The Indigenous World 2023: 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.[1], [2] 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 700,000 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.[3] The short-lived Trump “Deal of the Century” recognized 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 and the Syrian Golan, 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[4] in Area C were under demolition orders or stop work orders, a five-year high,[5] yet in 2022 that number climbed to 56 schools threatened with demolition or demolished[6],[7] [8] and, although Isfey al Fauqa was the only school demolished in 2022, following its original demolition on 23 November,[9] on 6 December Israeli authorities confiscated two tents and one latrine provided as humanitarian aid in response to the demolition of that school. Meanwhile, the war crime of forced displacement by Israeli authorities remains a constant threat.
This article is part of the 37th edition of The Indigenous World, a yearly overview produced by IWGIA that serves to document and report on the developments Indigenous Peoples have experienced. The photo above is of an Indigenous person in Tanzania. This photo was taken by Geneviève Rose, and is the cover of the Indigenous World 2023 where this article is featured. Find the Indigenous World 2023 in full here.
Displacement, annexation and land-grabbing dominate reality
Any report on the state of affairs of the Indigenous Bedouin of Palestine in 2022 must focus, yet again, on increasing displacement and land-grabbing carried out by the Israeli occupation’s military policies against Indigenous desert pastoralists in order to fulfil Israeli government instructions.
The new Israeli coalition of December 2022, for example, produced a manifesto, expressed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as a result of various coalition agreements, in which he declared its intention to “push to extend Israeli sovereignty in territory, while taking into account ‘national and international interests’.”[10]
Netanyahu also said at the time that “such a move would alienate much of the world and give new fuel to critics who compare Israeli policies in the West Bank to apartheid South Africa.”[11]
In the run up to his fifth consecutive election in October 2022, however, he was even more explicit and[12] “revealed he intends to push for annexation of West Bank settlements if he is re-elected next week”. Adding, “I think that if I’m re-elected, I will get it. I have plans on how to get it”.[13]
Hagai El-Ad, director of B’Tselem, Israel’s leading human rights non-governmental organization, expands on this process:[14]
In these agreements, the 2018 Basic Law on Israel as the Nation-State of the Jewish People is evident in extensive displays of Jewish supremacy wherever Israel rules between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River. The examples are many. The government opened its basic policy statement: ‘The Jewish people have an exclusive and unquestionable right to all areas of the Land of Israel.’ On top of this are steps for ‘legalizing’ settler outposts in the West Bank [..] In a country where ‘Jewish settlement’ is a ‘national value’ – as determined by a Basic Law that wasn't rejected by the Supreme Court – Jewish supremacy is the compass. The 37th government is generously making sure to flaunt all this … As Elyakim Rubinstein, a former attorney general and Supreme Court justice, put it last month: ‘Who is our flak jacket against The Hague? Mainly the Supreme Court. … Weakening the court means weakening us in The Hague.’ In other words, we don’t have a court that protects human rights, we have a court that protects Israelis from being called to account for undermining the Palestinians' human rights.
While relentless forcible displacement has been self-evident to those working at grassroots level for many years, and very much part of hard-line settler philosophy whereby “sovereignty” is virtually a code name for annexation,[15] it is now even attested to in UN reports, such as in the October 2022 UN Secretary General (UNSG) report (A/77/493):[16]
The report contains an update on settlement advancement and its impact on the human rights of the Palestinian people. Section IV highlights in particular the growing establishment of farm outposts with intensive settler violence worsening the coercive environment and forcing Palestinian herder families to leave their homes in what could amount to forcible transfer.
Such forcible transfer by Israeli actors, whether military personnel or violent settlers,[17], [18] or co-ordinated actions between the two,[19], [20], [21] includes ongoing denial of Bedouin traditional rights and lifestyle through almost daily demolition of homes, schools[22], [23] or animal sheds,[24] and denial of their land claims: not least by pejorative reference to them as “nomads”[25], [26] instead of recognizing their identity as semi-nomads who traditionally move seasonally on their own lands. Israeli officials and settlers thus regularly refer to the Bedouin as nomads since that description conveniently casts them as mere wanderers, free to go elsewhere at will, as opposed to landowners with legal rights to be recognized by the Israeli legal system.[27]
Identity used as an “alibi”
Bedouin identity in OPT is even more complicated by refugee status, having been expelled from lands they own in Israel (in the case of the Jahalin tribe, in the 1950s), and to which they wish, in vain, to exercise their inalienable right of return,[28] embodied in UN SCR 194, a right that Israel consistently denies.[29]
Planning and zoning is the convenient “cover” for displacement by demolition: in the rural areas, including farmland, desert or the 48 nature reserves that take up 12% of Area C – only 1%[30], [31] is zoned for Palestinian residential purposes.[32], [33] The Israeli authorities’ “alibi” when accusing Bedouin or other Palestinians of illegal building is also a deliberate attempt to deny Palestinian landowners their rights to build on their own, private lands. These lands are increasingly declared State lands, often initially marked out for “security” purposes – military training grounds or army bases or the Wall route[34] – and then regularly transferred to settlement authorities.[35]
Yet, whilst Bedouin in Area C – including the Judaean Desert and N. Jordan Valley - identify as Indigenous Peoples, many other Palestinian pastoral herders do not identify as traditional Bedouin but live a similar lifestyle as their neighbouring Bedouin, and suffer the same restrictions on their ability to remain steadfast on their desert lands.
The nightmare in Masafer Yatta
The fundamental difference between those Bedouin communities and some of the herders living in a region named Masafer Yatta, for example, in the South Hebron Hills in the West Bank, is that the Bedouins are originally refugees from the Negev with their origins in Saudi Arabia, while many Masafer Yatta herders are originally farmers from Yatta who own large portions of the lands slated for expropriation, on which they have lived for many generations and with a deep connection of belonging[36] to that land.
In Masafer Yatta,[37], [38] in 2022 the Israeli army began conducting regular military exercises inside what it delineates as ‘Firing Zone 918’[39] in order to pressure residents to leave (visually described in Mondoweiss’ film “Saving Masafer Yatta”[40]), together with ongoing demolitions of roads, homes and schools,[41], [42], [43] despite diplomatic visits of solidarity aimed at providing a protective presence.[44] Here, 12 rural hamlets are home to people who originally lived in large caves there, with their livestock. Their current situation has been painfully, yet eloquently, described by Israeli activist Ilana Hammerman: “Masafer Yatta residents are living a nightmare.”[45]
Specifically referred to in the UNSG’s report, the region also features in reports to regular Security Council meetings on the situation in the Middle East or specially convened UN Security Council meetings to discuss outbreaks of violence.[46]
Currently, the most traumatic aspect of that nightmare is the grievous harm of daily violence committed, especially in Firing Zone 918 villages, at the hands of violent settlers who have taken over hilltops in the region (or due to military demolitions or incursions involving scores of special forces). This violence, which is now at an all-time high since the UN started recording statistics in 2005, is now a known phenomenon,[47], [48] with UN Special Co-ordinator Tor Wennesland reporting:
Settler-related violence and provocations has also increased during the reporting period [1 June 2021 to 31 May 2022], contributing to the dynamic of escalating violence in the occupied West Bank.[49] I am alarmed, in particular, by the demolition of a donor-funded school in Masafer Yatta and the stated intention of Israeli authorities to demolish additional structures in the herding communities of that area, which would have a significant humanitarian toll, if implemented[50] … Settlers abuse with little or no action from the Israeli security forces and Palestinians, fearing retribution, rarely file official complaints. When investigations take place, action against settlers is rare. Such impunity encourages further attacks … the violent settler attacks, combined with restrictions on pastureland and water resources are key elements of the coercive environment which is effectively forcing Palestinian herders to move out of those areas.
UN Special Rapporteur for human rights in the OPT, Francesca Albanese, the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Morris Tiball-Binz, and the Special Rapporteur on freedom of peaceful assembly and association Clément Voule also issued a joint statement in December 2022 concerning these issues:
150 Palestinians have been killed in the occupied West Bank by Israeli forces so far this year, including 33 children [as of 14 December 2022]. In addition, a boy was killed by either Israeli forces or Israeli settlers who were firing side-by-side. At least two Palestinians were killed by settlers. 10 Israelis, including five settlers, one settlement guard and four Israeli forces have been killed by Palestinians in the occupied West Bank in 2022. [..] Armed and masked Israeli settlers are attacking Palestinians in their homes, attacking children on their way to school, destroying property and burning olive groves, and terrorising entire communities with complete impunity.[51]
2022 is the sixth consecutive year in which the number of Israeli settler attacks in the occupied West Bank has increased, despite a 2016 UN Security Council resolution[52] specifically intended to halt settlement activity. These settler attacks and damage to Palestinian property has included 12,985 trees and 518 vehicles vandalized, according to the UNSG’s report.
The three rapporteurs noted that “disturbing evidence of Israeli forces frequently facilitating, supporting and participating in settler attacks, makes it difficult to discern between Israeli settler and State violence … the impunity of one is reinforced by the impunity of the other”.
Similarly, the UNSG’s report refers in Sections 41-47 to “accountability”, with the final recommendations citing “an almost total failure to ensure accountability for apparent unlawful killing of Palestinians, including in instances that raise concerns of extrajudicial executions and wilful killing. This is indicative of the climate of impunity which prevails with respect to Israeli security forces excessive force against Palestinians, including in the contexts of settlement.”[53]
It is therefore the hope of Palestinians that the current case under consideration in The Hague at the International Court of Justice on the longstanding nature of the occupation will deliver, finally, accountability to end the aforesaid climate of impunity.[54], [55], [56]
The UNSG’s 2022 report also noted:
On 4 May, the High Court of Justice rejected a petition against eviction orders issued to Palestinian residents of 12 herding communities in the Israeli-designated Firing Zone 918 in Masafer Yatta. The petition had been ongoing since 2012. The judgment is inconsistent with international law, including its narrow interpretation of the prohibition of forcible transfer to cover only mass transfers and for privileging Israeli military law over international law obligations. With the Israeli security forces now enabled to implement eviction orders and use the site for active military training 1,144 residents (282 men, 293 women, 299 boys, 270 girls) are at imminent risk of forced evictions and forcible transfer. On 11 May, demolitions in Khirbet Al Fakhiet and Markaz communities resulted in forced eviction of 49 people (20 male, 29 female), including 24 children, while other steps towards clearing of the area continued … Israel, as the occupying Power, must cease forced evictions and possible forcible transfer of Palestinian families from their homes in Masafer Yatta, in line with its obligations under international law.
The writing is clearly on the wall, and yet the situation is only deteriorating, with those living through the violence the most seriously traumatised, or worse.
To put a human face to this tragic saga: Hajj Suleiman,[57], [58], [59], [60] an iconic activist leader, was beautifully eulogized by Awdah Hathaleen, a family member of his Bedouin Jahalin tribe of Umm al Khair in the South Hebron Hills. Suleiman was killed in January 2022 when a settler-driven police tow-truck hit him and drove off the scene. Hathaleen said in his eulogy:[61], [62], [63]
In a few hours, the New Year will be upon us. Let's turn the page of sorrows and declare the page of hope and love. Last year was the hardest and worst for all of us. A year that began with the martyrdom of the resistant Hajj Suleiman al-Hathlin on the seventeenth of January. A year in which we lived without Hajj Suleiman, a whole year trying to fill the void he left and we could not. A whole year where we remember him daily. We tried to forget and relieve ourselves, but we couldn't.
A whole year in which the Israeli occupation's harassment increased to an unprecedented extent in Masafer Yatta. Many homes were demolished for simple people who have nothing, and other homes were threatened with demolition. A year in which schools were demolished and other schools were awaiting demolition, constantly afraid to be notified at any moment. A year in which 230 Palestinians were killed by the Israeli occupation. A year in which a decision was issued by the Israeli Supreme Court to displace eight Palestinian villages.
Angela Godfrey-Goldstein is Director of Jahalin Solidarity, a Palestinian organization 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 on her work with Bedouin over the past 20 years was published in 2018 by Veritas in “Defending Hope”. In 2021, she was awarded 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 37th edition of The Indigenous World, a yearly overview produced by IWGIA that serves to document and report on the developments Indigenous Peoples have experienced. The photo above is of an Indigenous person in Tanzania. This photo was taken by Geneviève Rose, and is the cover of the Indigenous World 2023 where this article is featured. Find the Indigenous World 2023 in full here.
Notes and references
[1] “Israeli-Palestinian Interim Agreement on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip (Oslo II).” Refworld, 28 September 1995. https://www.refworld.org/docid/3de5ebbc0.html
[2] Pundak, Ron. “Decoding Bibi’s West Bank Agenda.” Haaretz, 1 August 2012, https://www.haaretz.com/opinion/decoding-bibi-s-west-bank-agenda-1.5275189
[3] “Expel and Exploit: The Israeli Practice of Taking over Rural Palestinian Land.” B’Tselem, December 2016, https://www.btselem.org/publications/summaries/201612_expel_and_exploit
[4] “Israeli army partially demolishes a school in the West Bank for the first time in 2021 – November 2021.” ReliefWeb, 8 November 2021, https://reliefweb.int/report/occupied-palestinian-territory/israeli-army-partially-demolishes-school-west-bank-first-time
[5] United Nations. OCHA. “West Bank demolitions and displacement | November - December 2021.” 1 February 2022, https://www.ochaopt.org/content/west-bank-demolitions-and-displacement-november-december-2021
[6] Mafarjeh, Noelle. “World Children´s Day: Snapshot of Palestine in 2022.” Jerusalem 24, 20 November 2022, https://jerusalem.24fm.ps/17838.html
[7]Facebook. “Ein Samia school is among 55 other schools in the West Bank under threat of Israeli demolition.” Prime Minister´s Office – State of Palestine, 13 April 2022, https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=553163019426900
[8] “Palestinian Students to start their School Year 2022/2023.” Action Aid, 29 August 2022, https://palestine.actionaid.org/news/2022/palestinian-students-start-their-school-year-20222023
[9] Al Tahhan, Zena. “Israeli forces demolish Palestinian school in Masafer Yatta.” Aljazeera, 23 November 2022, https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/11/23/israeli-forces-demolish-palestinian-school-in-masafer-yatta
[10] “Netanyahu, far-right ally said to agree government will advance West Bank annexation.” The Times of Israel, 22 December 2022, https://www.timesofisrael.com/netanyahu-far-right-ally-said-to-agree-government-will-advance-w-bank-annexation/
[11] Ben Zion, Ilan. “Netanyahu´s government vows to expand West Bank settlements, annex occupied territory.” PBS, 28 December 2022, https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/netanyahus-government-vows-to-expand-west-bank-settlements-annex-occupied-territory
[12] “Netanyahu says he intends to annex West Bank settlements if re-elected.” Jewish News, 26 October 2022, https://www.jewishnews.co.uk/netanyahu-says-he-intends-to-annex-west-bank-settlements-if-re-elected/
[13] Pope, Felix. “If I win the election, I´ll annex West Bank settlements, says Netanyahu.” The JC, 26 October 2022, https://www.thejc.com/news/israel/if-i-win-the-election-ill-annex-west-bank-settlements-says-netanyahu-xyWzAJ2mkXNW8r5Apz6YV
[14] El-Ad, Hagai. “Liberal Israel´s Masquerade Ball: A More Cultured Apartheid.” Haaretz, 30 January 2023, https://www.haaretz.com/opinion/2023-01-30/ty-article-opinion/.premium/liberal-israels-masquerade-ball-a-more-cultured-apartheid/00000186-0262-df8c-a9ae-9f76ea0f0000
[15] S. Lustick, Ian. “Annexation in right-wing Israeli discourse-The case of Ribonut.” University of Pennsylvania, 2022, https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpos.2022.963682/full
[16] UN. General Assembly. “Israeli settlement in the Occupied Palestinian Territory including East Jerusalem, and the Occupied Syrian Golan. Report of the Secretary-General.” 3 October 2022, https://reliefweb.int/report/occupied-palestinian-territory/israeli-settlements-occupied-palestinian-territory-including-east-jerusalem-and-occupied-syrian-golan-report-secretary-general-a77493-enar
[17] Fabian, Emanuel. “Two left-wing activists hurt in West Bank after settlers hurl stones at them.” The Times of Israel, 10 June 2022, https://www.timesofisrael.com/two-left-wing-activists-hurt-in-west-bank-after-settlers-hurl-stones-at-them/ ; “Video footage showed several settlers blocking the activists’ car near the Mitzpe Yair outpost in the South Hebron Hills, with one hurling stones at the vehicle and smashing the front passenger side window. According to the Yesh Din rights group, the activists were helping repair a road in the Masafer Yatta region, or Firing Zone 918, an agriculture area near Hebron.”
[18] UN. “Special Coordinator, Briefing Security Council, Appeals for Urgent Action as Israel-Palestinian Conflict Nears Boiling Point Once Again – Press Release (SC/15120).” 28 November 2022, https://www.un.org/unispal/document/special-coordinator-briefing-security-council-appeals-for-urgent-action-as-israel-palestinian-conflict-nears-boiling-point-once-again-press-release-sc-15120/
[19] YouTube. “Settler shoots at Palestinians using Israeli soldier’s weapon.” TRT World, 2 August 2021, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Axq3gaiZJ3U
[20] Adra, Basil. “WATCH: Settlers grabs Israeli soldier´s weapon, fires at Palestinians.” 972 Magazine, 2 August 2021, https://www.972mag.com/settler-attacks-idf-south-hebron-hills/
[21] “Video: Israeli guard, settler join forces in West Bank clash.” The New Arab, 22 October 2022, https://www.newarab.com/news/video-israeli-guard-settler-join-forces-west-bank-clash
[22] Hathaleen, Awdah. “In Masafer Yatta, teachers like me can´t guarantee our students an education.” 972 Magazine, 15 November 2022, https://www.972mag.com/masafer-yatta-students-education/
[23] Patel, Yumna. “The Israeli army demolished a school in Masafer Yatta. Residents say it won´t be the last.” Mondoweiss, 28 November 2022, https://mondoweiss.net/2022/11/the-israeli-army-demolished-a-school-in-masafer-yatta-residents-say-it-wont-be-the-last/
[24] Maps 2022 Bedouin and other herding communities’ demolitions: 72 demolition incidents, in which 239 structures were destroyed; 110 having been agricultural and 14 livelihood.; UN. OCHA. “Data on demolition and displacement in the West Bank.” https://www.ochaopt.org/data/demolition
[25] “The Bedouin in Israel.” Israeli embassies, https://embassies.gov.il/MFA/AboutIsrael/Spotlight/Pages/The-Bedouin-in-Israel.aspx
[26] Mann, Sarah. “Bedouin in Israel.” Be in Harim Tours, 22 November 2021, https://www.beinharimtours.com/bedouins-in-israel/
[27] Bandel, Netael. “Documents Reveal Israel´s Intent to Forcibly Expel the Bedouin From Their Lands.” Haaretz, 31 January 2022, https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2022-01-31/ty-article-magazine/.premium/documents-reveal-israels-intent-to-forcibly-expel-bedouin-from-their-lands/0000017f-e30e-d9aa-afff-fb5e038a0000 : Documents Reveal Israel’s Intent to Forcibly Expel the Bedouin From Their Lands - New research [an opinion by Prof. Gadi Algazi, a historian from Tel Aviv University] has uncovered an Israeli military operation commanded by Moshe Dayan, whose goal was to forcibly remove Bedouin citizens from their lands. “Transferring the Bedouin to new territories would annul their rights as landowners and make them tenants on government lands,” wrote Dayan in 1951. And a document written by the military government predicted that if the Bedouin, who refused to leave, did not move voluntarily, the army “would have to move them,” Algazi’s opinion added.
[28] BIMKOM and UNRWA. “Al jabal: a study on the transfer of Bedouin Palestine refugees.” https://www.unrwa.org/userfiles/2013052935643.pdf
[29] Norwegian Refugee Council. “Bedouin Rights under Occupation: International Humanitarian Law and Indigenous Rights for Palestinian Bedouin in the West Bank.” November 2015, https://www.nrc.no/globalassets/pdf/reports/bedouin-rights-under-occupation.pdf
[30] UN. OCHA. “West Bank. Area C: Key Humanitarian Concerns.” https://www.ochaopt.org/sites/default/files/area_c_key_humanitarian_concerns.pdf
[31] UN. OCHA. “Most Palestinian plans to build in Area C not approved.” The Humanitarian Bulletin, January-May 2021, 22 June 2021, https://www.ochaopt.org/content/most-palestinian-plans-build-area-c-not-approved
[32] Planners for Planning Rights. “Destructive Planning Policies. West Bank, 2018-2022.” https://bimkom.org/wp-content/uploads/BimkomDemolitionsChangesReport.pdf
[33] Equally, in East Jerusalem after its 1967 occupation, Israel only zoned 13% [Source: Prof. Omar Youssef, Al Quds Univ.] for Palestinian homes: land already fully built up in 1967 – meaning few Palestinian East Jerusalemites will ever be awarded building permits on their own land.
[34] B´TSELEM. “Under the Guise of Security: Routing the Separation Barrier to Enable the Expansion of Israeli Settlements in the West Bank.” December 2005, https://www.btselem.org/publications/summaries/200512_under_the_guise_of_security
[35] B´TSELEM and BIMKOM. “Under the Guise of Security. Routing the Separation Barrier to Enable the Expansion of Israeli Settlements in the West Bank.” December 2005, https://www.un.org/unispal/wp-content/uploads/2005/12/a40e88b2cb1c35b3852570ed00577efe_report.pdf
[36] Arora, Rhea. “Ali Abu Awwad: ‘I promise you: there is enough humanity on the other side’.” Fieldbuilding, 16 November 2021, https://fieldbuilding.org/ali-abu-awwad/
[37] “The international community must prevent the forcible transfer of Masafer Yatta communities, approved by Israel’s High court of Justice.” B´TSELEM, 5 May 2022, https://www.btselem.org/press_release/20220505_international_community_must_prevent_the_forcible_transfer_of_masafer_yatta_communities_approved_by_hcj
[38] “Fast-tracked war crime: Israel informs Palestinians from Masafer Yatta of imminent expulsion.” B´TSELEM, 2 January 2023, https://www.btselem.org/press_releases/20230102_fast_tracked_war_crime_israel_informs_palestinians_from_masafer_yatta_of_imminent_expulsion
[39] UN Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in the OPT, Francesca Albanese, comments (at 5:47) about Israel lacking sovereignty in Masafer Yatta to operate a firing zone, stating: “International law is as valid as the will of international states to enforce it.” YouTube. "Francesca Albanese at UNGA: Negotiated solution 4 Palestine-Israel ineffective, paradigm shift needed." Law for Palestine, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=15PfmunooEs&t=30s
[40] YouTube. “Saving Masafer Yatta.” Mondoweiss, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uop6_0ISKPM
[41] YouTube. “The Voice of the Women in Masafer Yatta.” Social TV, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=doJcxANndRY
[42] “Heads of Mission of the European Union and likeminded countries visit Khallet a-Dabe´ and a-Tuwani in Masafer Yatta.” The Office of the European Union Representative (West Bank and Gaza Strip, UNRWA), 28 September 2022, https://www.eeas.europa.eu/delegations/palestine-occupied-palestinian-territory-west-bank-and-gaza-strip/heads-mission-6_en?s=206
[43] “Conversations with friends: Masafer Yatta-Hebron-Burin.” Machsom Watch, 14 December 2022, https://machsomwatch.org/en/content/conversations-friends-masafer-yatta-hebron-burin
[44] YouTube. “European Diplomats Visit Masafr Yatta, Israeli Forces Continue Ethnic Cleansing of Palestinians.” Unicorn Riot, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0FOBRIVzvY4
[45] Hammerman, Ilana. “The Palestinians of Masafer Yatta Are Living a Nightmare.” Haaretz, 2 February 2022, https://www.haaretz.com/opinion/2023-02-02/ty-article/.premium/the-palestinians-of-masafer-yatta-are-living-a-nightmare/00000186-0ce3-dc62-afb6-2ef3a33f0000
[46] UN. “Special Coordinator, Briefing Security Council, Appeals for Urgent Action as Israel-Palestinian Conflict Nears Boiling Point Once Again – Press Release (SC/15120).” 28 November 2022.
[47] “Special Focus: Alarming Increase in Settlers Attacks against Palestinians in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) – Reporting Period: 3-14 October 2022.” Al-Haq, 24 October 2022, https://www.alhaq.org/advocacy/20722.html
[48] "Palestinian PM calls for deployment of UN observers to document Israel´s violations." Arab News, 19 December 2022, https://www.arabnews.com/node/2218711/middle-east
[49] UN. General Assembly. “Israeli settlement in the Occupied Palestinian Territory including East Jerusalem, and the Occupied Syrian Golan. Report of the Secretary-General.” 3 October 2022.
[50] "UN envoy reports 'sharp increase' in violence this year in Israel-Palestine conflict." UN News, 19 December 2022, https://news.un.org/en/story/2022/12/1131852
[51] UN. OHCHR. “Israel: UN experts condemn record year of Israeli violence in the occupied World Bank.” 15 December 2022, https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2022/12/israel-un-experts-condemn-record-year-israeli-violence-occupied-west-bank
[52] UN. Security Council. “Resolution 2334 (2016).” 23 December 2016, https://www.un.org/webcast/pdfs/SRES2334-2016.pdf
[53] Ibid.
[54] UN. OHCHR. “Commission of Inquiry welcomes General Assembly resolution requesting an ICJ Advisory Opinion relating to the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory.” 31 December 2022, https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2022/12/commission-inquiry-welcomes-general-assembly-resolution-requesting-icj
[55] Crawford, Julia. “Israel-Palestine Conflict: What Difference Could An ICJ Ruling Make?” Justice Info, 6 February 2023, https://www.justiceinfo.net/en/112095-israel-palestine-conflict-difference-could-icj-ruling-make.html
[56] International Court of Justice. “Legal Consequences Arising From The Policies And Practices Of Israel In The Occupied Palestinian Territory, Including East Jerusalem (Request for Advisory Opinion).” 3 February 2023, https://www.icj-cij.org/public/files/case-related/186/186-20230203-ORD-01-00-EN.pdf
[57] Instagram. awdah.hathaleen´s account post from the 31 December 2022, https://www.instagram.com/p/Cm1-Q1SNDq2/
[58] Hammad, Shatha. “West Bank: Iconic Palestinian activist dies after run over by Israeli forces.” Middle East Eye, 17 January 2022, https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israel-palestine-suleiman-hathalin-dies-run-over
[59] Levy, Gideon., and Alex Levac. “Israeli Police Ran Over a Palestinian Anti-occupation Protester – Then Fled the Scene.” Haaretz, 14 January 2022, https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/twilight-zone/2022-01-14/ty-article-magazine/.highlight/israeli-police-ran-a-over-palestinian-anti-occupation-protester-and-fled-the-scene/0000017f-e30b-d38f-a57f-e75bf7c00000
[60] Alsaeed, Louy. “Suleiman Hathaleen: How a 73-year-old defied Israeli occupation.” Aljazeera, 23 January 2022, https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2022/1/23/suleiman-hathaleen
[61] Al-Waara, Akram. “West Bank: Truck used in Israeli police raid ‘deliberately ran over’ elderly Palestinian man.” Middle East Eye, 6 January 2022, https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/palestine-west-bank-israel-police-deliberately-runs-over-elderly-man
[62] “75-year-old anti-occupation activist succumbs to wounds sustained in deliberate run-over.” Wafa News Agency, 17 January 2022, https://english.wafa.ps/Pages/Details/127683
[63] Shezaf, Hagar., and Jack Khoury. “Palestinian Activist Dies Two Weeks After Being Run Over by Israeli Police Truck.” Haaretz, 17 January 2022, https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2022-01-17/ty-article/.premium/palestinian-activist-dies-two-weeks-after-being-run-over-by-israeli-police-truck/0000017f-e13d-df7c-a5ff-e37fa44e0000
Tags: Global governance, Human rights, IWGIA
