<html>
  <head>

    <meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8">
  </head>
  <body text="#000000" bgcolor="#FFFFFF">
    <div class="container font-size5 content-width3">
      <div class="header reader-header" style="display: block;"> <font
          size="-2"><a class="domain reader-domain"
href="https://al-shabaka.org/briefs/israels-relentless-land-grabs-how-palestinians-resist/">https://al-shabaka.org/briefs/israels-relentless-land-grabs-how-palestinians-resist/</a></font>
        <h1 class="reader-title">Israel’s Relentless Land Grabs: How
          Palestinians Resist</h1>
        <div class="meta-data">
          <div class="reader-estimated-time">by <a
              href="https://al-shabaka.org/en/author/yara-hawari/">Yara
              Hawari</a> <time>on April 9, 2018</time></div>
        </div>
      </div>
      <hr>
      <div class="content">
        <div class="moz-reader-content line-height4" style="display:
          block;">
          <div id="readability-page-1" class="page">
            <section>
              <header>
                <section>
                </section>
                <section>
                </section>
              </header>
              <div id="inner">
                <div id="content-sidebar-wrap">
                  <div id="content">
                    <section>
                      <article>
                        <header>
                        </header>
                        <span>It has been 42 years since the Israeli
                          police shot and killed six Palestinian
                          citizens of Israel as they protested the
                          expropriation of thousands of dunums of
                          Palestinian land by the government. The
                          protests were a result of mass collective
                          action across the part of Mandate Palestine
                          that became Israel in 1948. This saw
                          Palestinian communities resisting not only
                          Israel’s seizure of land but also its overall
                          policies of erasing the very presence of
                          Palestinians. This day – March 30, 1976 – has
                          since been known as Yom el-Ard (Land Day), and
                          is a major event on the Palestinian political
                          calendar and in the collective narrative. The
                          fact that 2018 also marks 70 years since the
                          Nakba – the loss of the Palestinian homeland
                          and the creation of the state of Israel – adds
                          to the significance of Land Day this year.
                          Indeed, “The Great March of Return” organized
                          in Gaza last month was to commemorate this
                          date but also to link it with the right of
                          return of the Palestinian refugees. The fact
                          that triple the number of those killed on the
                          original Land Day, were killed this year also
                          highlights how Palestinian resistance is
                          deemed just as much as a threat as it was over
                          four decades ago. </span>
                        <div>
                          <div>
                            <p><span>Throughout this history,
                                Palestinians have challenged Israel’s
                                land theft – theft that, despite the
                                fact that it is a flagrant violation of
                                international law, continues unabated
                                and is even accelerating. Indeed, with
                                US President Donald Trump and his
                                administration signaling to Israel that
                                it can annex more land and build more
                                settlements, particularly through its
                                recent recognition of Jerusalem as
                                Israel’s capital, Palestinians are
                                increasing their resistance. </span></p>
                            <p><span>This policy brief examines how the
                                domination of space is integral to
                                settler colonialism through an
                                examination of Israel’s historic and
                                present-day appropriation of land, and
                                explores the methods of Palestinian
                                resistance to these practices. It
                                concludes with recommendations for how
                                Palestinians can collaborate across the
                                borders that divide them, as well as
                                with third parties, to resist the theft
                                of their land and further the quest for
                                Palestinian self-determination and
                                rights. </span></p>
                            <h2><b>Israel’s Land Acquisition Methods</b></h2>
                            <p><span>The main outcome of settler
                                colonial projects is a rearrangement of
                                physical spaces and indigenous people –
                                a rearrangement that is neither peaceful
                                nor passive, but constitutes a violent
                                restructuring to make way for a new
                                society with new social and spatial
                                organization. The Zionist settler
                                colonial project that established the
                                state of Israel in the place of
                                Palestine in 1948 is no different.
                                Zionists expelled 750,000 Palestinians
                                in order to make room for the settler
                                colonialists. <a title="This number is
                                  an approximation based on oral
                                  testimonies and various institutional
                                  records and is cited by scholars
                                  including Ilan Pappe in The Ethnic
                                  Cleansing of Palestine."
                                  id="return-note-8052-1"
                                  href="#note-8052-1"><sup>1</sup></a></span></p>
                            <p><span>One hundred and fifty thousand
                                Palestinians remained on the land,
                                creating a demographic dilemma for the
                                Israeli state. These Palestinians had to
                                be incorporated as citizens but would </span><a
href="https://al-shabaka.org/briefs/apartheid-within-palestinian-citizens-israel/"><span>remain
                                  excluded on the basis that they were
                                  not Jewish</span></a><span>. In 1967,
                                the colonization of the West Bank and
                                Gaza Strip saw the absorption of more
                                Palestinians, yet rather than annex the
                                territories and grant them citizenship,
                                Israel placed them under military
                                control. </span></p>
                            <p><span>In the early years after 1948, the
                                Israeli state utilized various
                                mechanisms to appropriate land,
                                including legislative measures. Most
                                notable was the </span><a
                                href="https://www.adalah.org/en/law/view/538"><span>Absentees’
                                  Property Law of 1950</span></a><span>,
                                followed by the </span><a
                                href="https://www.adalah.org/en/law/view/533"><span>Land
                                  Acquisition Law of 1953</span></a><span>.
                                These laws allowed the state to
                                appropriate land and title deeds from
                                refugees on the basis of being absent
                                from the country after November 29,
                                1947. The legislation was also applied
                                to those who were displaced within the
                                borders of the new state: Rather than
                                recognize these Palestinians as
                                internally displaced persons, </span><a
href="http://www.badil.org/en/component/k2/item/1873-art6.html"><span>Israel
                                  referred to them as “present
                                  absentees.”</span></a><span> Israel’s
                                main justifications – then and now – for
                                seizing the land are the acquisition of
                                it for public use and the preservation
                                of the Jewish character of the state.</span></p>
                            <span><span><a
href="https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?url=http://ow.ly/Tf7v30jnkSN&text=Settler%20colonial%20projects%20%28are%29%20a%20rearrangement%20of%20physical%20spaces%20and%20indigenous%20people%20that%20is%20neither%20peaceful%20nor%20passive&via=AlShabaka&related=AlShabaka"
                                  target="_blank">Settler colonial
                                  projects (are) a rearrangement of
                                  physical spaces and indigenous people
                                  that is neither peaceful nor passive </a></span><a
href="https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?url=http://ow.ly/Tf7v30jnkSN&text=Settler%20colonial%20projects%20%28are%29%20a%20rearrangement%20of%20physical%20spaces%20and%20indigenous%20people%20that%20is%20neither%20peaceful%20nor%20passive&via=AlShabaka&related=AlShabaka"
                                target="_blank">Click To Tweet</a></span>
                            <p><span>This justification was used at the
                                beginning of March 1976, when the
                                Israeli government announced plans to
                                confiscate 20,000 dunums of land under
                                the Developing the Galilee Program for
                                the building of Jewish settlements and
                                military training camps. The Palestinian
                                mass strike and protests on March 30
                                mainly took place in six villages in the
                                Galilee that had been placed under
                                curfew – </span><span>Sakhnin, Arraba, </span><span>Deir
                                Hanna</span><span>, </span><span>Tur'an</span><span>, </span><span>Tamra</span><span>,</span><span>
                                and </span><span>Kabul</span><span> –
                                though they also occurred in the Naqab
                                (Negev) and Wadi Ara. <a title="The
                                  protests were mobilized under the
                                  leadership of the Committee for the
                                  Defense of Arab Lands, which had been
                                  established jointly by various student
                                  bodies, Abnaa el Balad, and the
                                  Communist Party."
                                  id="return-note-8052-2"
                                  href="#note-8052-2"><sup>2</sup></a> </span>Israeli
                              police met the demonstrations with serious
                              violence, shooting to death the six
                              protestors and injuring hundreds more.</p>
                            <p><span>Land Day has become a date in which
                                Palestinians throughout Mandate
                                Palestine as well as in the diaspora
                                organize land-based activities and
                                reiterate their existential relationship
                                with the land. The date also emphasizes
                                the concept of </span><i><span>sumud</span></i><span>
                                (steadfastness) as an important part of
                                resistance to Israeli settler
                                colonization.</span></p>
                            <p><span>Since the occupation of the West
                                Bank in 1967, various “legal” mechanisms
                                and military orders have similarly
                                facilitated the colonization of
                                Palestinian land. These include the
                                expropriation of land in the name of
                                security, in which Israel effectively
                                subverts the Geneva Convention, which
                                allows occupying states to temporarily
                                confiscate land for security reasons. In
                                this way Israel has seized land for at
                                least </span><a
href="https://interactive.aljazeera.com/aje/2017/50-years-illegal-settlements/index.html"><span>42
                                  settlements, including the bypass
                                  roads that connect them to settlements
                                  across the Green Line</span></a><span>.
                                An equally devious mechanism is the use
                                of an </span><a
href="https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20161201-dispossession-by-the-law-how-the-israeli-judicial-system-utilises-ottoman-land-law-to-expel-and-dispossess-the-palestinian-bedouin/"><span>Ottoman
                                  and British Mandate law that allows
                                  the state to confiscate land for a
                                  “public purpose,”</span></a><span>
                                despite the fact that the areas seized
                                have habitually been used by
                                Palestinians for centuries for grazing
                                purposes. </span></p>
                            <p><span>The implementation of the Oslo
                                Accords in the early 1990s, which
                                divided the West Bank into Areas A, B
                                and C, furthered the expropriation of
                                Palestinian land. Area C, which makes up
                                61% of the West Bank, is under full
                                Israeli military control, including
                                control over security and civil affairs.
                              </span><a
                                href="https://www.btselem.org/planning_and_building"><span>Israeli
                                  policy in Area C is particularly
                                  aggressive</span></a><span>, serving
                                the needs of 325,000 Israeli settlers
                                while simultaneously disrupting and
                                restricting Palestinian communities. </span></p>
                            <p><span>In the Jordan Valley, which falls
                                under Area C, communities are
                                particularly vulnerable to displacement
                                and theft of ancestral lands. The valley
                                is a strategically important area for
                                Israel, predominantly because it acts as
                                both a buffer zone to Jordan and the
                                Occupied Syrian Golan Heights, but also
                                because of its agricultural richness
                                thanks to its abundant water supply and
                                fertile land. </span></p>
                            <p><span>The construction of the Separation
                                Wall in 2002 also enabled Israel to
                                acquire more West Bank land. Built to
                                separate the West Bank from Israel
                                proper under the guise of Israeli
                                “security,” the wall has laid the
                                foundation for the annexation of many
                                settlements. By placing the route inside
                                the West Bank and not along the Green
                                Line, Israel has de facto appropriated
                                territory. The wall has separated
                                Palestinians and cut off many
                                agricultural communities from their
                                land, and breaks the geographic
                                contiguity of the West Bank.  </span></p>
                            <h2><b>Accelerating Land Theft</b></h2>
                            <p><span>Today, the expropriation of
                                Palestinian land is accelerating at an
                                astonishing speed. Political
                                maneuverings in Jerusalem have recently
                                highlighted this crisis as the Israeli
                                government capitalizes on the US
                                administration’s brazen disregard for
                                international law and the consensus with
                                regard to Jerusalem. Its decision to
                                move its embassy from Tel Aviv to
                                Jerusalem is a de facto and de jure
                                recognition of the city as Israel’s
                                capital. This move has emboldened Israel
                                to cement its complete control over the
                                city. </span></p>
                            <p><span>The postponed Greater Jerusalem
                                bill (which is still on the table)
                                revealed plans to expand the municipal
                                boundaries of Jerusalem to include four
                                major and many smaller illegal
                                settlements. The major settlements –
                                Ma'ale Adumim, Givat Ze'ev, Betar Illit,
                                and Efrat – are part of a bloc that
                                stretches from Jerusalem to Hebron. At
                                the same time, the bill would exclude
                                certain Palestinian neighborhoods from
                                the city’s jurisdiction, including that
                                of Kufr Aqab. This gerrymandering of
                                borders </span><a
href="https://al-shabaka.org/briefs/israels-annexation-crusade-in-jerusalem-the-role-of-maale-adumim-and-the-e1-corridor/"><span>attempts
                                  to gain more land while at the same
                                  time squeezing Palestinians</span></a><span>
                                into as little space as possible. In
                                addition to the physical conquering of
                                space, these maneuvers attempt to
                                control the narrative on Jerusalem so
                                that the entire city becomes
                                unquestionably part of Israel in
                                mainstream international discourse.</span></p>
                            <p><span>Meanwhile, in the Naqab, the
                                Israeli government is implementing the
                                Prawer Plan, developed in 2011, to
                                destroy 35 Palestinian Bedouin villages
                                and to appropriate the land to build new
                                Jewish Israeli settlements as part of
                                its Development of the Negev Program.
                                The Negev Program is the brainchild of
                                the Ministry for the Development of the
                                Negev and the Galilee, a successor to
                                the aforementioned Developing the
                                Galilee Program, whose land confiscation
                                led to the Land Day protests in 1976.
                                The ministry was founded in 2005 </span><a
href="http://www.galil.gov.il/EN/?p=1633"><span>to bring</span></a><span>
                                “growth and prosperity…as it is quite
                                clear that the future of Israel lies in
                                the development of these regions</span><span>.”</span></p>
                            <span><span><a
href="https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?url=http://ow.ly/Tf7v30jnkSN&text=The%20expropriation%20of%20Palestinian%20land%20is%20accelerating%20at%20an%20astonishing%20speed&via=AlShabaka&related=AlShabaka"
                                  target="_blank">The expropriation of
                                  Palestinian land is accelerating at an
                                  astonishing speed </a></span><a
href="https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?url=http://ow.ly/Tf7v30jnkSN&text=The%20expropriation%20of%20Palestinian%20land%20is%20accelerating%20at%20an%20astonishing%20speed&via=AlShabaka&related=AlShabaka"
                                target="_blank">Click To Tweet</a></span>
                            <p><span>The Naqab and the Galilee are
                                particular areas of concern for the
                                Israeli government because of their
                                relatively high concentration of
                                Palestinians. According to some
                                estimates, the Galilee has a majority
                                Palestinian population</span><span>. <a
                                  title="See Ben White’s report
                                  ‘Palestinians in Israel’s democracy:
                                  Judaising the Galilee’;
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/downloads/briefing-paper/palestinians-in-israel-democracy.pdf"
                                  id="return-note-8052-3"
                                  href="#note-8052-3"><sup>3</sup></a> </span><span>The
                                ministry thus aims to consolidate a
                                contiguous Jewish presence while
                                minimizing the Palestinian Arab
                                presence; this is demonstrated by the
                                demolition of Bedouin villages on the
                                basis that they are “unrecognized” by
                                the state. </span></p>
                            <p><span>This appropriation of indigenous
                                space for the purpose of the settler
                                population through such mechanisms as
                                settlements, de jure annexation,
                                physical expulsion, and denial of land
                                claims is found in settler colonial
                                projects the world over. In Palestine,
                                it is occurring on both sides of the
                                Green Line, and is part and parcel of
                                what is dubbed the continuous Nakba, or
                              </span><i><span>al Nakba al mustimirrah</span></i><span>.</span></p>
                            <h2><b>Spaces of Palestinian Resistance</b></h2>
                            <p><span>In the face of this continuous
                                Nakba, Palestinians have long engaged in
                                acts of what some writers have termed </span><a
href="https://arenaofspeculation.org/research/publications/resisting-spaciocide/"><span>spatial
                                  resistance</span></a><span> –
                                practices that affirm Palestinian
                                presence and continuity on the land and
                                challenge Israeli colonization. There
                                are various initiatives of such
                                resistance, both past and ongoing, that
                                incorporate land re-appropriation and
                                steadfastness: </span></p>
                            <h3><i><span>Bab al Shams and Ein Hijleh</span></i></h3>
                            <p><span>Approximately 250 Palestinian
                                activists from across historic Palestine
                                established the Palestinian “village” of
                                Bab al Shams, near the illegal Jewish
                                Israeli settlement of Ma’ale Adumim, in
                                January 2013. The location of the
                                village was on privately owned
                                Palestinian land, for which the
                                activists received permission from the
                                owner. The village was also within the
                                E1 corridor, the strip of land that
                                effectively cuts the West Bank in half.
                              </span></p>
                            <p><span>The activists erected some 25 tents
                                to establish the “village,” and despite
                                receiving an injunction from the High
                                Court of Justice, which blocked the
                                village’s eviction for six days, the
                                Israeli army forcibly removed the
                                activists after only two days. In spite
                                of its short life, the village was a
                                form of direct action that asserted
                                Palestinian ownership of the land and
                                challenged its ongoing confiscation. Bab
                                al Shams also highlighted Palestinian
                                presence in the Jerusalem area. </span></p>
                            <p><span>The following year, the Palestinian
                                Popular Struggle Coordination Committee
                                established a </span><a
href="https://972mag.com/photos-ein-hijleh-village-evicted-after-seven-days-of-protest/86871/"><span>protest
                                  village similar to Bab el Shams at the
                                  site of Ein Hijleh</span></a><span>, a
                                destroyed Palestinian village in the
                                Jordan Valley. During the week in which
                                the activists managed to stay in the
                                village, they installed solar panels,
                                cleared the land, and held various
                                political and cultural activities. After
                                seven days, the Israeli army forcibly
                                dismantled the encampment, arrested
                                dozens of activists, and injured many
                                more. </span></p>
                            <h3><i><span>Iqrith and the March of Return</span></i></h3>
                            <p><span>Since 2012, young activists have
                                maintained a continuous physical
                                presence on their land at the site of
                                Iqrith, a Palestinian village in the
                                Galilee destroyed in 1948. The
                                descendants of families from the village
                                are internally displaced Palestinians
                                (“present absentees”), meaning that
                                while they hold Israeli citizenship and
                                reside within Israel’s borders, they are
                                forbidden from returning to their
                                pre-1948 villages and land. Iqrith is an
                                unusual case because in 1948 Zionist
                                forces told its residents that they
                                could return after the fighting. While
                                this promise was not fulfilled, in 1951
                                Iqrith’s residents won a High Court
                                decision that allowed them to return. <a
                                  title="The village of Kufr Birim is a
                                  similar case; the village’s residents
                                  were also forbidden from returning
                                  despite a High Court decision to the
                                  contrary." id="return-note-8052-4"
                                  href="#note-8052-4"><sup>4</sup></a></span><span> </span></p>
                            <span><span><a
href="https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?url=http://ow.ly/Tf7v30jnkSN&text=In%20Palestine%20%28land%20theft%20occurs%29%20on%20both%20sides%20of%20the%20Green%20Line%E2%80%A6part%20and%20parcel%20of%20what%20is%20dubbed%20the%20continuous%20Nakba&via=AlShabaka&related=AlShabaka"
                                  target="_blank">In Palestine (land
                                  theft occurs) on both sides of the
                                  Green Line…part and parcel of what is
                                  dubbed the continuous Nakba </a></span><a
href="https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?url=http://ow.ly/Tf7v30jnkSN&text=In%20Palestine%20%28land%20theft%20occurs%29%20on%20both%20sides%20of%20the%20Green%20Line%E2%80%A6part%20and%20parcel%20of%20what%20is%20dubbed%20the%20continuous%20Nakba&via=AlShabaka&related=AlShabaka"
                                target="_blank">Click To Tweet</a></span>
                            <p><span>However, the decision was blocked
                                by the military court, which maintains
                                that the residents’ return would be a
                                risk to state security. The third and
                                fourth generation activists in Iqrith
                                keep a steadfast presence in the village
                                and have set up an encampment in an
                                annex of the village church. This
                                presence is maintained despite the
                                military ruling and attempts by the
                                Israeli authorities to disrupt them by
                                arresting activists, destroying
                                structures, and uprooting plants. The
                                activists’ presence asserts their
                                Palestinian identity and challenges the
                                notion that Palestinian land is limited
                                to the West Bank and Gaza Strip.</span></p>
                            <p><span>Another initiative organizes
                                Palestinians’ return to destroyed
                                villages. The March of Return has mainly
                                taken place in the Galilee, where most
                                of the internally displaced Palestinians
                                live. Two years ago, it was held in the
                                Naqab, and this year it will take place
                                at a destroyed village near Haifa. Since
                                the Association for the Rights of the
                                Internally Displaced and other groups
                                organized the first march 1999, it has
                                become a significant event inside
                                historic Palestine. It coincides with
                                Israeli Independence Day under the motto
                                of “Your independence is our Nakba.”
                                Similar to the Iqrith activism, the
                                March of Return is a symbolic reversing
                                of original displacement through the
                                physical act of returning, albeit
                                temporarily, to the site of destruction.
                                The march also challenges the Zionist
                                Independence Day narrative of “a land
                                without a people for a people without a
                                land” by reasserting Palestinian
                                presence prior to 1948.  </span></p>
                            <h3><i><span>Al Araqib and Susiya</span></i></h3>
                            <p><span>Al Araqib is a Palestinian Bedouin
                                village located in the Naqab that has
                                existed for two centuries. Israeli
                                forces first displaced its residents in
                                1951 for “security” purposes, and Israel
                                appropriated the land under the Land
                                Acquisition Law. In the late 1990s, 45
                                families returned to the land in an
                                attempt to prevent the Jewish National
                                Fund from planting a forest on top of
                                it. </span></p>
                            <p><span>Using the claim that the village is
                                “unrecognized” and built on Israeli
                                state land, attempts to displace the
                                people of Al Araqib have intensified in
                                recent years. Since 2010, Israeli
                                authorities have destroyed the village
                                120 times, usually using bulldozers to
                                raze structures and riot police to
                                remove residents who try to protect
                                their homes with their bodies. As an
                                “unrecognized” village, it is also
                                denied the most basic of services. Many
                                of the residents have moved to
                                neighboring towns, yet there are some
                                who remain and rebuild their houses,
                                often using material salvaged from the
                                rubble. They frequently hold rallies and
                                protests to highlight their struggle
                                against displacement and land theft.  </span></p>
                            <p><span>Just across the Green Line a
                                similar struggle is taking place in the
                                village of Susiya, located in Area C
                                south of Hebron. Shortly after
                                establishing an illegal settlement in
                                1983 on Susiya’s land, the Israeli
                                government demolished the homes of 60
                                families. The residents rebuilt nearby,
                                but in 2001 Israeli demolished the
                                entire village. Since 2011 Susiya has
                                faced a series of mass demolitions by
                                the authorities in an attempt to
                                establish Israel’s total control over
                                Area C. </span></p>
                            <p><span>As the Oslo Accords placed Area C
                                under Israeli military control, Israel
                                is able to </span><a
                                href="https://www.btselem.org/download/201306_area_c_report_eng.pdf"><span>deny
                                  Palestinian planning and building
                                  requests</span></a><span> on the
                                grounds of security. As such, each time
                                Susiya’s residents rebuild their homes,
                                they are served once again with
                                demolition orders. Yet Susiya’s
                                residents have thus far stayed on their
                                land, living in the most basic
                                conditions to do so. They have also
                                established a campaign that has
                                attracted the support of international
                                activists. </span><a
                                href="https://www.adalah.org/en/content/view/8121"><span>Both
                                  Al Araqib and Susiya are demonstrating
                                  steadfastness</span></a><span>, yet
                                their durability remains uncertain in
                                the context of accelerating Israeli
                                colonization and annexation. </span></p>
                            <h2><b>Shoring up Palestinian Rights to the
                                Land</b></h2>
                            <p><span>As discussed above, Palestinians
                                have used many ways to resist Israel’s
                                land theft. To stop further incursions
                                on Palestinian land and support and
                                build upon Palestinian spatial
                                resistance, efforts in three areas
                                deserve focus: </span></p>
                            <h3><i><span>Promote grassroots spatial
                                  resistance</span></i></h3>
                            <p><span>With popular support, initiatives
                                that physically re-assert Palestinian
                                presence on land could challenge Israeli
                                domination of space. Yet Palestinians
                                face challenges of sustainability. To
                                tackle this, Palestinians engaged in
                                grassroots activities should continue to
                                link local struggles and call for
                                coordination across the Green Line. This
                                would not only highlight the greater
                                Israeli colonization project, but would
                                also challenge Israel’s definition</span>
                              <span>of what is considered Palestine and
                                who is considered Palestinian.</span></p>
                            <span><span><a
href="https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?url=http://ow.ly/Tf7v30jnkSN&text=%28Three%20areas%20are%20key%29%20to%20stop%20further%20incursions%20on%20Palestinian%20land%20and%20support%20and%20build%20upon%20Palestinian%20spatial%20resistance&via=AlShabaka&related=AlShabaka"
                                  target="_blank">(Three areas are key)
                                  to stop further incursions on
                                  Palestinian land and support and build
                                  upon Palestinian spatial resistance </a></span><a
href="https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?url=http://ow.ly/Tf7v30jnkSN&text=%28Three%20areas%20are%20key%29%20to%20stop%20further%20incursions%20on%20Palestinian%20land%20and%20support%20and%20build%20upon%20Palestinian%20spatial%20resistance&via=AlShabaka&related=AlShabaka"
                                target="_blank">Click To Tweet</a></span>
                            <p><span>Palestinians should also demand
                                international and third party support
                                and protection for these activities,
                                such as funding anti-bulldozer barriers
                                in vulnerable Palestinian communities.
                                International actors who have invested
                                in infrastructure in Palestinian
                                communities that Israel has destroyed
                                should also demand financial
                                compensation. Their investment in
                                communities and projects must be coupled
                                with such a condition to make
                                demolitions and displacement financially
                                taxing for Israel. </span></p>
                            <h3><i><span>Prevent further theft of
                                  Palestinian land </span></i></h3>
                            <p><span>Third states are bound by
                                international humanitarian law to use
                                all possible measures to suppress
                                violations. The law is clear that the
                                displacement of an occupied population
                                and settlement building by the occupier
                                are violations. Thus, all international
                                mechanisms that can be used to prevent
                                further appropriation and annexation
                                must be mobilized. These include but are
                                not limited to:</span></p>
                            <ul>
                              <li><span>Support submissions of reported
                                  war crimes to the International
                                  Criminal Court, such as </span><a
href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/09/palestinians-submit-israel-war-crime-evidence-icc-170920115342560.html"><span>the
                                    one submitted in 2017 by Palestinian
                                    civil society organizations</span></a><span>.
                                </span></li>
                              <li><span>Demand an extensive and formal
                                  probe into Israeli violations, such as
                                </span><a
href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2016/06/05/palestine-icc-should-open-formal-probe"><span>the
                                    one called for by Human Rights Watch
                                    in 2016</span></a><span>.</span></li>
                              <li><span>Institute and enforce sanctions
                                  – a mechanism used against Russia for
                                  its annexation of </span><a
href="https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2014/03/western-hypocrisy-crimea-israel-201432342946568123.html"><span>Crimea</span></a><span>.
                                </span></li>
                            </ul>
                            <h3><i><span>Build cases for property and
                                  land restitution</span></i><span>  </span></h3>
                            <p><span>Property and land restitution and
                                compensation are an essential part of
                                any future reconciliation process, as
                                seen </span><a
href="http://www.badil.org/phocadownloadpap/Badil_docs/Working_Papers/WP-E-06.pdf"><span>in
                                  South Africa following the
                                  dismantlement of the apartheid regime</span></a><span>.
                                Efforts must be made to retroactively
                                challenge Israeli property and land
                                theft that has occurred since 1948.
                                Palestinians should organize a</span> <span>mass
                                effort to research and formulate their
                                claims; </span><a
href="http://www.badil.org/en/publication/press-releases/16-2002/317-press255-02.html"><span>a
                                  wealth of documentation already exists</span></a><span>
                                that would support them, including </span><span>the
                                UNCCP files, UNRWA records, official
                                Israeli state records, and oral
                                testimonies.</span></p>
                            <p><span>With such targeted and organized
                                efforts, Palestinians and their allies
                                could obstruct Israel’s relentless
                                seizure of Palestinian land and secure
                                policies in line with Palestinian rights
                                as enshrined in international law.    </span></p>
                          </div>
                        </div>
                      </article>
                    </section>
                    <section>
                      <div>
                        <div>
                          <aside>
                            <div>
                              <h5><a
                                  href="https://al-shabaka.org/en/author/yara-hawari/">Yara
                                  Hawari</a></h5>
                              <p><span>Yara Hawari is the Palestine
                                  Policy Fellow of Al-Shabaka: The
                                  Palestinian Policy Network. She
                                  completed her PhD in Middle East
                                  Politics at the University of Exeter.
                                  Her research focused on oral history
                                  projects and memory politics, framed
                                  more widely within Indigenous Studies.
                                  Yara taught various undergraduate
                                  courses at the University of Exeter
                                  and continues to work as a freelance
                                  journalist, publishing for various
                                  media outlets, including Al Jazeera
                                  English, Middle East Eye and the
                                  Independent.</span></p>
                            </div>
                          </aside>
                        </div>
                      </div>
                    </section>
                  </div>
                </div>
              </div>
              <section>
              </section>
            </section>
            <img
src="https://pixel.wp.com/g.gif?v=ext&j=1%3A5.9&blog=86869609&post=8052&tz=3&srv=al-shabaka.org&host=al-shabaka.org&ref=https%3A%2F%2Fal-shabaka.org%2Fen%2F&rand=0.6058045117181574"
              alt=":)" id="wpstats" height="5" width="6"></div>
        </div>
      </div>
      <div> </div>
    </div>
    <div class="moz-signature">-- <br>
      Freedom Archives
      522 Valencia Street
      San Francisco, CA 94110
      415 863.9977
      <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://freedomarchives.org/">https://freedomarchives.org/</a>
    </div>
  </body>
</html>