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The B'tselem Human Rights Report

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The B'tselem Human Rights Report ב :rצלם The B'Tselem Human Rights Report The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories Volume 8 Spring 2000 Evicted From a Way of Life On 16 November 1999, B'Tselem of Palestinians living in the villages of field workers Najib Abu-Rokaya and Mufqara, Tuba, Jinba and others in Raslan Mahagna traveled into the the South Mount Hebron region were West Bank to investigate reports that driven from their homes. The resi- Palestinians from the village of dents of the region had been living in Tawaneh had been beaten by Jewish caves and shacks for dozens of years, settlers in the area of Ma'on. Before living off the land by farming and reaching their destination, they shepherding. After the expulsion, the encountered an unexpected military Palestinians lived with their flocks in closure blocking the dirt road toward neighboring villages. Throughout Tawaneh. Minutes later, several this winter's severe weather condi- trucks appeared, leaving the area and tions many lived in tents, awaiting carrying with them mounds of cloth- permission to return to their homes. ing, furniture, and other personal On the 21st of January, some 150 items. volunteers and supporters from It soon became clear that an B'Tselem and other organizations expulsion was in process: hundreds throughout the country gathered to Photo by: Nisreen Alyan participate in a solidarity visit to the pressure placed upon the govern- area of the expulsion. The goal of the ment. Organizations such as the In this issue outing was to meet with deportees Israeli Committee Against House and, on the eve of the Jewish holiday Demolitions organized demonstra- • Ma'aleh Adumim Settlement 2 Tu B'shvat, return with them to their tions and cultivated popular support, homes to plant olive trees together. • Human Rights in the Holy and leading Israeli writers published City 4 The two busloads of activists a petition on the day of the gathering were stopped en route by several IDF • Palestinian Workers in Israel 6 appealing to the government to vehicles attempting to undermine the reverse the expulsion order. • The Palestinian Authority event. Despite these attempts, howev- On Sunday 23 January, Ministers Freedom of Speech er, the gathering took place and the Ahmad Qattamesh 8 Yossi Sarid and Haim Oron broached activists were allowed to meet with the subject at the Cabinet's weekly • Cycle of Bloodshed in many of the deportees at an alterna- meeting. In response, Prime Minister Lebanon 9 tive location. Ehud Barak directed Deputy Defense The event was widely publicized • Advocacy Against Torture 10 Minister Ephraim Sneh to reexamine in the media, particularly over Israeli • B'Tselem Turns Ten 11 the expulsion decision. Sneh radio and television. Human rights announced shortly thereafter that the • Blaming the Victim 12 advocates throughout Israel rallied alongside B'Tselem to increase the continued on p. 14 1 On the Way to Annexation On October 6th 1999, the High attracted some 25,000 residents. Its Court of Justice convened to hear a high rate of growth is linked to its The settlement - with all petition opposing the proposed classification as a high priority devel- the "regional services" expansion plan for Ma'aleh Adumim, opment area. Governmental benefits, is closed to ־ that it offers already Israel's largest settlement in such as tax breaks and favorable the Occupied Territories. Drafted in mortgage terms continuously flow Palestinian residents of January 1995 by the Civil into the settlement and its large adja- the area Administration for Judea and cent industrial zone. Ma'aleh Samaria, the expansion plan applies Adumim residents enjoy a high stan- be radical, nor even a product of the to an area of some 1.24 sq. km of dard of living, modern infrastructure, right-wing ideological camp, to enjoy expropriated land which would make green areas, advanced educational the high quality of life which Ma'aleh Ma'aleh Adumim larger in size than and cultural institutions, and numer- Adumim offers its residents. Tel Aviv. The political objective of the ous other services and institutions. Moreover, due to its immense size, expansion plan is to incorporate Since Barak took office, settlers twenty-five year history and close Ma'aleh Adumim into "Metropolitan have organized against the disman- proximity to Jerusalem, Ma'aleh Jerusalem," extending Israeli sover- tling of a few newly constructed out- Adumim is widely viewed by the eignty into Jerusalem's surrounding posts. Yet, most Ma'aleh Adumim public as part of an expanded settlements. This plan is in contraven- residents are not involved in such Jerusalem rather than a settlement. tion with international law applying activity and do not fit the popular Contrary to such perspectives, the to Occupied Territories. image of Israeli settlers. One need not area on which Ma'aleh Adumim was Since its establishment in 1975 established and along the municipal border of expanded is not Jerusalem, Ma'aleh Adumim has under Israeli sov- ereignty. It lies in the West Bank, in B'Tselem is an Israeli non-govermental occupied territory organization founded in 1989 to provide taken from the information to the Israeli public and the Palestinian vil- international community about human lages of Abu Dis, rights violations in the Occupied al-Tzariyyeh, al Territories. B'Tselem publishes reports, Tssawiyyeh, a- engages in advocacy efforts, conducts Tur, and 'Anata. public education and serves as a resource Other lands expro- center on all matters concerning human priated to create rights in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Ma'aleh Adumim The B'Tselem Human Rights Report are property on is published periodically to apprise read- which the Jahalin ers of human rights conditions in the and Sawahareh Occupied Territories. The newsletter Bedouin tribes revieios neio human rights develop- once lived. a 1 e h ׳ ments, as well as B'Tselem's recent M a activities and publications. Adumim's estab- lishment did not Edited by: Heidi Altman, Heather Architect, Slwuiel Groag, & B'Tselem's Executive Director, lead to a wave of Lang and Jessica Montell Eitan Felner present map of proposed expansion plan of development, a Ma'aleh Adumim to foreign diplomats Design: Studio Efrat, Jerusalem high standard of Photo by: Nisreen Alynn living, comfort- The B'Tselem Human Rights Report 2 able conditions, or tax breaks for Adumim and its environs for twenty these Palestinian villages and com- Justices of the High Court members of the diplomatic communi- munities. Rather, the settlement ty. Several journalists were invited to have provided a cloak of meant loss of grazing and farming attend, thereby drawing media cover- land and, in effect, loss of the agricul- fairness and legality to age to the release of the report and the tural way of life. The establishment of the establishment of set- diplomatic tour (see below). Ma'aleh Adumim also denied these Participants received presentations villages the land reserves they need tlements, land expropria- by architect Shmuel Groag, mayors of for housing, industry, and public tion, annexation, and the surrounding Palestinian villages and with all ־ institutions. The settlement discrimination accompa- B'Tselem staff, focussing on the pro- the "regional services" that it offers - posed expansion plan. The diplomats is closed to Palestinian residents of nying each of these acts were encouraged to lobby relevant the area, except for those holding a authorities from their respective com- special permit to enter the settlement munities and denounce the human these acts. In the most recent hearing, for work only. The Bedouin who rights violations which result from the High Court refused to legislate on lived in the area also lost their homes illegal settlement activity.• and the land on which they were con- the proposed expansion plan. structed, and were expelled from the B'Tselem issued a press release con- area by threats and physical force. demning this decision. The report may be downloaded from On October 20, B'Tselem con- www.btselem/btselem/Files/ Oil the eve of the October 1999 ducted a "reality tour" of Ma'aleh EMadumim.doc. High Court hearing addressing oppo- sition to the proposed expansion plan, B'Tselem published its new Ethnic Discrimination against Palestinians report: On the Way to Annexation: Must End Human Rights Violations Resulting from the Establishment and Expansion of the Ha'aretz Newspaper Wednesday, December 8,1999 Ma'aleh Adumim Settlement. The by Amir a Huss report highlights the political objec- About a month and a half ago, B'Tselem organized a tour for foreign tives underlying the proposed town diplomats of the settlement of Ma'aleh Adumim and the Palestinian villages planning scheme as well as the detri- on top of which this community was built and is being expanded. The diplo- mental consequences of the settle- mats were brought to the site of a Palestinian home that the Israeli Civil ment on Palestinians in the surround- Administration (CA) had demolished and viewed the shantytown neigh- ing area. borhood of the Jahalin tribe, which was evacuated by the CA from land they The 50-page report uses the case had occupied for years and on which a very impressive-looking Jewish of Ma'aleh Adumim to illustrate how neighborhood has now been built. The diplomats traveled along the broad Israel illegally settles its population in avenues, surrounded by lush vegetation, of Ma'aleh Adumim, which is a occupied territory by violating inter- well-planned community, and then they were taken to Abu-Dis and national law, expropriating land, Azariyeh, where they had to navigate their way among a disarray of con- demolishing houses, and deporting crete houses and through crowded alleyways and where they took note of Palestinians. The report reflects the the poorly paved roads.
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