High Court of Justice approves Separation Barrier route near Sheikh Sa’ed in Jerusalem area, seriously infringing the villagers’ human rights

5 May 2010

On 15 March 2010, the Israeli High Court of Justice accepted the state's position and held that the village of Sheikh Sa'ed, which is situated on the southeast edge of Jerusalem's city limits, will be severed from East Jerusalem by the Separation Barrier, a wall eight meters high.

The checkpoint at the entrance to the village of Sheikh Sa'ed. Photo: 'Amer 'Aruri, B'Tselem, 8 April 2010.

Sheikh Sa'ed, which is home to two thousand persons, lies by the village of Jabel Mukaber and close family relations exist between the residents of the two villages. Unlike Jabel Mukaber, Israel did not annex Sheikh Sa'ed to Jerusalem in 1967, and it officially remained part of the West Bank. However, the village continued to function as part of East Jerusalem, with its residents receiving most of their services, including education and health, in the city. Most of the residents worked in Jerusalem. Half of the residents are permanent residents of Israel and hold Israeli ID cards; the others hold Palestinian ID cards, but most of them have permits to enter Jerusalem.

The only road linking the village with the rest of the West Bank is a dirt farm road that cuts through a deep wadi and reaches Sawahreh a-Sharqiya, north of Sheikh Sa'ed. The road is in very poor condition and after it rains, becomes muddy and impassable. The villagers had another road at their disposal, running through Jabel Mukaber, which they used to get to Jerusalem and elsewhere in the West Bank.

In September 2002, the army blocked the road to Jabel Mukaber with dirt mounds and concrete blocks. Since then, it has been impossible to enter or leave the village by car. In late August 2003, Israel approved construction of the Separation Barrier in the area, along a route separating Sheikh Sa'ed from East Jerusalem. The state also planned to pave a road that would link Sheikh Sa'ed to the village of Sawahreh a-Sharqiya, which was also separated from East Jerusalem by the barrier.
In April 2004, the villagers submitted an appeal against the route of the Separation Barrier, which would disconnect them from Jabel Mukaber. In March 2006, the Separation Barrier Appeals Committee accepted the appeal, holding that, “historically, Sheikh Sa'ed is part of Jabel Mukaber, which lies within Jerusalem” and that the route of the barrier is disproportionate and infringes the villagers' rights to life, liberty, and dignity. The Appeals Committee ordered the state to reconsider the barrier's route in the area.

A week after the committee made its decision, the Border Police replaced the dirt mounds and concrete blocks at the village's entrance with a staffed checkpoint. The state petitioned the High Court of Justice against the decision of the Appeals Committee, claiming that it ignored the security ramifications of the alternative route, which would annex the village to the area of Jerusalem. In an interim ruling issued in July 2006, the court permitted the state to establish a temporary security fence, leaving an opening between Sheikh Sa'ed and Jerusalem. The new checkpoint, like the temporary one that preceded it, may be crossed only on foot. Unlike before, however, vehicles are not even allowed to come up to the checkpoint, and have to stop about twenty meters from it. The only way that villagers can now bring goods into the village or out of it, including foodstuffs and other vital products, is by carrying them on their backs. Residents of Sheikh Sa'ed and Jabel Mukaber who have Israeli ID cards are allowed to cross the checkpoint on foot at any time, and residents holding Palestinian ID cards and permits to enter Jerusalem are generally allowed to cross too. One of the most serious consequences of the restrictions imposed on the village is impaired access to medical treatment, especially in emergency cases. The complicated crossing at the checkpoint makes it hard to take seriously ill persons to hospitals in East Jerusalem. Traveling to hospital in East Jerusalem along the dirt road to Sawahreh a-Sharqiya is almost three times as expensive as traveling via Jabel Mukaber.

The village has two medical clinics. One is operated by the Palestinian Authority and is open twice a week for three hours at a time. The other, operated by the village council, is intended for first-aid and is open five hours a day but lacks equipment and medicines. In the past, residents went to hospitals in East Jerusalem for treatment and many went to the Clalit Health Fund clinic in Jabel Mukaber, which lies 100 meters from the entrance to Sheikh Sa'ed. Family relations of the villagers are also harmed. Relatives holding Palestinian ID cards find it difficult to maintain contact with their relatives in Jabel Mukaber; they only receive permits to visit on holidays and special occasions. Given the situation of families living in the isolated village, it is hard for young people in the village to find a spouse willing to live there. In a decision given on 15 March 2010, the High Court accepted the state's position and approved the original route between Sheikh Sa'ed and Jabel Mukaber. The justices recognized that “the fence will significantly affect the reality in which the residents of the Sheikh Sa'ed neighborhood live, and make it difficult for them to carry out routine and simple actions.” They ordered the state to build a gate in the barrier and held that the “grave harm” that the villagers face will be reduced by keeping the gate open around the clock for the villagers allowed to enter Israel, and by paving the planned road between the village and Sawahreh a-Sharqiya. The route of the Separation Barrier around Sheikh Sa'ed, as in the entire area of Jerusalem, is intended to separate the areas annexed in 1967 from the rest of the West Bank. In light of the fabric of life that has developed over many years between Sheikh Sa'ed and its parent village, Jabel Mukaber, construction of a physical barrier between them will result in serious and cumulative infringement of human rights, as has already occurred elsewhere in the city. The relief proposed by the High Court, that a gate be built in the Barrier between the two villages, is not a proper alternative for maintaining a reasonable way of life.

Given the reality of life as it has developed in many parts of the city since the annexation of East Jerusalem in 1967, any security solution based on the building of a physical barrier, even one that is built along the Green Line, will severely harm human rights. Israel must carry out its duty to ensure the security of its residents by other means that are consistent with the human rights of all those who live in the territory under its control.

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Wadi Qadum, East Jerusalem: Israel Police detain five Palestinian minors without notifying parents for over 6 hours, and interrogate them without an adult on their behalf present

On Thursday, 19 January 2023, at around 5:30 P.M., about 10 Israel Police officers arrived in the neighborhood of Wadi Qadum in East Jerusalem and grabbed five Palestinian residents between the ages of 12 and 15. They crowded all five into a police car and held them there for about an hour. At around 6:30, the teens were taken to the police station on Salah a-Din Street. There, they were made to sit on chairs facing a wall in a very cold, air-conditioned room and forbidden to talk to each other. At around 7:00 P.M., a lawyer arrived and explained their rights to them, and only then did the police allow them to use the bathroom. Meanwhile, the parents of four of the boys arrived at the station, but the officers refused to let them in, and they had no choice but to wait for their sons outside for hours. Each of the teeens was interrogated alone, without an adult present on his behalf, for about an hour or an hour and a half. After some of them refused to sign a statement in Hebrew and insisted they hadn’t thrown stones, the interrogators reportedly humiliated them, swore at them, and in some instances resorted to physical violence. For example, one officer pulled 12-year-old Mustafa a-Salaymeh’s chair out from under him, making him fall. An interrogator hit Ayham a-Salaymeh, also 12 years old, on the neck, while Mu'taz a-Salaymeh, 14, was hit on the neck and face by an interrogator who also pulled his hair. When the interrogations were over, the teens were kept at the station and given no explanation of what lay ahead. At around 11:00 P.M., the officers gave them slices of bread. Around midnight, after Nawaf a-Salaymeh, the father of Ayham and Ahmad, posted NIS 5,000 (~USD 1,400) in bail for each of the five boys, they were all sent home for five days’ house arrest. About 10 minutes after Nawaf and his sons got home, a police officer called and demanded that Ahmad return to the station on the pretext that his interrogation had not been recorded. Ahmad went back to the station with his father and was again interrogated alone, exhausted and scared, for about an hour and a half. This time, he signed the statement. When he asked what he was signing, the interrogator replied it was none of his business. Five teens were abducted from a street without being told what they were suspected of or where they were being taken. They were interrogated at a police station, under threats and pressure, while their parents were not notified or allowed in the room, and were held for more than six hours. For the first two hours, they were forbidden to go to the bathroom and given nothing to drink. All the while, the parents of four boys were not allowed into the station and forced to wait outside until their sons were released. 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The boys described what happened to them that evening in testimonies they gave to B'Tselem field researcher ‘Amer ‘Aruri on 22 January 2023: Muhammad a-Salaymeh (15): On Thursday, 19 January 2023, at around 5:30 in the afternoon, I was on my way home from visiting a friend in the neighborhood of Ras al-‘Amud with some other friends – Ahmad and Ayham, who are brothers, and Mustafa and Mu'taz. We were going down the stairs that lead from Ras al-‘Amud to our neighborhood, Wadi Qadum, when suddenly we saw about 10 people from the occupation forces and they arrested us. I didn't understand what was going on, and it was very confusing. One of the officers put his arm around my neck, which hurt a lot, and pulled me by force into the car. We all sat there one on top of the other, and it was very crowded. First, they took us to Ras al-‘Amud and we waited there in the car, near the police station. I asked the officer for water, but he ignored me. We sat in the car for about an hour, and then they took us to the police station on Salah a-Din. There, they put us in a room, made us sit on chairs facing a wall and told us not to talk to each other. A police officer threatened us that whoever spoke would be beaten, so I kept silent. After about half an hour, a lawyer came and explained our rights to us. After he left, we were taken to the bathroom one by one. After I got back from the bathroom, I saw that Mu’taz and Mustafa were being taken away for interrogation. Then they also took me to an interrogation room. The interrogator asked me to write my name on an electronic screen, the kind you sign when you use a credit card. He also asked me to write the name of the lawyer who came earlier, and then he said: "You’re accused of throwing stones at a police car." I told him it wasn't me, and he said my friends had admitted to throwing the stones. I told him again that it wasn't true, and that we were just going home together, and that they couldn’t have admitted to something we didn't do. He swore at me and threatened that if I didn't sign the paper on the table, he’d hit me. I was afraid of him and signed the paper. I don't know what I signed, because it was in Hebrew. I sat in the interrogation room for about an hour, and then I was taken back to the room we were in before and sat on a chair. Some of my friends were there and some were still being interrogated. It was only around 11:00 P.M. that they gave us a piece of bread to eat. I was really hungry. About an hour later, we were let go and put under house arrest for five days. One of the parents posted my bail, which was NIS 5,000. Mu'taz a-Salaymeh (14): When they arrested us, I didn't exactly understand what was happening and where the police officers had come from. They grabbed us all by the neck. I almost choked when the officer wrapped his arm around my neck and pulled me into a police car along with the others. They put us in the car one on top of the other. Two officers sat up front. When I told them in Arabic that my legs were hurting because of the way we were sitting, one of them said: “If you don’t shut up, I’ll chop your leg off.” From that moment on, I kept quiet. We drove to the police station in Ras al-‘Amud and waited there in the car for about an hour. We asked the officers for water, but they ignored us. My mouth was parched, I was so thirsty. Then we got to a police station on Salah a-Din Street. They put us in a very cold room with an air conditioner that was running on cooling. They made us each sit on a chair facing the wall and told us not to talk. When we asked the officer to turn the air conditioner off because we were shivering with cold, he refused. Over the next hour, we asked several times to use the bathroom, but they ignored us. Only after the lawyer who came to talk to us left, an officer took each of us separately to the bathroom. While he was taking me, he swore at me on the way and said obscene things about my mother and sister. They took Mustafa and me away separately for interrogation. In the interrogation, they showed me a video of people throwing stones. I told the interrogator I didn’t know who they were and that I hadn’t done anything. He shouted at me and said I was a liar. The whole time, I was afraid he would hit me. He kept swearing and once, after I shouted back at him: "Why are you cursing my mother?", he pulled my hair and punched me in the face and neck. I refused to sign the document. The interrogator said it was my statement, but it was in Hebrew so I refused to sign it. He laughed at me and said: "So don't sign, cross-eyes!” It was humiliating. After about an hour and a half of interrogation, I was taken back to the room. At around 11:00 P.M., they gave us some bread to eat. About an hour later, they let us go and put us under house arrest for five days, after posting NIS 5,000 bail each. Ayham a-Salaymeh (12): When we got to the police station at Salah a-Din, I asked to use the bathroom but the police officer refused to take me. Only when the lawyer arrived and I told him I had to go to the bathroom, did the officers take me there. Then they brought me back to the room. The lawyer was still there, and told me he’d being explaining to everyone that the interrogators had no right to hit us or swear at us. Then he left and the officers started taking each of us away separately for interrogation. In my interrogation, I was really scared. I didn't know what was going to happen. The interrogator showed me a video and asked if I was on it. I said I wasn’t, and he shouted at me and asked if those were my friends and brother. I said I didn't know who those people were, and then he hit me on the neck and said that if I admitted to throwing stones, they’d let me go home. I told him again I hadn’t done anything. He gave me a document in Hebrew to sign, without explaining what it said. I signed it, because I was afraid he’d hit me again. The whole time, the interrogator was yelling at me and banging his hand on the table. Ahmed a-Salaymeh (13): They put us in a room that was very cold, because the air conditioner was on cooling instead of heating. They made us sit on iron chairs facing the wall and wait. After a lawyer talked to us, they took me to the bathroom. On the way, the officer who was taking me there swore at me and cursed my mother and sister. Then they interrogated me and showed me a video of people throwing stones in Wadi Qadum. The interrogator said that if I admitted to throwing stones, I’d go home. But I told him I honestly hadn’t thrown stones. He cursed my mother, insulted me, showed me the video again and asked who it was throwing stones. I told him I didn't know, and then he picked a glass of water up from the table and threw it at me. It didn’t hit me. I refused to sign the statement and then the interrogator said I could go. When I was almost out the door, he kicked me in my backside. They let us all go late at night. My father took Ayham and me home, and after about 10 minutes the police called him and demanded he bring me back to the station. When we got there, I was interrogated alone again. The interrogator told me they hadn’t recorded the previous interrogation and that was why they’d brought me in again. He asked me the same questions about throwing stones, and again I denied it. I was really tired, and this time I signed the document in Hebrew. When I asked the interrogator what it said, he said it was none of my business. Nawaf a-Salaymeh (47), a father of six including Ayham and Ahmad: On Thursday, 19 January 2023, at around 6:00 P.M., a kid from the neighborhood told me he’d seen the occupation forces arresting my two sons and three other boys. I immediately called the Wadi Hilweh information center and they put me in touch with a lawyer. The lawyer made some inquiries and told me my children were being held at the police station on Salah a-Din. After about an hour, at around 7:00, I arrived at the station with some of the other boys’ parents, but the police officers wouldn’t let us in to see our children. We stood outside in the cold for about four hours. At around 11:00, an officer came out of the station and demanded I post NIS 5,000 in bail for every boy. At around midnight, they were released. They came out exhausted, freezing and hungry. A few minutes after I got back home with Ayham and Ahmad, the police called and demanded I bring Ahmad back to the station because they hadn’t recorded his interrogation. I took him to the station and they interrogated him alone. When he came out, about an hour later, he told me they’d asked again if he’d taken part in the stone-throwing.

9 March 2023