Expel and Exploit: A new B’Tselem report surveys the Israeli practice of taking over rural Palestinian land

5 December 2016

About two weeks ago, Israel’s Ministerial Committee for Legislative Affairs approved the Regulation Bill, which is meant to retroactively grant legitimacy to dispossessing Palestinians of land, including duly registered privately owned land. A new report released by B’Tselem this morning (Monday, 28 November 2016) illustrates how dispossession of Palestinians was never a matter contingent on this legislation. It has been integral to the settlement enterprise from its very inception and is one of the most consistent trends in Israeli policy over the decades. As part of this process, Israel has been taking over Palestinian rural space, fragmenting it, dispossessing the residents of land and water, and handing over these areas to settlers. Settlers play a key role in the implementation of this policy. The state helps settlers operate as a mechanism for dispossession in Palestinian space – settlers serving as a means purportedly not under state control, and settlers also use serious violence against Palestinian residents.

Our new report, Expel and Exploit: The Israeli Practice of Taking over Rural Palestinian Land, presents a case study of the process three villages in the Nablus District – ‘Azmut, Deir al-Hatab and Salem – have undergone since 1980, when Israel established the Elon Moreh nearby. Through this case study, the report illustrates a broader policy Israel has been implementing throughout the West Bank for decades. Under the guise of “temporary military occupation”, Israel treats the occupied territories as its own: grabbing land, exploiting natural resources, and establishing permanent settlements. Palestinian residents are being increasingly dispossessed of their lands, roots and livelihood, to be replaced by Israeli control either by direct official action or by the settlers acting as its envoys.

"About five settlers live on Skali’s Farm, and they have more sheep than everyone in our village put together. They have huge flocks – 500 to 1,000 sheep each – while we, the residents of Salem who own the land, are not allowed to cross the road and go far from our homes, and our sheep stay in their pens all the time. They never go out to pasture and we have nowhere to take them."
Mahyoub ‘Ahed ‘Abdallah Shtiyeh, 42, from Salem. Photo: Faiz Abu Rmeleh, Activestills.org. View photo blog

The report presents various measures – official and otherwise – that Israel has used to cut off the villagers from their land and hand it over to settlers. The first step was the 1980 establishment of the Elon Moreh settlement on 127.8 hectares (1,278 dunams) of village land. Two years later, the Commander of Judea and Samaria declared a nature reserve on some of the remaining land west of the settlement. This resulted in the creation of an area, far exceeding that of the settlement’s jurisdiction, where Palestinians must receive Israeli permission for carrying out any development, construction, new cultivation, or pasturing livestock. In 1987, roughly 170 hectares of the nature reserve were declared “state land”, and an illegal settlement outpost erected there in 1998.

The next phase in the process of dispossession took place as part of the Oslo II Accord. The lands of ‘Azmut, Deir al-Hatab and Salem were divided into Areas B and C: most of the land already built-up at the time was designated Area B, while most of the villages’ land reserves, farmland and pastureland were labelled Area C, remaining under full Israeli control. Further to this administrative groundwork for separating the built-up areas of the villages from most of their farmland and pastures, Israel took advantage of the paving of the by-pass road to Elon Moreh in 1996 to impose a physical barrier between the villagers and their land. Ever since the second intifada broke out in 2000, Palestinians have been prohibited from using the road or even crossing it. Although this prohibition is legally baseless, the bypass road to Elon Moreh (known in military jargon as Madison Road) serves as the most sweeping and significant measure blocking villagers’ access to their farmland, pastures and natural water sources.

Olive groves of the village of Salem on both sides of the bypass road to Elon Moreh, Palestinians are not allowed to go near it or cross it. Photo: Faiz Abu Rmeleh, Activestills.org. View photo blog

B’Tselem’s research demonstrates how each and every restriction Israel has imposed on the villagers has enabled settlers to encroach on Palestinian lands and increase the land under settler control. The separation Israel has created between the Palestinian residents and their farmland and pastureland allows settlers to build houses, establish outposts, dig pathways, plant crops and groves, graze livestock, and take over natural water sources on that land. All Palestinian villagers who gave testimonies for this report mentioned physical violence they routinely suffer at the hands of Israeli settlers as the key reason keeping them from accessing their land. This modus operandi constitutes a privatized takeover mechanism which allows the state to pursue its policy of establishing contiguous Israeli settlement in the West Bank, while officially disavowing the acts of the settlers.

These three villages in the Nablus District, like many other Palestinian villages, evolved over the centuries in keeping with the geographical features of the area. Farmland, pasture and natural water sources serves as the mainstays of the local economy and as the basis for the formation of an entire culture that ties the residents deeply to their surroundings. Separating the Palestinian villagers from their farmland, pastureland and natural water resources severely infringed upon their rights, devastated the local economy, and propelled them into poverty and dependence on external bodies. Villagers were left in a state of insecurity on multiple levels: financial, food and social insecurity. Israel’s policy clearly demonstrates that the state does not view the occupation, fast approaching the half-century mark, as temporary. Although Israel has thus far avoided formal annexation (except in East Jerusalem), in practice it treats the settlements as part of its sovereign territory, and has adopted measures to virtually erase the Green Line for Israeli citizens living in settlements. Meanwhile, Palestinians in the West Bank have been concentrated into 165 “islands” (Areas A and B) – non-contiguous enclaves that cannot thrive. This parallel movement, of Israeli settlers moving in and taking over more and more West Bank land Palestinians being pushed aside, has been a stable mainstay of Israeli policy in the West Bank since June 1967, with all Israeli legislative, legal, planning, funding and defense bodies working towards that end.

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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

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

No Accountability

Human Rights in the Occupied Territories

The report surveys the broad spectrum of issues regarding the Israeli authorities' human rights record in the West Bank and Gaza Strip over the past year, the 44th year of the Israeli occupation. An interactive version of the report is available online and distributed through social media. The report documents a sharp increase in the number of uninvolved Palestinians killed by the Israeli security forces in the Gaza Strip in 2011. There was also an increase in the number of Israeli civilians killed by Palestinians, compared to 2010.

21 March 2012