The rules the committee works by: who gets served and in what order, how money is handled, how we protect land and olive trees, and how we answer to the people we serve. Every policy is published in Arabic and English.
No olive tree is cut down or uprooted during any committee activity. The policy sets a safe working distance from trunks and roots for ploughing and clearing, pruning standards that avoid heavy lopping, a register of old (رومي) olive trees in Birzeit, a ban on burning near groves, and how damage to trees from any cause is documented, reported and replanted.
Who can apply, how requests are queued and prioritised (e.g. elderly owners, women-headed households, land at risk of abandonment), fees per dunum, cancellation, and the contractor's duties on site.
No damage to terraces and dry-stone walls, ploughing along the contour to limit soil loss, handling cleared material without burning, and how damage is reported and repaired.
Borrowing or hiring committee tools and equipment: booking, deposits, safety, maintenance and liability for loss or damage.
Where committee funds are held (cash box, Birzeit Municipality, Birzeit Society), receipts for every payment, a named approver for any expense of 1,000 ILS or more, monthly cash counts, and a bilingual monthly financial report published on this site.
How contractors (tractor owners, labourers, suppliers) are chosen, quotes required above set amounts, and how members declare and step aside from decisions involving their own land or relatives.
How anyone can raise a concern, response times, who reviews it, how to appeal, and protection from retaliation.
Fair and respectful treatment of every landowner, no gifts or side payments, safeguarding of children and vulnerable people during field activities.
What we collect in application and complaint forms, why, who can see it, how long we keep it, and how to ask for your data to be corrected or deleted. Data is stored in a protected database that only authorised committee members can access.
