Civil Administration threatens to demolish most of Susiya village

14 June 2012, updated 19 July 2012

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On Tuesday, 12 June 2012, Israel’s Civil Administration distributed demolition orders to over 50 temporary structures in the Palestinian village of Susiya in the South Hebron Hills. The orders stated that they were renewals of demolition orders originally issued in the 1990s. Residents were given three days, until 15 June 2012, to appeal the orders through the Civil Administration’s Supreme Planning Council. Residents are planning to submit their opposition today (14 June 2012).

Solar panels supplying electricity to the residents of Susiya. Photo: B'Tselem, 13 June 2012.
Solar panels, Constructed by Comet-ME, supplying electricity to the residents of Susiya (Photo: B'Tselem, 13 June 2012).

Read Op-ed by Nasser Nawaj'ah, B'Tselem field researcher and Susiya resident, on +972 blog

The structures that the Civil Administration is threatening to demolish include at least seventeen residential tents which house over 100 people, and fourteen tents serving as kitchens. There are also demolition orders for a shop, a clinic, a community center, a structure used to store sheep’s milk prior to sale, solar panels, and a cave that serves as a Palestinian cultural museum, as well as shelters for sheep and chickens, and granaries.

In February 2012, the Regavim organization petitioned Israel’s High Court of Justice (HCJ) demanding that the Civil Administration carry out the demolition orders that had been issued for buildings in the village. In March 2012, the Civil Administration responded that “in the near future” new demolition orders would be issued that would permit Susiya residents to submit their opposition. Last Thursday, 7 June 2012, the HCJ began its consideration of the petition. In this initial discussion it became apparent to the judges that other petitions by Susiya residents against the demolition orders for the village are currently pending before the court. Hence, Chief Supreme Court Justice Asher Grunis ruled that “there ought to be an examination of the matter by all parties concerned.” Justice Grunis issued an interim order prohibiting new construction in the parts of the village concerning which Regavim’s petition was filed, but refrained from issuing an interim order that would forbid carrying out of the demolition orders prior to the court’s deliberations.

Background

Demolition of a residential tent and a shack in Susiya. Photo: Nasser Nawaj'ah, B'Tselem, 24 Nov. 2011.

If the demolition orders are carried out, this will be the third time that Israel has tried to expel the residents of Susiya from their lands.

Susiya residents have lived in this region on a seasonal basis since at least the 19th century. In 1983 the settlement of Susiya was established on Palestinian land that was declared “state land” by Israel.

In 1986, the Israeli army expelled the residents from their homes after the Civil Administration declared the original village to be a “national park” in the middle of an archeological site. The original inhabitants are not permitted to visit the park. Susiya residents reestablished residence on agricultural lands they own, a few hundred meters southeast of the original village. In July 2001, shortly after a resident of the Susya settlement, Yair Har Sinai, was killed by a Palestinian, the Israeli army expelled the villagers from their lands for the second time. During the expulsion, the army destroyed residents’ property, demolished caves, and blocked up water holes. The villagers petitioned the High Court of Justice, which in September 2001 issued an interim order permitting them to return to their lands, but prohibiting any new building in the village. The deliberations on this petition were delayed, among other reasons, in the wake of residents’ notification to the HCJ in September 2004 that they intended to apply to the Civil Administration for building permits for the existing structures in the village. Some of the residents indeed submitted applications, but all of them were denied. In June 2007 the HCJ dismissed the petition.

Since the expulsion of the village residents in 1986, the Civil Administration has not offered them an alternative place to live, nor prepared a building plan that would enable them to live legally on their lands. The Civil Administration refuses to connect the village to nearby water and electricity infrastructure that Israel built to serve the settlements and outposts, on the grounds that the village has no building plan. In the last few years, solar panels were installed in the village to supply electricity to the residents. In 2011, the Civil Administration demolished fourteen structures in the village, among them ten residential tents in which 87 people lived, including thirty children. Twenty additional demolition orders are pending against other structures in the village, including an elementary school and a well.

The Israeli planning regime in Area C, which is under full Israeli control, allows almost no building or development in the Palestinian villages in these areas. In the South Hebron Hills, Israel’s policy has included expulsion of the residents of other villages. By contrast, Israel has avoided enforcing planning and building laws on the settlers’ outposts erected in the area illegally and without permits (i.e. Havat Ma’on, Avigayil, Mitzpe Yair, Suseya North-West, Nof Nesher and Asaha’el), and has allowed them to connect to the water and electricity infrastructure.

The residents of Susiya claim ownership of about 3,000 dunams of agricultural land, on which there are 30 water holes, close to the Suseya settlement. The army has issued orders prohibiting the residents from entering or farming on a major portion of these lands. In August 2010 the villagers petitioned the HCJ through Rabbis for Human Rights demanding revocation of the orders denying them access to their lands. In February 2011, the State notified the HCJ that the army and the Civil Administration would map the ownership of the lands in the area and in accordance with the results would instruct the forces in the area. So far, mapping has been carried out only for a small area. In addition, when settlers attack the farmers even on lands for which no such orders have been issued, the army and police do not enforce the law.

As the occupying power, Israel is obligated to act for the benefit and welfare of the residents of the occupied area. Israel is violating international law in not preparing a building plan for the village of Susiya while instead attempting to expel its residents.

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Khirbet Susiya, village under threat of demolition. Photo: Ann Pack, Activestills.org, 15 June 2012

The South Hebron Hills

Khirbet Susiya – a village under threat of demolition

The Palestinian village of Khirbet Susiya has existed in the South Hebron Hills at least since the 1830s. Its residents have traditionally earned a living from shepherding and growing olive trees. In 1983, the Israeli settlement of Susiya was established near the village, on Palestinian land that had been declared state land by Israel. In 1986, about 25 families were living in Khirbet Susiya, in caves and structures. That year, the Civil Administration declared the village’s land an “archeological site”; the land was confiscated “for public purposes” and the Israeli military expelled its residents from their homes. Having no other option, the families relocated to other caves in the area and to flimsy wood frame shelters and tents they erected on agricultural land a few hundred meters southeast of the original village and the archeological site. The military expelled the residents again several times, most recently in July 2001, shortly after Palestinians killed Israeli Yair Har Sinai, a resident of the Susiya settlement. During the expulsion, carried out without warning, soldiers destroyed residents’ property, demolished their caves and blocked up water cisterns. In September 2001, further to a petition by the residents to Israel’s High Court of Justice (HCJ) filed by Attorney Shlomo Lecker, the HCJ issued an interim order that prohibited further destruction pending a ruling on the petition. Ancient village of Susiya, South Hebron Hills, 17 November 2010. Photo: Yoav Gross, B’Tselem. In the following years, pending a ruling, the residents had to deal with an impossible reality. On the one hand, they had to erect homes and structures for their livestock after the military destroyed their previous ones; on the other hand, the Civil Administration refused to prepare a master plan for the village that would enable its residents to build homes legally and connect to the water and power grids, and rejected residents' applications for building permits. The people of Khirbet Susiya were left no choice but to build temporary buildings and residential tents. The Civil Administration then issued demolition orders for the new structures which, they alleged, were not covered by the interim order. In June 2007, the HCJ decided to vacate the petition, without making a ruling. The Civil Administration continued to issue demolition orders for dozens of structures in Khirbet Susiya. Over the years, the residents filed further petitions in an attempt to prevent the demolitions and plan the village legally, but the justices refused to prohibit the demolition. In 2011 the Civil Administration demolished 10 residential structures in the village, six structures used for making a livelihood and four wells. Planning attempts by villagers blocked Currently about 250 people live in Khirbet Susiya on a regular basis, and some 100 others live in it for part of the year, as their livelihood is seasonal. In late 2012, Israeli NGO Rabbis for Human Rights submitted a master plan for the village to the Civil Administration, on behalf of the residents. In January 2013, the state notified the HCJ that the Civil Administration was evaluating the plan and that, until a decision was reached, demolition orders for that land would not be carried out. In October 2013 the Sub-Committee for Planning and Licensing of the Civil Administration’s Supreme Planning Council rejected the proposed master plan. Among its reasons for rejecting the plan, which together conveyed a patronizing and unprofessional approach, the Civil Administration argued that the significant scattering of the small villages – including Susiya – in the greater Yatta area results in such high expenses for the provision of education, welfare, religion and health services that the funds of the town of Yatta are insufficient to adequately provide them. This is remarkable given that the Civil Administration itself supports the legalization of dozens of tiny illegal settler outposts scattered throughout the West Bank, and has refused to connect the Palestinian village to water and power supplies. Demolition of residential tent and shack, Khirbet Susiya, South Hebron Hills, 24 November 2011. Photo: Nasser Nawaj'ah, B'Tselem. The Civil Administration representatives further argued that authorizing the plan would perpetuate the village’s existing social fabric based on clan kinship, thereby barring individuals, and especially Palestinian women, from enjoying the benefits urban life has to offer, such as social mobility skills, job opportunities and cultural and educational empowerment: The structure of urban life means meeting new people, bringing people closer to one another; it multiplies opportunities and broadens the horizons of each and every person within his family, his tribe, and society at large. Therefore, we see the current plan as yet another attempt to keep a poor, downtrodden population from advancing; from choosing between partial income and other resources; it is an attempt to prevent the Palestinian woman from breaking the cycle of poverty and depriving her of educational and professional opportunities. Similarly, by sentencing the Palestinian child to life in a small, stultified village with no means for development, the plan keeps the child from being aware of all the opportunities available to any other person. It is our recommendation that the plan be rejected out of hand. The Civil Administration recommended that the people of Susiya make an alternative plan for a location closer to the town of Yatta. As Susiya lies mere kilometers from Yatta, which is in Area A, the recommendation effectively means transferring the residents of Susiya out of Area C. In February 2014, Israeli NGO Rabbis for Human Rights petitioned the HCJ, arguing that the Sub-Committee for Planning and Licensing had made an unreasonable decision in rejecting the master plan. The petitioners requested that the HCJ issue an interim order preventing the authorities from demolishing the village pending a ruling on the petition. In late March 2015, the state submitted its response, requesting the court reject the petition, claiming there was no justification for intervening in a justified decision by the planning institutions to reject the plan. In their response, the representatives of the state noted that the villagers have continued to build structures illegally. In early May 2015, Justice Sohlberg struck the residents’ request on the grounds that illegal construction had continued in the village after the petition was filed, actions that he termed “taking the law into their own hands”. Justice Sohlberg added that “the Court has noted the willingness of the authorities in the area to work towards examining promotion of an alternative planning cluster”. Talks between the state and Khirbet Susiya then began, and were underway until suspended by the state. On 1 August 2016, at a court session of Israel’s High Court of Justice (HCJ), counsel for the state said the talks were halted because the new Minister of Defense had yet to formulate his position on the matter. The HCJ gave the state two weeks to formulate its position. Justices Naor, Barak-Erez and Hayut declined to issue orders that the state not demolish the homes of Susiya residents pending formulation of the position. The residents were thus left in a state of uncertainty as to their future and at the mercy of Israeli authorities. Since the residents of Khirbet Susiya filed their last petition in 2014, the state has announced its intention to demolish several structures built in the village after the petition was filed – including structures renovated after they were damaged in a storm and a medical clinic that serves the entire village. On 1 February 2018, the President of the Supreme Court decided that the state could demolish seven structures in the village, which serve 42 people – about half of them children, and some of them ill persons – immediately. The state has been required to submit its position on the village’s master plan by 7 May 2018. Palestinian resident of the village of Susiya, South Hebron Hills, 15 June 2012. Photo: Anne Paq, Activestills.org. Settler takeover of Susiya land During 2001 and 2002, Israeli settlers established a number of illegal outposts on some of the land that in the past had served the Palestinian residents. Furthermore, since the demolition of Khirbet Susiya in 2001, settlers from Susiya and its outposts have prevented continuous access by villagers to about 300 hectares of land around the settlement, including 23 water cisterns. Access was prevented by use of threats and violence, including vandalizing pastures, fields, trees and cisterns, and harassing shepherds. The settlers exploit the inability of the Palestinian residents to reach their land in order to take over some of it. In the summer of 2010 they cultivated about 40 hectares, which is approximately 15 percent of the land area to which they denied Palestinians access. When police files were opened in response to complaints lodged by the Palestinians for this damage, most were closed without effect. Based on follow-ups Rabbis for Human Rights have carried out since 2007, nearly all 126 complaints to the police in Hebron made by Khirbet Susiya residents - alleging attacks, threats, incursions and damage to property by settlers - were closed without filing any charges; three complaints are still being investigated. From 2004 through 2012, B’Tselem monitored 15 complaints to the police regarding settler violence against Khirbet Susiya residents, including physical assault, setting fire to tent dwellings and belongings, threats, cutting down olive trees, stealing crops and other property damage. In 12 of the 15 cases, the investigation was closed on grounds of insufficient evidence or offender unknown. In August 2010, 55 of the village’s Rabbis for Human Rights filed an HCJ petition on behalf of the residents, seeking to be allowed, inter alia, daily access to their land. In response to the petition, the state notified the HCJ in October 2010 that the military and the Civil Administration intended to map the ownership of land in the area and then, accordingly, instruct the forces in the field as to how to deal with the need to allow access to the agricultural plots. Up until mid-May 2013, the military had issued only four orders, barring settler access to an area of 41.7 hectares – only about 13 percent of the land to which Palestinian residents had been denied access – and, in practice, reversed only one incursion by settlers, removing them from a plot the size of about one-third of one hectare (3.5 dunams). The prevention of access to some 87 percent of the area continues. On 2 February 2014 the HCJ vacated the residents’ petition on prevention of access and incursions made into their lands, on the grounds that the petition is non-specific and encompasses separate concerns of ten different families. In their ruling, the justices did address the military commander’s obligation to safeguard personal property and prevent incursions, yet refrained from ruling on the matter. They recommended that each family file an independent petition.

19 August 2012

Agriculture

Expel and Exploit

The report B’Tselem published today shows how Israel has been taking over Palestinian rural space, fragmenting it, dispossessing its residents of land and water, and handing over these areas to settlers. The process is illustrated through a case study of three villages in the Nablus District - ‘Azmut, Deir al-Hatab and Salem - telling what these communities have undergone since Israel established the Elon Moreh settlement nearby. Through this case study, the report illustrates a broader policy Israel has been implementing throughout the West Bank for decades, and in which the settlers play a key role.

5 December 2016

The community school destroyed by settlers. Photo: Omri Eran Vardi, 16 Dec. 2023

The South Hebron Hills

Expulsion of Khirbet Zanutah community

In October 2023, the community was home to 27 families, numbering 250 people in total, including some 100 minors. After the war broke out on 7 October 2023, the residents suffered threats and harassment by armed settlers, and sometimes by soldiers who ordered them to leave. Armed settlers repeatedly arrived in cars or ATVs and threatened to hurt residents unless they left. On 12 October, 10 armed settlers arrived in two cars at three homes in the community, hit residents, including with firearms, threatened them, smashed solar panels, destroyed a car door and then left. On 23 October, two settlers arrived at the Samamrah family’s home, pushed the mother, Hanaa Abu al-Kabash, drained two water tanks and left. On 24 October, settlers arrived again, attacked residents with stones, smashed solar panels and windows in one home, and drained water tanks. On 25 October, some of the residents left the community. On 27 October, four settlers arrived in a car, harassed residents who were sitting outside their home, ordered them to stop filming the incident and threw a stun grenade at them. The residents were forced to go back inside. Following this attack, the rest of the residents decided to leave and by the end of October, no one was left. On 4 December 2023, an Israeli activist arrived at the site where the community lived with foreign journalists. They discovered settlers had destroyed 10 residential structures, an agricultural structure and the school. BackgroundThe residents of Khirbet Zanutah, a community that lay in the southwestern Hebron Hills, made their living as shepherds. For several generations, they lived in naturally formed caves to which they added stone entrances. During the 1980s they began building stone houses and temporary structures. There is an archeological site in the village and an ancient mosque that have been marked as such during the British mandate era. In 2007 the Civil Administration issued demolition orders for most of the village structures for having been built without permits. However, no master plan was ever drawn up for this village, so there was no plan on which building permits could be sought. The Civil Administration justified the absence of a plan, arguing that the village was too small to have a master plan prepared for it – and that the distance from the village to the nearest town, a-Dhahiriya, is too great.In November 2007, the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) filed a petition to the High Court of Justice on behalf of the villagers, submitting the villagers’ objections to the demolition orders issued by the Civil Administration for 22 structures in the village, which include residences, sheep pens and a donkey shed. The court issued an interim injunction prohibiting implementation of the demolition orders. In May 2012, at the request of ACRI, the interim injunction was expanded to include other demolition orders issued to six residences, three cisterns and two sheep-pens in the village.Palestinian women, Khirbet Zanutah, South Hebron Hills, 3 May 2012. Photo: B'Tselem.On 30 July 2012 the petition was heard. The justices instructed the state representatives to present an alternative solution for the village residents and to advise the court within 30 days whether the state intends to submit a plan that would enable and regulate construction in the village.In its response, finally filed in late 2013, the state proposed that the petitioners submit a plan to relocate the village to Area A, near the town of a-Dhahiriya. From 2014 to 2017, the court held several hearings in which the state repeatedly emphasized that it has no intention of allowing the village to remain in its current location. In a hearing held in early 2017, the state announced that it is willing, at present, to hold back from implementing the demolition orders issued for the structures covered by the petition, as it is formulating new planning criteria that may also affect the village. The state asked the court to strike the residents’ petition and, despite the petitioners’ objections, the court granted the motion and dismissed the petition. The judges stated that the existing demolition orders for Khirbet Zanutah would not be carried out until the state finishes formulating its criteria. The court prohibited the villagers from erecting any new structures and ordered the state to give the petitioners 30 days notice, should it decide to implement any demolition orders in the future. As Khirbet Zanutah does not receive educational services, the villagers have had to build a primary school with financing by a humanitarian aid organization, despite the court order against new construction. The school was completed on 25 March 2018. On 9 April, the Civil Administration demolished the school, which had 33 students ranging from first to sixth grade.

1 January 2013