Half a year almost to the day after the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) had enforced the law and removed Arabs who had taken over illegally an area in Wadi Rashrash, a valley near the Jewish community of Karmei Tzur, News 0404 reported Tuesday night that the same Arabs have return to the area as if nothing has happened.
In August, 2015, the same news source published a video showing road construction and infrastructure preparation for a giant garbage dump in Wadi Rashrash, in an area which is in the process of being claimed as state-owned land. Following complaints from the Regavim NGO, whose mission is “to ensure responsible, legal, accountable & environmentally friendly use of Israel’s national lands and the return of the rule of law to all areas and aspects of the land and its preservation,” COGAT placed a barrier on the access road, but the Arabs broke through it and continued to work inside.
Following more complaints by Regavim as well as inquiries from News 0404, COGAT warned the Arabs that their trucks would be confiscated if they didn’t go away. That threat worked and the Arabs disappeared.
On Tuesday morning, 6 months later, they were back. The news service reported the violation to COGAT and the service stated clearly that the issue would be taken care of immediately.