The Indigenous World 2022: Palestine
Following Israel’s declaration of independence in 1948, the Jahalin Bedouin, together with four other tribes from the Negev Desert (al-Kaabneh, al-Azazmeh, al-Ramadin and al-Rshaida), took refuge in the West Bank, then under Jordanian rule. These tribes are traditionally semi-nomadic agro-pastoralists living in the rural areas around Hebron, Bethlehem, Jerusalem, Jericho and the Jordan Valley.
These areas are today part of the so-called “Area C” of the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT), representing 61% of the West Bank. Under the 1995 Oslo Accords, Israel was granted temporary administrative and security control of Area C, which was due to be gradually returned to the Palestinian Authority by 1999.[i], [ii] This never happened and, today, 27 years after the Oslo Accords were signed, Israel retains near exclusive control of Area C, including over law enforcement, planning and construction. It is home to all West Bank Israeli settlements, industrial estates, military bases, firing ranges, nature reserves and settler-only by-pass roads, all under Israeli military control. Over the years, Israel has dispossessed Palestinians of roughly 200,000 hectares of land, including farmland and pastureland, which it then generously allocated to settlements or declared as closed military zones and nature reserves. Some 640,000 Israeli settlers currently live throughout the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) in over 280 settlements, enjoying nearly all the rights and privileges accorded to Israeli citizens living in Israel proper, inside the Green Line.[iii] The short-lived Trump “Deal of the Century” recognised permanent Israeli possession of those settlements, in contravention of the landmark UN Security Council Resolution 2334 of 23 December 2016 which reaffirmed the illegality of Israeli settlements in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, under international law.
The situation of the Indigenous Palestinian Bedouin refugees of 1948, some 27,000 pastoral herders living under full Israeli military control in Area C, is currently a major humanitarian issue. Greatly at risk are 8,000 Bedouin (60% of whom are children) living in 46 small communities in the Jerusalem Periphery and some 4,500 pastoral herders in the Jordan Valley. Donor-funded humanitarian structures (shelters, goat pens, water tanks, schools, solar panels, toilets) continue to be deliberately targeted for demolition and confiscation: for example, in 2021, the UN Education Cluster reported that 46 Palestinian schools[iv] in Area C were under demolition orders or stop work orders, a five-year high,[v] and the war crime of forced displacement by Israeli authorities remains a constant threat.
Increased violence
Israeli settler violence against Indigenous Palestinians[vi] drew much attention over the past year, particularly when such terror attacks also targeted Israeli solidarity activists.[vii], [viii], [ix], [x], [xi], [xii] This settler violence was even referenced by US Under-Secretary for Political Affairs, Victoria Nuland, in discussions with Israeli Public Security Minister, Omer Bar Lev, arousing Prime Minister Bennett’s displeasure.[xiii]
UN Special Rapporteurs have reported that: “Settler violence has always been an extremely disturbing feature of the Israeli occupation. But in 2021, we are witnessing the highest recorded levels of violence in recent years and more severe incidents.”[xiv], [xv], [xvi], [xvii] Yesh Din, an Israeli NGO monitoring such violence, reported:[xviii]
The data expose law enforcement authorities’ discrimination in the occupied territories. When an Israeli commits a crime against a non-Palestinian, meaning Israeli security forces personnel or others, it is often followed by effective investigations by police and indictments filed. In contrast, when violence is directed at Palestinians, Israeli law enforcement agencies are negligent at best in their treatment and fail to prosecute offenders.
Yesh Din’s legal opinion on Israeli apartheid[xix], [xx] also refers to settler violence:
Palestinians are dispossessed of their land both through official expropriations [..] and through Israeli settler violence. While this violence is not perpetrated by the regime directly, the consistent wilful blindness to it, lack of law enforcement on the perpetrators and retroactive legitimization of settler presence on land seized through criminal acts leave no choice but to consider the regime responsible.
International media attention[xxi] even brought extreme cases of violence – unusually – to the attention of Israelis,[xxii], [xxiii] with Haaretz stating that 416 anti-Palestinian incidents had been reported in the first half of 2021, more than double the figure for the first half of 2020 and more than in the whole of 2019. Referring to violent Israeli offenders as “sub-humans”, in a case that gained media traction, a Meretz deputy minister and ex-Deputy Chief of Staff, Yair Golan, stirred up a viral frenzy of outrage that became a distraction from the actual behaviour critiqued.[xxiv] Haaretz also reported that “back in a meeting last December, [Minister of Defence and ex-Chief of Staff] Gantz had already said that he expected IDF commanders to demand that their troops intervene in cases in which Jewish civilians attack Palestinians”.[xxv], [xxvi] This is because the phenomenon of settler violence often takes place with IDF soldiers standing by as spectators[xxvii], [xxviii], [xxix], [xxx] or even allowing the settlers to use their weapons.[xxxi], [xxxii] It must be noted that, in 2021, six Palestinian human rights NGOs, including Al Haq (the leading Palestinian human rights NGO, founded in 1979 by Palestinian lawyers), were themselves under massive attack from Defence Minister Gantz in an attempt to silence the messenger.[xxxiii], [xxxiv]
Human Rights Watch published its landmark report “A Threshold Crossed” in 2021, the title referring to its analysis of Israeli policies and apartheid practices.[xxxv] “Settlers, meanwhile, enjoy virtual impunity for criminal acts against Palestinians. Between 2005 and 2019, police closed 91% of the complaints of reported settler violence against Palestinian persons and property being tracked by the Israeli human rights group Yesh Din without indicting anyone.”[xxxvi]
Yet most daily incidents of ongoing violence by Israeli settlers against some 5,000 Indigenous Bedouin or other Palestinian pastoralists in the Jordan Valley[xxxvii] go virtually unnoticed and are rarely reported in the mainstream Israeli media. This invisibility permits right-wing politicians and settler leaders to deny its existence.[xxxviii]
“Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Idan Roll last week denied there is lawlessness and government complicity with settler violence in the occupied West Bank. ‘Israel is carrying out its obligation to protect [Palestinian civilians] and definitely respects the law. The one thing we look at is the law. Anyone on either side should be accountable; there is a judicial process,’ he said.” [xxxix]
However, away from that culture of Israeli denial of violence, a handful of dedicated Israeli human rights activists continue to patrol the most dangerous grazing areas, where attacks on Indigenous Palestinian herders and Israeli apartheid policies are at their worst. One such daily volunteer, Daphne Banai, provided evidence for a submission to the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) on 21 December 2021 by Israeli human rights lawyer, Adv. Eitay Mack.[xl]
The letter starkly reveals the lack of protection faced by all Indigenous Palestinian Bedouin living under the military control of Israeli occupation forces and armed settlers who are working relentlessly to take over (or ‘judaise’) Palestinian herders’ lands. Below are some excerpts:
Palestinian women in the shepherds' communities in the Jordan Valley suffer from the severe impact of the ongoing illegal Israeli occupation, and the systematic and widespread violations of their rights. […]
The impact of the Israeli occupation on the status of women's rights in the Jordan Valley has local characteristics, resulting from the severe poverty of the shepherds' communities and their isolation, [which is] aggravated by the policy of ethnic cleansing and apartheid of the State of Israel. The ethnic cleansing is being done by using force and intimidation to encourage the shepherds' communities' residents to leave the Jordan Valley, including [..] home demolitions, arbitrary detention and imprisonment, creating shortage of water and land, together with the daily violence of the Army and the settlers, as well as the settlers' takeover of the grazing and agricultural areas. All of these prevent the shepherds’ communities from developing economic resilience, and intensify poverty and despair. […]
These small shepherds' communities are imprisoned in shrinking enclaves, between military firing zones, areas of declared nature reserves and Israeli outposts and settlements, making most of the Jordan Valley forbidden for Palestinian entry. […]
In the Jordan Valley, the shepherds' communities have no ability to survive other than by grazing their herds. Grazing is the centre of the culture and tradition of these indigenous communities. […]
The situation of the shepherds' communities in the Jordan Valley has deteriorated in the last five years, after the Israeli government and its settlers started their project of ‘settlers' farms.’ Each such farm is home to one couple with children, and among the workers are usually hooligans called ‘Hilltop Youth’ who commit hate crimes and terrorize the local Palestinian population.
Settlement expansion
The UN Secretary General’s report of 23 September 2021 on “Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and the occupied Syrian Golan” noted:[xli] “On 11 February, the former Israeli Minister of Settlement Affairs stated to Israeli media that in ‘Area C we aspire to apply Israeli sovereignty. The purpose of the agricultural farms is to keep that option open for us.’”[xlii]
Israel’s leading human rights NGO, B’Tselem, explains: “The rationale behind the establishment of these farms, which necessitates minimal resources, was encapsulated by the Minister of Settlement Affairs, Tzachi Hanegbi, who described the process of establishing them: How did the Jews manage to reinforce their hold on the land from 1967 to this day? Not with speeches and not in international courts. We simply went up on those hills, set up a generator and dug a path. We are against the establishment of a Palestinian state, but we don’t want to control Area A, while over Area C we aspire to apply Israeli sovereignty. The purpose of the agricultural farms is to keep that option open for us. He added that these farms ‘are meant to help us keep our finger on the pulse throughout the area. That Jewish shepherd won’t be able to prevent Palestinian construction, but he can report it. His flock roams across massive swathes of land and he notices what’s going on in his area. He’s basically a human drone.’”[xliii]
Indeed, in October 2021, the Israeli public learned that Minister for Construction and Housing, Zeev Elkin, planned to double the number of settlers in the Jordan Valley.[xliv] Israel Hayom newspaper reported, in Hebrew, that Elkin, the plan’s initiator, estimated that it would not cause political or diplomatic difficulties since there is a broad national consensus on the strategic importance of the Jordan Valley. He noted that promotion of this programme required no approval from the political echelons (a coalition that involves some partners who definitely do object to settlement expansion) because it is implementing programmes previously approved and yet to be implemented.
In his UN submission to the CSW, Adv. Mack explained:
Indeed, the new settler farms through violence and the help of the Israeli Army and police take control of the last grazing and agricultural areas in the Jordan Valley available for the shepherds' communities, and may be a death blow to them. All shepherds' communities suffer from high rates of poverty, food insecurity, inadequate water supply and unsafe drinking water, shortage of electricity or fuel and violence.[xlv]
The case of Najia Bisharat[xlvi]
One particularly egregious case of violence against a member of a shepherding community was that of the detention of Najia Bisharat, a resident of the shepherding community of Khirbet Makhoul in in Area C of the Jordan Valley, and mother of nine. On 18 October 2021 she was detained by Israeli police due to a false complaint by settlers that she had thrown rocks at an Israeli vehicle.
Najia and her three-month-old daughter were taken to the Sha’ar Binyamin police station alongside Hagar Geffen, an Israeli human rights activist who insisted on accompanying them. At the station, police officers shackled Najia’s feet, took her baby away from her and prevented her from breastfeeding her daughter for over four hours, claiming they had to wait for the Arabic interpreter to arrive.
Najia’s husband, Yousef, and several Israeli activists came to the station and, upon hearing cries from the baby, asked the officers to allow Najia to breastfeed her daughter. The officers instead told the activists they were “causing provocation” and should buy baby formula at a nearby supermarket. When an attempt was made to bottlefeed the baby, she vomited.[xlvii]
Four hours after her arrest, and only after Israeli media and members of the Knesset (parliament) had been alerted to the arrest and contacted the police, was Najia reunited with her daughter, although she remained in detention. Four hours later, her interrogation finally began. Promised a woman investigator, Najia was interrogated by a man instead. After her interrogation, Najia, as an Area C resident, was handed over to the Palestinian Authority police, despite the fact that it has no jurisdiction in Area C, which is under full Israeli control.
According to Haaretz:
The decision to detain Najia for 8 hours, handcuff her legs and prevent her from breastfeeding her baby seems to have been designed to put illegal pressure on her to give a false confession that she threw a stone, and also to please the settlers who wanted to punish her because of her and her family's refusal to stop grazing and leave the area. The decision to release Najia without restrictions indicates the police knew the complaint against her was false.
Weaponising services[xlviii]
In his UN submission to the CSW, Adv. Mack detailed another troubling tactic implemented through Israeli policies: the “weaponising”[xlix] of water. These policies prevent access to the water grid and demolish rainwater collecting cisterns (rainwater being “legally” owned by the State), creating problems for Indigenous Bedouin when buying water and transporting it in tankers.
Because of the State of Israel's policy to create a deliberate shortage of water in the shepherds' communities in the Jordan Valley, water expenses are huge and exacerbate communities’ poverty. Many families become entrapped in a vicious circle of debts and loans just to satisfy their human need to drink water and their herds’ needs. […]
The lack of access to water, and the cost of its transportation, are especially harmful to the health and personal hygiene of women. The water in the tanks and wells [is] unmonitored and sometimes at risk of pesticides or rust or [has] stood for long days in the heat.
Forbidding the use of tools; frequent demolitions
The authorities furthermore forbid these Indigenous communities from building permanent or semi-permanent structures that involve the use of concrete or tools, according to Adv. Mack’s UN submission.
Frequent demolitions not only cause anxiety and other emotional trauma but also remove the support network gained in building a community. This is especially significant for the women and children, who are at home most of the day while the men are out shepherding or doing other work.
“In 2013, Israel demolished all the buildings and expelled the families. About five families returned. Since then, the Army have come and destroyed the homes in the community about five more times. Later one more family left and today there are three families and an older shepherd over the age of 80,”[l] reported Adv. Mack, referring to the village of Khirbet al-Makhoul.[li]
In another example, the residents of Khirbet Humsah, who engage in livestock grazing and agriculture, mostly live in temporary buildings. The community has been evacuated six times since 2012.
Ayesha and Leila, from Khirbet Humsah, suffered repeated demolitions of their homes, the last time at 43 degrees. The Army confiscated their small tents and all their belongings, including their drinking water and water tanks, their clothes and those of their children. Without a roof, Leila stood under the burning sun and continued to make cheese for her family livelihood.
Adv. Mack’s submission described the trauma of such experiences, especially on women and children. Military closures in, for example, the area of Al-Hadidia, prevent access to education and medical services, or indeed water and food for residents and their flocks.
Roi settlement blocked access from Al-Hadidia to the main road, north and south of Roi, by building locked gates that could not be bypassed. A 12-year-old, Sumoud, studies at Ein El Bida. The locked gates prevent her school bus from reaching her home in Al-Hadidia, so her father must drive her twice daily on a tractor to the main road. In winter, if the tractor is unavailable, the water-logged dirt road is impassable by foot and the girl, an outstanding student, just stay at home (like other students).
Such isolation distresses the women shepherds, who depend on men for their every need outside the encampment, with no access to a pharmacy, clinic, community centre or neighbouring communities. There are no kindergartens and no Internet. Children who reach the age of five are forced to disconnect from their mothers and live in towns with an uncle or aunt so they can attend compulsory kindergarten or school, returning home only during the vacation. The women are unable to visit their children because they have a major role in caring for the herds and making the cheese, the family livelihood.
As noted above, Israeli peace activists who are working to protect the shepherds report that the settlers and their “Hilltop Youth” are using violence to expel the shepherds and their herds from pastures on an almost daily basis, throwing stones at the herds, driving vehicles or riding horses inside the flocks, provoking dog attacks on the shepherds and their herds, whipping the herds with sticks or whips, burning the pasture, beating and pushing the shepherds and threatening to shoot them with pistols or stab them.
In his UN submission, Adv. Mack explained:
Israeli soldiers and police participate in and permit the settler's violence. Often soldiers and police are present during settler violence against the shepherds, and do not lift a finger to stop it. In many incidents, soldiers and police arrest the Palestinian shepherds who dare to lay complaints against the settlers. Many times, Israeli soldiers and police, when detaining the shepherds, leave their herds abandoned. While Palestinian shepherds are expelled from the pasture, settlers are permitted to stay. […]
The women are the backbone of the shepherds' communities in the Jordan Valley, and particularly suffer from the illegal and racist policies of Israeli governments. It is time for the CSW to pay special attention to these women in the Jordan Valley, their human rights’ violations, and their resilience.
A dangerous trend
This model of behaviour resonates with that in the South Hebron Hills and elsewhere in Area C of the OPT.[lii] In Al Khan al-Ahmar, the subject of previous yearbook reports, the community is still under imminent threat of forcible displacement[liii] at the instigation of settler NGO Regavim, including an ongoing High Court case, while any offer to move these Bedouin elsewhere in Area C or inside “Green Line Israel” is immediately opposed by radical settler members of the Knesset such as Bezalel Smotrich or Itamar Ben-Gvir.[liv] While there is some civil society support for the Bedouin of Al Khan al-Ahmar,[lv] during the March 2021 elections, Open Democracy’s Jalal Abukhater reported:
Palestinians are literally a backdrop in this election. Nothing could be more symbolic of this than TV news channel 21 holding a live broadcast,[lvi] hosting leaders of major right-wing parties in a studio overlooking the Khan Al-Ahmar community, north-east of Jerusalem. The candidates lined up[lvii] pledging the forcible transfer of the Palestinians living in that community, taking turns in attacking Netanyahu for so far failing to demolish the community. We are a backdrop, denied basic rights and at the receiving end of hateful and violent policies, while Israelis cherish the process as a democratic achievement. The candidates present in that interview – Gideon Sa’ar of New Hope, Bezalel Smotrich of Religious Zionism, and Naftali Bennett of Yamina – have accumulated nearly 20 seats in the upcoming Knesset, and are all expected to be part of the next right-wing government forming coalition.
Israel’s current government touts the “status quo” (i.e. “no change”) as its policy of non-negotiation with the Palestinians yet, in order to torpedo any future negotiations, settlements continue to expand, land continues to be grabbed relentlessly, Bedouin continue to be forcibly displaced[lviii] and violence is meted out daily on the weakest. This is hardly “no change” when intensive land-grabbing policies of creeping, de facto annexation deliberately and systematically aim to stymie any future negotiations of a viable Palestinian state. Hence, rather than “status quo” a medical diagnosis seems more apt: “No change = worse”. And the Indigenous Bedouin living in Area C, especially their women, suffer the most.
Angela Godfrey-Goldstein is Director of Jahalin Solidarity, a Palestinian organisation she founded to support Jahalin Bedouin with capacity building and advocacy, especially in relation to their forcible displacement and against the Israeli Occupation. She was for many years Advocacy Officer with ICAHD – The Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions, having previously been an environmental activist in Sinai, Egypt, where she lived for four years. She was a Rebuilding Alliance Peacemaker awardee 2018. A chapter she wrote about her work for the past 20 years with Bedouin was published in 2018 by Veritas in “Defending Hope”. In 2021, she was awarded the Human Rights and Child Education category winner in the www.blueprints.org Hall of Fame, as part of their World Indigenous Forum event, where she serves on The Council of 90.
This article is part of the 36th edition of The Indigenous World, a yearly overview produced by IWGIA that serves to document and report on the developments Indigenous Peoples have experienced. Find The Indigenous World 2022 in full here
Notes and references
[i] Refworld. . “Israeli-Palestinian Interim Agreement on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip (Oslo II).” Refworld, September 28, 1995. https://www.refworld.org/docid/3de5ebbc0.html
[ii] Pundak, Ron. “Decoding Bibi’s West Bank Agenda.” Haaretz, August 1, 2012. https://www.haaretz.com/opinion/decoding-bibi-s-west-bank-agenda-1.5275189
[iii] B’Tselem. “Expel and Exploit: The Israeli Practice of Taking over Rural Palestinian Land.” December 2016.
https://www.btselem.org/publications/summaries/201612_expel_and_exploit
[iv] ReliefWeb. “Israeli army partially demolishes a school in the West Bank for the first time in 2021 – November 2021.” ReliefWeb, November 8, 2021. https://reliefweb.int/report/occupied-palestinian-territory/israeli-army-partially-demolishes-school-west-bank-first-time
[v] OCHA. “West Bank demolitions and displacement | November - December 2021.” OCHA, February 1, 2022.
https://www.ochaopt.org/content/west-bank-demolitions-and-displacement-november-december-2021
[vi] B’Tselem. “State Business: Israel’s misappropriation of land in the West Bank through settler violence.” B’Tselem, November 2021. https://www.btselem.org/publications/202111_state_business
[vii] Baskin, Gershon. “West Bank settler violence is terrorism and a form of apartheid – opinion.” The Jerusalem Post, November 24, 2021. https://www.jpost.com/opinion/west-bank-settler-violence-is-terrorism-and-a-form-of-apartheid-opinion-686889
[viii] Boxerman, Aaron. “Police charge settler over violent attack of Palestinians, activists.” The Times of Israel, November 22, 2021. https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/police-charge-settler-over-violent-attack-of-palestinians-activists/
[ix] Boxerman, Aaron. “Settlers assault Palestinians, Israeli activists in West Bank; several hurt.” November 12, 2021. https://www.timesofisrael.com/settlers-assault-palestinians-israeli-activists-in-west-bank-several-hurt/amp/
[x] The Blogs – Danille Bett. “Silence on settler violence is no longer an option.” The Times of Israel, November 25, 2021. https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/silence-on-settler-violence-is-no-longer-an-option/
[xi] Shezaf, Hagar. “Israeli Charged for Assault on Activists Helping Palestinians During Olive Harvest.” Haaretz, November 22, 2021. https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-settler-charged-for-assault-on-activists-helping-palestinians-during-olive-harvest-1.10407230
[xii] Ziv, Oren. “Settlers suspected of sabotaging Israeli activist’s car as West Bank attacks rise.” +972 Magazine, January 14, 2021. https://www.972mag.com/ascherman-taybeh-settler-attacks/
[xiii] Staff, Toi. “Bennett scolds police minister for discussing settler violence with US official.” The Times of Israel, December 14, 2021. https://www.timesofisrael.com/bennett-scolds-police-minister-for-discussing-settler-violence-with-us-official/
[xiv] Lynk, Michael, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian Territory occupied since 1967. Jelena Aparac (Chair-Rapporteur), Ravindran Daniel, Chris Kwaja, Sorcha MacLeod, Working Group on the use of mercenaries. “UN experts alarmed by rise in settler violence in occupied Palestinian territory.” OHCHR, November 10, 2021. https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=27792&LangID=E
[xv] United Nations. “WFP Palestine Country Brief. May 2021. https://www.un.org/unispal/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/WFPCBMAY21_230621.pdf
[xvi] Peace Now. “Violent Settlement: The Connection Between Illegal Outposts and Settler Violence.” Settlement Watch, November 2021. http://peacenow.org.il/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/sattlers_report_eng.pdf
[xvii] Lynfield, Ben. ”The West Bank is a no man’s land as far as settlers are concerned.” Plus 61J Media, October 19, 2021. https://plus61j.net.au/featured/the-west-bank-is-a-no-mans-land-as-far-as-settlers-are-concerned/
[xviii] Yesh Din. “Data Sheet, December 2021: Law Enforcement on Israeli Civilians in the West Bank (Settler Violence).” Yesh Din, February 7, 2022. https://www.yesh-din.org/en/data-sheet-december-2021-law-enforcement-on-israeli-civilians-in-the-west-bank-settler-violence/
[xix] Yesh Din Volunteers for Human Rights. “Executive Summary. The Occupation of the West Bank and the Crime of Apartheid: Legal Opinion by Adv. Michael Sfard. June 2020.” Amazon Web Services (AWS). https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/files.yesh-din.org/Apartheid+2020/Apartheid++Summary+ENG.pdf
[xx] Yesh Din Volunteers for Human Rights. “The Israeli Occupation of the West Bank and the Crime of Apartheid: Legal Opinion. Position paper, June 2020.” Amazon Web Services (AWS). https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/files.yesh-din.org/Apartheid+2020/Apartheid+ENG.pdf
[xxi] Macintyre, Donald and Quique Kierszenbaum in Al Mufakara. “How settler violence is fuelling West Bank tension.” November 28, 2021. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/nov/28/israel-palestine-west-bank-settler-violence-tension
[xxii] Kubovich, Yaniv. “Violence Against Palestinians on the Rise Amid Israel's 'Hands-off' Approach in West Bank.” Haaretz, October 3, 2021. https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-sharp-increase-in-anti-palestinian-settler-violence-amid-israel-s-hands-off-policy-1.10260260
[xxiii] Aljazeera. “Video shows Israeli settler trying to take over Palestinian house.” Aljazeera, May 4, 2021.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/5/4/if-i-dont-steal-your-home-someone-else-will-jewish-settler-says
[xxiv] Staff, Toi. “Deputy minister says he regrets ‘subhuman’ settlers comment, but stands by criticism.” Times of Israel, January 6, 2022. https://www.timesofisrael.com/deputy-minister-say-he-regrets-subhuman-settlers-comment-but-stands-by-criticism/
[xxv] Kubovich, Yaniv. “Violence Against Palestinians on the Rise Amid Israel's 'Hands-off' Approach in West Bank.” Haaretz, October 3, 2021. https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-sharp-increase-in-anti-palestinian-settler-violence-amid-israel-s-hands-off-policy-1.10260260
[xxvi] Kubovich, Yaniv and Amos Harel. “Israeli Army and Police Blame Each Other as Settler Violence Rages On.” February 7, 2021. https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-israel-army-police-say-the-other-is-responsible-for-dealing-with-settler-violence-1.10595844
[xxvii] Hendrix, Steve. “‘Hate crime’ attacks by Israeli settlers on Palestinians spike in the West Bank.” The Washington Post, November 29, 2021. https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/west-bank-settlers-violence-attacks/2021/11/28/7de2f9d2-4bb7-11ec-a7b8-9ed28bf23929_story.html
[xxviii] Fabian, Emanuel. “Police minister criticizes IDF chief for military nonintervention in settler attacks.”, The Times of Israel, February 4, 2022. https://www.timesofisrael.com/police-minister-criticizes-idf-chief-for-military-nonintervention-in-settler-attacks/
[xxix] MEE staff “Israel uses settler violence as 'tool' to take Palestinian land: B'Tselem.” Middle East Eye (MEE), November 14, 2021. https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israel-uses-settler-violence-tool-take-palestinian-land-btselem
[xxx] Al-Haq. “Al-Haq Sends Urgent Appeal to the United Nations Special Procedures on Intensified Yitzhar Settler Violence.” Al-Haq, February 17, 2021. https://www.alhaq.org/advocacy/17913.html
[xxxi] al-Adraa, Basil. ” WATCH: Settler grabs Israeli soldier’s weapon, fires at Palestinians.” +972 Magazine, August 2, 2021. https://www.972mag.com/settler-attacks-idf-south-hebron-hills/
[xxxii] Kubovich, Yaniv and Hagar Shezaf. “Israeli Army Identified Settler Who Shot at Palestinians With Soldier's Gun, but Did Nothing.” Haaretz, October 7, 2021. https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium.HIGHLIGHT-the-israeli-military-spotted-a-settler-shooting-at-palestinians-but-did-nothing-1.10273450
[xxxiii] Shehadeh, Raja. “What Does Israel Fear from This ‘Terrorist’?.” The New York Review, December 2, 2021 issue. https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2021/12/02/what-does-israel-fear-from-this-terrorist/
[xxxiv] Al-Haq. “Statements of Support: Stand with the Six.” Al-Haq, October 30, 2021. https://www.alhaq.org/news/19129.html
[xxxv] Human Rights Watch (HRW). “A Threshold Crossed.” Human Rights Watch (HRW), April 27, 2021. https://www.hrw.org/node/378469/printable/print
[xxxvi] Yesh Din Volunteers for Human Rights. “Law Enforcement on Israeli Civilians in The West Bank: Yesh Din Figures 2005-2019.”,Datasheet, December 2019. https://go.aws/370cTCg
[xxxvii] Peace Now. “The Jordan Valley: Policy of Palestinian Dispossession in the Jordan Valley & North Death Sea Area.“ Peace Now, November 2020. http://peacenow.org.il/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/JordanValley2020ENG.pdf
[xxxviii] Lazaroff, Tovah. “Scant data on Israeli settler violence helps fuel right-wing denial.” The Jerusalem Post, December 15, 2021. https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/scant-data-on-settler-violence-helps-fuel-right-wing-denial-analysis-688847
[xxxix] Lynfield, Ben. “Israeli Settlers Escalate Violence in West Bank.” Foreign Policy, November 9, 2021. https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/11/09/israeli-settlers-violence-west-bank/
[xl] The letter was submitted to CSW and subsequently shared with the author but is not yet public.
[xli] United Nations. “United Nations. A/76/336. General Assembly. 23 September 2021. Seventy-sixth session. Agenda item 55. Israeli practices and settlement activities affecting the rights of the Palestinian people and other Arabs of the occupied territories Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and the occupied Syrian Golan. Report of the Secretary-General*.” https://www.un.org/unispal/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/SECGENRPTSETTLEA.76.336_230921.pdf
[xlii] Shezaf, Hagar. “Israeli Settler Group Funneled Half a Million Dollars in Public Money to Illegal Settlements.” Haaretz, December 16, 2020. https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-israeli-settler-council-funneled-half-a-million-dollars-to-illegal-settlements-1.9372250. Unraveling the Mechanism behind Illegal Outposts, supra note 15, pp. 15-19.
[xliii] B’Tselem and Kerem Navot. “This Is Ours – And This, Too: Israel’s Settlement Policy in the West Bank. March 2021.” https://www.btselem.org/sites/default/files/publications/202103_this_is_ours_and_this_too_eng.pdf
[xliv] Kahane, Ariel. “The plan to double settlement in the jordan valley.” Israel Hayom, October 19, 2021. https://www.israelhayom.co.il/news/geopolitics/article/5171111
[xlv] Ibid.
[xlvi] Shezaf, Hagar. “Israel Police Prevented a Palestinian Detainee From Breastfeeding Her Baby.” Hareetz, October 20, 2021. https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium.HIGHLIGHT-police-prevented-a-palestinian-detainee-from-breastfeeding-her-baby-1.10309467
[xlvii] https://youtu.be/AiGbdSHGVX4 YouTube, October 19, 2021.
[xlviii] OCHA.” Palestinians strive to access water in the Jordan Valley.” Published as part of The Humanitarian Bulletin | January-May 2021. OCHA, June 22, 2021. https://www.ochaopt.org/content/palestinians-strive-access-water-jordan-valley
[xlix] Amnesty International. “Israel/Occupied Palestinian Territories: Demand Dignity: Troubled waters – Palestinians denied fair access to water.” Amnesty International, October 27, 2009. https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/mde15/027/2009/en/
[l] Al Jazeera World. “The Last Shepherds of the Valley.. https://www.dailymotion.com/video/xtb2um
[li] Activestills. “PHOTOS: A week in the demolished West Bank village of Khirbet Al-Makhoul.” +972 Magazine, October 12, 2013. https://www.972mag.com/photo-a-week-in-the-demolished-west-bank-village-of-khirbet-al-makhoul/
[lii] Abdalla, Adam, Jordan Jones, Stav Salpeter. ” Bedouins in Area C.” Baljour Project, February 23, 2021.
https://balfourproject.org/bedouins-in-area-c/ and Balfour Project. “Bedouin Communities in Area C: Contemporary Realities, Indigeneity and British Historical Responsibility. “ Balfour Project, November 2021
https://balfourproject.org/bp/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Bedouin-Communities-in-Area-C-NEW-FINAL.pdf
[liii] MEE staff. “Israel planning to relocate Khan al-Ahmar residents to new area in West Bank.” Middle East Eye (MEE), March 22, 2021. https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israel-palestine-khan-ahmar-relocate-west-bank
[liv] Abukhater, Jalal. “ Netanyahu vs not Netanyahu: Israel's absurd election fiasco.” openDemocracy, March 24, 2021. https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/north-africa-west-asia/netanyahu-vs-not-netanyahu-israels-absurd-election-fiasco/
[lv] Miller, Elhanan. “If this village is gone, Israel will take control of the land corridor.” Plus 61J Media, October 1, 2021. https://plus61j.net.au/featured/if-this-village-is-gone-israel-will-take-control-of-the-land-corridor/
[lvi] Hagai El Ad. “Israel's darling (fmr) diplomat @dandayan (now Knesset candidate) advocating for the war crime of forcible transfer. In the background: the people whose homes are slated for demolition. In #IsraElex4 the Palestinian community Khan al-Ahmar is again reduced to political football.” Twitter, March 21, 2021.
https://twitter.com/HagaiElAd/status/1373623699560148999
[lvii] Itay Epshtain.“ Israeli TV news channel 21 live broadcast from #KhanAlAhmar, where Israeli electoral candidates @naftalibennett, @gidonsaar, @bezalelsm, among others, line up to pledge the forcible transfer of #Palestinians and their supplanting with settlers - following tomorrow's elections.” https://twitter.com/EpshtainItay/status/1373987706645184521
[lviii] Shezaf, Hagar. “Israeli Demolition Orders for Palestinians in West Bank's Area C Hit Five-year Record.” Haaretz, December 7, 2021. https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-demolition-orders-for-palestinians-in-west-bank-s-area-c-hit-five-year-record-1.10445759
