Route 443 – West Bank road for Israelis only

1 January 2011

Route 443 is the main road linking Jerusalem and the West Bank settlements with the bloc of Modi'in communities and the Tel Aviv area in central Israel . The route serves some 40,000 vehicles daily and is an alternate route to the Jerusalem-Tel Aviv Road (Highway No. 1), which is generally crowded. Israel paved the road in the 1980s, using 14 kilometers of an existing route in the West Bank as part of it. This 14-kilometer stretch, which is about half the length of the entire road, served for decades as the main Palestinian traffic artery in the southern Ramallah District, dating back to Mandatory times. As it passes through the centers of villages lying southwest of Ramallah, it served tens of thousands of Palestinians on their way between the city and the villages.

To pave this part of the road, Israel expanded the existing route by expropriating thousands of dunams of public and private land belonging to Palestinian residents of villages in the area. The landowners filed a petition against the action to the High Court of Justice, which approved the expropriations. The court accepted the army's contention that the road was intended to meet Palestinian needs, since the roads in the West Bank were outdated and no longer sufficient, given the sharp increase in the number of motor vehicles and laborers who travelled on these roads to work in Israel .

Forbidding Palestinians from using the road

In 2002, following several cases of Palestinian gunfire at Israeli vehicles on the road, in which six Israeli citizens and one resident of East Jerusalem were killed, Israel prohibited Palestinians from using the road, by vehicle or on foot, for whatever purpose, including transport of goods or for medical emergencies. Local Palestinians travelling to Ramallah and between the villages had to return to using the same roads that Israel had claimed, 20 years earlier, were unfit for the growing volume of traffic. The alternative route is a worn and winding road that passes through a tunnel under Route 443 and through the villages themselves. It is much longer than the original road and is supposed to serve all the 35,000 villagers in the area.

The prohibition on Palestinian travel on Route 443 was implemented first by placing physical obstructions - iron gates, concrete blocks, checkpoints, or a combination of these - and later by army patrols, which punished Palestinians who violated the prohibition. Subsequently, the Israel Police also began to enforce the prohibition, issuing tickets, on one pretext or another, to Palestinians using the road. Checkpoints were erected at either end of the road - (Maccabim Checkpoint where it enters Israeli territory and Atarot Checkpoint where it enters Jerusalem 's jurisdictional area.

Travel on Route 443 is crucial to the Palestinian villagers living along it. For many of them, this is the way to their farmland, which lies on both sides of the road. It is also the primary access road to Ramallah, the city on which the villagers rely for commerce and for their health and education needs. Many of the villagers also have family and social ties with residents of Ramallah. As a result of the prohibition, more than 100 small shops in villages along its route have closed since 2002, among them floor-tile establishments, flower shops, furniture stores, and restaurants.

After receiving much criticism for closing the road to Palestinian travel, Israel built three roads in 2007 and 2008, which it referred to as "fabric of life" roads. These roads are intended for Palestinians alone and are meant to serve as a substitute connection between the villages and Ramallah. However, paving these roads generated further violation of human rights: to build them, additional land was expropriated from Palestinian villages and villagers. Although these alternate roads improved villagers' access to Ramallah, they were inferior in quality to Route 443. For example, parts of the "fabric of life" road between Beit Ur al-Fauqa and Bitunya collapsed during last winter's rains and were closed to traffic.

Petition to the High Court of Justice

In June 2007, residents of the six villages near Route 443, represented by the Association for Civil Rights in Israel , petitioned the High Court of Justice to open the road to Palestinians. The petitioners contended that closing the road infringed the human rights of Palestinians, violated a previous judgment of the court, exceeded the authority of the military commander, and improperly discriminated against Palestinians.

Some two and a half years later, in late December 2009, the High Court ruled , by majority vote, that the total ban on Palestinian travel on the segment of the road running through the West Bank must be lifted. Justice Uzi Fogelman, who wrote the majority opinion, held that the military commander did not have the authority to impose such a ban and that, in any case, the ban was disproportionate given the real harm to the residents of the Palestinian villages alongside the road. The court gave the army five months to formulate a different solution for protecting Israelis travelling on the road.

Implementation of the High Court's decision

Despite Justice Fogelman's important principled determination, the decision did not clearly instruct the army how to implement the judgment. Also, the court rejected the villagers' demand that it order the army to open the route leading to Bitunya, which links the villages with Ramallah.

The army proposed new traffic arrangements that still exclude Palestinians from the road, rendering the judgment meaningless. These include establishment of two new checkpoints - next to the Ofer army base and next to Maccabim - where, according to the army's announcement , a careful check will be made of Palestinian vehicles wanting to use the road. In addition, the army will remove the physical obstructions from four access roads linking Palestinian villages with the road. The arrangements do enable Palestinians to travel between the villages in the area, but still prevent them from using Route 443 as the main artery to Ramallah . In this way, the army continues to improperly discriminate against Palestinians, whose use of the road is greatly limited, while Israelis are permitted to travel along it freely .

Israel has the right and the duty to protect the lives of every person in territory under its effective control, and has the authority to impose restrictions on the movement of residents of the Occupied Territories . However, this applies only when the restrictions are vital for imperative and urgent military needs, and are proportionate. It appears that neither the sweeping prohibition on Palestinian use of Route 443 in the past nor the new arrangements meet these conditions, especially since other roads in the West Bank are open to Palestinian traffic, although shooting incidents have taken place there in the past. In addition, it appears that this prohibition serves more than only military needs. If Israel , in good faith, wanted only to protect the lives of Israelis travelling along the road, it could restrict or even forbid its citizens from using the road, while building roads and creating alternate means of transportation within its territory.

Route 443 is just one example of Israeli probation on Palestinian travel in the West Bank . However, unlike roads well within the West Bank, Route 443 is used daily by thousands of Israelis on their way between towns inside Israel .

B'Tselem calls on the Israeli authorities to immediately cancel the restrictions on travel on Route 443 and to allow Palestinians free use of the road .

Suggested items

Havat Tzon Kedar outpost. Photo by Faiz Abu Rmeleh, B'Tselem, 22 July 2024

Settler Violence = State Violence

Tzon Kedar outpost: Settlers driving Palestinian farmers out of a-Sawahrah a-Sharqiyah land with military assistance

Over the past decade, settlement outposts and “agricultural farms” have become one of Israel's primary methods for taking over land in the West Bank and driving Palestinian communities out. Unlike the bureaucratic process involved in establishing an official settlement, which is legal under Israeli law, ‘pirate’ outposts can be set up quickly, with relatively few resources and laborers. Taking control of farmland via setting up outposts also allows the state to evade direct responsibility for land seizure and shrug off the violent, illegal acts by settlers involved in the process, while effectively supporting them in various ways. By using these settlers as proxies, the state frames the establishment of outposts as an issue of law enforcement rather than policy.These outposts are set up quickly in key areas of the West Bank. They establish facts on the ground by invading private Palestinian land with herds of sheep and cattle, goading residents into confrontations and assaulting them. In some cases, the outposts are established without formal approval from the Israeli authorities, and in others, they are set up in cooperation with the authorities, relying on agreements concerning land allocation for agricultural needs, such as grazing and farming. Even in cases where land has been allocated by the state, the settlers often go beyond the allotted territory, expanding the territory under their control.The military often cooperates with these settlers by not demolishing structures built by them and by sending troops to guard them, who then often actively join in efforts to expel the Palestinian residents. Since 7 October 2023, this activity has greatly increased in both scope and frequency, with settlers ramping up violence and the military actively involved. This recent spike has so far driven at least 19 Palestinian communities from their homes and placed many more under serious threat.The Mitzpe Yehuda/Tzon Kedar outpost was established in September 2019 in Bariyet a-Sawahrah a-Sharqiyah, arid pastureland east of the town of the same name in al-Quds District. The outpost consists of several structures, including a café, and hosts events and weddings; a flock of sheep has also been brought there.This area had long been used by farmers from a-Sawahrah a-Sharqiyah to grow crops and graze flocks. Some of the land is privately owned by residents of the town. Some farmers live in shacks they built on their lands to tend to their flocks and cultivate the land, while maintaining homes in the town. Additionally, for decades, Bedouins from the al-Hazalin tribe—who relocated to the area after being expelled from the Negev by Israel in the 1950s—have lived in the area. There they established the al-Muntar community, which comprises several residential clusters. Immediately after the outpost was set up there was a significant increase in harassment suffered by Palestinian residents. Settlers began invading their lands and damaging fences and crops, sometimes escorted by soldiers. Settlers also prevented some residents from reaching land they farmed and pastureland they used by threatening them at gunpoint. The restriction of available pastureland has forced shepherds who cannot afford to buy feed to sell most of their sheep. After 7 October 2023, settlers blocked the road leading from the town to the residents’ farmland and pastureland by putting up a dirt pile and concrete blocks, escorted by soldiers. This also blocked Palestinians from the town who live on their farmland and residents of al-Muntar from reaching the town for various services. At the same time, the settlers intensified their harassment of the farmers, threatening to hurt them if they did not leave the area, and preventing them from accessing pastureland or repairing their water wells. Settlers also broke into a resident’s home in the dead of night, set a neighboring house on fire, cut water pipes and vandalized fences. Some residents were forced to abandon their homes in the agricultural area out of fear for their lives, and farmers from the town stopped cultivating their lands. The residents repeatedly called the police and even filed complaints, to no avail. The police arrested one of the residents, who was released only two weeks later. The deliberate creation of such friction clearly demonstrates the motivation behind establishing outpost farms as settlers expand their control over these lands. The targeted harassment of Palestinian farmers by settlers from outposts creates a false show of symmetry between the settlers and the farmers, which the military then uses to justify removing Palestinians from their lands, often using force, under the pretext of security constraints. When such incidents recur, farmers’ access to their own lands is barred, preventing them from cultivating their fields and making a living from them. With the military’s backing, settlers exploit the situation they have created to take final control over Palestinian-owned lands. In February 2023, the Israeli government announced its intention to legalize the Tzon Kedar Farm and nine other outposts. A year later, in February 2024, the head of the Central Command signed an order regarding the jurisdiction of a new settlement named Mishmar Yehuda, among other things advancing the legalization of Tzon Qedar. The jurisdiction is apparently based on state land declared there and on land allegedly purchased by settlers from Palestinian landowners in 1992. This action completes Israel’s takeover of the land, which began with the outpost’s establishment, formalizing the residents’ loss of access to lands that served them until the outpost was built. Testimonies that B’Tselem field researcher ‘Amer ‘Aruri collected from several Palestinians who own pastureland in Bariyet a-Sawahrah a-Sharqiyah illustrate the impact of the outpost on their lives and the harassment they face from settlers and the military.On 9 May 2024, J.S. (31) said:I am married without children and work in agriculture. I own land in the pastureland of a-Sawahrah, east of the town. Before the establishment of Tzon Kedar, I lived in a-Sawahrah a-Sharqiyah and could easily reach my land. We felt safe here.Since the outpost was built, I started hearing from family members who lived on the land that settlers were attacking shepherds and not letting them reach pasture and farmland. This land has been ours for many generations. My father, my grandfathers and their grandfathers lived in this area and grazed huge flocks in these open spaces. I spent a lot of time here as a child with the family, with the sheep out in the pasture, and there was nothing to fear. The place was safe.Because it’s become so hard to access our land, I moved here with my wife a year ago. The settlers have reduced our grazing areas, which once spanned hundreds of dunams. Now we only have access to about ten dunams [~2.5 acres] right next to my house and my cousin N.S.’s house. Whenever we do try to reach the grazing areas near the outpost, the settlers threaten to shoot us with their rifles.The settlers also show up at our homes here, accompanied by soldiers. Once, a settler arrived with a map and said he’d bought the land my house and my cousin’s house are on. He also claimed that until recently, there were no structures here, even though my family had a trailer here, donated by an international organization 25 years ago. The settlers also cut the fence around our cultivated land and let their sheep roam there. They ate the crops we put so much work into.A week after 7 October 2023, while I was driving home, a settler blocked the road and told me I wasn’t allowed to reach the area by car. Later, the settlers and the army blocked the road to the town with a dirt mound and dug a trench next to it.One night after the war broke out, while my wife and I were asleep, three settlers suddenly knocked down our door and burst in. My wife started screaming and calling for help. The settlers told us we had to leave the area. One of them threatened me and said, “If you come near us, I’ll shoot you.” He said it was our final warning and that we had to leave.That night, my cousin’s house suddenly caught fire. It’s made of cement blocks and tin. I called in relatives from a-Sawahrah a-Sharqiyah, who arrived half an hour later and helped me put out the fire, but part of the house was destroyed. Thank God my cousin and his family weren’t home that night. Since the war began, his wife and children have been sleeping in town because they’re afraid of the settlers and their attacks on Palestinian communities across the West Bank, so that night he wasn’t there.Since the war began, I’ve filed three complaints against the settlers and the army, for cutting off our access to the town and for the invasion of my home, but nothing has come of it. Our complaints don’t lead to any action against the settlers.Today, 9 May 2024, we tried to repair a water cistern near our homes. We hired four workers for the job. But then an armed settler arrived and threatened us that if we didn’t stop the work, he would be back in an hour, shoot anyone working on the cistern and blow it up. The workers got scared and left, and the repairs stopped. Someone once cut the pipes leading water out of the cistern, and we suspect it was the settlers.N.S. (35), a father of four and cousin of J.S., a resident of a-Sawahrah a-Sharqiyah, related on 9 May 2024:I am a farmer. My extended family owns about 500 dunams [~124 acres] in the pastureland of a-Sawahrah a-Sharqiyah. My ancestors grew grains in this area and our family has been cultivating it since ancient times. I farm the same lands. My extended family has always had flocks of sheep that graze here.Since the settlers built their outpost a few years ago, our situation has deteriorated. Until then, we raised 500 sheep here and had access to all the grazing areas without interference. Now, to reach most of our land I have to go past the outpost, but the settlers don’t let me past and threaten to shoot me. That has reduced my grazing land from hundreds of dunams to about ten [~2.5 acres].Since 7 October 2023, the situation has got much worse. A week after the war started, I went shopping in town. When I got back at 5:30 A.M., I found part of my house burned down.I thank God that at the beginning of the war, I moved my family to our house in town because I feared the settlers would harm them. Otherwise, a disaster would have happened to us. No one but the settlers has an interest in burning our house. They are the ones trying to pressure us into leaving the area.Two weeks after the war began, the settlers and the army blocked the road leading from town to the pastureland with a dirt mound and dug a trench around it. We tried several times to unblock the road, but security guards from the nearby settlement of Qedar came and told us we were not allowed to open it. They threatened to confiscate our vehicle if we didn’t stop.The settlers continued to chase after the shepherds in the pastureland, armed with rifles. One time, they threatened to shoot me if I didn’t move my sheep away from the area by the outpost.All this has severely undermined our ability to make a living off of shepherding, and we’ve been forced to sell most of our flock. From a flock of 500 sheep, only 60 remain. Not only do the settlers prevent us from reaching our grazing land, but they also let their sheep–I estimate they have about 200–roam freely on our cultivated lands.On the tenth day of the last Ramadan, at 3:00 A.M., soldiers came to my house in six military vehicles and arrested me. They took me to the Russian Compound detention center in Jerusalem and accused me of multiple charges, all of which I denied.I told the interrogator that the only Jews I know are the two settlers who have been attacking me, threatening my life, and releasing their sheep onto my family’s farmland, while barring me from grazing my sheep and going near their outpost.I was held in the detention center for 14 days, in a cell with 15 other people. The cell had a toilet and six concrete bunks, so most of the detainees slept on the floor. There were no blankets. All we got to eat, twice a day, was an egg, four sausages and a slice of bread. That’s what we got even for the pre-fast meal, suhur, and the meal for breaking the fast, iftar. At night, we weren’t allowed to turn off the lights, which made it very hard to sleep.The guards stormed into the cell several times a day and beat all of us for no reason. Usually, the worst beatings occurred at night, after we went to sleep. I suffered many injuries to my head and chest from the beatings, but we didn’t get any medical treatment. People who had been detained in the past told me that before 7 October 2023, prison was different. After two weeks, I was released and went home.We get water from the town through plastic pipes, and we have a 500-liter tank. It takes a week to fill because the water pressure is weak. Three days ago, someone sabotaged our water pipes and cut them. I believe it was settlers from the outpost. This has happened more than once since October. The war has increased the settlers’ appetite for our lands, as well as their efforts to drive us out of the pastureland.Today, 9 May 2024, I hired four workers from the town to repair the water cistern by my house. At 9:30 A.M., while we were cleaning the cistern, a settler arrived with a gun and told me we had an hour to leave the place, or else he would shoot at and blow up the cistern. The workers got scared and refused to continue working after that. M.S. (34), a father of four and resident of the town of a-Sawahrah a-Sharqiyah, said on 9 May 2024:I’m a farmer and started raising sheep about three years ago. I work on the farmland of my grandfather and father in the pastureland of a-Sawahrah a-Sharqiyah. My late grandfather had a quarry in the area, which operated with an Israeli license, but stopped functioning about 30 years ago.My grandfather and father used to grow grains and raise sheep, and could access their lands freely back then. You could plant, sow and graze sheep everywhere. We used the crops for personal consumption and sold some of it to buy feed for the sheep some of the year. But since the outpost was established about 500 meters from our home, the lands we use for grazing and farming have shrunk from hundreds of dunams to 12 dunams [~3 acres]. That is because the settlers do not allow my family past the outpost to reach the grazing land.In the past, we leased some of our land to another resident of a-Sawahrah a-Sharqiyah, who cultivated it. But after the outpost was established, he got too scared and left. The settlers took advantage of the fact that the land was uncultivated, and three years ago, they cut the barbed wire fence, invaded our land and plowed it. My family has roots here going back hundreds of years, and I wasn’t ready to give up. I decided to come back and work the land along with my brothers and cousins, because I feared the settlers would take over my ancestral land. We fixed the barbed wire fence that they destroyed, plowed the land and planted seeds.The first time, after the settlers invaded and plowed our land, more than 50 members of our family came and worked the land. At first, the settlers were afraid to come near us, so we managed to work and plant. But later on, masked settlers started coming to our land and cursing everyone who was working there.On 29 April 2023, the settlers cut the barbed wire fence around our land and uprooted the iron stakes marking its boundaries. We repaired the fence, drove the iron stakes back in and re-marked the boundaries.After 7 October 2023, the settlers started trying even harder to grab our land, especially because the Israeli government gave them a green light to attack Palestinian communities in the West Bank without being held accountable.More than once, settlers have stood in my path and threatened me. They told me that if I stayed in the area, it would soon cost me my life. They said they were losing patience with me and my family, because our land and homes are the closest to their outpost.Once, after the war began, settlers attacked the home of one of my relatives. They broke into his house at night, while he was there with his wife, and threatened to kill him. That same night, another relative’s house was set on fire.About seven months ago, while we were out at a family celebration, the settlers used the opportunity to unleash dogs into a sheep pen we shared with some relatives. The dogs attacked the sheep and killed ten of them.In another incident three months ago, I was working on our land and had a five-year-old boy from our family with me. Two settlers arrived, one of whom I recognized and the other was wearing a mask and army pants and had an M-16 rifle. One of them asked me what we were doing on the land of Eretz Israel. I told him he was trespassing, that this was private land and that he wasn’t allowed to be there. He told me that in war there are no rules. I took out my phone and told the settler that if he didn’t leave, I would call the police. The settler warned me not to walk the sheep near the outpost and said I wasn’t allowed to leave my house at night. He threatened to kill me.Twelve days ago, the settlers cut the barbed wire fence around our land and brought in their flocks of sheep. I called the police, and they came and told the settlers they weren’t allowed to enter any fenced-off land.The settlers repeatedly sabotage the pipes through which the a-Sawahrah municipality supplies us with water. The last time was on Thursday, 16 May 2024. We got up in the morning and found the pipes cut and damaged. Obviously, nothing like this ever happened to us before the outpost was built.The residents of a-Sawahrah a-Sharqiyah used to have hundreds of dunams available for grazing. Now, we all have to share a few dozen dunams because the settlers chase shepherds in the area. Of what’s left, about 12 dunams [~3 acres] belong to my family.With less grazing land, no money to buy feed and fewer crops for the sheep to eat after the settlers cut the fences and brought their sheep into our land, I had to cut my flock down from 150 to 50.

4 September 2024

שער הכניסה ל"חוות מגד הארץ". צילום: דרור אטקס, כרם נבות, 11.5.22

Settler Violence = State Violence

Meged Ha’aretz Farm: Settler takeover of Shufah and Kafa lands with military assistance

Over the past decade, settlement outposts and “agricultural farms” have become one of Israel’s primary methods for taking over land in the West Bank and driving Palestinian communities out. Unlike the bureaucratic process involved in establishing an official settlement, ‘pirate’ outposts can be set up quickly, with relatively few resources and laborers. Taking control of farmland via setting up outposts also allows the state to evade direct responsibility for land seizure and shrug off the violent, illegal acts by settlers involved in the process, while effectively supporting them in various ways. By using these settlers as proxies, the state frames the establishment of outposts as an issue of law enforcement rather than policy.These outposts are set up quickly in key areas of the West Bank. They establish facts on the ground by invading private Palestinian land with herds of sheep and cattle, goading residents into confrontations and assaulting them. In some cases, the outposts are established without formal approval from the Israeli authorities, and in others, they are set up in cooperation with the authorities, relying on agreements concerning land allocation for agricultural needs, such as grazing and farming. Even in cases where land has been allocated by the state, the settlers often go beyond the allotted territory, expanding the territory under their control.The military often cooperates with these settlers by not demolishing structures built by them and by sending troops to guard them, who then often actively join in efforts to expel the Palestinian residents. Since 7 October 2023, this activity has greatly increased in both scope and frequency, with settlers ramping up violence and the military actively involved. This recent spike has so far driven at least 19 Palestinian communities from their homes and placed many more under serious threat.One of these outposts is Meged Ha’aretz, which was founded in 2018 in the Tulkarm district, west of the settlement of Avnei Hefetz, northwest of the village of Shufah—which, with the establishment of Avnei Hefetz, had already lost a significant portion of its land —and east of the village of Kafa. About ten residential buildings, agricultural structures, greenhouses, and a pen for around 200 sheep have been built, and plots have been prepared for growing organic agricultural produce sold at the outpost. Various workshops are also held there. Since the establishment of the outpost, there has been a significant increase in the harassment of farmers whose agricultural plots are located a few hundred meters from the outpost and the settlement fence. Settlers have harassed farmers working on their lands, provoked them, and deliberately created friction. Hundreds of olive trees have been vandalized, and agricultural structures, water tanks, and property were damaged. Equipment and livestock have been stolen, graffiti sprayed and greenhouses set on fire. Another tactic settlers from the outpost used to intimidate and take control of the land has been firing shots into the air to frighten Palestinian shepherds and prevent them from grazing their sheep and cattle in the area. As a result of settler violence and restricted access to grazing areas, some farmers were forced to sell their herds, as the cost of feeding livestock with purchased fodder was unaffordable.Since 7 October 2023, army-supported settler harassment has intensified, and farmers from the villages of Shufah and Kafa have been practically barred from working their lands and grazing their livestock. They were unable to pick their olives during the 2023 harvest. During the plowing season in March and April 2024, Palestinian landowners contacted the Israeli DCO to coordinate their entry into the area. Nevertheless, when they arrived at their plots, settlers and soldiers prevented them from working their land. The soldiers fired in the air, detained the farmers, took them to a military base in the settlement of Avnei Hefetz, and held them there for several hours before releasing them without any charges or allegations.It is important to emphasize that while Palestinians’ access to their own lands has been restricted, the military allows settlers to move free and do as they please in the area. The settlers destroyed an agricultural structure after vandalizing it several times, among other harm they have caused.The deliberate creation of such friction clearly demonstrates the motivation behind establishing outpost farms as settlers expand their control over these lands. The targeted harassment of Palestinian farmers by settlers from outposts creates a false show of symmetry between the settlers and the farmers, which the military then uses to justify removing Palestinians from their lands, often using force, under the pretext of security constraints. When such incidents recur, farmers’ access to their own lands is barred, preventing them from cultivating their fields and making a living from them. With the military’s backing, settlers exploit the situation they have created to take final control over Palestinian-owned lands.It is important to emphasize that while Palestinians’ access to their own lands has been restricted, the military allows settlers to move free and do as they please in the area. The settlers destroyed an agricultural structure after vandalizing it several times, among other harm they have caused.The deliberate creation of such friction clearly demonstrates the motivation behind establishing outpost farms as settlers expand their control over these lands. The targeted harassment of Palestinian farmers by settlers from outposts creates a false show of symmetry between the settlers and the farmers, which the military then uses to justify removing Palestinians from their lands, often using force, under the pretext of security constraints. When such incidents recur, farmers’ access to their own lands is barred, preventing them from cultivating their fields and making a living from them. With the military’s backing, settlers exploit the situation they have created to take final control over Palestinian-owned lands.Testimonies collected by B’Tselem from several residents of the villages of Shufah and Kafa illustrate the detrimental impact the outpost has on farmers’ access to their lands, as well as the mistreatment they face from settlers and soldiers.B’Tselem field researcher Abdulkarim Sadi collected the following testimonies.Tahsin Hamed (72), a father of six and resident of Shufah, gave his testimony to B’Tselem on 12 May 2024:My brothers—Jamal, Mu’in, Ahmad and Ibrahim—and I inherited 500 dunams of land about 400-500 meters from the security fence of the settlement of Avnei Hefetz, which was built on land that belongs to people from our village. We personally own an olive grove and grow seasonal crops as well.In 2018, a settler took over a hill in the area of Manzalet Bir-Salem, located about 700-800 meters northwest of the settlement of Avnei Hefetz. He moved there with his family and set up tents and sheep pens. I think he has around 200 sheep.That’s when our problems began. The settler started grazing his sheep in our olive grove, and they ate the branches of the olive trees and the seasonal crops we used to plant every year. Together with other settlers, he also damaged young olive trees we planted and the branches of mature trees. Since he set up his outpost, hundreds of our olive trees and olive seedlings have been destroyed. We planted new seedlings several times, but the settlers destroyed them again and again.Also, whenever my family and I go to our land to work, the settler calls the soldiers in the area, who come and order us to leave under false pretexts, claiming we are trespassing on the land the settler stole, even though we don’t leave our own plot. Instead of protecting us, the soldiers drive us out. They help the settler take over our land, too.We used to have a small agricultural structure made of stone and cinder blocks with a tin roof on our plot. It was built decades ago and was a place to rest and store tools. There was also a small chicken coop nearby, where I kept six hens whose eggs I ate on days I was working.The settlers have damaged the structure several times. They vandalized the water container we use for drinking, cooking and watering the plants around the structure, and broke the wooden door. The last time this happened was about a month ago, during Ramadan. Since the war in Gaza began, the Israeli army has banned me and my brothers from entering our land under security pretexts. Each time we’ve tried to go, soldiers have told us we’re forbidden from being there and expelled us. The settlers have taken advantage of this and have completely destroyed the structure and damaged everything inside it. Even during the last olive harvest, in October and November 2023, the army stopped us all from picking our olives. They drove us away every time we tried to reach our groves. As a result, the entire crop—which would make about 300 jars of olive oil—went to waste. In previous years, we sold most of the crop and kept a small portion for personal use.Last Ramadan, which started at the end of March and ended in April, the Palestinian DCO informed us that the Israeli DCO had designated three days for us to access our land to plow and treat the weeds. My brothers, our sons and I—13 people from our family altogether—arrived early in the morning on the first designated day with donkeys, pesticide and other agricultural equipment. Just 10 minutes later, Israeli soldiers stationed in the Avnei Hefetz settlement arrived and fired live shots in the air. Then guards from the settlement, other settlers and more soldiers arrived. They handcuffed us all and covered our eyes with black garbage bags.A military vehicle arrived. They loaded us onto it and took us to a military camp within Avnei Hefetz. They confiscated our ID cards and phones and held us there without any interrogation or questioning. They only swore at us. I tried to explain to the soldiers that we went to our land after coordinating with the Israeli DCO, and that we were authorized to work there for three days, but no one would listen.They kept us there with our hands tied and eyes covered for eight hours—from 7:30 A.M. to 3:30 P.M.—and then took us to the Einav checkpoint, where they released us. We took the plastic bags off our eyes and took of the remaining zip ties, and found all the belongings they took from us lying on a concrete block at the checkpoint.We got home exhausted and felt we’d been wronged. The settlers and soldiers want to drive us off our land and take control of it.On 8 December 2019, Hamed told B’Tselem how settlers harassed him and his brother on their land:This afternoon I was on the 12 plot of land that belongs to me and my brothers, west of the outpost near the Avnei Hefetz settlement. My brother Ibrahim was plowing his plot, which is next to mine. I was about to join him when suddenly, I heard shouting in Hebrew coming from his plot. I realized settlers were harassing my brother and quickly went there. It’s about 200 meters away. When I got there, I saw a settler holding the donkey’s bridle to prevent my brother from plowing. The settler was shouting and demanding that my brother leave the area. I took the bridle from the settler and yelled at him. I asked why he was doing this. The settler said the land belongs to Jews. I replied that this land has belonged to our family for hundreds of years. I managed to get the settler away from the donkey.He called for another settler to come, and we got into a fight over ownership of the land. The settler kept provoking me and telling me to hit him, but I held back so he wouldn’t have an excuse to call more settlers and soldiers, who could force us to leave. This went on for about two hours. In the end, the two settlers left after they didn’t manage to provoke us into reacting. My brother Ibrahim then continued to plow his land.This is our land, which we inherited from our grandparents, and we will continue to work it. We will plow the land, take care of it and protect it from the settlers’ herds. It’s clear to me that the settlers’ acts of provocation and aggression are just the beginning. They want to drive us off the land so they can take control of it.A.I. (21), a resident of Kafa, gave his testimony to B’Tselem on 20 July 2024:My family and I make our living from farming. We own farland and greenhouses east of Kafa, in an area called al-Maruj a-Sharqiya [1] (“the eastern fields”. There, we have greenhouses that cover 3 dunams, where we grow cucumbers, tomatoes and other vegetables.A few years ago, a settler set up a farm on a hill called al-Masyad and took over the land I mentioned, which belongs to my grandfather, and covers almost 9 dunams. Since then, accessing our land has become risky, because the settler and his friends provoke and threaten us.For example, one night in the spring of 2018, a group of settlers set fire to our greenhouses. That same year, they attacked me and my brother Haitham with sticks and branches while we were inside our greenhouse. There were more than 15 of them, most under the age of 18, but they were accompanied by the settler who built the farm. My brother and I managed to escape, but they uprooted tomato seedlings we planted.In 2021, they tried to set the greenhouses on fire several times, always at night. Thanks to our vigilance, we put out the fire each time before it spread to all the greenhouses.In March 2024, while I was installing wooden boards on the roofs of the greenhouses, a group of about 12 settlers arrived, some of them carrying sticks and others guns. They forced me to come down from the roof, threatened me and then drove me out of the land. I had to leave to avoid being attacked.I’m currently preparing the land for planting. Most days, on our way to the greenhouses, there are shots in the air above us coming from the direction of the farm. They try to scare us off coming to our land, growing things on it and benefiting from it.The soldiers guarding the outpost help the settlers. They detain us, check our ID cards and phones, and look to see whether we’ve photographed the outpost or the settlers, trying to deter us from coming. Their goal is to drive us owners away so the settlers can take over the land.U.I. (25), a resident of Kafa, gave his testimony to B’Tselem on 20 July 2024:I’ve been working in agriculture since 2017. I have greenhouses on 3 dunams and another 2 dunams of field crops and vegetables. These plots are east of Kafa, in an area called al-Maruj a-Sharqiya, about 700-800 meters from the outpost. Ever since a settler built an outpost west of the Avnei Hefetz settlement, we’ve been facing problems, and accessing my land has become dangerous. After 7 October 2023, the harassment increased, especially from late December 2023 to late February 2024. Whenever we tried to reach the land, the soldiers guarding the outpost would block us. We had to sneak in to work the land. One morning, I arrived at the greenhouses to plant tomato seedlings. I saw about 20 settlers on my land, and soldiers who were with them wouldn’t let me pass. I waited until noon, and when I finally reached the greenhouses, I found they’d slashed the plastic coverings with knives and stones. They also damaged the tomato seedlings—4,600 seedlings I bought from a nursery the day before. Besides that, the settlers from the outpost shoot over our heads when we’re on the land and in the greenhouses to scare us. The last time was just a few days ago, on 16 July 2024—the bullet came within a few centimeters of my head, and I was lucky not to be hit. They do all of this to force us to abandon our land so they can take control of it more easily. W.A. (36), a father of three and resident of Kafa, gave his testimony to B’Tselem on 20 July 2024:I’m a farmer. My family and I have farmland east of Kafa, in an area called al-Aqayib a-Sharqiya. In June 2017, across from our land, in the area of al-Akran, an outpost was built. It lies west of the Avnei Hefetz settlement. Until 2018, we also raised cattle and sheep. We had 50 cows and 70 sheep, and would graze them on 100 dunams of pastureland that served the village for decades. But then a settler built that outpost, which is basically a farm; he set up trailers, built sheep pens, and barred my family from grazing our cattle there. On several occasions, he fired shots into the air above our heads and our herds to scare us. We were afraid he might kill the livestock or even us, and we realized there was no one to protect us or hold him accountable. We had to stop grazing and, since we can’t afford feed, we had no choice but to sell our herd at the end of 2018, a year after the settler arrived.In 2021, while we were planting black-eyed pea seedlings in our field, a group of settlers showed up. That original settler drew an imaginary line with his hand and said we and other farmers were not allowed to cross it, threatening that anyone who did would be risking their life. The line he drew was more than 700 meters from his outpost. He also often flies a drone over us when we work our land.We live in constant tension and fear because of his violent behavior—the shots in the air, the drone and the threats. We’re very worried he might harm us and are concerned about our livelihood and future.

27 August 2024

Apartheid

This is apartheid: The Israeli regime promotes and perpetuates Jewish supremacy between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River

Today, B’Tselem published a new position paper that details how the Israeli regime enacts in all the territory it controls (Israeli sovereign territory, East Jerusalem, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip) an apartheid regime. One organizing principle lies at the base of a wide array of Israeli policies: advancing and perpetuating the supremacy of one group – Jews – over another – Palestinians. In the position paper B’Tselem rejects the perception of Israel as a democracy (inside the Green Line) that simultaneously upholds a temporary military occupation (beyond it). B’Tselem reached the conclusion that the bar for defining the Israeli regime as an apartheid regime has been met after considering the accumulation of policies and laws that Israel devised to entrench its control over Palestinians. The key tool Israel uses to implement the principle of Jewish supremacy is engineering space geographically, demographically and politically. Jews go about their lives in a single, contiguous space where they enjoy full rights and self-determination. In contrast, Palestinians live in a space that is fragmented into several units, each with a different set of rights – given or denied by Israel, but always inferior to the rights accorded to Jews. The Israeli regime pursues this organizing principle in four major areas: Land – Israel works to Judaize the entire area, treating land as a resource chiefly meant to benefit the Jewish population. Since 1948, Israel has taken over 90% of the land within the Green Line and built hundreds of communities for the Jewish population. Since 1967, Israel has also enacted this policy in the West Bank, building more than 280 settlements for some 600,000 Jewish Israeli citizens. Israel has not built a single community for the Palestinian population in the entire area stretching from the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River (with the exception of several communities built to concentrate the Bedouin population after dispossessing them of most of their property rights). Citizenship – Jews living anywhere in the world, their children and grandchildren – and their spouses – are entitled to Israeli citizenship. In contrast, Palestinians cannot immigrate to Israeli-controlled areas, even if they, their parents or their grandparents were born and lived there. Israel makes it difficult for Palestinians who live in one of the units it controls to obtain status in another, and has enacted legislation that prohibits granting Palestinians who marry Israelis status within the Green Line. Freedom of movement – Israeli citizens enjoy freedom of movement in the entire area controlled by Israel (with the exception of the Gaza Strip) and may enter and leave the country freely. Palestinian subjects, on the other hand, require a special Israeli-issued permit to travel between the units (and sometimes inside them), and exit abroad also requires Israeli approval. Political participation – Palestinian citizens of Israel may vote and run for office, but leading politicians consistently undermine the legitimacy of Palestinian political representatives. The roughly five million Palestinians who live in the Occupied Territories, including East Jerusalem, cannot participate in the political system that governs their lives and determines their future. They are denied other political rights as well, including freedom of speech and association. In the entire area, control over these aspects of life lies entirely in Israel’s hands – the sole power determining the population registry; land allocation; voter rolls; and the right (or denial thereof) to travel within, enter or exit any part of the area. The Israeli regime has grown increasingly explicit regarding its Jewish supremacist ideology, a process that has seen two major unmasking milestones in recent years. One was the enactment of Basic Law: Israel – the Nation State of the Jewish People, which declares the distinction between Jews and non-Jews fundamental and legitimate, and permits institutional discrimination in land management and development, housing, citizenship, language and culture. The second came in the form of official statements regarding formal annexation of more parts of the West Bank, attesting to Israel’s long-term intentions and debunking claims of “temporary occupation.” B’Tselem stresses that the military occupation has not ended: Palestinians in the West Bank remain its direct subjects, while in the Gaza Strip they live under its effective control, exerted from the outside. At the same time, casting Israel as a “democracy” on one side of the Green Line, while it is “temporarily” occupying millions of people on the other side, is divorced from reality. This depiction ignores the fact that this state of affairs has been in place for over fifty years. It fails to take into consideration the hundreds of thousands of Jewish settlers living east of the Green Line. It glosses over the de-jure annexation of East Jerusalem and the de-facto annexation of the rest of the West Bank. These facts lead to the conclusion that these are not two parallel regimes, but a single one, governing the entire area and all the people living in it. B’Tselem’s Executive Director, Hagai El-Ad: “The fundamental tenets of Israel’s regime, although already implemented for many years, have recently grown more explicit. This happened both with the discussion of de jure annexation after decades of de facto annexation, and with the enactment of the Nation State Basic Law, which took the existing discrimination against Palestinians and turned it into an open constitutional principle. Israel is not a democracy that has a temporary occupation attached to it: it is one regime between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, and we must look at the full picture and see it for what it is: apartheid. This sobering look at reality need not lead to despair, but quite the opposite. It is a call for change. After all, people created this regime, and people can change it.”

12 January 2021