A/HRC/22/63 • Kiryat Arba settlement (the first in Hebron) is established. Ninety dunums20 of Palestinian land are seized for ―military purposes‖; Palestinians are evicted, vineyards uprooted and 250 housing units for the settlement are built in their place. 21 • Military Order No. 291 concerning Land and Water Settlement (Judea and Samaria) provides the basis for the suspension of land registration in the West Bank and enables tens of thousands of hectares of the West Bank to be declared ―State land‖ making it difficult for Palestinians to obtain security of tenure or pursue land development (as proof of registration is often a first requirement), while at the same time increasing the amount of land available to build settlements. 22 (19 December) 1969 • Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir (1969-1974) presents her basic policy guidelines to the Knesset, mirroring the 1967 Allon Plan‘s main objective by referring to ―security‖ civilian borders on strategic areas in the occupied territories.(15 December) 1971 • Military Order No 418 is issued. The order ―amends‖ Jordanian Law No 79 of 1966 as it creates High Planning Councils (HPC) appointed by the Israeli Army Commander, dissolving the Palestinian planning committees and later establishing six regional and village HPCs in the West Bank and two in the Gaza Strip. The order transfers the authority to make all significant decisions on permits and plans in the OPT from the district level to the HPC, a body of the Israeli Army. It allows the HPCs to prepare, amend, cancel, disregard, or dispense any plan or permit and to exempt persons from obtaining the necessary license. The Military Order restricts Palestinian urban growth and limits Palestinian construction by refusing building permits and reducing the land earmarked for industrial and economic projects, thereby depriving a functioning Palestinian economy. It also allows to set aside for future use vast areas of land for settlements in the OPT.23 (March) • The UN General Assembly mandated Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Population of the Occupied Territories refers in 1971 to the Israeli Ministerial Committee for Settlement of the Territories and notes that ―the very existence of such a committee headed by a person of ministerial rank shows, beyond doubt, that it is a policy of the Government to settle the territories occupied as a result of the hostilities of June 1967.‖24 (5 October) 20 21 22 23 24 One dunum equals 1000 m2. Idith Zertal and Akiva Eldar, ―Lords of the Land‖, 2005. Order Regarding Government Property (Judea and Samaria)(No. 59) Amnesty International, ―Israel/Occupied Territories: Demolition and dispossession: the destruction of Palestinian homes‖. 8 December 1999 A/8389 27