Plans to forcibly transfer herding communities in Area C advance further

Recent developments affect a herding community in southern Hebron, in addition to Bedouin in the central West Bank

In April there were further developments in Israel’s plan to “relocate” around 7,000 Palestinian Bedouin, around 70 per cent of whom are refugees, currently residing in 46 sites in the central West Bank,[1] and another 170 in the village of Susiya in southern Hebron. The residents strongly oppose these plans and have requested protection and assistance in their current location, including adequate planning and permits for their homes and livelihoods. The UN Secretary-General has stated that the implementation of the proposed relocation of Bedouin communities would amount to individual and mass forcible transfers and forced evictions, which are considered a grave breach of international humanitarian law.[2]

Three Bedouin communities at heightened risk

This month Dov Sedaka, a former head of the Israeli Civil Administration (ICA) who was recently appointed as a coordinator on Bedouin issues, visited the Bedouin community of Abu Nuwar (Jerusalem) and officially informed its residents that the entire community is slated for transfer. He also indicated that 34 families should sign up to the Al Jabal relocation site by early May. The latter is one of three sites identified by the Israeli authorities for Bedouin relocation and where land leveling and infrastructure works have been ongoing for the past two months. The residents stated that they refused to relocate and demanded to remain in their current location, with access to proper services. Alternatively, they are prepared to return to their original homes and land in southern Israel, from which they were evicted in the early 1950s.

On two separate occasions during April, the ICA disassembled and seized donorfunded solar panels belonging to residents of Khan al Ahmar Abu al Helu (Jerusalem), another Bedouin community at risk of transfer, claiming that they were used for “illegal” construction in Area C.

Also this month, the Israeli High Court of Justice (HCJ) heard the case of Jabal Al Baba, another community in the same area, who demanded the return of three shelters seized last year and the revocation of demolition orders against another 18 structures, all of which were provided as humanitarian assistance. The HCJ rejected the state’s demand to dismiss the case and requested the petitioners to propose a solution to be considered by the state within the next two months prior to a ruling on the case.

The use of seizure orders against “illegal” structures in Area C has risen during the past two years; unlike demolition orders, these are executed summarily and cannot be challenged in advance. Combined with demolitions and access restrictions, the confiscation of essential equipment contributes to the creation of a coercive environment, encouraging residents to leave.

The three communities concerned are located to the east of Jerusalem in an area allocated for the expansion of Israeli settlements, including the E1 plan, which entails the construction of thousands of settlement homes and commercial units with the aim of creating a continuous built-up area between the Ma’ale Adumim settlement and East Jerusalem.

The case of Susiya

A similar legal battle is underway to determine the fate of the Palestinian village of Susiya in southern Hebron in Area C. The residents of Susiya requested that the Israeli High Court issue an interim injunction freezing demolitions pending a ruling on the residents’ main petition to consider alternative planning in the area. On 5 May, the judge rejected this request without a hearing. This decision paves the way for the ICA to execute the demolition orders pending against virtually all of the existing structures in the community. Along with recent Israeli State Attorney’s statements about the intention to relocate this community to a nearby site, this development raises concerns about the forcible transfer of Susiya’s 170 residents.

In 1986, the main residential area of Susiya was declared an archaeological site by the Israeli authorities and approximately 60 families (approximately 300 people) were forcibly displaced from their homes. The displaced residents then settled on land that they own in the village, much of it agricultural. Subsequently, an Israeli settlement outpost, Suseya Synagogue, was established in the same area. The ICA has refrained from providing Susiya with adequate planning and has rejected various outline plans submitted by the residents, preventing them from building legally. As a result, the ICA has carried out multiple waves of demolitions, with at least 46 structures demolished since 2009, displacing or otherwise affecting the residents, some of them more than once.

Residents are also regularly exposed to intimidation and abuse from the nearby settlement, including physical assaults and verbal harassment. Settlers have used violence and intimidation to prevent residents from accessing more than two-thirds of the approximately 6,000 dunums of Susiya’s residential, agricultural and herding land.

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On 5 May, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Protection Cluster organized a field visit for diplomats to the southern Nablus governorate to illustrate the protection and humanitarian concerns related to settlements and settlement expansion.[3] During the visit, members of the Protection Cluster highlighted the role of both humanitarian and developmental programming in building the resilience of communities, while pushing for accountability and effective law enforcement. Members stressed the need and importance of addressing settlement expansion at a political level. In a fact sheet[4] prepared for the occasion, the Protection Cluster noted several methods of settlement expansion, including:

Retroactive authorization of outposts: In recent years, the Government of Israel has adopted a silent policy aimed at establishing new settlements or expanding existing ones by retroactively approving outposts. In the Shilo bloc, this has become apparent with the approval of Rehelim and Nofei Nehemia as new settlements. In addition, the Israeli authorities have initiated procedures to allow for the retroactive approval of Haroeh, HaYovel and Shvut Rachel outposts. Settlers who engage in the illegal establishment of communities and illegal construction in a process that often involves land grabbing and other violations of the rights of Palestinians are ‘rewarded’ with retroactive approval of these communities.

Archaeology and tourism as a means of land grab: Tel Shilo (Shilo settlement block): In 2014, building plans for Tel Shilo were submitted to the Central Planning Bureau [for the West Bank]. The plans feature an 11,000 m² visitors’ centre – an unprecedented large facility for an antiquities site. According to the plan, the site would be developed into a conference, events and tourism centre with the capacity to accommodate 5,000 visitors per day. Its goal is to strengthen the settlements and the Israeli presence in the area through tourism.

Settler violence as a means of land takeover: Systematic attacks and intimidation of Palestinian residents by Israeli settlers, coupled with the lack of effective law enforcement by the Israeli authorities,[5] have resulted in a gradual reduction in access by Palestinian farmers to land that has not already been expropriated by the Israeli government or settlers. This is often followed by the takeover of land in areas of friction where incidents take place and its subsequent cultivation by settlers.