Planning Status and Demolition of Buildings
Summary
The Jahalin tribe arrived in the northern Judean Desert after being expelled by Israel in the early 1950s from the Tel Arad area in the Negev. After a period of migration of several years, they arrived in the northern Judean Desert. After 1967, seasonal migration decreased and the communities settled in their places from the Al-Azriya and Abu Dis areas to the outskirts of Jericho. The most famous of these is Al-Khan Al-Ahmar, which has been continuously inhabited since 1974. Members of the Jahalin communities are under increasing pressure from the nearby Israeli settlement and the new farms that have been established near them to push them out of the area. Cynically, right-wing organizations and the Yesha Council are leading a campaign against what they call the "PA takeover of Area C." The campaign creates a representation that the PA is promoting illegal construction on a scale far beyond the "natural growth" required for Palestinian communities in order to "take over the area" and "choke Israeli settlement." The campaign's goal is to justify selective enforcement and the demolition of Bedouin structures on the one hand, and to justify the construction of additional Israeli outposts in the area, both approved and unapproved, on the other.
Photography: Yaniv Nadav
Since 1967, when only Palestinian settlements existed in the areas that were later defined as Area C, the number of Israeli residents in the area has grown at a rate tens of times higher than the rate of growth of the Palestinian population. In the northern Judean Desert, the number of Bedouins from the Jahalin tribe has grown from about 2,000 in 1967 to only about 3,500 today. In contrast, the Israeli population in the area has grown from zero residents in 1967 to about 60,000 today (table) .
The number of Israeli settlers in Area C has been increasing sharply since 1967, while the number of Palestinians in the area has become a minority (which was not the case about two decades ago). The approval rate for applications submitted by Palestinians to Israeli planning institutions for the issuance of building permits has fallen over the years and currently stands at less than 1%, while the number of permits issued in Area C for Israeli settlement is 350 times greater. For example, the Jahalin communities submitted 12 plans for the regularization of their communities, and not one has been seriously discussed or approved.
Almost all of the approximately 750 Jahalin family homes in the northern Judean Desert have demolition orders pending, compared to a single percent of all Israeli settlement buildings in this area. Correspondingly, the number of house demolitions is also 10 times greater among the Bedouins, even though their number relative to Israeli settlement is less than 1/20 in the same area. Moreover, illegal outposts and farms have been established hundreds of meters from the Jahalin communities in order to reduce their living area. Although the Civil Administration has issued demolition orders against these buildings, not a single building has been demolished, and those that have been demolished are being retrofitted. At the same time, as part of a systematic policy, rangers and mere invaders from the farms are pushing the Bedouin shepherds and herds into a tiny strip of land around the communities, sometimes violently.
Of all the areas in the northern Judean Desert, 75,000 dunams were allocated for Israeli settlement in the Adumim area (Maale Adumim, Kfar Adumim, Alon, Nofei Parth, Alamon, Kedar and Mitzpe Jericho), not including the area of the new farms. In contrast, only 320 dunams were allocated to the Jahalin for limited building plans for families who were displaced when Maale Adumim was expanded. Some of the areas for Israeli settlements include the expropriation of approximately 30,000 dunams in 1975 for the establishment of Mishor Adumim and Maale Adumim. As a result of this expropriation, some of the Jahalin communities that had previously lived on Palestinian-owned land, including Al-Khan al-Ahmar, suddenly found themselves living on state land that refused to grant them a permit.
The lack of building permits for Jahalin, stifling enforcement, a selective demolition policy, and opposition to any plan that might lead to the regularization of community buildings, including those of the Al-Khan al-Ahmar community, is an expression of a systematic planning policy that strives to prevent any non-Jewish development in the northern Judean Desert, even though these are part of the ecosystem and the desert culture that Dana promotes.
introduction
Right-wing organizations, including the Yesha Council, have been promoting a well-funded campaign for years that deals with what they call "the PA's takeover of Area C." The northern Judean Desert is home to Bedouins from the Jahalin tribe who are affected by the implications of this campaign, which creates a perception that the Palestinian Authority is promoting illegal construction on an alarming scale in order to "take over the area" and "choke Israeli settlement." The campaign aims to tighten enforcement and demolish Bedouin structures on the one hand, and to justify the construction of additional Israeli outposts in the area, both approved and unapproved, on the other. However, not only does the dry data not support the claims underlying the campaign, it actually tells the opposite story.
The Jahalin tribe arrived in the Judean Desert after being expelled by Israel in the early 1950s from the Tel Arad area in the Negev (1) .
After a period of wandering for several years, they arrived in the northern Judean Desert.
After 1967, seasonal migration decreased and communities settled in their places from the Al-Azriya and Abu Dis areas to the outskirts of Jericho. The most famous of these is the Al-Khan Al-Ahmar community, which has been continuously living in its place since 1974. Despite the passage of half a century, only 28 families currently live there. Much less than the natural rate of increase.
The purpose of this document is to briefly present the planning reality of the Jahalin tribe living in the northern Judean Desert. Most of the data in this document was collected from the Civil Administration and the "Bimkom - Planners for Planning Rights" association unless otherwise stated. Since the Yesha Council campaign links the Jahalin communities to the general struggle they are waging against all Palestinian settlements in Area C, this document will also provide construction and planning data in the entire region in order to shed light on the entire picture.
Table: Comparison between Jewish and Bedouin construction in the northern Judean Desert
*There are no exact numbers, it is the estimate of the historian Dr. Ovadia(2,4)
Gaps in Resource Allocations for Planning, and Planning Discrimination
According to the interim agreement (Oslo Agreement), the West Bank was divided into three areas - A, B, and C. In areas C, full security and planning responsibility rests with Israel. This situation was supposed to be temporary in preparation for a final settlement that was never reached.
According to an estimate by UN officials (OCHA), about 300,000 Palestinians were living in Area C in 2013, and it is likely that today their number is even higher. According to the Central Bureau of Statistics, at the beginning of 2020, 432,000 Israelis were living in Area C.
All 30 Jahalin communities in the north of the Judean Desert, numbering about 3,500 people, are located in Area C (about 700 families from the Jahalin tribe, which mainly include the communities of Sariyeh, Korshan, Abu Dahok, and Salamat). The Israeli settlements that were built in the West Bank starting in the 1970s were initially established on land owned by Palestinians through military seizure orders. This was subsequently accomplished through various means, including the utilization of the Ottoman Land Law of 1858, which permits the declaration of lands as state property if they remain uncultivated for an extended period of time. Through these means, Israel has seized approximately 800,000 dunams of land, earmarked almost exclusively for Israeli settlements rather than being allocated equitably for all residents of the West Bank. The Israeli settlements have received hundreds of thousands of dunams, while the majority of Palestinian settlements have no development plans at all.
Permit Applications
The Yesha Council's campaign titled “The Palestinian Authority’s Takeover of Area C” alleges various claims, one of which is that Palestinians engage in illegal construction without obtaining permits from the Civil Administration. This assertion aims to discredit the comparison of permit data by suggesting bias. However, the available data contradicts this claim. It reveals a decline in the number of Palestinian permit applications due to their consistent rejection, with only a few rare exceptions. Consequently, the data demonstrates a significant rise in the population of Israeli residents compared to Palestinian and Bedouin residents. According to a report by the Ministry of Defense, in the 1970s, Palestinians submitted thousands of building permit applications each year, with an impressive approval rate of 97%. However, as the Israeli settlement project continued to expand, the approval rate for permit applications declined drastically. In the 1980s, permits were granted at a rate of approximately 30%, and in the first decade following the Oslo Accords, the rate dropped to a mere 5%. In recent years, with the intensification of the campaign against the "PA Takeover of Area C," the rate of permit approvals has reached an all-time low, now standing at a mere single-digit percentage. To illustrate this disparity, data from the Civil Administration indicates that between 2016 and 2020, out of 2,550 applications submitted by Palestinians, only 24 were approved (0.9%). In contrast, the Central Bureau of Statistics confirms that, during the same period, 8,356 permits were approved for Israeli settlements (350 times more for Israelis compared to Palestinians). Therefore, without a realistic possibility to obtain building permits on their private lands, the number of applications submitted by Palestinians is steadily decreasing. This situation extends to the Bedouin community, as their repeated attempts to regularize their settlements and acquire building permits, similar to nearby Israeli settlements, have been in vain. Despite the submission of plans prepared by the “Binkom” association for 12 communities of the Jahalin to the authorities over the years, not a single one of them has been approved.
In addition to construction carried out in compliance with permits for Israeli settlements, there is also unauthorized Israeli construction taking place, aimed at solidifying a presence on the ground. According to a document from the Civil Administration, by 2022 approximately 85 agricultural farms (most of which are illegal and some of which are situated on privately-owned Palestinian land) have been established in Area C. In addition, dozens of illegal outposts have been erected. In close proximity to the Jahalin and Al-khan al-Ahmar communities, agricultural farms and illegal settlement points have also been established just a few hundred meters away, stifling the growth of the Bedouin communities and impending their ability to thrive.
These ongoing systematic actions pertaining to the Jahalin community find their roots in a strategy outlined in the founding document of Kfar Adumim in 1978: "In the area there are many Bedouins who are also engaged in cultivating the land...the area for Bedouin residence must be closed and evacuated...Wadi Kelt must be declared a nature reserve...one must stop the spread of an Arab/rural settlement immediately by administratively closing the area of Arab villages...a chain of Jewish settlements must be built to interrupt the sequence of Arab settlement."
Throughout the years, various aspects of this vision have materialized into reality. The demarcation border was introduced into the planning policy in the northern Judean Desert so that the only permissible construction for the Bedouin is confined within the already established built-up areas of the Palestinian settlements (such as Anata, Abu Dis and Jericho). However, these locations are not suitable for the traditional lifestyles of the Bedouin, who have been living in the desert since they were displaced from the Tel Arad area.
Wadi Kelt was officially designated as a nature reserve and, in relation to this, Kfar Adumim filed a petition to the High Court, which is still ongoing. This process aims to restrict Bedouin grazing activity in the area (although, in principle, shepherds who used the reserve prior to the declaration are permitted to continue doing so). Any movement of herds beyond a narrow strip of land surrounding the communities triggers armed patrols, who sometimes resort to forceful or even violent measures to expel the herdsmen.
Contrary to the claim that there is more extensive construction in the Palestinian sector compared to Israeli settlements, the available data does not support this assertion. The number of Israeli settlers in Area C has been increasing significantly since 1967, while Palestinians in the area have become a minority (contrary to the situation approximately two decades ago). For example, in the north of the Judean Desert, the number of Bedouin members of the Jahalin tribe living in the area increased from about 2,000 in 1967 (according to the estimate of historian Dr. Yaron Ovadia, author of the book "The Bedouins in the Judean Desert - A Vanishing World"), to only 3,500 today. This growth rate is notably lower than the “natural growth” typically observed over a span of 55 years. On the other hand, the Israeli population in the same region has surged from zero in 1967 to approximately 60,000 individuals today.
Planning Resources
Apart from the striking contrast observed in permit approvals, it is important to highlight the disparity between the total area of land allocated for planning for Israelis compared to the total area designated for Palestinians.
To put this into perspective, the allocated area for Palestinians in Area C accounts for a mere 0.6%, encompassing approximately 22,000 dunams. In contrast, the designated area for Israeli settlements is an extensive 950,000 dunams, representing 26% of the total area. In other words, the area designated for Israeli settlements is 43 times the area allocated for Palestinians. Over the course of time, various measures have been taken to achieve this imbalance in land control. For example, between 1975-1977, approximately 30,000 dunams of land were expropriated in the northern Judean desert, including large, privately-owned plots belonging to the residents of the village of Anata (as indicated on the map below). Among others, the Mishor Adumim industrial area and the city of Ma'ale Adumim were built on these lands.
Al Khan Al Ahmar was also included in the expropriated territory. The residents of the community initially lived there with the consent of the landowners, who were Palestinians from Anata. However, due to the state’s decision to expropriate the land, they found themselves in a situation in which the government refused to grant them permits for the building of residential structures.
Over the years, the municipal area of Kfar Adumim was expanded through an IDF general’s order. As a result, the areas on which some of the neighboring Jahalin communities lived became part of the territory of Kfar Adumim, and all this without the Jahalin moving from their place of residence. Ironically, the campaign spearheaded by a number of organizations is centered on the claim that it is the people of Jahalin who are encroaching upon the lands of Kfar Adumim.
Map: Map of land ownership in the Alkhan al-Ahmar area - indicated in a red circle (source - the administrator
the civil). The territories south of the black line were expropriated in 1975 and became state land.
Some of the plots north of the black line painted in yellow are privately owned by Palestinians from the Anata settlement area.
Building demolitions
The discriminatory planning policy is reflected not only in the area available for planning and the zero chance of obtaining building permits, but also in the huge gaps in enforcement. The number of Jahalin structures for which demolition orders have been issued is 10 times greater than the number of structures for which demolition orders have been issued in Israeli settlements. In fact, demolition orders exist for almost 100% of the 750 Jahalin residential structures, compared to only 1% of all Israeli families living in the area, including the city of Ma’ale Adumim. It is no wonder, then, that the number of demolitions among the Bedouin is 10 times greater, even though the number of Bedouins in the area is 20 times smaller than the number of Israelis (table) . In recent years, the building ban has been enforced so strictly to the point of almost complete paralysis that young couples who marry from within the Jahalin communities have to crowd into other people’s tents or their parents’ tents or risk investing resources in building a hut that will likely be demolished in a short time. In addition to the demolition orders issued under the Planning and Building Law, Israel has in recent years used Order 1797 to remove new buildings as well as confiscation orders for mobile structures.
The Minister of Defense's response to a query on the subject (4) indicates that between 2017-2021, 285 orders to remove buildings were issued for Palestinians in Area C, of which 200 were implemented, compared to only 25 orders for Israelis. The same applies to confiscations of mobile structures - in those years, 3,201 Palestinian structures were confiscated, compared to 736 Israeli structures.
In conclusion
The right-wing campaign "PA Takeover of Area C" claims that Palestinians are building thousands of structures illegally without hindrance in order to "take over state lands." In fact, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have no way of obtaining building permits even if they want to build on their private lands.
On the other hand, the chance that a Palestinian structure built without a permit will be demolished is 10 times higher than that of an Israeli structure, and this is also the reality in the northern Judean Desert near Jahalin. The increase in the number of Bedouin residents and homes is lower than natural growth, and Israeli settlement is gradually taking over most of the areas that were previously used by Palestinian settlement.
This is the story of about 30 Jahalin communities in the northern Judean Desert that were paralyzed.
Inability to issue building permits, selective demolitions of buildings, establishment of farms and outposts with "Hebrew herds" around Bedouin communities, expulsion of shepherds from traditional living areas, harassment, violence, bullying, invasions, vandalism, serial submissions by High Courts for selective enforcement, intense political lobbying, and above all - a demonization and disinformation campaign designed to justify all of this as part of a policy that seeks to prevent any Bedouin development in the northern Judean Desert, even though these are part of the ecosystem and desert culture that Dana promotes.
**The document was written by Dr. Yaron Ovadia, Prof. Dan Turner, and architect Alon Lifshitz for the Friends of the Jahalin, and underwent internal peer review.