B'Tselem: Over three quarters of Jordan Valley placed under Israeli control
A May report issued by Israeli rights group B'Tselem reveals that Israel used political and military means to take control of 77.5 percent of the land in the Jordan Valley and northern Dead Sea area.
The Hebrew state has maintained an illegal occupation of the West Bank since 1967. The report clearly states that Israel's intent is to annex the area to the occupation state of Israel. The significance of the area is that it has the largest land reserve in the West Bank. Over 15,000 Palestinian Bedouins live there in dozens of tiny communities.
Some of the land was taken after the departure of refugees, and more than half was usurped by ”legal manipulation” and declared ”state land”, B'Tselem reported. Most of the water resources in the area have been set aside especially for the some 9,400 Jewish settlers living in the 37 settlements, that include seven outposts. The report highlights that the water taken from there, most of which is allocated for the settlements, amounts to almost one-third of the water allotted to Palestinians in the West Bank.
AFP: Israel exploits Jordan Valley, says rights group - Israel has systematically exploited the resources of the Jordan Valley in the occupied West Bank, favouring settlers over Palestinians, a report by Israeli rights group B'Tselem found on Thursday. Entitled "Exploitation and Dispossession", the report found Israel dominated the land, water resources and even tourist sites along the strip of land which runs along the eastern flank of the West Bank, in what appeared to be a prelude to a de facto annexation of territory. "Israel has instituted a regime that massively exploits the resources of the Jordan Valley and the northern Dead Sea, far more than elsewhere in the West Bank, demonstrating its intention: to de facto annex the area to the state of Israel," the rights group said.
B'Tselem: Dispossession and Exploitation: Israel's Policy in the Jordan Valley & Northern Dead Sea