Israel The Sussiya acid test

A Palestinian village, home to 300 people living in ramshackle tents and shacks, has become a cause célèbre for both left- and right-wing activists By Patricia Golan

22 THE JERUSALEM REPORT DECEMBER 12, 2016 COURTESY OF B‘TSELEM OF COURTESY

These days, some 300 people are living in this tiny hamlet made up of a ramshackle collection of tents and cement-floored THE JERUSALEM REPORT DECEMBERshacks, rickety 12, 2016huts, sheep pens and latrines 23 Israel

group of about 100 well-dressed shacks, rickety huts, sheep pens, latrines, The US State Department has repeatedly Israelis carrying Israeli flags and and a wind-and-sun-powered turbine in- urged Israel to “refrain from carrying out Achanting “Am Yisrael chai” (The stalled by Israeli activists here, and in other any demolitions.” Jewish people live) stood on a rocky es- villages in the area. As they have in many other West Bank carpment in a remote area of the southern The southern Hebron hills region is part villages, European states have provided Hebron hills near the southern corner of the of the land designated as “Area C,” accord- life support by donating solar panels, wa- West Bank. Facing them were a few dozen ing to the Oslo agreement, under which Is- ter pumps, temporary school houses and Palestinian men, women and children car- rael is the sovereign power on both security even a modest playground. Still, it has no rying Palestinian flags, accompanied by a and civilian matters. (Area B, the Palestin- running water or electricity from the grid, handful of Israeli activists. They were also ian Authority handles civil issues and Israel even though it lies just a few hundred me- chanting slogans and holding up placards is in charge of the security aspects; Area A ters from Israeli power and water lines that reading “private property” and “leave us is under full Palestinian control.) serve the nearby Jewish settlement that alone.” bears the same name. Several Israeli army vehicles with sol- THE RESIDENTS of Sussiya (or Khirbet diers in full battle dress were stationed on Sussiya) have been expelled or forcibly Their agenda is the road below. The faces of some of the relocated three or four times, depending soldiers were covered with mesh, apparent- on how you count. Demolition orders have clearly intended to ly to disguise their identities. Aside from 10 been issued repeatedly against nearly all minutes of energetic screaming, it wasn’t the current makeshift structures, erected obliterate the fact much of a protest demo. without permits from the Israeli Civil Ad- that an ancient Jewish The absurd scene, played out this past ministration (now called Coordinator of September, looked as if it had been staged Government Activities in the Territories, or community, including for the shooting of a B-movie. COGAT). The Israeli group was made up of Likud As is the case in many other Palestinian a magnificent ancient party activists from Tel Aviv who had been villages in the area, Sussiya’s residents, the bused into the area by members of the hard- Nawaja clan of sheep herders, are impover- synagogue, thrived in line “ Caucus” of the Knesset, ished and frightened. What makes this par- this area before Islam which aims to annex the West Bank. ticular place different is that it has become The guided tour of the area was part of something of an international cause célèbre. even existed a public-relations campaign to persuade In addition to the European Union, a dozen Prime Minister and Israeli and international nonprofit human- Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman to de- rights organizations have been helping the The legal situation is complex and con- molish Palestinian homes, or what remains villagers, either materially or with legal fusing, since there are multiple petitions of them, in the dusty hilltop Palestinian en- support. and cases in the High Court being heard and campment of Sussiya, and remove the resi- “It’s like a bad light-bulb joke: How many ruled on or pending. dents the MKs refer to as “squatters.” NGOs does it take to keep a few people in There are many Palestinian villages and their homes?” remarks Rabbi Arik Ascher- encampments throughout the West Bank The injustice here is man, formerly head of Rabbis for Human experiencing evictions and demolitions ‒ Rights (RHR), which has taken the Sussiya most recently in the nearby village of Umm so patent, and so case to Israel’s High Court. al-Khair, whose houses and preschools have Ascherman, who left RHR last year to been bulldozed repeatedly. The reason al- glaring, the might of form his own NGO, has been Sussiya’s ways given by the military authorities is that the state ganging most passionate and committed advocate. such structures have been built without per- “In a strange way the people of Sussi- mits, but the number of permits the Palestin- up on people who ya are lucky, that they’re on the map as it ians are issued for Area C is practically nil. were,” he tells The Jerusalem Report. “I Why has there been so much diplomatic are helpless, and the think the injustice here is so patent, and so and political attention focused on the fate of glaring, the might of the state ganging up on this particular, miserable place? weakest of the weak people who are helpless, and the weakest of “Sussiya is an example of the difficulties the weak.” that we see with the ongoing trend of the Envoys from all 28 European Union demolition of Palestinian villages, and our These days, some 300 people are living member states and the UK frequently visit clear position of concern over the increas- in this tiny hamlet made up of a ramshack- Sussiya and are demanding that Israel not ing trend of Israeli settlements in the West le collection of tents and cement-floored implement eviction and demolition orders. Bank,” explains Tony Kay, the deputy chief

24 THE JERUSALEM REPORT DECEMBER 12, 2016 MARC ISRAEL SELLEM / THE JERUSALEM POST JERUSALEM THE / SELLEM ISRAEL MARC

of mission at the British Embassy in Tel estinian village. The Jewish settlement of Sussiya has Aviv. “Although Sussiya seems to have be- The Palestinians lived partially in caves continued to expand into areas claimed come an international area of focus, our pol- on both sides of what would become the by other Palestinian families icies are, of course, much broader regarding 1948 Green Line. According to a 19th-cen- the overall trend of demolitions that we’re tury Ottoman Turkish kushan, or bill of sale, was illegal but, by then, everything had seeing.” they owned agricultural lands – including been destroyed and the cisterns filled in. “Why Sussiya?” says another European the site of the present-day village where the Despite the court order, the residents had no diplomat, speaking off the record. “I guess residents were forced to move after their ex- legal tools to rebuild, and have since faced it’s the nature of the media and diplomats; pulsion in 1986 from their original location successive and multiple demolition orders they need to revolve around a particular when it was declared an archeological site. for whatever they rebuilt. case, which garners more attention. Some of the families moved to the north, The Jewish settlement of Sussiya has con- “The residents have been quite skillful and some to the nearby town of Yatta. The tinued to expand into areas claimed by other in getting support, and it’s true that some Nawaja clan relocated to other caves in the Palestinian families. Today it has a popula- members of the diplomatic corps working area and to flimsy wood-frame shelters and tion of more than 1,000. For years, residents in the field are a bit concerned that this tents they erected on agricultural land a few of Jewish Sussiya have harassed the local focus overshadows other places like the hundred meters southeast of the original vil- Palestinians, both physically, and destroy- Jordan Valley. But I guess it’s sort of self- lage and the archeological site, and near the ing their property and hindering them from reinforcing; once you go in, there is a bit of new Jewish settlement of . They tried gathering their crops from olive groves. momentum. People are very poor, and this repeatedly to get building permits for their The spokesman for Palestinian Sussiya is elicits a lot of concern, and it’s become high new location but were denied. Still, they clan member Nasser Nawaja. The 33-year- profile,” he states. were left alone until 2000, when they were old Nasser is employed by the Israeli There are actually three Sussiyas – one expelled following the murder of a member human-rights group B’Tselem, which has is the archeological site of a now restored of the Jewish Sussiya. The area was closed provided him with a video camera he takes second-Temple-period synagogue; an- off and the entire village was razed. everywhere. other is the religious Jewish settlement The High Court subsequently ruled they “Nasser is the bravest man I know,” says founded in 1983; and the third is the Pal- could return and conceded the demolition Ascherman. “His whole life has been one

THE JERUSALEM REPORT DECEMBER 12, 2016 25 Israel

long struggle.” As one of his sons passes out sweet tea, Nasser relates, “My father was expelled in 1948, I was expelled in 1986, and I’m fighting so my children will not be expelled. My father had no one. They were all simple herders, they didn’t know how to fight. If the army threw them out, they fol- lowed orders.” It’s wonderful that the international community is concerned about Sussiya, but this doesn’t get at the root causes of why this is happening

The Civil Administration’s explanation for the Sussiya demolition orders is that the residents built without the necessary build- ing permits, but such permits for Palestin- ians anywhere in the West Bank are nearly impossible to obtain. In 2012, the court agreed to give the Pal- estinians time to get a zoning plan approved for the village before the demolitions. With the help of city planners, they created and including children, flew to Washington, remarks Ascherman, “but this doesn’t get submitted a plan to the Civil Administra- DC, to present their case to members of at the root causes of why this is happening. tion’s Planning Committee. It was rejected Congress. The real issue actually is planning and zon- in 2013. Social worker Fatma Nawaja, Nasser’s ing. Sussiya is just one example of many According to University of Haifa ur- sister, told congressional representatives, places where this is happening, or will ban planner Prof. Rassem Khamaisi, who “We, the villagers hold clear title to our happen, as long as all the planning is be- worked on the master plan, it was rejected land, yet the regional planning committee ing done by the army,” he says, pointing out even though it was in accordance with all rejected our master zoning plan. When the that there are no Palestinian representatives the accepted guidelines. The official reason High Court of Israel ruled that our homes on the planning commission. stated was that the residents could get better could be demolished even before our appeal The EU diplomat tells The Report that services if they lived in a proper town. is heard, the US State Department, mem- one issue of particular interest to the EU Rabbis for Human Rights, advocating on bers of Congress, and EU officials raised is that the organization has provided many behalf of Sussiya, petitioned the High Court their voices to keep Sussiya standing.” of the tents and temporary structures peo- to rule against the rejection of the master ple are living in in Sussiya. “If the [next] plan. The appeal has yet to be heard, and SENATOR DIANNE Feinstein (D-CA) demolition is carried out, it would double has been deferred several times, most re- also has met with a delegation from Sussiya the number of demolitions of structures that cently on November 15. And although dem- in the past and wrote a letter to Netanyahu have been carried out with donor-funded olition orders are still standing, the army urging the Civil Administration to “reexam- projects in the West Bank over the past two has yet to carry them out. The assumption ine its decision to deny Sussiya’s petition years in one go. As we have quite an intense of Sussiya’s many advocates is that this is for a master plan so that the area’s Pales- relationship with Israel at the moment on the result of international pressure, includ- tinian villagers can live in peace and with the question of demolitions, it would be ing from the US. legal certainty.” poking a finger in that, as well.” In September, residents of Sussiya and “It’s wonderful that the international This is precisely the issue that enrages the two other West Bank Palestinian villages, community is concerned about Sussiya,” Land of Israel Caucus.

26 THE JERUSALEM REPORT DECEMBER 12, 2016 Palestinians are trying to deny the Jewish Hebron to the Beduin communities of the connection to this land. “In actuality, this is Negev and to Gaza. This is a strategic move a land grab by the Nawaja family from the to control these areas.”

MARC ISRAEL SELLEM / THE JERUSALEM POST JERUSALEM THE / SELLEM ISRAEL MARC city of Yatta, of lands that never belonged to Two years ago, a crack in the stalemated them, ignoring the law and building illegal Sussiya dynamics emerged when the army structures in contravention of administra- agreed to conduct talks with Sussiya resi- tive orders issued against them by the Civil dents and their representatives in order to Administration, as well as explicit orders seek a mutually acceptable alternative to issued against them by the High Court of demolishing Sussiya. Israel,” he declared. According to reports in the media, but According to a statement from Regavim: not acknowledged officially, the Civil Ad- “The fact is that the area occupied by the ministration has admitted that the land in squatters has only served as grazing land… question does indeed belong to the Pal- Their agenda is clearly intended to oblit- estinians. This was confirmed by former erate the fact that an ancient Jewish com- defense minister Yitzhak Mordechai, and munity, including a magnificent ancient even earlier in 1982, by Plia Albeck, who synagogue, thrived in this area before Islam ran the Civil Department of the State Pros- even existed.” ecutor’s Office. Her rulings led to many “The question of ‘law and order’ is mis- areas beyond the 1967 Green Line border leading,” counters Ascherman, “since in the being declared state land, enabling the case of all the Palestinian towns and set- creation of Jewish settlements within Is- tlements, the law has been imposed by the raeli law. However, Albeck determined military authority. The residents themselves in 1982 the existence of a Palestinian vil- have had no part in elections or anything de- lage called Sussiya, surrounded by 3,000 termining their lives. dunams of private land belonging to the villagers. Sussiya is an example of The army reportedly put forward an of- fer saying it was prepared to recognize this the difficulties that we publicly if the residents agreed to build a village near the town of Yatta on land The Civil Administration’s explanation see with the ongoing they owned, with the army helping with for the Sussiya demolition orders is that trend of the demolition the infrastructure. Talks were reportedly the residents built without the necessary progressing when then-defense minister building permits of Palestinian villages, Moshe Ya’alon resigned and Liberman took his place. Negotiations were abruptly To the MKs, and the settler community and our clear position suspended. The Civil Administration told they represent, the entire West Bank is a The Report it would only comment on the Jewish heritage site. While all Jewish settle- of concern over the issue in court. In the meantime, nothing is ments there are regarded overwhelmingly as increasing trend of moving. The army hasn’t enforced demoli- violations of international law, the MKs call tion orders and the court has acceded to the Sussiya an example of international bodies Israeli settlements in the government’s repeated requests to defer a interfering with Israel’s justice system by ruling on Sussiya’s appeal to reconsider the funding what they call “squatter camps.” West Bank planning decision or the demolition orders. Bayit Yehudi MK , Sussiya’s current lawyer Quamar founder of Regavim, an NGO that demands Mishirqi-Asad tells The Report, “The state the demolition of Palestinian construction Also guiding the September tour was Li- has to tell us whether they plan to demolish without permits, said he wants to persuade kud MK Yoav Kisch, co-chair of the Land the structures before they carry it out. This the prime minister “not to go along with the of Israel Caucus. “This is a test for the gov- isn’t right. At least listen to what we have illegitimate pressure from the international ernment. This is a Jewish area and should to say.” But frankly, she adds, “They could community and to uphold the law in accor- remain that way,” he said. Unwilling to destroy a few structures here and there, but dance with the Supreme Court.” answer a question from The Report about I don’t believe the government wants the Standing in front of the restored syna- Israel annexing the West Bank, he instead whole world to see pictures of them de- gogue during the September tour, Smotrich, said, “This is an outrageous tribe. This is stroying the village.They’re smarter than who was carrying a pistol, declared that the important because this land will connect that.” 

THE JERUSALEM REPORT DECEMBER 12, 2016 27