The PA's Union of Public Works Committee
[Based on an article that originally appeared in Hebrew in Yeshemda and translated by Hillel Fendel]
The Palestinian Authority has a plan: to take over broad swathes of Area C - Israeli territory in Judea and Samaria - and include them in the PA-controlled areas that it hopes to turn into a full-fledged state. To this end, its UAWC – Union of Agricultural Work Committees – is its major tool.
Headquartered in Ramallah, the UAWC has more than 65 local chapters of agricultural work committees throughout Judea, Samaria, and Gaza. It employs over 100 people, and its annual budget surpasses 5 million Euros – paid mainly by foreign organizations and sources such as the European Union, the United Nations, France, Norway and Holland. The funding is supplied both directly and indirectly.
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The UAWC is connected, both openly and clandestinely, to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) terrorist organization. In coordination with PA security forces and legal organizations, it works mainly to take control of Area C lands, under the guise of humanitarian activity for Arab farmers
The UAWC also utilizes legal, media and diplomatic channels to prevent the IDF from taking action against their illegal activities.
The modus operandi of the UAWC in its efforts to take over Israeli territory generally follows the same pattern. It begins by preparing and renovating access roads to the area designated for takeover, and by establishing a water supply system, including piping and reservoirs. The second stage includes agricultural guidance and subsidies to local Arabs who are encouraged to work the lands.
The primary methods of UAWC activities are these:
Breakthrough of Roads: The paving of hundreds of kilometers of agricultural roads that allow access to cultivable land in Area C, including in the Jordan Valley, Gush Etzion, near Ariel and other Samaria areas, Mt. Hevron, eastern Binyamin, and more.
Takeover of Water Sources, such as wells and springs in the vicinity of Israeli communities. This also involves the digging of water cistern networks in desert areas, the construction of drainage basins while diverting existing streams, the laying of hundreds of kilometers of water pipes, water-reservoir construction, and more.
Seizure of land through agricultural activity: This includes planting trees, plowing land, digging and moving earth, building terraces, fencing off areas, and the like.