The Jordan Valley
The Jordan Valley and the northern Dead Sea constitute almost 30% of the West Bank. Nearly 65,000 Palestinians and some 11,000 settlers live there. Although the region serves as the Palestinians’ most significant land reserve, Israel has taken over most of the land with a view to enabling its de facto annexation. Israel also endeavors to minimize Palestinian presence there: barring Palestinians from using 85% of the land, restricting their access to water resources and keeping them from building homes. Israeli authorities are also taking measures to drive out over 50 Palestinian communities across the Jordan Valley, by making their lives intolerable.
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2024 West Bank olive harvest: Israel furthers land grab through tighter restrictions on Palestinians and extreme state violence
Elias Mariyah by the gate in the Separation Barrier. Photo: Faiz Abu Rmeleh, B'Tselem
In 2009, Elias Mariyah from the city of Bethlehem in the West Bank gave a testimony to B’Tselem. Mariyah, then 72 years old, described the…
Acting the Landlord
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Israel’s regime of apartheid and occupation is inextricably bound up in human rights violations. B’Tselem strives to end this regime, as that is the only way forward to a future in which human rights, democracy, liberty and equality are ensured to all people, both Palestinian and Israeli, living between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea.
Since the Hamas attack on 7 October 2023, Israel has acted in a coordinated and deliberate manner to destroy Palestinian society in the Gaza Strip, committing genocide against its residents. In light of Israel’s actions in Gaza, the public statements made by Israeli decision-makers, and the international community’s failure to take effective action, there is a serious risk that the Israeli regime will expand the genocide to other areas under its control—first and foremost, the West Bank.
B’Tselem calls on the Israeli public and the international community to use every tool available under international law to bring an immediate end to Israel’s genocide against the Palestinian people.