On the morning of May 2, 1983, bulldozers sent by “Gal – Initiative and Development in Samaria Ltd.” arrived to the lands of the Palestinian village Biddya. The bulldozers appeared after false claims of land acquisition, consolidated with the assistance of the Deputy Minister of Agriculture at the time, lead to a swift decision to establish a new settlement, Elkana D, which was to be built on the village lands. When the residents of Biddya insisted on preventing the bulldozers from entering their lands, an armed Border Police force was called to the scene. The residents refused to evacuate the area and police quickly turned to physical force including pushing, beating and shooting. The result: a resident of the village, Ibrahim al-Aqra, was killed by gunfire to his chest.

This episode of the podcast returns to the story behind the foundation of the settlement Elkana D, and shows how the privatization of the settlement project in the early 1980s coincided with an affair of corruption and forgery of documents, and how it all led to the unnecessary death of a 75-year-old man trying to protect his land.

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Legal Opinion by the Attorney General regarding the purchase of land by Israelis in the Occupied Territories,
August 19, 1979

Minutes of meeting of the Ministerial Committee for Settlement,
25 April 1982

Press Reports on Land Acquisition and Private Construction in the West Bank,
October 1982-May 1983

Press reports on the incident in Biddya,
May 3, 1983

Letter of Adv. Plia Albeck to the Minister of Justice,
May 15, 1983

Examination by Adv. Plia Albeck of the decisions made by the Ministerial Committee on Settlement,
September 23, 1983

Israeli Cabinet decision on the establishment of Elkana D. on state lands,
May 1, 1990