Newsroom
Highlights of Reports from 2000-2008
YEAR 2008
24 June 2008: New York Times: Khirbet Susiya Journal: Cameras Emerge as Tool in Conflict Over Land
- “But the primeval feud took on a modern twist this month when Muna Nawajaa, one of the two wives of a Palestinian shepherd from Khirbet Susiya, used a handheld video camera to film what appeared to be masked Jewish settlers viciously beating members of her family with clubs — images that have since been broadcast by news networks all over the world. Mrs. Nawajaa, 24, said it was the first scene she had filmed. Had it not been for the camera — one of about 100 handed out in the West Bank by the Israeli human rights group Btselem for the purpose of documenting violent attacks — the June 8 assault may have ended up like many others that have occurred in these parts: unresolved.”
“On Friday, 20 June 2008, around 6:20 P.M., Nasser a-Nawaj’ah, coordinator of B’Tselem’s “Shooting Back” project in the Southern Hebron Hills, filmed three settlers abusing Palestinian shepherds, shouting at them and pushing them and trying to scatter their flock. The incident took place southwest of the Susiya settlement. A-Nawaj’ah also filmed soldiers in two army jeeps nearby who did not protect the shepherds from their assailants.
A-Nawaj’ah filmed the soldiers approaching and when they reached his car, one soldier grabbed the camera from his hands and passed it to another soldier. A third soldier removed the cassette from the camera. One of the soldiers then punched a-Nawaj’ah on the side of the head and several minutes later, the three drove off. A-Nawaj’ah searched the area and found the empty camera lying on the road behind his car. B’Tselem immediately reported the assault to the Judea Brigade and to the Civil Administration’s humanitarian hotline. At first, security forces denied the incident had taken place, but later admitted that soldiers from the Poria reserve battalion had been involved in an encounter with a B’Tselem fieldworker. Following B’Tselem’s demand that the incident be investigated immediately, the Military Police opened an investigation.
May 2008: UN OCHA: Special Focus: “Lack of Permit” Demolitions and Displacement in Area C
“To date, more than 3,000 Palestinian-owned structures in the West Bank have pending demolition orders, which can be immediately executed without prior warning. At least ten small communities throughout the West Bank at risk of being almost entirely displaced due to the large number of pending demolitions orders.”
“During the first quarter of 2008, Israeli authorities demolished 124 structures due to a lack of permits; this is more than the total number of demolitions carried out in the whole of 2007 (208). Sixty-one of the demolished structures were residential and led to the displacement of 435 Palestinians, including at least 135 children. Most of these demolitions occurred in the Jordan Valley and South Hebron areas. This trend, however, was discontinued in the following two months (as of 20 May), when only one structure was demolished.”
“Over 94% of applications for building permits in Area C, submitted to the Israeli authorities by Palestinians between January 2000 and September 2007, were denied. During this period 5,000 demolition orders were issued, and over 1,600 Palestinian buildings were demolished.”
Moreover, because Area C holds the most significant land reserves available for Palestinian development, the entirety of the West Bank population is affected.
March 2008: UN: The Humanitarian Monitor (oPt) Number 23
Child Protection
- “Additionally, school children from At Tuwani village, in the southern Hebron district, were attacked by Israeli settlers from Havat Ma’on, who threw stones and verbally abused them in late March. The IDF has committed to escort children from At Tuwani to school. However, in the past month, the IDF has ceased to do so along the full route occasionally, leaving the children to walk half the route alone. This situation has been further exacerbated by the installation of a gate by Israeli settlers that blocks vehicular access to the school route. The IDF has not removed the gate, informing OCHA that it is on a private road.”
Violence and Private Property
Rise in Settler Violence against Herders in the Southern West Bank
“During March 2008, a marked increase in settler violence against Palestinian herders was recorded in the Hebron governorate. March is the month when Palestinian herders take their sheep to the open ranges for grazing. It is also when Palestinian farmers start plowing their lands, in preparation of the planting season. In light of current drought conditions and the increase in fodder prices, Palestinian herders need access to more land, some close to settlements and outposts. As a result, confrontations with Israeli settlers near the settlements and outposts increased during the month.”
“On 7 March, a settler from the new neighborhood of the Karmel settlement chased away Palestinian shepherds and their sheep from the adjacent Palestinian community of Umm al Kheir. An additional thirty Israeli settlers joined him and began to throw stones at the shepherds and their flocks. A 70-year-old woman was bruised when the settlers pushed her down. On 27 March, Israeli settlers from the outpost of Havat Ma’on fired five shots into a flock of sheep, owned by a Palestinian from the hamlet of Maghayer Al Abeed (located near At Tuwani village), while grazing in Al Kharouba Valley. The settlers killed two sheep and injured two others. On 30 March, three masked Israeli settlers, accompanied by a dog, from the settlement of Shima, located south of Adh Dhahiriya, physically attacked a 70-year-old Palestinian male, while he was grazing sheep on his land. During March, OCHA recorded 10 additional settler harassment incidents against herders in the hamlet of At Tuwani alone.”
Health
- “Al Zawadeen, Um Al Kheir, Hameeda and Um Ammer are villages/small communities located in Area C in South Hebron. The presence of earth mounds, road blocks and checkpoints impede the population’s ability to access health services and impede the MoH’s ability to provide regular health services to the population in this area. In each village, the MoH runs one clinic, which provides awareness and educational services on a daily basis and curative services twice per week. Immunization services are provided in Hameeda and Um Al Kheir clinics twice per week. To ensure that the population in South Hebron is able to access health services, the available clinics should be upgraded in order to provide other health services on a regular basis and to have a mobile clinic, to facilitate the provision of health services, especially in those areas where no other health service provider is available.”
Mobile homes for an illegal Israeli settlement in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT) got the go-ahead within a week of Israeli bulldozers demolishing Palestinian homes and property in the area. It emerged last Wednesday (26 March) that Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak has approved the transfer of five mobile homes to the Israeli settlement of Teneh Omarim in the region.
Only the week before, Israeli army bulldozers demolished nine homes and two livestock enclosures in several Palestinian villages in the southern occupied West Bank. The demolitions were carried out on 19 March in the hamlets of Qawawis, Imneizil, al-Dairat and Umm Lasafa in the South Hebron Hills.
January 2008: UN: The Humanitarian Monitor: Number 21
Access restrictions to health services in Jinba and At Tuwani in Southern Hebron (WHO)
- (Page 14) Jinba and At Tuwani are two localities in Masafer Yatta, a sparsely populated area of the West Bank. Access to health care services in these areas is extremely difficult due to the presence of Israeli settlers and the difficulty of traveling along the rocky roads, which are the only available roads in the two localities. In At Tuwani, the MoH provides Primary Health Care (PHC) services for five hours per week and a gynecologist provides services once per month. In Jinba, neither the MoH nor NGOs provide health services, though UNRWA provides PHC services once per month. Patients’ needing to access PHC services or other health services on other days face significant difficulties: residents must use tractors to drive on rocky roads for approximately 1 ½ hours from At Tuwani and about 2 hours from Jinba in order to seek health care in the Yatta area. This is extremely dangerous for patients with critical conditions or for women in labor.
Weather Crisis:
- (Page 2) “The rainy season, which began in mid-November, generated insufficient rainfall…13% of the expected rainfall in south Hebron. The drought hit hardest the most vulnerable communities, those dependent on herding sheep and goats, who were already struggling with poverty and debt caused by rapidly escalating costs of essential animal fodder and water. The drought meant their fodder crops and the grazing plants did not grow. An additional effect of the drought was to make both animals and plants weak and vulnerable to the next weather crisis, which was the extended period of frost that occurred in mid-January. This ‘burnt’ many of the surviving grazing plants and crops, and caused high death rates amongst sheep and goats, especially new born lambs. The frost was then followed by the snow that fell during the last week of January which, while it relieved the immediate water shortage, caused further deaths of lambs. Many herders report lamb death rates of 50% or more, thus eliminating most of their potential income for 2008. Many of these herd-dependent families live in tents, or in shacks without doors or windows. Poverty means they have little food and the intense cold affected them badly. The very poorest are selling their sheep, but this still leaves them in debt. Even those who have coped well thus far are near the end of their resources. If they are unable to sustain their livelihood via herding, they are likely to become aid dependent.
- “The rate of unemployment in South Hebron is 38%, more than double the West Bank rate of 18.6%.”
YEAR 2007
28 October 2007: B’Tselem Report: Severe water shortage in Hebron District
Two reasons for shortage:
“Mekorot’s policy in the West Bank has always been based on flagrant discrimination against Palestinians and in favor of settlers. Whereas most Palestinian villages connected only to Mekorot pipelines constantly suffer a shortage, the settlements consume unlimited amounts of water for their household and urban needs, as is customary in most towns and villages inside Israel . Furthermore, where Palestinian villages and settlements are connected to the same pipeline, Mekorot reduces the supply of water in Palestinian communities in the summertime in order to meet the increased need in the settlements.”
“The sharp increase in illegal tapping into the pipelines by Palestinian farmers… B’Tselem’s research indicates that, on several occasions, Palestinian police officials in the Hebron District requested the Civil Administration to coordinate the entry of Palestinian police to Area C to deal with the private tapping into the water lines, but were refused.”
“In Yatta, every household receives water for one day out of every two weeks.”
Also:
“(The) Hebron District has some 90 small villages, housing 40,000 people, that are not connected to any water network and suffer water shortage on a permanent basis.”
“Average Israeli household and urban water consumption is 280 liters a day per person, while among Palestinians, water consumption for the same purposes amounts to 65 liters a day per person. The World Health Organization recommends 100 liters a day per person for household and urban use.”
October 2007: UN OCHA: Closure Report
“The one metre high concrete barrier along road 317 in southern Hebron was removed restoring access for 2,000 farmers and herders, to 24 rural roads.”
“The condition of secondary roads, which Palestinian traffic is forced to use, continues to deteriorate. Travelling on road surfaces which are breaking up is leading to longer journey times.”
“During the summer months, agencies providing emergency water supplies to rural villages in southern Hebron were particularly affected. Water tanking trucks were forced to make long detours to reach filling points, adding to the cost of the aid. International organisations pay 500NIS for 10 cubic meters of water delivered to the southern villages while elsewhere the same amount costs 250NIS.”
September 2007: UN The Humanitarian Monitor: Number 17 September 2007
“Increasing concerns have been reported for months on the high price of tankered water in many areas of the West Bank. Water shortages affect the Hebron area strongly, with a consequent raise in expenses for domestic consumption.”
“Raising small sheep and goats is a central part of the Palestinian rural economy and is central to the traditional rural way of life, especially in the southern West Bank. However, herders and livestock farmers in the oPt are currently facing a crisis due to rapidly increasing costs for fodder and water-trucking. At the same time, their access to grazing land is being eroded: accessible range land has been reduced by closure, restrictions on land use, absence of land due to the presence Israeli settlements, and isolation of land due to Barrier construction.”
“The increase in fodder prices is a worldwide trend, but there are local nuances, such as climatic change and a 17% import tax on fodder imported from Israel and other countries. An initial response to grazing shortages has been to increase stock on the range land available, but over-grazing has led to deterioration in range lands, further reducing available grazing.”
“Most farmers rely on rainwater harvesting, collecting winter rain in underground chambers or cisterns, for stock water. In late summer, these supplies are depleted and they have to truck water to their stock. Direct access to water filling-points is difficult due to movement restrictions imposed by the IDF and water trucks must take longer routes. The result is that tankered water is expensive. A recent assessment by FAO and OCHA found water prices of up to 100 NIS per cubic metre delivered. One sheep needs about 3 to 5 litres/day in normal conditions, a flock of 100 animals will need at least 3 to 5.5 cubic metres/week. This poses a considerable cost for a marginal farm operation.”
“The effect of these changes is that farmers are reducing flock sizes or are selling their flocks entirely, but prices are declining. This year, an adult sheep is sold for 65 JDs per head; while prices a year ago were nearly double this. Even at the current low price, only a limited number have been sold. Some of the poorest herders have no alternative source of income and become trapped in debt to fodder dealers.”
“The humanitarian impact has been to eliminate a source of subsistence farming and income that had provided a livelihood in rural areas. They might join the other aid-dependent parts of the population. Fodder distribution has become an emergency need, but it must be followed by a sustainable intervention on crop and fodder production.”
26 September 2007: AFP Report: Palestinian cave dwellers defy creeping occupation
AL-MUFAQARA, West Bank (AFP) — Mahmud Hamamda still lives in the cave his grandfather chiselled out of a rocky hillside in the remote hills of the southern West Bank more than 100 years ago.
But above ground Jewish settlements now huddle on nearby hills, his grazing land has become a special military zone, and Hamamda, a poor shepherd, has had to defy the Israeli occupation so he can remain in his underground home.
“But the land is all we have, and if we move the Israelis will take it from us. This is what they want.”
YEAR 2006
December 2006: UN Humanitarian Monitor oPt Full Report
- Over the last two years, southern Hebron has suffered from drought and water scarcity. In 2006, the rains came two months late (end of December). Water for cisterns and crops may be sufficient if there is additional rain (a minimum of 350mm is needed). So far, average household cisterns (80 m3) are half-full. The late onset of the rainy season has severe consequences for herders, affecting approximately 150,000 heads of livestock and 300,000 dunums (30,000 ha) of land. Not only will the grazing season be two months shorter but the quality of vegetation will be poorer as many seeds will not germinate. Animal health will deteriorate and herders will have to buy extra fodder. The price of fodder has risen by 35% (one ton of barley was NIS850 in November and reached NIS1,200 at the end of December) whilst at the same time the per kilo price of meat has dropped by 15% (from NIS55 to NIS40). Herders are sinking deeper into debt and the poorest, especially the Bedouins near Yatta, further into poverty. Many fear being forced out of business and not being able to pay off debts even if they sell all their herds
- Removing the violent settlers by dismantling the illegal outpost would also increase the security and safety for the Palestinian children from Tuba and Magaer Al-Abeed going to school. However, as of the release of this report (10 November 2006), the evacuation orders for the Ma’on Farm structures, handed out by the Israeli military on 31 May 2006, have not been implemented.
Section VII. SOUTH HEBRON AND THE “MINI-WALL”
- “Plans to build the Wall in south Hebron have been abandoned. Instead, the projected Wall will largely follow the Green Line. In its place Israel is constructing a “mini-wall” running along the northern side of settler bypass roads in the region. This wall is approximately 1 m high and is designed to prevent Palestinian vehicles from crossing onto the main road and to give settlers unrestricted use of bypass roads. These restrictions will allow Jewish settlers to move safely between settlements and further on to Israel without crossing Palestinian land. Twenty-two Palestinian communities and over 1,900 Palestinians will be enclosed between the road barrier or mini-wall and the Wall, at present being constructed along the Green Line. The mini-wall will hinder the access of Palestinian shepherds and their 24,000 head of livestock to grazing areas on the other side. The mini-wall will add to the hardships already experienced by Palestinian communities living in south Hebron, which has inadequate clinics, schools and waste supplies; water must be trucked in when summer begins and rain-fed systems start emptying. The Israeli Government has refused to link Palestinian communities to its water system, which provides water to settlers alone. To aggravate the situation, the Israeli Government refuses permits to build houses.”
- “The plight of Palestinian communities in south Hebron is illustrated by the experience of the village of Tuwani, which I have visited on several occasions. This village is denied electricity, water and sanitary units and is prohibited from building new houses. Moreover, the villagers are subjected to settler violence from nearby Ma’on. Schoolchildren have to be escorted by IDF to school in order to protect them from the settlers. The settlers are also responsible for poisoning the land.”
“Israel is in violation of important norms of human rights and international humanitarian law. While it is readily conceded that Israel faces a security threat and is entitled to defend itself, it must not be forgotten that the root cause of the security threat is the continued occupation of a people that wishes to exercise its right of self-determination in an independent State. The need to bring this situation to an end is recognized by the international community”
UN Commission on Human Rights, Dr. John Dugard, 21 June 2006
- “In the south Hebron hills a low, mini-Wall is being constructed which seriously impedes Palestinian farmers from farming in the area between the Wall and the Green Line. This is also an area of settler violence towards Palestinians. It seems that this area too is designed for de-Palestinization.”
Yesh Din: June 2006 Report: A Semblence of Law: Israeli Settler Violence against Palestinians.
- “The collated reports show that the vast majority of such incidents were reported from the Nablus area (98 incidents), the southern Hebron Mountains (78), and the city of Hebron and its environs (158).”
UN-OCHA: Territorial Fragmentation of the West Bank, May 2006
- “The Enclave of South Hebron October 2000 the IDF progressively seal off south Hebron through a combination of physical obstacles and movement restrictions imposed on Palestinian travel, creating clusters of isolated Palestinian communities south of Road 317, and preventing access to health, education and markets available further north. December 2005 plans to build a 1-metre high concrete barrier along the northern side of roads 317 and 607 between the settlements of Karmel and Tene are announced, which will worsen the isolation of herding communities in Imneizel, At Tuwani and the hamlets of Masafer Yatta.”
UN-OCHA: Closure Analysis, January 2006
“The new road barrier in south Hebron governorate creates problems for farmers in accessing approximately 80,000 dunums (8,000 hectares) of agricultural land on the other side of Road 317.”
“In the south of Hebron governorate, rural livelihoods are based on shepherding and the sale of meat and dairy products in Yatta and the Old Suq of Hebron. However, they can no longer access these markets because they are prevented from crossing Roads 317 and 60. Overall, the connection between rural producers and markets is deteriorating.”
YEAR 2005
“In the southernmost West Bank , some one thousand Palestinians have maintained the way of life of their ancestors: living in caves and earning a living from farming and livestock. In the 1970s, the Israeli military commander declared the area a “closed military area,” and for the past five years, Israel has been trying to expel them from the area.”
” In November 1999, soldiers and Civil Administration officials expelled the cave residents and confiscated their meager belongings. The army sealed caves, destroyed wells and outhouses, and prohibited the residents from returning to the area. The cave residents petitioned the High Court of Justice, and in March 2000, the Court issued a temporary injunction, returning the residents to the area and preventing the state from expelling them until the court reaches a final decision in the matter. Since then, the residents live with the threat of expulsion hovering over their heads.”
“In addition to the threat of expulsion, the cave residents are victims of violence and property damage from the residents of nearby settlements. Due the intensity of this violence, the residents of two villages to abandon their villages in 2000. In a survey conducted by B’Tselem, some 88% of the Palestinians in the closed military area were victims of settler violence or witnessed such violence against a member of their immediate family. The abuse reported in the survey can be divided into four patterns: blocking of roads and preventing access to fields (51 percent of the cases), property damage, including destruction of crops and theft of sheep and goats in particular (21 percent), intimidation (17 percent), and physical violence (11 percent).”
“The police do little to enforce the law against the settlers, and the army does even less. In some cases, soldiers have even assisted settlers in carrying out their violent acts. On a few occasions, the army at its own initiative destroyed the residents’ farmland by driving tanks and other armored vehicles onto the fields. In addition, the Civil Administration prohibits the residents from building in their villages, contending that the area is designated for agricultural use. The prohibition also covers construction to ensure proper water supply and to meet other basic needs.”
United Nations Consolidated Appeals Process: Occupied Palestinian Territory 2005
“Settler violence, closure and Barrier construction: Israeli closure policies, house demolitions, and growing settler violence have undermined the way of life of the Masafer Yatta community in southern Hebron. Some population displacement has already occurred and the IDF plans to evacuate more people. The projected route of the West Bank Barrier will separate the community from essential humanitarian services and places of employment. A community that was once self-sustainable now has one of the highest poverty levels in the West Bank.69
In the south Hebron area, Israel’s development of illegal settlement infrastructure and recent Barrier construction is being used to justify the IDF’s destruction of latrines and water tanks. The population may be forced to move away if local water supplies are not maintained. The destruction or confiscation of water storage facilities by the IDF in east Jenin has also increased poverty and food insecurity.”
YEAR 2004:
“Israeli settlers in the Occupied Territories have stepped up attacks against Palestinians and are waging a campaign of intimidation against international and Israeli human rights activists. Their aim is to eliminate the presence of witnesses to their attacks, thereby depriving the local Palestinian population of this only form of limited protection.”
“Rather than taking steps to stop and prevent such attacks and hold Israeli settlers accountable, the Israeli army and security forces have responded by imposing further restrictions on the local Palestinian population.”
“Israeli settlements in the Occupied Territories, established by Israel in violation of international law, are the main reason for the stringent restrictions imposed on the Palestinian population. Some three-and-a-half million Palestinians are prevented from moving between towns and villages; confined to isolated enclaves and cut off from their workplace, their land, health and education facilities and other crucial services.”
Case Study: Southern West Bank: South Hebron “closed area”, See Section Four
“Access to land is crucial to ensure the communities’ livelihood. The majority of Palestinians in south Hebron practice a combination of shepherding and dry-land agriculture, relying on goats and sheep for food and to generate income, and requiring large areas for grazing animals.”
“Access to markets in Al Karmil, Yatta and Adh Dhahiriya is crucial to ensure that these communities can buy food products and fodder, as well as generate income from the sale of dairy products produced by their animals.”
“The construction of the Barrier is incompatible with development requirements in this area necessary for improving access to basic social services (education and healthcare) and infrastructure (water networks, road infrastructure and electricity grid). Nothing of the like is in place at the moment. Israel has not granted any permits to build in this area and some 315 structures are currently under demolition orders. The construction of the Barrier will not only prevent local communities from being included in developmental projects, but may also inhibit future donor initiatives.”
BBC News: 13 July 2006 Report: Settlers suspected of well attack
- “Residents of (At-Tuwani) near Hebron found rotting chicken carcases in their well after four Jewish settlers were seen in the village early on Tuesday morning. Israeli police said they suspected militant Jews from a nearby wildcat settlement outpost called Havat Maon.”
OCHA: Humanitarian Update 2004
“At Tuwani violence against Palestinian children and internationals For Palestinian children in Tuba, the daily trip to school in At Tuwani village, 2 kilometres away, has become increasingly problematic because of routine harassment by Israeli settlers from the illegal outpost of Ha’vat Maon. Local children, aged between 7 and 11, attending At Tuwani school, have needed to take an 8-kilometre detour travelling on foot or donkey.
In an effort to protect the children, international human rights activists have accompanied them on their daily walk to school. However two activists, US citizens, were seriously injured when they were attacked by masked men with chains and batons on 29 September. Further attacks on the children and their accompaniers occurred on 9 October. An Italian human rights activist and two researchers from Amnesty International were assaulted by settlers. For more information, please see: [http://www.amnestyusa.org/news/]
The Israeli Police is currently investigating the matter, and together with the IDF have started providing armed escorts for the Palestinian children. Despite the police and army presence, the attacks or threat to the safety and security of the children have not been reduced. The IDF has informed the UN that it is committed to providing security for the children ensuring they safely reach school.
Such a situation is likely to impact the willingness and capacity of the children to attend school. Furthermore, access to education in the area is extremely problematic - the school in At Tuwani is the only educational facility available in this area south of Hebron – and attendance rates and dropouts in the area are reported by the Directorate of Education to be some of the worst in the Hebron Governorate.”
OCHA: Review of the Humanitarian Situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory for 2004
“Palestinians living in some areas, notably…the southern Hebron, had acute needs. Southern Hebron:
The Masafer Yatta community in southern Hebron, a community that was once self-sustainable, had one of the highest poverty levels in the West Bank in 2004. Israeli closure policies, demolitions, and growing settler violence undermined the community’s way of life. Some population displacement has occurred and IDF plans aim to evacuate most of the community from this area.”
YEAR 2000:
Jan. 26, 2000 CNN REPORT: Palestinian cave dwellers’ plight becomes Israeli human rights cause
- “Israeli army evicted 40 Palestinian families from their homes. Now Israeli human rights activists have taken up their cause.”