Jerusalem as an Example of Land Confiscation Problem

Prepared by the researcher : Azhar Khaled FarajAllah / Researcher at Ankara Yıldırım Beyazıt University

Democratic Arabic Center

Journal of Political Trends : Twenty-sixth Issue – March 2024

A Periodical International Journal published by the “Democratic Arab Center” Germany – Berlin

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Abstract

Jerusalem is one of the holiest places in Palestine and the capital of Palestine, as well as one of the most significant instances in countries of the British Mandate, within the borders decided by Britain and France after the fall of the empire of the Ottomans after World War I, after which the British mandate ended and it was handed over to the Jews and came under the control of the Israeli occupation. Israel began dominating Palestine by taking its lands as a right and removing Palestinians from it, and has utilized a variety of strategies to do it. All of these issues will be addressed in this article.

Introduction

The history of Jerusalem is an ancient history rooted in the depths of time. The land of Jerusalem is one of the oldest human habitats and God has singled it out thanks to him without Bqara his land was one of the oldest parts of the earth that knew monotheism and the landing of the heavenly messengers and the drawer on its land messengers of Karam.The study of history is of great importance in building nations and peoples, history constitutes the roots of the nation, it is the basis of its construction and the secret of its strength and renewed memory, which understands its past and interprets its present and foresees its future. Jerusalem in order to deal well with the case file, at a time when we are witnessing a strong attack by Israel to circulate a wrong reading of the history of Jerusalem to the whole world, which reached its peak in the celebration of the passage of three thousand years since David entered Jerusalem!!

Jerusalem is not just stones and roads, not just a material heritage, but part of the history of a nation linked to faith and creed in its place in the heart.

In view of what is happening in Jerusalem of Judaization, confiscation of Palestinian propertyand land, and expulsion of Palestinians from their homes throug force and violence, and the use of arbitrary policies and procedures, hence the importance of this brief historical study of the history of Jerusalem.

Paper Content :

My paper discusses the history of Palestine; the British Mandate and its rule in Palestine; the coming of Jews to Palestine; Britain’s support for Jews to build a national homeland in Palestine; Jews in Jerusalem and Palestine to own land and heritage homes; Palestine after 1948; the oppression of occupation and the pursuit of Palestinian land and homes, examples of which are Sheikh Jarrah and several holy cities. In addition, the report provides discussion replies to the following research questions:The paper also  gives discussion answers to the following research questions :

• How far does the Israeli government’s control and development of Jerusalem constitute a form of land confiscation?
• What are the implications of the Judaization policies in Jerusalem for the Palestinian population and their rights to land ownership and residency?
• What are the social, economic and cultural consequences of land confiscation in Jerusalem, both for the Palestinian residents and the Israeli authorities?
• What measures can be taken to address the problem of land confiscation in Jerusalem and promote a just and sustainable resolution for all parties involved?

Problem statement:

The Israeli government has implemented a number of actions and regulations that led to in the expropriation of Palestinian property in the city.

These confiscations occur through a combination of legal, administrative, and military measures. One commonly used method is the declaration of land as “state land,” enabling the Israeli authorities to seize and control it. This process often involves the demolition of Palestinian homes and the displacement of Palestinian families.

The consequences of land confiscation in Jerusalem are severe. Palestinians lose their homes, their access to agricultural land, and their cultural and historical connections to the city. The confiscation of land reinforces a sense of dispossession and contributes to the fragmentation of Palestinian communities.

For an Israeli-Palestinian conflict to be resolved in a way that is both lasting and just, the question of land confiscation in Jerusalem must be resolved.It necessitates a comprehensive strategy that considers the legal, political, and humanitarian facets while maintaining the protection of human rights, the right to self-determination, and the fundamentals of international law.

Chapter One

Jerusalem: Location – Geography – Importance

First: Jerusalem Geography

1. 1. Jerusalem is located at longitude 35 13 east of Greenwich and at latitude 31 47 N.G elevated 720-830 above sea level (Al-Dabagh ,1984) Jerusalem is 52 km from the Mediterranean Sea, 22 km from the Dead Sea and 250 km from the Red Sea. The longest roads linking Jerusalem and each of the neighboring capitals are Jerusalem-Amman 88 km, Jerusalem – Damascus 290 km, Jerusalem – Beirut 388 km, Jerusalem – Cairo 528 km, and there is a railway line linking Jerusalem to Jaffa. Jerusalem is connected to the outside world by air through Qalandiya Airport, located to the north.(Palestinian Wikipedia,1984)
2. 2. The city of Jerusalem is located on hills protected by a group of mountains surrounding it on its four sides. The eastern gap of the city is located on the Mount of Olives, which rises about 820 meters above sea level, overlooking and overlooking all the eastern region up to the Jordan Valley. The southern side of the city is located on Jabal Mukaber, which overlooks and overlooks the southern area beyond the city of Bethlehem. To the west, the city is surrounded by a series of mountains, the highest of which is Mount Nabi Samuel, which overlooks the western slopes and overlooks the coastal city of Palestine, and from the north – Mount Scopus rises overlooking and overseeing an area that reaches Ramallah.(Arafa ,1985)

Second: Strategic Work:

1. 1. Jerusalem is located at a strategic crossroads, which gives it great strategic importance, a feature that is not limited to Jerusalem alone, but is a special feature for Palestine as a whole, where the transverse area from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea, and the longitudinal area from the Sea of Galilee to the Gulf of Aqaba, is a strategic passage that any force must cross during its movement from north to south, and vice versa, more specifically, Palestine is the center of the main roads of the entire ancient world – Africa, Asia and Europe – on Military and commercial levels, warrior armies and commercial convoys used to cross the region through two main routes:
2. a) The eastern route coming from Damascus through Jordan to Karak and then to Wadi Araba and the Negev desert to the Sinai desert and Egypt.
3. b) The northern road coming from the Badia al-Sham to Damascus, then to Palestine through the northern Jordan Valley to the south of Lake Tiberias, then to Marj Ben Amer towards the coastal plain through Wadi Ara, and then along the coastal plain to Gaza and Sinai. Palestine is surrounded by three main stations: Damascus in the north, Karak in the east, and Gaza as a crossing point to the south. This triangle served as the vital framework under which the first borders of Palestine were delineated. Given that Jerusalem is geographically at the center of this triangle, it is only natural that the city acquires great strategic importance(Al-Dabagh,1984)

Jerusalem’s strategic position has become increasingly significant in the realm of military affairs owing to its natural defenses. The conquest of Jerusalem during military campaigns signaled the occupation of Palestine and its surrounding regions, as Jerusalem’s central location grants it control over numerous trade routes and communication with surrounding regions (Palestinian Wikipedia, 1984).

Area of Jerusalem:

The area of Jerusalem before 1948, 20 km2 and after its division in that year, its borders were limited to an area not exceeding 2 km2 is the Old City and some sites around it, and the division continued until about 1953 to become then include 5 and 6 km is the area of East Jerusalem. Following the fall of the city in 1967, the eastern section was expanded to include 28 Arab villages with an area of 700 km2, and the eastern and western parts of Jerusalem became a total area of 123 km2.

The riches of Jerusalem:

Jerusalem is famous for its olive cultivation. The mineral wealth, where rocks abound on the slopes of Mount Gilboa and the mountains of Jerusalem, and its importance in the cement industry is highlighted.

1. 1. Agriculture: Agriculture is not a source of wealth for the residents of Jerusalem, although it is still an important source of income for the residents of some villages that were annexed within the borders of Jerusalem. Agriculture in the Jerusalem area depends on rain due to the lack of water resources in the area. Cereals were the main crop in the past, but the cultivation of fruit trees, especially olives and grapes, has replaced cereals in recent years due to their suitability to the mountainous nature and better economic returns. Agriculture is concentrated on the terraces of the mountain slopes, where the cultivation of forest fruit trees is successful, and in the bottoms of valleys and depressions, where the cultivation of cereals and vegetables is successful, and most of the agricultural production is sold in the markets of Jerusalem. The provision of water for drinking and domestic, agricultural and industrial uses has been the main problem for the inhabitants of the Holy City since ancient times due to the lack of water resources. Jerusalem obtains water by many means, including collecting rain in specially prepared tankers and transporting water from some wells. When the population’s water consumption increased, there was an urgent need to transport water to the city of Jerusalem from distant sources, and during the Mandate it was transported to the city in pipes from the Ras al-Ayn spring.

After 1948, Jerusalem was deprived of this important water source, and it was supplied with water from the Solomon and Ain Fara pools. After 1967, the Holy City regained its water from the spring of Ras al-Ain and Ain Fara, as well as other sources in the settlement of Kfar Uria near Jerusalem.

2. 2. Industry: In Arab Jerusalem, there is a light industry, mostly agricultural, such as grain milling, olive pressing, soap making, vegetable canning, sesame oil extraction, olive wood and seashell industry. The latter industry is a successful tourism industry. There are other Arab industries such as spinning, tile weaving, ceramics, wax, soda water, pastries, furniture, plastics and cigarettes, and Jordanian statistics for 1965 indicate that the number of industrial establishments employing ten persons or more in each of them is 152 establishments with about 2,500 workers.(Palestinian Wikipedia, p.516)

After 1967, Israel resorted to preventing the establishment of new Arab industries and to participating in the capital of large Arab industrial projects in the service of the Israeli economy. It has established in Arab Jerusalem three industrial zones, the first in Mount Elyton where 4.000 workers work, the second in the northeast of the city in (Anata) where 40.000 workers work, and the third in Qalandiya where 15.000 workers work, and most of the Israeli industries are light concentrated in the areas of Tel Arza northwest of Jerusalem and Givat Shaul in the west, Jerusalem included in 1968 368 Zionist industrial enterprises or 6.2% of the total industrial enterprises in (Israel) and these institutions included 9200 workers or 5.1% of all industrial workers in Israel.

3. 3. Trade: Jerusalem has benefited from its geographical location, which made it a commercial center throughout historical times, as it includes many markets full of various commercial goods, and what helps the popularity of commercial movement in the holy city is its easy connection to the Mediterranean Sea and the interior parts of its surrounding territory, in addition to its connection with Jordan, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and the countries of the Arabian Peninsula. There is no doubt that the tourist movement has contributed a lot to the popularity of trade within the city, especially during holidays and religious occasions, and it is natural that the growing population of the city pushes to increase commercial institutions, banks and various markets to meet the needs of the population consumer of goods. The Jerusalem region supplies the city with its needs of vegetables and fruits, and the city supplies its territory with many industrial products.
4. 4. Tourism: The Holy City is the focus of attention of the entire world population visited by tourists from various sides to increase the holy sites, and therefore the tourism industry has revived in Jerusalem since ancient times, which generates profit for its workers from the residents of Jerusalem, whether they are owners of hotels, cafes, cars, restaurants, travel and tourism offices or public services, and this industry before 1967 contributed a large share to Jordan’s tourism revenues, and is today an important major resource for the Israeli economy.(Same resource)

Human activity:

The mountains of Jerusalem are scattered with dozens of communities, the largest of which is the city of Jerusalem. The density of villages and cities in the Jerusalem Mountains is much higher than the land’s natural economic potential. The city of Jerusalem does not have any natural feature that encourages the emergence and development of such a large city, but Jerusalem has been and continues to be the reason that attracts people from all over the country to its reconstruction, due to its ancient religious historical background.

Population:

The population of Jerusalem in 1890 was estimated at 45,000 people, in 1896 at 50,000 people, and their number was estimated at 90,000 before the First World War in 1913, but the number decreased to 50,000 at the end of the war (1917) and then returned and rose in 1920 to 61,000 people, and to 57,000 people at the end of 1944 and in November 1947 the number reached 164,500 people distributed as follows:

63.6000 Arabs, 11,200 Jews in the Old City within the Wall and in the Arab part of the New City, Jerusalem without its suburbs. If the residents of the new suburbs established by Jews are added, they constitute a majority, with 88,000 Jews as opposed to just 1,500 Arabs. That is to say, the Arabs constituted 85% of the population of Jerusalem itself, but the Jews constituted 60% of the city surrounded by Zionist communities. According to the official census of 1961, the population of Arab Jerusalem numbered about 80,000 while the Jewish population in the area it occupied was about 167,000. In 1970, as a result of the exodus of Arab residents from Jerusalem to the East Bank of Jordan after June 1967, the number of Arabs decreased to 73,000 and the Jewish population increased to 215,000, making the Holy City’s total population of 288,000.In East Jerusalem, 165,000 Arabs now make up 27% of Jerusalem’s population.(Palestinian Wikipedia).

Western Jews started embracing new colonization notions of Palestinian territory in the eighties of the nineteenth century, replacing attempts at civic or peaceful authority with armed rule. The global Zionist movement was one of the largest proponents of this ideology, stating: “The day we build one Jewish army is the day our state will be established.” The “Lovers of Zion” organization was established by the Zionist movement in Europe in the middle of the 1880s (the first Zionist congress was held in Basel in 1897). This movement advocated for the creation of a state for Jews, and many Zionists thought that this state should be situated in the area that had previously been the Jewish historical state, or Palestine. Palestinian Arabs made up the majority of the population at the time, with Jews making up less than 8% of the population until 1920. Palestine was then a part of the Ottoman Empire and had a local government (wilayah) (BBC, 2008).

During that time, all the prominent political figures, including the Mufti of Jerusalem, Amin al-Husseini, Izz al-Din al-Qassam, and later Abd al-Qadir al-Husseini, along with various political, religious, and military leaders, unequivocally rejected the Zionist project in response to the widespread public outrage across Palestine. These initial expressions of resistance from the Palestinian population marked the early stages of their opposition. While the Arab figures and rulers held diverse attitudes towards the Zionist endeavor, some supported the Palestinians in their pursuit of self-determination, while others chose to remain silent. Certain individuals even sought the approval of the British government by engaging with Zionist movement leaders, such as Prince Faisal bin Al-Hussein, who met with Chaim Weizmann, the head of the global Zionist Organization, among others (BBC, 2008).

Regarding Western nations, they embraced the Zionist endeavor in Palestine, providing substantial financial, military, and logistical backing. Prominent countries like Britain, the United States, and France extended their support, recognizing that the establishment of a Hebrew state, as envisioned by the Zionists, would safeguard their interests in the region.

The Great Arab Revolt

On behalf of all Arabs, Sharif Al-Hussein bin Ali initiated a rebellion against the Ottoman Empire. The Arab national pact, signed by Al-Hussein and leaders of Arab associations in the Levant and Iraq, outlined the objectives of achieving Arab independence and establishing a strong, united Arab state, in which Palestine would be an integral component (The Great Revolution, 2017).

Through the exchange of letters known as the Hussein-McMahon Correspondence in 1915, the British government made a pledge to the Arabs that if they supported the Allies in the war against the Turks, they would be granted independence. As stated in an announcement published in the Al-Qibla daily, this agreement included the raising of the four-color Arab flag starting from 9 Shaaban 1335, corresponding to 10 June 1917, which marked the first anniversary of the revolution. However, Britain ultimately betrayed its commitment to the Arabs by endorsing the Sykes-Picot Agreement and the Balfour Declaration. These actions were aimed at preserving the Zionist presence in Palestine while keeping it separate from its Arab neighbors, contrary to the earlier promises made (The Great Revolution, 2017).

Chapter two

Palestine’s History During the Ottoman era

The empire known as the Ottomans began to suffer from an economic crisis in the middle of the nineteenth century, which opened the way for Britain to enter the Arab region under the name of foreign missions, or what was known as the “peaceful crusade”.

The expansion of British colonial interests necessitated the strengthening of their position, and the Zionist movement emerged as the means to achieve this objective by establishing a national homeland for Jews. Starting from 1830, British Foreign Secretary Henry John Temple pursued the establishment of a Jewish national home, taking advantage of the Ottoman Peace Law and culminating in the opening of Britain’s first consulate in Jerusalem in 1838. The British facilitated the acquisition of land in Palestine by Jewish individuals and the establishment of Jewish colonies on that land. This strategy aimed to disrupt communication routes between Asia and Africa, prevent potential military threats, and ensure the smooth flow of Britain’s economic interests towards India. European Jews employed various tactics, such as purchasing land through foreign intermediaries or establishing hospitals and orphanages that eventually transformed into Jewish settlements (Khan, 1981).

Temple tried to ask the Ottoman Empire to issue a decree encouraging Jews distributed in Europe and send them to Palestine, but Sultan Abdul Hamid II banned visits to Jews for more than a month, and also prevented them from gathering next to Jerusalem in order to avoid forming a government of Jews expelled from Europe.Herzl tried to entice the Ottoman Sultan Abdul Hamid in many ways, sending him a letter offering him a loan of twenty million pounds, in exchange for allowing Jews to immigrate to Palestine, and giving them a piece of land on which to reside autonomy, and established an Ottoman Jewish company and introduced European and Turkish mediation to convince him, but he failed, and he also tried to establish a Hebrew university in Jerusalem, but the proposal was rejected by the Ottoman Empire as well.

On August 29, 1897, the first Zionist Congress was held in Basel, Switzerland, and its most prominent issues were the strengthening of the Jewish identity of the Jews of Western Europe, teaching the Hebrew language to the Jews, and diverting their attention and feelings from South America and directing it towards Palestine.

Balfour Declaration

Balfour held a meeting with representatives of the Zionist movement, where he insisted that the British government issue an official promise to grant them Palestine once World War I was won. On November 2, 1917, Balfour sent his renowned letter to Lord Lionel Rothschild, the head of the Jewish community in Britain. In the letter, he expressed the British government’s sympathy for the establishment of a national homeland for the Jewish people in Palestine. Balfour pledged that the government would exert its utmost efforts towards this goal, as long as it did not compromise the civil and religious rights of other communities residing in Palestine or the rights of Jews in other countries, nor affect their political status (History Site, 2020).

This marked the formulation of the Balfour Declaration, a document signed by the British government with the primary aim of attracting German Jews to unite with British Jews in supporting the British cause. As the war came to an end, there was a growing push for the transfer of Jews from Europe and America, leading to a significant influx of Jewish immigrants through the Jaffa-Jerusalem railway, which had been fully secured by the British.

In 1918, the British government decided to dispatch a delegation to Palestine, which included Chaim Weizmann, the commander of British forces in Palestine, to assess the practicality of implementing the Balfour Declaration (Al-Jazeera).

In the same year, the British government presented the text of the Balfour Declaration to former US President Woodrow Wilson, and he approved its content before it was published, and it was officially approved by France and Italy.

Note: From 1920 to 1946, Weizmann was President of the World Zionist Organization. He was elected the first President of the State of Israel in 1949, and he is the most prominent Zionist figure after Herzl.

End of Mandate and proclamation of the establishment of Israel

On June 17, 1946, a series of Zionist attacks against the British began, in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, followed by a series of arrests of Jews by the British government, to which the Jews responded with further attacks by blowing up several areas of the British Civil Administration.

The British issued a white paper again, blaming the Jewish Agency for committing “terrorist acts,” and America declared its support for the settlement enterprise and decreed the four-zone partition of Palestine on April 20, 1946, based on the Morrison Grady Plan, which limited the area of Jewish areas to 17%.The Jewish Agency then demanded the establishment of a state in Palestine, based on the area recommended by the Peel Commission in 1937, a larger area that included all of the Galilee and the western coastal plain except the Jaffa area, and America directed the British leaders to the Agency’s demands for partition, ending any joint British-American solution, while Jewish aggression against the British continued.

On April 2, 1947, the British officially announced their intention to refer the issue of Palestine to the United States. The General Assembly formed a special committee called UNESCO, which proposed the division of Palestine into Arab and Jewish states, with Jerusalem placed under international trusteeship, effectively ending the British Mandate. Tragically, on April 9, 1948, the Palestinian village of Deir Yassin was devastated by Jewish gangs, resulting in the loss of all 279 inhabitants, the majority of whom were children, women, and the elderly.

British Defense Secretary Arthur Jones declared Britain’s decision to terminate the Mandate for Palestine and transfer it to the United States. On May 15, 1948, the Zionist organizations proclaimed the establishment of the State of Israel. However, this declaration came after the displacement of approximately 950,000 Palestinians through acts of violence, massacres, and intimidation. These Palestinians were forced to leave their homes, villages, and cities, seeking refuge in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and neighboring Arab countries. The total number of displaced Palestinians amounted to around 1.4 million, out of which approximately 950,000 were displaced prior to the establishment of the State of Israel.

What did Britain leave behind?

During their mandate, British forces committed a number of massacres and suppressed Palestinian revolts, most notably the 1920 revolution, the Buraq revolution in 1929, the Qassam revolt in 1935, and the Great Palestinian Revolt in 1936.The number of Jews in Palestine before the fall of the Ottoman Empire was estimated at about 50,000 inside Palestine, and with the British Mandate it reached 650,000 in 1948, until they constituted 29.5% of the population, and the number of colonies increased to 60.In 1918, the total number of Palestinian lands owned by Jews was 650,000 dunams, or 2% of the total area of Palestine, and the percentage rose to 8% in 1948.

From 1947 to 1967

During the period of the British Mandate of Palestine and even after the establishment of the State of Palestine, the Zionist movement orchestrated a series of premeditated actions with the aim of expelling Palestinians and carrying out ethnic cleansing in Palestine. These actions included targeted terrorist attacks on Palestinian villages and cities by groups such as Haganah, Irgun, and Stern.

As a result of these operations, approximately 78 percent of historic Palestine came under Jewish control, accompanied by the killing and forced displacement of an estimated 750,000 to one million Palestinians, who sought refuge in neighboring countries and other parts of Palestine. These Palestinian refugees who emerged from the areas upon which Israel was founded became a central focus of the Palestinian cause.

Between 1947 and the 1948 war, around 750,000 Palestinian Arabs were displaced from their towns. Following the war, the Mandate territory was divided among Israel, Jordan, and Egypt. Israel granted Israeli citizenship solely to those who remained within its borders and refused to allow displaced Arabs from outside those borders to return. Jordan extended citizenship to residents of the West Bank, including refugees, while residents of the Gaza Strip and refugees were left without citizenship, as Egypt declined to grant them Egyptian citizenship. Presently, refugees make up nearly half of the Palestinian population, amounting to approximately 4.6 million individuals as of 1995 (Resolution 181, United Nations).

The resolution on the partition of Palestine

The resolution concerning the partition of Palestine refers to a decision passed by the United Nations General Assembly on November 29, 1947. This resolution marked the termination of the British Mandate in Palestine and called for the division of the territory into three entities: the establishment of an Arab state, a Jewish state, and the designation of a special area under international trusteeship for Jerusalem and Bethlehem. Known officially as General Assembly Resolution 181, it represented one of the initial attempts to address the Arab-Jewish-Zionist conflict over the land of Palestine.

The concept of dividing Palestine into Arab and Jewish states originated with the proposal for an international zone around Jerusalem, as outlined in the Peel Commission report of 1937 and the Woodhead Commission report of 1938. These reports were commissioned by the British government to examine the Palestinian question following the Great Palestinian Revolt of 1933-1939 (Resolution 181 (II). Future government of Palestine).

Following World War II and the establishment of the United Nations, which replaced the League of Nations, there was a call for a review of the mandates granted by the League of Nations to European empires. The British Mandate for Palestine was considered one of the most complex and significant issues in this regard.

During Britain’s withdrawal from Palestine and the establishment of the State of Israel, military operations intensified from all sides. The Zionist forces had deliberate plans and took control of areas vacated by British forces. In contrast, the Arab forces faced a military crisis due to delays in building an effective Arab defense force for Palestine. The Zionist forces occupied territories that exceeded what was stipulated in the partition decision, and many Palestinians fled their cities and villages due to battles or fears of potential massacres (United Nations).

On May 13, Chaim Weizmann sent a letter to US President Truman, urging him to fulfill his promise to recognize a Jewish state. On May 14, the establishment of the State of Israel was announced in Tel Aviv, followed by the British High Commissioner leaving Jerusalem for Britain. At the stroke of midnight on May 15, the British Mandate for Palestine officially ended, and the declaration of the State of Israel came into effect. The United States recognized Israel ten minutes later. However, the conflict continued, now primarily between Israel and neighboring Arab states.

By the end of the war, Israel had become a reality, controlling territories beyond what was outlined in the partition decision. It occupied the entire coastal plain, except for the Gaza Strip, which was under Egyptian control. Israel also established its presence in the Negev, Galilee, and northern Palestine. East Jerusalem and the West Bank became part of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. This marked the beginning of a broader conflict with the Arab states (Al-Jazeera Channel).

Chapter Three

Confiscation of Palestinian Land

“The truth is that Zionism is without settlement, and the state is Jewish without the evacuation of Arabs and the confiscation and fencing of land” is a sentence in an article by a former Israeli Knesset member named Yeshayahu Ben Fort in the Hebrew newspaper Yedioth on 11/1/1911. This quote represents the philosophy of Israeli colonial settlement, which is the practical application of Zionist strategic thought, as he pursued a philosophy based on land grabbing.

By employing deceptive religious and historical justifications, the Zionist movement expelled the Palestinian population through various methods and propagated the notion of “a land without a people for a people without a land.” They brought in numerous Jewish immigrants from different regions and replaced the Palestinian Arabs, with the ultimate goal of establishing a state in this specific part of the Arab region. This territory holds strategic importance in this region of the world.

The objective behind controlling the Palestinian territories is to prevent the establishment of an independent Palestinian state on the lands occupied in 1911. This serves as the other side of the occupation process, complementing the seizure and Judaization of land, as well as the displacement of its Arab inhabitants. The Zionist authorities perceive the settlements as essential for demographic control and land dominance. Additionally, the settlements serve as a security and economic buffer for the Israeli interior. Israeli governments view the construction of these settlements as a means to settle a large number of Jewish immigrants in the Palestinian territories, ultimately altering the demographic balance in favor of Judaization. The expansion of Israeli settlements has followed a gradual approach, without clearly defined boundaries, as highlighted by Ben-Gurion’s statement.

“Israel’s borders will be determined by future generations.”

Due to the importance of settlement in Zionist philosophy, successive Israeli governments have distinguished settlements with their own Israeli economic policies that differ from the general economic policies of the Jewish state, where settlements were financially supported regardless of the economic feasibility of this support, aiming to achieve this support Ideological and political ends The last 30 years have shown that settlements are thriving.

In parallel with the reduction of the welfare state within Israel. Israeli governments offer settlers in the pre-1911 occupied territories services (offering low-priced land, affordable apartments and housing, concessions and government support, subsidized educational infrastructure, tax reductions, and generous welfare state assistance) as part of the Israeli government’s policy of encouraging Jews to live in settlements.

To implement its expansionist policies and achieve its strategic goals, the Israeli authorities have not only confiscated Palestinian land in order to build and expand settlements, but have also implemented other measures to confiscate Palestinian land, which are closely related to settlement policy, including land confiscation to build bypass roads to connect settlements to each other or to link them to Jewish communities inside the Green Line, or confiscation of land for the construction of the annexation wall and racist expansion, or confiscation of land and considering it “closed military zones”, which include large areas of  Israel isolates the land, severely restricts access to Palestinian citizens, and determines the boundaries of these areas by military orders issued by the Israeli authorities, including the areas surrounding settlements and areas behind the annexation wall. and buffer zones on both sides of bypass roads.These ongoing fraudulent settlement measures towards the Palestinian territories, which are clearly contrary to the principles of international law and United Nations resolutions in this regard, have had the worst effects on the people, as their impact has been evident on all Palestinians since the beginning of the Zionist settlement in Palestine until now, in the fields of political, demographic, economic, social, environmental, educational and other life.

Historical background

Indeed, the first phase of Jewish settlement activity in Palestine began to emerge in 1840, after the defeat of Muhammad Ali, the Egyptian ruler, and continued until 1881, the year that the Jewish historian Walter Elkor considered the beginning of the official history of Jewish settlement in Palestine, when he reached 3,000.

A Jew from Eastern Europe to Palestine, where they managed to establish a number of settlements during the period, including the settlement of Petah Tikva, the first Jewish colony in Palestine, which was established on

The territory of the village of Malabbas. After that, the seizure of Palestinian land continued by various means, including buying or renting for a long time, and the Jewish institutions established for this purpose played a fundamental and important role in the seizure of Palestinian land in various ways.

 and Zionism on it. From the beginning of the British Mandate for Palestine in 1920 until the proclamation of the State of Israel in 1948, the World Zionist Organization began to establish institutions that intensified the acquisition of Palestinian land and increased the flow of Jewish immigration to Palestine. After the proclamation of the State of Israel until 1967, Israel continued to seize land, confiscating it and establishing settlements to receive new immigrants continuously, until it was able to occupy all Palestinian territory in June 1967.(Land Grab,2002).

2.1    Various laws to confiscate Palestinian lands

Israel utilized a combination of Ottoman, British, and Jordanian laws, along with military orders, to seize Palestinian lands in the West Bank. As a result, over 40% of the West Bank was confiscated and designated as state property. Various laws were employed by Israeli authorities during this period to assert control over Palestinian lands, including:

• The Public Purposes Confiscation Law of 1943, which allowed for the seizure of lands deemed necessary for public interest projects such as schools, hospitals, roads, and essential services.
• Emergency regulations and public security laws of 1945, enacted under the British Mandate government to maintain public order and citizen security, but exploited by Israeli authorities to confiscate or close off land, citing security or military training purposes.
• The Absentee Property Law, introduced in 1967, which addressed the movable and immovable property of absentees. The Custodian of Absentee Property was responsible for preserving these properties until their owners’ return and had the authority to manage, rent, purchase, or sell them.
• The Compensation Law, complementing the Absentees’ Property Law, aimed at liquidating the property of all absentees seized by Israeli authorities.
• The Registered State Lands Law, specifically governing government property and allowing for the confiscation of lands registered under the Jordanian government as state-owned.
• Declaration of unregistered lands as state lands, encompassing lands whose registration process was incomplete due to the 1967 war. These included abandoned lands designated for public benefit, such as pastures, forests, and princely lands.
• Structural maps were developed by Israeli authorities to outline the boundaries and neighborhoods of cities and villages, providing a framework for their planning and development. These measures were part of a systematic land grab implemented by Israel (Land Grab, 2002).

Settlements in international law

The establishment of settlements in violation of international law, including the transfer of populations to occupied territories, contradicts international principles and the United Nations Charter. This has been emphasized in numerous resolutions of international legitimacy, both by the General Assembly and the UN Security Council, specifically addressing settlements. Some of the significant resolutions include:

1-      Security Council Resolution 252 (1968) condemns Israel’s disregard for General Assembly resolutions concerning actions taken to alter the status of Jerusalem. It declares all legislative and administrative measures, including land confiscation, aimed at changing the legal status of Jerusalem as null and void, and calls on Israel to rescind these measures urgently.

2-      Security Council Resolution 267 (1969) reiterates Resolution 252 (1968) and expresses deep dissatisfaction with measures to alter the status of Jerusalem. It emphasizes that legislative and administrative actions taken by Israel, such as land confiscation, are invalid and cannot change the status of Jerusalem.

3-      Security Council Resolution 298 (1971) condemns Israel’s failure to respect previous resolutions regarding actions affecting the status of Jerusalem. It emphasizes that legislative and administrative measures, including land confiscation, population transfer, and integration laws, are entirely invalid and cannot change the status quo.

4-      Security Council Resolution 452 (1979) states that Israel’s policy of establishing settlements in occupied Arab lands has no legal validity and constitutes a violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention. It calls on Israel to halt the establishment, construction, and planning of settlements in occupied territories, including Jerusalem.

5-      Security Council Resolution 465 (1980) declares that all measures taken by Israel to change the character, formation, or status of Palestinian territories, including Jerusalem, are invalid. It emphasizes that Israel’s policy and practices of settling its population and soldiers in these lands violate the Fourth Geneva Convention and hinder a comprehensive and just peace in the region.

6-      Security Council Resolution 471 (1980) expresses grave concern over Jewish settlers in occupied Arab territories being armed, enabling them to commit crimes against the civilian population. It calls for the arrest and prosecution of perpetrators, emphasizes Israel’s responsibility to protect the civilian population, and urges all states to refrain from assisting Israel’s settlement activities.

7-      Security Council Resolution 476 (1980) reiterates the urgent need to end the long occupation of Arab lands by Israel since 1967, including Jerusalem.

8-      Security Council Resolution 478 (1980) expresses deep concern about Israel’s enactment of the Basic Law on Jerusalem, which changes its character and status. It declares this action a violation of international law and stresses that the Geneva Convention remains applicable in the occupied territories. It calls on member states to accept the resolution and urges countries with diplomatic missions in Jerusalem to withdraw them.

9-      Security Council Resolution 904 (1994) reaffirms the applicability of the Fourth Geneva Convention to territories occupied by Israel since June 1967, including Jerusalem. It strongly condemns the massacre in Hebron and calls on Israel to prevent illegal acts of violence by settlers and ensure the safety of Palestinian civilians throughout the occupied territories.

10-    In addition to these resolutions, there have been further UN resolutions condemning Israeli settlements, such as Resolution 2851 (1977), Resolution 42/160 (1987), Resolution 44/18 (1989), Resolution 2015 (1990), and Resolution 47/26 (1991).

The effects of the various settlement violations on the Palestinian people

The Israeli measures of land confiscation, settlement, construction of the annexation and expansion wall, and aggressions of all kinds affect the public life of the Palestinian people in all its political, security, economic, social and other aspects. Since the signing of the Oslo Accords at 1993, none of the provisions pertaining to the establishment of a Palestinian state have been implemented, thus failing to address the issues of occupation and settlement in the West Bank. On the contrary, successive Israeli governments have expedited actions that involve the confiscation of Palestinian land. These actions include expanding settlement areas and constructing the apartheid wall. Additionally, repressive measures against the Palestinian population have escalated during this period. Despite international condemnation, criticism from human rights organizations, and decisions by international bodies affirming the illegality of settlements and the wall, these measures continue in violation of international law. They pose a significant obstacle to the settlement project and hinder the resumption of negotiations between the current Israeli government, led by Netanyahu, and the Palestinians. The cessation of settlement activity is a crucial condition for re-engagement. Settlements remain the most significant barrier to establishing a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, with Jerusalem as its capital.

These ongoing violations over the years have had a profoundly negative impact on various aspects of Palestinian life, including:

3.1 In the political sphere

By increasing the pace of settlement, successive Israeli governments aim to influence and control political solutions, and put obstacles in front of solutions that Israel rejects, and thus prevent reaching a Palestinian-Israeli regional settlement that would allow the establishment of a sovereign Palestinian entity with one continuous geographical jurisdiction over the entire occupied Palestinian territory. Flag 1967 AD . Accordingly, it can be said that the existence of these settlements does not bode well for finding just political solutions, as long as the existence of settlements threatens the Palestinian entity with fragmentation and fragmentation, just as the Israeli policy aims to build settlements and fortify them militarily and demographically to make them front bases that constitute the first line of defense for their state in the event of war with other states. Neighboring, it contributes greatly to the Israeli control over the roads and crossings that link the Palestinian governorates, and makes them at the mercy of the occupation soldiers and settlers who can close them whenever they want.(Ibrahim,2010)

Whoever scrutinizes the map of Israeli settlements in the West Bank makes sure, without any doubt, that the settlements, which affect more than 40% of the area of the West Bank, have worked to cut it into small cantons with which it is impossible to communicate geographically, and thus it is impossible for it to have any opportunity for development or establishment. An independent and continuous Palestinian state, in addition to separating Palestinian families in one community into two parts, as is the case in Bethlehem and Nazlet Issa in Tulkarm Governorate.

3.2 In the field of security

Israeli settlements play a significant and fundamental role in undermining the sense of security for the Palestinian people residing in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The Palestinian population bears the daily consequences of these settlements, which are manifested through killings, property destruction, and land confiscation carried out in support of these settlements. Israel considers the settlements as a primary focal point in its ongoing conflict against the Palestinian people. The proximity of settlements to Palestinian population centers of all sizes turns these centers into vulnerable areas that Israel can close off or target with bombings at will. This was witnessed during the Al-Aqsa Intifada when Israeli forces bombarded cities such as Nablus, Ramallah, Beit Jala, Hebron, Jenin, and Gaza with heavy weaponry and bombs from within these settlements. Consequently, this poses a security threat to the existence of a Palestinian state and undermines the essence of Palestinian sovereignty. Furthermore, settlers continually launch attacks against Palestinian citizens in their homes, fields, and while traveling on roads between Palestinian cities and villages. These attacks occur under the watchful eyes and protection of the Israeli army, leaving Palestinians with a constant sense of insecurity. Taking all of these factors into account, it is evident that the Israeli occupation, characterized by military presence and settlement expansion on Palestinian lands, serves as the primary and central cause of insecurity for the Palestinian people. It is also considered the main factor in the absence of just political solutions that may lead to stability in the region for decades. Therefore, ending the Israeli occupation , which is achieved by the complete and comprehensive withdrawal of the occupying forces and herds of settlers from all Palestinian lands, and from its airspace and territorial waters, is a basic requirement that must be accomplished in order to establish the State of Palestine, which has sovereignty over its entire national territory, and is considered a prerequisite for reaching a solution to the existing conflict and laying the foundations for stability in the entire region.(Ibrahim,2010)

3.3 In the economic field:

The successive Israeli settler governments have been and still are pursuing policies aimed at destroying the Palestinian economy with all its elements, by preventing any development and structural development of the Palestinian economy, which forces it to be completely subordinate to the Israeli economy . The Israeli government followed many methods to achieve its policies, the most important of which is support and encouragement for the establishment of an economy in the settlements parallel to the Palestinian economy so that it is more developed than it, and it is a fierce competitor to the Palestinian economy. As a result, the impact of the Israeli settlement extended to include many aspects related to the Palestinian economy, including:

Since the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip in 1967, Israel has assumed authority over all water sources belonging to the Palestinian people, denying them their rightful access and control over this vital natural resource. This action not only violates international law but also perpetuates Israel’s ongoing dominance over Palestinian water resources. From the settlements over places rich in groundwater or near water springs, to give the green light to the settlers to take control of them by force of arms and to deny the Palestinian land owners from benefiting from them.

According to a survey conducted by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in the Occupied Palestinian Territories in 2011, it was discovered that the occupation army and settlers’ control over 56 water springs in the West Bank led to a reduction in the size of the area and a decline in the water supply accessible to Palestinians. The regular presence of armed settlers near and around the springs also undermines the physical security of Palestinians in nearby communities as a result of the increasing friction and aggressive actions of settlers, which include trespassing, intimidation, physical assault, theft of private property, and building without permits. Water springs are also exploited to promote the settlers’ economic and political interests by developing their tourism infrastructure.The Israeli occupation authorities have issued many military orders that stipulate in their entirety Israel’s exclusive disposal of Palestinian waters, and among these orders:

1. 1. Order dated 7/6/1997 stipulating all water in the occupied territories
2. 2. Order No. 92 dated 8/15/1997 providing for the granting of full authority to control all water-related issues to the water officer appointed by the Israeli courts
3. 3. Order No. 58, issued on August 19, 1967, prohibits the establishment of any new water facility without a license, and the water officer has the authority to reject any license application without providing any justification.
4. 4. Ordinance No. 158, enacted on January 10, 1967, mandates that all wells, springs, and water projects fall under the direct control of the Israeli military governor. (United Nations, 2012)

The Israeli authorities implemented a series of measures and actions based on these orders, which include:

1. 1. Imposing limitations on the amount of water allowed to be pumped by well owners in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, with a maximum of 100 cubic meters per day.
2. 2. Prohibiting the digging of new wells for agricultural purposes and imposing restrictive regulations on them.
3. 3. Requiring permits for the construction of new wells and exerting control over the use of springs.
4. 4. Confiscating wells from Palestinian farmers and transferring ownership to Israeli settlements.
5. 5. Imposing restrictions on well drilling depths, limiting Palestinians to wells with depths of 120 to 140 meters.
6. 6. Depriving Palestinians of their rights to access water from the Jordan River and determining its course.
7. 7. Illegally extracting significant quantities of Palestinian water by constructing numerous wells in Israeli settlements. It is estimated that approximately 50 wells have been dug in the West Bank, along with 26 wells near the Gaza-Israel border, impacting the water flow into the aquifer from the eastern part of the strip.
8. 8. Constructing small dams to impede the flow of surface water in valleys, preventing it from reaching Palestinian lands, such as the case in the Gaza Valley.
9. 9. Transporting high-quality water from Israeli settlements located in Palestinian areas to Israeli cities within Israel.
10. 10. The Israeli company, Mekorot, sells 5 million cubic meters of water annually to Gaza Strip residents at high prices, estimated to be around 15-20 million shekels per year.
11. 11. Many Palestinian cities and villages still lack access to a reliable water supply. Approximately 150 residential communities in the West Bank are not connected to the water distribution network, resulting in water scarcity for the majority of their residents.

The Israeli government’s refusal to cooperate or give the specified amount of water to the governorates of the West Bank and Gaza Strip in accordance with the peace agreements.(Wafa Agency,1994).

Agriculturally, the Israeli military authorities’ confiscation of vast areas of Palestinian lands had a significant impact on weakening the Palestinian agricultural sector, limiting its development and prosperity, and depriving farmers of an important and main source of their income. Israel was not satisfied with confiscating the land, but rather took several measures under security pretexts and various environmental issues to justify its countless and endless violations, including:

• Control over water and natural resources.
• Preventing the entry of agricultural medicines.
• Artesian well digging is prohibited.
• Controlling the admission of agricultural resources, both animal and vegetable.
• Preventing pastures using a variety of pretexts, including environmental protection and security.
• Preventing the development of agricultural roads, which hampered Palestinian farmers’ access to their property (Palestinian News & Info. Agency).

The Israeli occupation authorities have employed harmful tactics to undermine the Palestinian economy and agricultural sector, creating an environment of unfair competition. These methods include price reduction, control over water resources, and elimination of diverse municipal animal and plant productions, such as trees, vegetables, and grains. Additionally, the occupation has targeted the agricultural infrastructure by constructing roads between settlements, resulting in the uprooting of trees. Moreover, waste from the settlements has been dumped on Palestinian agricultural land, causing extensive destruction and posing threats of diseases and pests to Palestinian crops. Furthermore, livestock has suffered casualties due to ingesting agricultural nylon debris.

The policy of uprooting and razing trees, which began immediately after 1967 AD, continues until now, seeking to satiate the hunger of the Israeli settlement cancer. The occupation bulldozers uprooted more than half a million trees, 70% of which were olive trees. 22 years, as it increased from 69 km in 1990 to 194.7 km in 2012.

Industrially, the Israeli authorities have taken many measures that weaken Palestinian industries and prevent their technological development. At the same time, they worked to expand and develop industrial production in the settlements, using the natural resources of the Palestinian people represented in land and water in particular. Not to mention the facilities they provide to Jewish employers in the settlements, such as donations and loan facilities, etc. In return, the Israeli authorities have taken various forms of measures to besiege and weaken Palestinian national industries, including:

• .Prevent or delay the entry of raw materials.
• Not giving residence permits for new factories to control export and production operations.
• Impose high customs duties on imported raw materials.
• Preventing the entry of capital into the Palestinian territories by not granting investors identity cards or residency permits in the West Bank.
• Smuggling government-supported settlement products into the Palestinian territories, which led to a blow to the Palestinian product, and contributed to the closure of many factories, especially factories for sewing, soft drinks and agricultural industries.(Palestinian News&İnf Agency )

3.4 Laborers

 while the Palestinian claims to Israel to stop construction in the settlements built in the occupied territories in 1967 AD, an official Palestinian statistic showed that there are about twenty thousand Palestinians working in the settlements, in light of the Benjamin Netanyahu government’s decision to grant more permits to Palestinian workers to work in the settlements and within the occupied territories. In 1948 AD.

The Palestinian workers are forced to work in the settlements in an unorganized manner due to the lack of job opportunities for them in the Palestinian territories, which forces them to work under difficult conditions in order to secure a living for themselves and their families, as many of the unorganized Palestinian workers are characterized as working as “slaves for their Israeli employers in exchange for their employment as they are They are disorganized. Workers who do not hold permits that authorize them to enter through the crossings into Israel are forced to take many ways to reach their jobs, the most important of which are: either climbing the separation wall, which is more than 9 meters high, using ladders and ropes, or sneaking through the rainwater drainage manholes that are under the concrete blocks of the separation wall. While many of them are forced to sleep under trees and bushes in areas close to their place of work or in East Jerusalem to avoid the “daily journey of torment they make to cross the separation wall to reach the territories occupied in 1948 AD(Labour Ministry,Palestine)

These workers live in cases of hit-and-run with the police and the occupation army that sometimes ends with the arrest of some of them, where they are subjected to severe beatings before being imprisoned on charges of entering Israel illegally and imposing heavy fines on them, or ending with injuries to some of them as a result of stumbling and rolling while escaping from that. The forces chasing them with their military vehicles and dogs through the mountains and valleys.

As for the workers in the settlements, they consider themselves to be slaves of the third millennium, as they are the most vulnerable to humiliation and enslavement from their employers who occupy them in the settlements without work permits, as they are prevented by the Israeli security from obtaining them to work within the Green Line, which is exploited by their employers in the settlements to work them for more than 12 hours a day. For cheap and cheap. The low wages appear clearly among Palestinian workers in the agricultural settlements in the Jordan Valley, where a survey study showed that about 1,800 male and female workers work in these settlements on a regular basis, and this number increases in some crops with seasonal production. One of the results of this study was that 94% of these workers have a secondary qualification or less (unskilled labor), and the percentage of females among them reached 8%, while the percentage of children among them reached 5.5%. In terms of daily wages, it averaged 58 shekels for children and 62 shekels for adults.(Labour Ministry,Palestine)

According to the results of the labor force survey for the third quarter of 2013, the total labor force in Palestine is 1,160,900, of whom 76.3% are employed and 23.7% are unemployed. In the West Bank, the number of the labor force is 760.8 thousand individuals, of whom 615.9 thousand are employed, or about 81% of the total labor force in the West Bank (Labour Ministry, Palestine).

The Sheikh Jarrah, as an Example of  Settlement and Confiscation of Palestinian Land

Sheikh Jarrah, a Palestinian neighborhood in Jerusalem,  The complete narrative of a Palestinian neighborhood opposing Jewish colonization and settlement.

The Israeli occupation targets the town of Sheikh Jarrah in the occupied Jerusalem governorate in an effort to create settlement contiguity and lessen Palestinian geographic proximity to the walls of the Old City of Jerusalem.The village was occupied in 1967, and because it is located close to the northern and western borders of the Fourth of June, the occupation views it as strategically important.The village lies close to the green line between the eastern and western parts of the city, which came to be known as the “armistice line” and was drawn in 1949.The Israeli hotels were built by the occupation authority to totally erase the Green Line between the two halves of the city.(Watad ,2021)

More than 900 years

The settlement was founded more than 900 years ago and has a long history. It is named after Prince Hussam al-Din bin Sharaf al-Din Issa al-Jarrahi, who served as Salah al-Din al-Ayyubi’s physician and whose grave is still in Sheikh Jarrah.More than 3,000 Palestinians live in Sheikh Jarrah on an area of land that is thought to be around 1,000 dunums. This is the final piece of land that belongs to them following the theft of thousands of dunums of land from the people, on which three settlements known as the French Hill settlements were built.The 28 residences housing about 500 Palestinians are located along Nablus Street, in the Shiconat refugee camp, and Kabaniya um Haroun. Residents of these homes are under fear of expulsion to settler associations.The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) and the Jordanian Ministry of Construction and Reconstruction agreed to establish 28 housing units in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in 1956. The Ministry also reached individual agreements with the neighborhood’s residents to establish housing for them, and under the agreements, the Ministry of Construction and Reconstruction promised that the ownership of the housing units would be delegated and registered.(Watad ,2021)

Before the establishment of Israel

In 1970, the Israeli parliament (Knesset) approved a law asserting the presence of Jewish-owned land and property in Sheikh Jarrah and asserting that these lands and properties belonged to the Jews before Israel was founded. This was three years after East Jerusalem had been occupied.Since then, successive Israeli governments have built outposts and replaced ultra-Orthodox Jews in the neighborhood’s center with the settlements of “Shimon Hatziddeq” and “Shepherd Hotel,” which were established in 2011, as well as the occupation police’s command center, the Border Police Command, and the Israeli Ministry of Interior, which besiege the Palestinian presence in the area.

While understanding that the land was owned by Jewish associations as recorded in the Israeli title deed departments since 1972 and claiming to have owned land in the area since 1885, Israeli courts ruled in favor of four Palestinian families in 1976, stating that the families existed legally and in accordance with the Jordanian government’s powers and that they were not trespassers on the land.

 the first Palestinian families from the neighborhood and resettled the Jews, the Al-Ghawi family, who had been displaced by force of arms from their homes in the Jaffa region and Jerusalem villages following the Nakba, having become refugees; some of whom were connected by displacement routes from Haifa; and who had lived in the Jarrah Sheikh neighborhood since the 1950s.

   The area of 28 houses is in danger of eviction, forced displacement and settler substitution, while the Israeli Government and the occupying municipality of Jerusalem have approved a settlement neighbourhood in the centre of Sheikh Jarrah with 500 settlement units, and Israeli government departments provide settlement associations with false files, documents and documents that they claim to own land and real estate before the 1948 Nakba.(Arna’ut ,2022)

The Israeli government and the occupying municipality of Jerusalem have approved a settlement neighborhood in the center of Sheikh Jarrah with 500 settlement units, and Israeli government departments give settlement associations false files, documents, and documents that they claim to own land and real estate before the 1948 Nakba, putting the area of 28 houses in danger of eviction, forced displacement, and settler substitution..(Arna’ut ,2022).

Conclusion

In the early 20th century, Chaim Weizmann made a statement suggesting that Palestine was a country without a people, while the Jewish people were without a land. This perspective fueled the Zionist movement and resulted in numerous massacres committed against Palestinian citizens. These acts of violence caused the loss of tens of thousands of Palestinian lives, countless injuries, and the complete destruction of hundreds of Palestinian villages. Furthermore, many Palestinian cities experienced forced displacement, either entirely or to a significant extent. In 1948, the Zionist entity declared a state, claiming approximately 77% of the land of Palestine, which had been largely emptied of its original inhabitants. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, as of 2013, the estimated Palestinian population stood at around 11.8 million people, with approximately half of them residing in diaspora countries.

In 1988, Ariel Sharon said, “You simply don’t load people in trucks and take them away… I prefer to follow a positive policy by creating conditions that convince people to leave.” The question that arises is: Are the measures that Israel has taken in recent years towards the Palestinian people in The West Bank flows in this direction.From the above, it can be said that:

Israel is tightening the siege on the Arab residents of Jerusalem, not granting them building permits and forcing them to demolish any unauthorized building, forcing them to look for a place to live outside the holy city.

Israel confiscated most of the fertile agricultural land of the Palestinians in the Jordan Valley and the semi-coastal plain in Jenin, Tulkarem and Qalqilya governorates through the construction of the annexation and expansion wall, thus depriving them of an important source of livelihood and turning some of them into the category of the poor. Israel controls Area C (61% of the area of the West Bank) and puts obstacles in front of the Palestinians to exploit it for agriculture or urban expansion, as it obligated them to build within the structural maps that it set for Palestinian cities and villages, and prevented them from building outside the narrow boundaries of their population centers that were defined by these maps .Israel confiscates the Palestinian land under many pretexts, including the expansion of settlements, or the establishment of outposts to be considered natural reserves. the appropriate. It extracts it for use within the Green Line and the settlements, and deprives its real owners of using it, as it sells them a small part of it that does not reach the minimum level according to regulated standards for the Israeli economy. These graduates to seek employment outside Palestine or immigrate to foreign countries. Israel forces tens of thousands of people with secondary qualifications or less to work in the settlements and inside the Green Line. Most of them are unskilled or semi-skilled, as they have no job opportunities in the Palestinian market, which Israel has exhausted with its various arbitrary measures, not even in the external labor markets. The Israeli authorities expel them from their jobs and include them in the army of the unemployed at any time they want, and destroy their property, settlement, cultural roads, or the construction of the apartheid wall, or for use as security and military zones, or Israel places obstacles in front of the Palestinians to prevent them from reaching their agricultural lands that are close to the settlements or that are behind the annexation and expansion wall, in preparation for its confiscation and confiscation at the same time.

Israel exercises complete control over Palestinian natural resources, with a particular emphasis on groundwater, which has global health implications. Israel actively undermines the Palestinian economy and strives to keep it weak and reliant on outside support. Additionally, Israel employs various methods to harm the Palestinian environment, including the disposal of wastewater, solid waste, chemical waste, nuclear waste, quarry dust, and more. These actions have a detrimental impact on the health of Palestinian citizens.

From the above observations, it can be concluded that the Zionist settlement project, along with its accompanying gradual measures, poses a significant threat to the Palestinian presence in the West Bank. The danger lies in Israel’s persistent determination to expand its control over Palestinian land, natural resources, crossings, and borders. Simultaneously, it restricts Palestinian citizens within their own lands and homes, depriving them of their rights. Consequently, many Palestinians are forced to seek livelihoods outside of Palestine or emigrate to foreign countries. This situation is further underscored by Israel’s refusal to adhere to international legitimacy, including non-compliance with UN Security Council resolutions and international agreements concerning the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories in 1967, the construction of settlements, the erection of the wall, the Fourth Geneva Convention, and the Paris Economic Agreement. Instead, Israel continues to pursue relentless and expedited efforts to Judaize Palestinian land in East Jerusalem and the West Bank alike.

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