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Rights group demands freeze on West Bank quarries
By BEN HUBBARD,Associated Press Writer AP - 59 minutes ago
RAMALLAH, West Bank - Israel is violating international law by exploiting rock and gravel from West Bank quarries for its own benefit, an Israeli human rights group charged Monday.
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In a petition filed to Israel's Supreme Court, the Yesh Din group says 75 percent of the rock and gravel removed from 11 West Bank rock quarries is transferred to Israel. The group wants a halt to all Israeli mining activity in the West Bank.
The mining activities are "illegal and executed though brutal economic exploitation of occupied territory for the economic needs of the State of Israel, the occupying power," reads the petition.
Israel, which occupied the West Bank in the 1967 Mideast war, denies any violations. The West Bank is home to some 2.4 million Palestinians and around 280,000 Israeli settlers. Palestinians consider the West Bank an essential part of their future state.
Citing a military document, the petition says 9 million of the 12 million tons of gravel removed from West Bank quarries every year are sold in Israel. The petition demands that Israel stop granting West Bank concessions to Israeli companies and not renew existing licenses.
The military began issuing West Bank quarry permits to Israeli and international companies in the 1970s, but Israeli courts have never examined the permits' legality, said Shlomy Zachary, one of the lawyers behind the petition.
International law dictates that an occupying power must manage resources in occupied territory without damaging them, he said, a principle sometimes referred to as "picking the fruits without cutting down the tree."
This principle is impossible to observe in mining operations, he said. "It is an irreparable situation since most of the fruits of the land are being taken and will never be able to be returned," he said.
Military spokesman Miki Galin said the approval procedures for quarries are in line with "the relevant directives of international law" and Israel's interim accords with the Palestinians.
"At this time, the Civil Administration is carrying out staff work to evaluate the up-to-date policy regarding the operation of the quarries," he said.
The Israeli military imposed a three-day closure on the West Bank beginning Monday, banning Palestinians from entering Israel during the Jewish festival of Purim. The closure will end at midnight Wednesday.
Exceptions will be made for Palestinians needing urgent medical care and in other humanitarian cases, the military said.
Israel's military considers Jewish festivals likely times for Palestinian attacks and regularly imposes such closures.
In the past, several deadly bombings targeted Israelis during Purim, which Jews traditionally celebrate by wearing costumes and exchanging gifts.
In 1994, a Jewish settler killed 29 Palestinians in a Hebron mosque during the holiday.
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