Restrictions Land Confiscation on Use and Access Introduction 71 with respect to ‘determining the rates of fees for natural reserves’ and to the competent authority with respect to ‘building roads’ and ‘establishing structures and services’. The penalty for disobeying this order is six months imprisonment or a fine. Wadi Qana Nature Reserve Case Wadi Qana247 is a fertile valley that includes privately owned Palestinian farmland and has been worked for generations. This area was designated a ‘nature reserve’ in 1983, however under bylaws of the reserve the Israel Nature and Parks Authority are obliged to allow the continuation of all farming that was practiced on the site before it was declared a nature reserve in 1983.248 Deir Istya, a major olive-producing village, is located in Wadi Qana where olive trees have been growing for thousands of years.249 However, the Israeli Civil Administration have been issuing orders to farmers to uproot their olive trees in the area by virtue of its status as a Nature Reserve250 notwithstanding the fact that those same olive trees contribute to the inherent ‘nature’ of the place. Between 25 and 27 April 2012, ten Deir Istya farmers received orders from the Israel Nature and Parks Authority and the Civil Administration to uproot 2,000 trees by 1 May 2012. On the 27 April 2012, another farmer received orders to uproot a further 600 trees.251 In case the farmers did not comply, they were to receive punishment in the form of fines or imprisonment. In June 2012, Deir Istya residents petitioned the Israeli Supreme Court to halt the uprooting. This occurred alongside coordinated local and international pressure on the Israeli government resulting in the Court lifting the order to uproot pending further discussion of the issue.252 Despite this Court-ordered stay, Israeli officials once again returned in 28 August 2012 with further orders: this time to ‘evacuate’ the lands from any planted olive tree by the 15 September 2012 after which time the military would uproot them by force with the farmers paying the bulldozer work fees.253 The response of the acting Israeli authority argument to the petition of the village was that the villagers had planted additional olive trees and terraced irrigation systems causing damage to the area but failed to provide factual evidence to support this claim.254 247 Wadi Qana Nature Reserve is located in Deir Istya Village. 248 OCHA, ‘UNSCO-OCHA Discussion Paper – “Seam Zone” Military Order’. 249 IWPS, Wadi Qana Case Study: Two Thousand Olive Trees Under Threat (January 9, 2013); available from http://iwps.info/?page_id=1768; accessed 24 April 2013. 250 IWPS, Wadi Qana Case Study: Two Thousand Olive Trees Under Threat. 251 IWPS, Wadi Qana Case Study: Two Thousand Olive Trees Under Threat. 252 OCHA, ‘UNSCO-OCHA Discussion Paper – “Seam Zone” Military Order’. 253 Center for the Defence of the Individual V. Government of Israel Et Al. Supplemental Response on Behalf of the Respondents. 254 OCHA, ‘UNSCO-OCHA Discussion Paper – “Seam Zone” Military Order’.