The Israeli human rights center B’Tselem revealed a plan by the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, which aims to displace Palestinian shepherds from their lands in the occupied West Bank, in cooperation with groups of settlers, considering it part of the Israeli apartheid system.
The center said, in a statement, that it documented, during the period last February and March, about 20 incidents during which Israeli settlers and soldiers, through various means, expelled Palestinian livestock herders from grazing areas in the hills located in the Hebron Governorate in the south of the West Bank.
He added that the process of expelling Palestinian shepherds is part of an intentional pattern of action adopted by settlers in the service of Israeli policy.
He warned that this process has a decisive and continuing impact on the ability of Palestinian herders’ communities to survive.
He pointed out that Israel seeks to displace Palestinian shepherds from their locations in the West Bank in order to seize these sites, which include their agricultural lands and pasture lands that they use.
Organized violence
The center explained that Israel is displacing Palestinian shepherds’ communities in the West Bank through a combination of authoritarian methods and practices implemented by official bodies such as the Civil Administration and the Army, and through an unofficial channel through acts of organized violence and harassment carried out by settlers.
He added, “This merger is being adopted to reduce the ability of these communities to graze their herds of livestock, which therefore means causing them economic damage in a way that makes them more vulnerable to harm and facilitates the task of displacing them.”
He pointed out that during the last decade, with the support of the state but without its official permission, dozens of settlement farms were established that were prepared to seize pasture lands in the Palestinian rural area.
The B’Tselem Center revealed that since October 7, 2023, a very large number of settlers participating in acts of violence against Palestinians have been recruited into the ranks of the (local defense) in the army or in alert teams and have been armed with military weapons.
He stated that as a result of this, it is no longer possible today to distinguish between the actions carried out by these settlers under official orders and directives from the military leadership, and the actions carried out on their own by settlers in military uniform.
He pointed out that state violence, both formal and informal, is an integral part of the Israeli apartheid system.
B’Tselem explained that the plan to displace Palestinian shepherds from their lands in the West Bank is being used to develop and expand existing Jewish settlements and to establish new settlements specific to this population group only.
He continued, “On the other hand, this plan tears up the Palestinian space by plundering Palestinian lands and pushing them into small, crowded enclaves.”
Coinciding with the start of the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip on October 7, the army and Israeli settlers escalated their attacks in the West Bank, including Jerusalem, which led to the death of 517 Palestinians and the injury of about 5,000, according to official Palestinian data.
Israel continues the war on Gaza despite the huge number of civilian martyrs and wounded, and despite the International Criminal Court’s intention to issue international arrest warrants against its Prime Minister Netanyahu and its Defense Minister Yoav Galant, for their responsibility for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Israel also ignores a resolution from the UN Security Council for an immediate ceasefire, and orders from the International Court of Justice to take immediate measures to prevent acts of genocide and improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza.