Report from the Commission Against the Wall and Settlements

This report was generated by the Commission Against the Wall and Settlements, and was translated from Arabic to English for ISM. That translation is reproduced here with only minor formatting alterations.

Agricultural Outposts: A Gateway towards Forced Displacement

It is not possible to create a functional separation between the case of establishing colonial outposts, which witnessed a rise in their creation process after 2015, and the case of forced displacement taking place these days, which reached its peak shortly after the aggression began on October 7th, 2023. The state of emergency and the declaration of war served as a cover for the behavior of colonizers’ militias whose original aim was to create this type of displacement. This is a form of a functional exchange of roles between the official institutes affiliated with the occupation and these militias.

Data from the Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission (CWRC) point to the existence of 96 active colonial outposts taking on the forms of pastoral and agricultural outposts out of a total of 196 diverse colonial outposts (updated data/Commission). These outposts prevent Palestinian citizens from “using/accessing” more than 410,000 dunums of privately owned citizens’ lands in various areas in the West Bank, mostly concentrated in the eastern slopes and the Jordan Valley. This is done without official military orders and without declared procedures, merely under the control of terrorism, domination, and official military protection.

The attached map shows how the positioning of the outposts, that were built purposefully alongside Bedouin communities, led to the forced displacement of these communities because of the behavior of armed extremist colonizers and their aggressive implementation of these evacuation plans. This was achieved by depriving these communities from grazing areas and water resources, in addition to instilling fear in the hearts of the elderly, women, and children, compelling them to leave. Data from the commission, alongside other human rights organizations, indicates that more than 27 Bedouin communities of various sizes were forcibly displaced in the year 2023 due to the terrorism emanating from these outposts.

This approach (colonial outposts vs forced displacement) is based on one of the main plans of the settler colonial project’s trajectories following the occupation in 1967, which was revealed in the same year and was attributed to the acting Prime Minister and Minister in the third occupation government, Yigal Allon. He gave a proposition to empty the eastern slopes of the West Bank, annex the city of Jerusalem, and gain control over Palestinian natural resources (see the side map).

By following the occupation’s colonial behavior through the past decades, one can come to the conclusion that the occupation state did not deter, not for one minute, from implementing this particular plan, in addition to several other prominent plans, notably, Matityahu Drobles Plan of 1978 (former head of the colonial division). Drobles proposed annexing the eastern slopes, and reinforcing colonial blocs, which has remained steadfast and is being rapidly implemented. The implementation process began by isolating the Jordan Valley and evacuating it, and continued by instilling colonizers in pastoral and agricultural outposts, and culminated in the imposition of terrorism to accomplish the displacement process.

The CWRC data point out that 71% of these outposts were created after 2015. The Commission monitors that 78% of these outposts were established in the eastern part of the West Bank, starting from the northern part of the Jordan Valley, passing through the eastern part of Ramallah and Jerusalem, and ending in the southern part of the Hebron Governorate in the south, or in areas overlooking these regions, such as the eastern part of Nablus Governorate, forming a corridor in the operational sense of control.

Looking at the issue from the outside, it seems that these invented colonial stages, and in every stage, are separate from each other completely. This supports the occupation’s claim that there are security reasons and requirements for all these procedures. However, in truth, while reviewing this project in its cumulative dimension, and in a way that leaves no room for doubt, that there is a strong bond between these stages that goes way back to ancient origins and ideologies that were adopted since the beginning of the occupation. This connection does not relinquish control as a concept and does not loosen its grip on the land and its people as a practical on-the-ground measure.

Even though the settler-colonial project on Palestine has a long, ancient, and continuous history, on the other hand, the Palestinian legal and popular national struggle is no less rooted, authentic, and varied. It emanates from the concept of the inherent right and the struggle protected by all laws of the land and sky, preserved by the Palestinian people with unwavering determination.

A map showing the distribution of Bedouin communities that have been deported since the beginning of 2023

Colonial Terrorism and Forced Displacement

In this part of the report, we document the forced displacement processes caused by the coercive and hostile environmental measures imposed by the occupation state’s direct measures and through the terrorism of colonizers’ militias imposed on Palestinian citizens in these areas.

The Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission, since the beginning of 2023, especially after the aggression on our people started after the 7th of October, monitored an escalation of the assaults and threats of armed colonizers, in what can be described as an audacious exploitation of the aggression waged on the Gaza Strip, taking advantage of the fact the media focus is on Gaza, and its absence from the West Bank and Jerusalem to some extent. Most importantly, there is an exploitation of the emergency and war laws imposed by the occupying state, which protect the criminals among the colonizers from accountability and punishment, particularly in the issues of forced displacement and the imposition of a coercive and hostile environment.

Even though all international laws and regulations prohibit and criminalize forced displacement, as stated in the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949, Article 49, which declares: “The Occupying Power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies.” Similarly, Article 53, “Any destruction by the Occupying Power of real or personal property belonging individually or collectively to private persons, or to the State, or to other public authorities, or to social or co-operative organizations, is prohibited, except where such destruction is rendered absolutely necessary by military operations.” And Article 147, which declares, “extensive destruction and appropriation of property, not justified by military necessity and carried out unlawfully and wantonly.” (Fourth Geneva Convention on the Protection of Civilians in Time of War, 1949).

Judicial precedents from the International Criminal Court and other international criminal tribunals affirm that forced displacement is not limited to direct physical displacement but also encompasses actions and threats involving the use of force and coercion. It also includes creating a hostile environment, such as detention, violence, demolition, and other measures that forcibly drive individuals to leave their place of residence or to be displaced.

The Israeli occupation authorities, in the process of forced displacement of Palestinian Bedouin communities, focus on three main areas: the Palestinian Jordan Valley, the eastern region of Ramallah, and the southern part of Hebron. This is evident in the data on the positioning of the displaced communities. During the period covered by the report, the Israeli occupation procedures led to the forced displacement of 28 Bedouin communities.

Community NameGovernorateNumber of FamiliesNumber of ResidentsNotes*
ZanutaHebron47237Returned, then displaced again
Wadi as-SeeqRamallah28144
Ein Ar-RashashRamallah1588
Al Baqa’aRamallah1779
Jib’itRamallah1786
Al-Mlihat/Abu Fazza’Ramallah647
Ar-Radim/As-Samou’Hebron332
Barriyat Ar-RashaydehKisan/Bethlehem416
Al-Aqbat/HizmaJerusalem751
Al-QanoubHebron1777
Almazra’a Al GharbiyyaRamallah29Partial
TaibeRamallah637
Al-Mu’arrajat communityRamallah21138
South of ‘Ein ShibliTubas328
Khirbat al-TaibeHebron1153
Khallet al HamraBethlehem211
Ein al SukhunCentral Jordan Valley962
Um al JamalJordan Valley1484
Wadi al FawJordan Valley213Partial
South of NassariyaNablus527
Maqtal MuslimHebron18
EinzanHebron435
Al-BuwaibHebron441Partial
Al-QabbunRamallah1184Pre-Oct-7
Ein SamiyaRamallah34176Pre-Oct-7
TanaBeit Furiq/ Nablus36140
Shua’ab FursaMasafer Yatta532
Beer al A’ad4Pre-Oct-7
Kherbat Samri317Pre-Oct-7
Al Tawmin440Pre-Oct-7
Ras al TinRamallah38366Pre-Oct-7
Al Wadi Al AhmarJericho734Pre-Oct-7
Ein ShibliJordan Valley328
Al NassariyaEast of Nablus756
Ein al Zira’aJordan Valley433
Wadi E’bayyatBethlehem212
TOTAL4032421+
* For this column, “Partial” indicates cases where a portion of the community in question was displaced, rather than the entire community; “Pre-Oct-7” indicates communities that were deported before the aggression on October 7, 2023.

The Most Prominent Models of Forced Displacement in 2023

Case 1. The forced displacement of Wadi As-Seeq/East of Ramallah/Ramallah Governorate:

Following the aggression against the Palestinian people on the 7th of October, armed colonizers began a series of threats against the inhabitants of the community and the crews of the Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission, which had been stationed there for more than 45 days. At the time, 30 families, comprising approximately 180 individuals, including 40 minors, were residing in the area. In the evening hours of October 10, 2023, the families of the community began to evacuate the location in response to the colonizers’ threats.

  • The community’s residents live in an area of approximately one square kilometer.
  • The community includes a school built by the residents, accommodating 120 students.
  • The inhabitants have been living in the location since the 1970s, relying on sheep farming for their livelihood.
  • Since 1996, the residents have been consistently receiving notifications of the demolition of structures, tents, and barracks, under the pretext of their presence in a military zone, despite evidence that they are outside the designated firing range for training.

Case 2. The Forced Displacement of Khirbet Zanota, Adh Dhahiriya/ Hebron Governorate

Directly following Israeli colonizers made a series of attacks and violent threats, including threats of murder if they did not leave, 36 Palestinian families, comprising a total of 400 individuals, half of whom were children, were displaced from Khirbet Zanota in the southern part of the West Bank. On October 28, 2023, the residents dismantled around 50 tent and barrack structures, and evacuated the area along with their livestock, totaling 4,700 sheep.

  • The land area of Khirbet Zanota in the southern Hebron Governorate is 12,000 dunams.
  • All classified as Area C. It is surrounded on the west by the detour colonial road, on the east by the colonial industrial area, and on the south by the Annexation and Expansion Wall. On the north, the historical ruins of the village are surrounded by the colonies of “Metar, Tima, and Shim’a.”
  • The displacement of these families grants the occupation control over more than 20,000 dunams of land surrounding the village.
  • The school accommodates 43 students, including 10 children in kindergarten, along with several teachers. The school, which was targeted for demolition and reconstructed with “zinc” and brick panels, comprises 6 rooms, facilities, and a health unit.
  • There is a provisional Israeli court decision protecting the colony’s buildings from demolition, issued in 2016.
  • The colony has received demolition notifications, which have not been implemented, particularly targeting the Municipal Council building and the health clinic.

Case 3. The Forced Displacement of Ein Ar-Rashash/Thahr Al-Jabal/East of Ramallah:

Fifteen families, totaling 95 people, including 21 minors, used to reside in the area. On October 9, 2023, a group of colonizers blocked the road leading to the community’s residence. It is important to point out that the Israeli occupation army has blocked the road multiple times and the community managed to open it again. The colonizers also blocked the water tank from reaching the area forcing the community to relocate 1500 sheep to the village of Duma. By October 13, 2023, all women and children had relocated to the village of Duma, and on October 16, 2023, all the men joined them in the area next to the Duman village.

Case 4. The Forced Displacement of Khirbat Jab’it/North of Ramallah

Eight families, totaling 25 people, including 10 minors, resided in the area. On October 13, 2023, the community left the area due to colonizers’ threats. They left most of their possessions behind, fearing to retrieve them because of the ongoing threats and because the colonizers blocked the road leading to the area.

A New Israeli Incursion into Jenin

Photo: the scene around the houses that were damaged or destroyed.

October 15, 2024 | By Diana Khwaelid

A new wave of destruction has hit Jenin, as the infrastructure of the city and the camp was once again ravaged, and two Palestinians were killed during an Israeli operation that lasted 8 continuous hours.

On Monday morning, October 14th, Israeli occupying forces stormed the city of Jenin in the northern West Bank. Palestinians discovered the presence of Israeli special forces inside the Jenin camp.

Just a few hours after the start of the day and normal life in Jenin, Israeli occupation forces stormed the city and camp in broad daylight. Palestinians hurriedly closed their shops, and soon, the city and camp became ghost towns, as seen in previous Israeli military incursions.

Israeli forces surrounded a Palestinian house in the Al-Aloub neighborhood inside the camp while also positioning themselves in more than five other neighborhoods.

New Destruction

Using a bulldozer, Israeli forces caused further damage to the watermelon roundabout, one of the main intersections in Jenin, connecting the city to the camp. The roundabout had been destroyed in a previous attack.

A secondary road leading to Jenin State Hospital was also destroyed, and a three-story house, besieged at the start of the incursion, was bombed. Other areas and neighborhoods in Jenin also suffered extensive damage.

Scenes of destruction are familiar to Palestinians, particularly in Jenin and the camp, which endured significant destruction during a previous military operation that lasted ten days.

Incursion and Arrests

As Israeli forces continued to storm Jenin and the camp, they also invaded the nearby village of Jaba, arresting at least nine Palestinians.

“The city of Jenin and the camp also witnessed the arrests of other young people” stated Palestinian news sources.

Obstruction of Medical Staff

Eyewitnesses from the Red Crescent medical team reported that Israeli forces obstructed their movements and work, both in Jenin and within the camp, during the incursion. An ambulance was prevented from reaching an injured Palestinian person from the town of Qabatiya, who later died after being left to bleed for hours.

A Palestinian paramedic, on duty during the incursion, was arrested, detained for hours, and then later released.

The martyr from Qabatiya, identified as Mahmoud Abu al-Rub, was a former prisoner who had been released five months ago, after spending four years in Israeli prison. He was killed by multiple gunshots from Israeli forces in the Al-Sibat neighborhood of Jenin.

Medical sources reported that 17-year-old student Rayan Ibrahim al-Sayed was also killed after being wounded by Israeli forces during the incursion. Another young man, Salah Jabarin, succumbed to wounds sustained about a month ago, joining his father, who had been martyred on the same day Salah was injured.

Jenin’s mosques mourned the three martyrs, and funeral ceremonies were held for each of them. Friends and family bade their final farewells in deep grief and sorrow.

According to the Shirin Abu Akleh Observatory, the number of Palestinian martyrs this year has risen to 20,316. Since October 7, the number of martyrs in the West Bank has reached 724. In Jenin alone, 198 people have been killed since the start of the Israeli war on Gaza and the near-daily military operations in the West Bank.

Israeli Military and Police Raid International Home in Qusra

At about 20:00 Friday night, the Israeli army and police raided the international volunteers’ home in the village of Qusra, south of Nablus. This raid was conducted at gunpoint by a heavily armed force.

Leading the raid was the same military officer who had commanded a squadron that forced Palestinian harvesters out of their land in the village of Duma earlier in the day. During the raid, he pointed out specific volunteers to the police, saying he recognized them from earlier in the day.

The police broke into the house by destroying the door using a pneumatic hammer, and proceeded to search the premises without a search warrant, as well as the car of a Palestinian resident of Qusra who was there at the time. They demanded all the international activists present to show their passports, and photographed them.

Israeli law and police regulations only allow for police to require identification on the basis of suspicion of having broken the law, or for several specific reasons, which must be stated to those identified. The police had refused to state their grounds for either the search or identification, even declaring before they left, “You have done nothing wrong; we were only here to see who you are.”

The raid on the international volunteer quarters directly followed the forced removal of harvesters from their lands in the village of Duma earlier in the day, under the claim that it is forbidden for Palestinians to access their lands anywhere in Area C – which comprises around 60% of the West Bank – without prior coordination.

ISM Grandmother Recounts Israeli Military Raid on Qusra Home

They could have just asked for the key!!! As the door flung open we all saw the face of Ayşenur looking back at us. … Ayşenur Eygi is a fellow volunteer who was shot and killed by an IOF sniper as she stood beside me just four weeks ago. 

October 11, 2024 | Helena Sully | Qusra

Tonight the Israeli Occupation Force (IOF) including police and soldiers raided the home in Qusra in the occupied West Bank, where myself and 16 fellow international peace activists were staying. We were resting after a day at the olive harvest after providing protective presence to the Palestinian farmers. 

Four police and army vehicles were parked on the road outside our building.  Ten plus armed soldiers and police marched through the backyard and ordered the activists to line up outside. We were surrounded by these masked men carrying rifles and I would be lying if I said it was not frightening. I was thinking how grateful I was that I had just gone to the toilet! 

We recognised two soldiers who were at the olive harvest earlier in the day when the IOF ordered Palestinians to stop harvesting and to leave their olive grove. 

I was standing apart from the rest of the activists and a soldier asked me why. I pointed out that their rifles were in the way, with the barrel of the gun almost touching me. 

The commander demanded we be ready to show our passports.

The soldiers warned us not to use our cameras. They photographed all our passports. 

They could have asked for the key but they chose to smash open the steel door to the dormitory. It did take sometime. Really? They could have just asked us for the key!!!  

As the door flung open we all saw the face of Ayşenur looking back at us. A poster of Ayşenur was hanging on the inside of the door. Ayşenur Eygi is a fellow volunteer who was shot and killed by an IOF sniper as she stood beside me just four weeks ago. 

I chose to sit and pour myself a coffee (it was the best I could do to try and demonstrate I was not afraid). At one point two soldiers lifted their rifles with very bright lights and aimed it directly at me. I wasn’t sure if sitting down and poring myself a coffee was pushing it too far. All I could do was to raise my hands questioning their behaviour. I only found out later that a fellow activist standing right behind me had tried to use his camera and they basically were threatening to shoot him for this transgression. 

At the end of this ordeal the commander said that they had received a report that we were doing something illegal but found no evidence of this and thanked us for our cooperation. 

Welcome to the occupied West Bank. And yes, I got some photos.


Helena Sully is a grandmother of seven from Australia who works as a Social Work Field Educator.

For Immediate Release: Israel targets internationals to facilitate ongoing crimes against Palestinians​​​​​​​

Photo: Portrait of Michael Jacobsen provided to the ISM.

October 10, 2024 – Masafer Yatta | Israeli forces arbitrarily arrested 78 year old US citizen.

Veteran Michael Jacobsen was accompanying a Palestinian farmer this morning in the village At-Tuwani in Masafer Yatta (South Hebron Hills), in occupied Palestine, as part of the international delegation Meta Peace Team, which joined the International Solidarity Movement (ISM).

When Israeli reservist soldiers came to demand IDs from the activists and Palestinian landowners, Jacobsen complied with the soldiers’ requests. The soldiers called the Israeli police, who arrested him and took him to the Israeli Central Unit for Investigation, which is near the Ma’ale Adumim colonial settlement in the occupied West Bank. This interrogation center is home to the special task force created by the notorious Israeli Minister Itamar Ben Gvir. The task force was created as a response to some states, including the U.S., sanctioning violent settlers. Since international activists were reporting settler violence that they witnessed to their governments, an Israeli governmental committee was created in March 2024 for the purpose of getting rid of the activists.

Jacobsen’s lawyer was told that he was suspected of “endangering the public due to provocation of disturbances” and of “entering the country illegally”; this absurd suspicion was based on the police’s assertion that Jacobsen supported the Palestinian Boycott Divestment and Sanction movement (BDS). The police could not explain to Mr. Jacobsen’s attorney how this was a criminal offense. Mr. Jacobsen was threatened with imprisonment and deportation if he did not leave the country immediately. Michael opted to leave, and the police transferred him directly from the interrogation center to the border with Jordan.

Israeli forces have intensified their crackdown on international activists and journalists: two German activists were arrested in the same garden in At-Tuwani in similar circumstances and de-facto deported last Sunday October 6th, after being imprisoned since October 2nd. This effort aims to isolate Palestinians from international solidarity, and is part of the ongoing barrage of harassment by Israeli settlers and soldiers of Palestinians and of human rights activists in the area. The effort also includes the murder of American and Turkish ISM volunteer Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi in the village of Beita during a peaceful protest against settlement expansion on the village’s land on September 6th.

It is worth mentioning that the Palestinian farmer whom the activists were accompanying faces daily harassment, attacks, and invasions of his private land by Israeli settlers and occupation forces, which all make it difficult for him to access his land, to cultivate it, and even to remain in his home.

This onslaught of harassment against Palestinian residents of the region of Masafer Yatta extends beyond At-Tuwani. Every village in the area is affected. In the village of Zanuta in this same region, residents have been forcibly displaced multiple times despite a court ruling in their favor. Residents of Um Durit have had their livestock and property stolen and destroyed, and their land abused by settlers. Last July, around 200 settlers launched a coordinated attack in which they destroyed vehicles, burned fruit trees and beat up residents in Khalet Al Daba’a and Um Fagarah. In the past year, at least 19 Palestinian communities in the occupied West Bank have been forcefully displaced and wiped off the map by Israeli settlers, with the support of the Israeli occupation forces.

The nonsensical allegations aimed at International Human Rights Defenders would be laughable if they were not lethal. For similar vague and unsubstantiated accusations, Palestinians are frequently arrested and tortured in the West Bank, and in Gaza the accused are murdered along with their families.

Photo: Moments before Michael Jacobsen’s arrest, At-Tuwani, Masafer Yatta, October 10.​​​​​​​

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