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March 2015 ISRAELI SETTLEMENTS VIOLATE HUMAN RIGHTS OF PALESTINIANS Israeli settlers continue to take over Palestinian land in violation of international law. By Kanaga Raja Third World Network Features Israel continued to play a leading role in the establishment and expansion of Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory during the period from 1 November 2013 to 31 October 2014, in violation of international law, in particular Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, the United Nations Secretary-General has said. In his report to the United Nations Human Rights Council, UN chief Ban Ki-moon said that the settlements continue to be a central source of multiple human rights violations of Palestinians. "In this context, Israel still largely fails to comply with its international obligation to protect the Palestinian population from violent acts committed by Israeli settlers, and to effectively prevent, and ensure accountability for, settler violence," he underlined. The Secretary-General called on Israel to cease all settlement activity in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, as well as in the occupied Syrian Golan, implement relevant United Nations resolutions, and withdraw from the territories occupied in 1967. The Human Rights Council is currently holding its twenty-eighth regular session here from 2 to 27 March. The report, which analyses the impact of Israeli settlements and settler violence on the economic, social and cultural rights of Palestinians, said that international humanitarian law and international human rights law apply, inter alia, in relation to Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. It said that Israel, as the occupying Power, is bound by the Fourth Geneva Convention and the Regulations respecting the Laws and Customs of War on Land (Hague Regulations). Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention establishes that "the occupying Power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies". The report stressed that the construction and expansion of Israeli settlements, as well as other settlement-related activities such as the construction of the (Separation) Wall violate this provision, and are illegal under international law. Continued Expansion of Existing Settlements According to the Secretary-General's report, during the period under review, Israel continued to expand existing settlements in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and to approve plans for new ones. According to an Israeli non-governmental organisation, between 1 November 2013 and 31 October 2014, 4,554 housing units were tendered in Israeli settlements in the West Bank (2,856), including East Jerusalem (1,698), and 10,183 housing units were promoted - 6,042 in the West Bank and 4,141 in East Jerusalem. On 4 June, the Government of Israel announced the issuing of tenders for more than 1,400 new settlement housing units in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. In September 2014, the plan to build 2,610 units in the Givat Hamatos settlement in East Jerusalem was approved by the relevant planning committee, opening the path for the issuance of tenders. If constructed, said the report, it would be the first government-led new settlement in East Jerusalem since the construction of Har Homa in the late 1990s, and would sever the territorial continuity between the Palestinian neighbourhoods of southern East Jerusalem and the southern West Bank. The Secretary-General noted the drop in the initiation of new construction in settlements in 2014, compared to 2013, a year when an exceptional amount of new construction was recorded. The figures of 2014 are similar to the average number of new building projects initiated in 2011 and 2012 (250-300 housing units per quarter). The marketing of housing units in the settlements was, however, reportedly on the rise (by 866%) during the first seven months of 2014. According to the report, new outposts were also established during the period under review. Following the kidnapping on 12 June of three Israeli youths, who were later found murdered, four outposts were established in the same area where the incident took place, in the southern West Bank. Two of the outposts were dismantled shortly afterwards by the Israeli authorities for being "illegal" under Israeli law. At the time of writing, the other two outposts were reportedly still in place. The Secretary-General reported that new housing units also advanced in East Jerusalem. On 27 October 2014, media reported that the Israeli Prime Minister's office had advanced plans for 660 housing units in the Ramat Shlomo settlement and 400 in the Har Homa settlement. According to an Israeli non-governmental organisation, the construction of additional housing units in Ramat Shlomo would reduce the buffer area between the settlement and the Palestinian neighbourhood of Beit Hanina. In early November, the Jerusalem District Planning and Building Committee approved the Ramat Shlomo plan, with the number of housing units reduced from 660 to 500. During the period under review, Israel undertook significant steps to enable further expansion of settlements. Following an earlier declaration of State land west of Bethlehem in April 2014, the Israeli Civil Administration announced on 25 August 2014 the declaration as State land a further 3,799 dunums (930 acres) around the settlement of Gva'ot, also in the vicinity of Bethlehem. The affected areas are adjacent to the Green Line within the boundaries of five existing Palestinian villages. Once the process is complete, it is expected that the area will be incorporated into the Gush Etzion Regional Council, possibly as a new illegal settlement. "This action reportedly constitutes the largest appropriation of Palestinian land in 30 years," said the report. It also found that the settler population continued to grow during the period under review. According to the official umbrella organisation representing settlements (quoting figures obtained from the Ministry of the Interior), during the first six months of 2014, the settler population grew by 2% and is expected to grow to 4% by the end of the year, twice the nationwide population growth rate of Israel. A report issued in 2014 indicated that, over the past two decades, the population in Israeli settlements had grown by 240%, outstripping growth rates within Israel. Estimates of the current settlement population in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, range between 500,000 and 650,000. During the period under review, public funds continued to be allocated to settlements. In October 2014, the Israeli cabinet reportedly approved the allocation of some $34.7 million to the settlement division of the World Zionist Organisation for the purposes of "developing agricultural and rural settlement". Reportedly, in 2012, the Government invested more per capita in settlements than within Israel, mainly for education and welfare services. The report highlighted that in action intended to counter the growth of settlements, the European Union decided to ban dairy and other products of animal origin produced in Israeli settlements in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and in the occupied Syrian Golan, which reportedly was to come into force in January 2015. Impact of Israeli Settlements And Settler Violence The Secretary-General said that Israeli settlements and acts of violence committed by Israeli settlers against Palestinians continue to underpin a broad spectrum of human rights violations against Palestinians. As highlighted in previous reports, the access of Palestinians to agricultural lands is severely restricted and often completely denied for a number of reasons, including intimidation and attacks by Israeli settlers against Palestinians; physical obstacles erected by the settlers themselves; the imposition of military or security areas off limits to Palestinians, for instance, closed military zones and fenced-off areas around settlements; physical movement restrictions, such as the Wall, in particular with respect to the farm lands located in the seam zone; and settlement roads that impede access to agricultural lands. In response to the difficulties faced by Palestinian farmers in gaining access to Palestinian-owned land located in fenced-off areas around Israeli settlements and in areas witnessing frequent incidents of settler violence, the Israeli authorities have, in recent years, applied the "prior coordination" regime. According to the report, this mechanism allows registered Palestinian farmers to have access to their land for a limited number of days each year through settlement gates, or to work in the fields under the protection of Israeli security forces. "Prior coordination", which has mostly been applied during the olive harvest, does not prevent attacks on trees and crops, which can occur at any time. Access to private Palestinian land at times when no "prior coordination" is available remains uncertain and dangerous for farmers, particularly in areas with recurrent incidents of settler violence. The report said that another shortcoming of the mechanism is that it is mainly applied for the olive harvest, not for other harvests. Another way of restricting access of Palestinians to agricultural land is the permit regime established by Israeli authorities for access to farming land in the seam zone, the closed area located between the Wall and the Green Line. Israeli authorities often cite security reasons or claim that the portion of land is too small to qualify for a permit to deny Palestinians such permits. According to the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, in the past four years, the approval rate in the northern West Bank is 50 per cent. "Palestinian farmers also see access to their private land restricted and often denied by the civilian security coordinators and guards who operate in the Israeli settlements and outposts in the West Bank," said the report. The access of Palestinian farmers to their lands is also impeded by attacks and harassment by Israeli settlers. Documented cases of violence appear to be aimed at spreading fear among Palestinian farmers and to deter them from farming their lands, in particular in areas near settlements. The report noted that about two-thirds of the land in the West Bank, including the majority of Area C, is unregistered, mainly because of the suspension by Israel of the land registration process in the West Bank at the beginning of the occupation in 1968. Combined with all of the above-mentioned factors that impede the access of Palestinians to agricultural land, this facilitates the dispossession of Palestinians of their land, in particular in Area C of the West Bank. "The Palestinians, who have long been present on and have cultivated land in the West Bank, should have their legitimate tenure rights recognized and be protected against dispossession of their land. This is in line with the obligation of Israel, as the occupying Power, to protect the population in the occupied territory and their property," said the Secretary-General. Attacks by Israeli settlers against Palestinians and their property, and the denial or restriction of access to agricultural land, undermine Palestinians' right to an adequate standard of living, as set out in article 11 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, to which Israel is party, he added. "The right to an adequate standard of living encompasses the right of everyone to continuous improvement in living conditions; however, it is evident that, rather than improving, the living conditions of Palestinians are deteriorating as a consequence of Israeli settlement activities and settler violence, while the settlements continue to prosper." According to the report, before the occupation, agriculture was the main source of labour and resources for Palestinians. Palestinian agriculture has, however, been adversely affected by measures taken by Israel as the occupying Power, in particular land seizures and restrictions on access to land and water resources. From 1965 to 1994, cultivated areas shrank by 30%, and Palestinian agricultural production was reduced from 50% in 1968 to 4.9% of GDP in 2013. Agriculture constitutes the largest sector of the economy of Israeli settlements. Settlers do not face the same restrictions as Palestinians in their access to agricultural land, and receive the protection and support of Israel. This generally allows them to invest in new technologies and more efficient farming methods, which is reflected in their productivity. Every year, Israeli settlers export some $285 million worth of agricultural products, against only $19 million by Palestinians. Almost half of the agricultural land in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (48%) is planted with 8 million olive trees, with the majority located in the West Bank. The olive oil industry accounts for 25% of all agricultural income of the Occupied Palestinian Territory. It is estimated that about 100,000 families depend to some extent on the annual olive harvest for their livelihood. According to the report, the restriction or denial of access for Palestinian farmers to olive orchards has a negative impact on the production of olives, in particular in areas in the vicinity of settlements, in the seam zone (where some 40,000 dunums – 9,884 acres – of olive groves are located), and in those areas where incidents of settler violence are recurrent. "The persistent and troubling phenomenon of settler violence is directly related to the continued existence, proliferation and expansion of illegal settlements inserted in and between Palestinian communities throughout the West Bank, including East Jerusalem." The report underlined that settler violence is one of the clearest and most direct negative consequences of the settlements. It affects the enjoyment by Palestinians of their basic rights, including their rights to freedom of movement, an adequate standard of living, work, and education, as they face difficulty in having access to schools or their land for fear of attack by settlers. Settlement Activity in Occupied Syrian Golan The report said that an estimated 21,000 Israeli settlers currently live in the occupied Syrian Golan in 33 settlements heavily subsidised by Israel. These settlements enjoy a number of financial incentives as well as a disproportionate allocation of water resources, which contributes to a higher agricultural yield for settlers. By contrast, approximately 20,000 Syrians, the majority from the Druze community, live in six villages dependent primarily on agricultural income, but disadvantaged by restricted water supplies at higher prices and fewer economic opportunities. "The exploitation of natural resources in the occupied Syrian Golan, in violation of international law, has continually been supported by the Government of Israel, and includes permits and licences granted to extractive multinational corporations involved in oil and gas mining," said the report. It noted that the Government's latest five-year development plan, announced in January 2014, aims to provide better water infrastructure systems and accelerate de-mining efforts to support settler farming communities in the occupied Syrian Golan. In his report, the Secretary-General reiterated that the Security Council, in its resolution 497 (1981), reaffirmed that the acquisition of territory by force is inadmissible, in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations, the principles of international law, and relevant Security Council resolutions, and decided that the decision of Israel to impose its laws, jurisdiction and administration in the occupied Syrian Golan Heights was null and void and without international legal effect. – Third World Network Features. -ends- About the author: Kanaga Raja is the Editor of the South-North Development Monitor (SUNS)
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