Ayesha Shatayeh is a resident of the Israeli-occupied Palestinian West Bank. She and her family had been living in their own home for 50 years. They ran their household by raising livestock. But last October, a man put a gun to her head and told her to leave the house.
Ayesha tells the BBC that they have been facing harassment since an illegal settlement outpost was built near their home in the West Bank. This harassment and intimidation started in 2021. They were threatened to leave their home.
A BBC analysis has found that the number of Israeli illegal outposts in the West Bank has increased rapidly in recent years. There are currently 196 such outposts across the West Bank. Of these, 29 were built just last year, which is more than any previous period.
The Israeli government has no plans or approval for constructing these outposts. There are some legal Jewish settlements across the West Bank under Israeli law. These are relatively large and usually located in urban areas. These settlements are not like the illegal outposts.
An outpost can refer to a farm, a collection of many houses, or even several caravans. Often these outposts don’t have a defined boundary. According to Israel’s own laws and international law, establishing such outposts in the West Bank is completely illegal.
However, some organizations closely associated with the Israeli government have provided money and land to settlers to establish new outposts of this kind. This information has been obtained from several documents that have come into the possession of BBC World.
Experts say that compared to land allocation, these outposts allow for much faster occupation of large areas. As a result, these outposts are increasingly involved in incidents of violence and oppression against Palestinians.
There is no official data on the exact number of these outposts. However, the BBC has reviewed the list and locations of outposts collected by two Israeli anti-illegal settlement observer groups, Peace Now and Kerem Navot. In addition, Israeli authorities have provided some information.
In July last year, the UN’s top court issued a landmark opinion. It stated that Israel should cease all settlement activities and remove settlers from Palestinian-controlled areas. However, Israel has rejected this opinion, calling it fundamentally “wrong and one-sided.
The BBC has analyzed satellite imagery to determine where and when these outposts were established. Additionally, information about various outposts where Israeli settlers live or use has been obtained from social media, Israeli government publications, and some media sources.
According to the BBC’s analysis, nearly half (89) of the 196 outposts in the West Bank were established after 2019. These outposts are associated with increasing violence against various Palestinian communities.
Earlier this year, the United Kingdom imposed sanctions on eight illegal settlers. These sanctions were imposed on allegations of violence against Palestinians and inciting such violence. At least six of them still live in illegal outposts they established.
A spokesperson for the UK Foreign Office said in a statement:
“We strongly condemn the unprecedented violence by illegal settlers against Palestinian communities. We also call on Israeli authorities to break away from the culture of impunity and crack down on the perpetrators.”
Avi Mizrahi, a former Israeli army commander, says:
“Most settlers are law-abiding Israeli citizens. However, he acknowledges that violence against Palestinians has been increasing due to these outposts.”
The former military officer further states:
‘Whenever you illegally establish an outpost in that area, it will bring anxiety to the local residents.’
Moshe Sharvit is one of the extreme Jewish settlers under UK sanctions. He was the one who put a gun to Ayesha’s head and threatened her to leave her home. Moshe’s outpost is 800 meters away from Ayesha’s house.
In March this year, the United States imposed sanctions on the outpost built by Moshe and his community members. His outpost was described as a base for carrying out violence against Palestinians.
Ayesha currently lives near the city of Nablus with her children. She says:
‘Moshe is turning our lives into hell.’
In July last year, the UN’s top court issued a landmark opinion. It stated that Israel should cease all settlement activities and remove settlers from Palestinian-controlled areas. However, Israel has rejected this opinion, calling it fundamentally “wrong and one-sided.”
The Israeli government has no plans or approval for constructing these outposts. There are some legal Jewish settlements across the West Bank under Israeli law. These are relatively large and usually located in urban areas. These settlements are not like the illegal outposts.
Although both types of settlements are illegal under international law. According to law, transferring civilian populations from occupied territories is completely prohibited. However, settlers living in the West Bank claim that as Jews, they have religious and historical connections to that land.
Last July, the UN’s top court issued a landmark opinion stating that Israel should cease all settlement activities and remove settlers from Palestinian-controlled areas. However, Israel has rejected this opinion, calling it fundamentally “wrong and one-sided.”
Despite their illegality, there is still no evidence that the Israeli government has taken effective steps to prevent the rapid increase in the number of outposts. Rather, the BBC has found evidence that two international organizations closely associated with the country’s government have provided money and land for establishing outposts in the West Bank.
One of these two organizations is the World Zionist Organization (WZO). The organization was established more than a century ago. It played a supporting role in the establishment of the State of Israel. The organization’s settlement department has been involved in managing Israel’s occupied territories since 1967.
The department is funded from the Israeli government’s funds. It is seen as an affiliate institution of Israel.
Documents obtained by an organization called Peace Now and BBC analysis show that the WZO’s settlement department has continuously allocated land to illegal outposts established in the West Bank.
According to the terms of the related contracts, WZO cannot build any structures. Their lands can only be used for grazing and farming. However, satellite images have shown that in at least four cases, outposts have been illegally built on the department’s land.
One of these contracts was signed in 2018 by an individual named Zvi Bar Yosef. Like Moshe Sharvit, he was also sanctioned by the UK and US at the beginning of this year due to violence and terror against Palestinians.
The BBC contacted the organization to find out if they were aware that some of the land allocated by WZO for grazing and farming has been used to establish illegal outposts. However, the organization did not respond. When asked, no response was received from Zvi Bar Yosef either.
The BBC has seen two more documents showing that another organization called Amana has given large loans to settlers to help establish illegal outposts in the West Bank.
Amana gave a loan of $270,000 to one settler to build a greenhouse in an outpost. According to Israeli law, establishing such outposts is illegal.
Amana was established in 1978. Since then, the organization has been working closely with the Israeli government to establish settlements in the West Bank. In recent years, considerable evidence has been found of Amana’s assistance in establishing illegal outposts.
Many affected families, like Ayesha’s, have said they were forced to leave their homes due to threats from Moshe Sharvit. These families took shelter elsewhere after the war between Israel and Hamas began on October 7 last year.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) says that violence by illegal settlers in the West Bank has increased unprecedentedly. In the past 10 months, settlers have carried out more than 1,000 attacks on Palestinians. Since October 7, at least 10 Palestinians have been killed by them. About 230 have been injured.
OCHA further reports that during the same period, five settlers were killed by Palestinians. At least 17 were injured.
Recently, there has been a tendency within the Israeli government to legitimize already established outposts. Last year, the government initiated the process of converting at least 10 outposts into legal settlements. Six have already been legalized.
Ayesha, a victim, says:
“In February this year, Moshe Sharvit evicted her from her home. Moshe started oppressing and intimidating her family since late 2021, after establishing an outpost next to her house.”
Ayesha’s husband Nabil says:
“Whenever he went to graze goats in the pasture, Moshe would come with his group and drive the goats away.”
He further says:
‘I told them we would leave if the government or police or judge told us to. In response, Moshe would say, “I am the government, I am the judge, I am the police.”‘
Regarding this, Muayyad Shaban, head of the Palestinian government’s Commission of Colonization and Wall Resistance, says that by limiting access to pastures, illegal settlers push Palestinian farmers towards an uncertain situation. The situation reaches a point where they have nothing left to do. They can’t eat, can’t graze animals, and don’t even get drinking water.
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