19 March ’08, Hebron: The settlement in the a-Ras neighborhood is one year old

On 19 March 2007, settlers invaded a house and established a new settlement, in the heart of the a-Ras Palestinian neighborhood in Hebron. In the twelve months that have passed since then, despite the decision of the Defense Minister at the time to evacuate the settlement, the settlement has grown. It has been connected to the electricity grid and has undergone construction and renovation work.

Over the past year, the harm to the Palestinian residents in the area has increased and they have suffered further infringement of their human rights. They suffer both from the settlers and from Israeli security forces who have been assigned to protect the settlement.

Researchers from B'Tselem and the Association for Civil Rights in Israel found that establishment of the settlement, and the failure to evacuate it, has caused daily harm to Palestinian residents of the area, including:

• extensive abuse and violence by settlers in the new settlement, carried out before the eyes of security forces;
• abuse and violence by security forces posted at or near the new settlement;
• increased prohibitions on movement enforced by Israeli security forces;
• failure to enforce the law on violent settlers;
• attempts by settlers to cut access paths to the settlement through Palestinian farmland or on Palestinian streets, which led to violent confrontations.

Soldiers and settlers inside the new settlement's building, 25.3.07.

The new settlement has made the lives of the neighborhood's Palestinian residents, who lived under harsh conditions previously, intolerable. In recent months, Palestinians living in houses near the new settlement have had to put up wire fences and walls to prevent invasion by settlers and to protect their homes from stones and bottles thrown by settlers. Also, many residents have stopped parking their cars near the settlement, fearing the cars will be damaged by settlers or by security forces.

In other neighborhoods in the city center in which settlements have been built, the infringement on their human rights has forced many Palestinian residents and merchants to move out of the area. There is concern that if the attacks and harm continue in the a-Ras neighborhood, residents will be left with no option but to abandon the neighborhood. Also, the new settlement in the a-Ras neighborhood completes territorial contiguity of settlement points from Qiryat Arba in the east to the Tel Rumeida settlement in the west. As a result, increased restrictions on movement on this particular area is felt throughout the city.

Settlement points in Hebron and the restrictions imposed on Palestinian movement

The settlers claim that the building was sold to Jews. On the other hand, it is contended that the purchase documents were forged. Since the establishment of the new settlement, B'Tselem has maintained that Israel must evict the occupants immediately, without regard to the question of ownership. This position is based on the illegality, under international law, of Israeli settlements from the start, and in light of the severe human rights violations that have come in the wake of the new settlement.