolish the entire Arab takeover of Area C. The Israeli government must dry up the budgetary sources of the Palestinian Authority, which is criminally fueling the takeover of the lands, and to prevent the European Union from injecting funds for the benefit of these projects."
The Regavim movement added: "the building that was destroyed this morning is in the area of the Sarida Nature Reserve, which suffers from massive Palestinian takeover through building construction, road construction, and agricultural work, all without a permit and against the law. We petitioned the court against this building and other nearby buildings and the petition was deleted in 2020 based on the claim of "Civil Administration priorities" and now, over two years later and after relentless pressure from the volunteers of the Lands Committee from the region, the Civil Administration came this morning to enforce the law. During this period, thousands of new illegal structures were built. We welcome enforcement and expect to see a determined fight against the takeover of Area C by the Palestinian Authority."
The Gush Maarava Lands Committee stated: "Construction on the building that was destroyed today on Zarda Ridge began at the beginning of 2019. We are happy about the enforcement that was finally carried out, after four years and dozens of inquiries in this matter by Regavim and later by the Samaria Lands Division and the Gush Maarava Lands Committee. It was a large two-story building that was supposed to be inhabited in the coming days and we hope that its demolition will serve as deterrence. We thank the security forces and look forward to the destruction of the other illegal structures. The Land Trustees of Gush Maarava will continue to monitor and report as long as efforts to take over land in West Samaria continue."
Gush Maarava includes the settlements Bruchin, Alei Zahav, Leshem, and Peduel.