• Violation: Establishment of a new colonial outpost.
• Location: Fasa'il Village / Jericho Governorate.
• Date of Violation: Early July 2024.
• Perpetrator: Settlers.
• Affected Party: Residents of Fasa'il Village.

Description:

A group of settlers established a new pastoral colonial outpost to the south of Fasa'il Village in the Jericho Governorate, after seizing a portion of the village’s land. According to field observations, the settlers placed a truck at the site and then set up three new residential units on an area of approximately two dunums, in preparation for complete control over the area.

View of the new colonial outpost

The danger of this new colonial outpost lies in its location just 600 meters west of the "Tomer" settlement. It is likely that the occupation authorities will later expand the "Tomer" settlement towards this new pastoral outpost, which means annexing more than 200 dunums of pastoral land that the occupation designates as "state land," at the expense of the village itself.

The establishment of this outpost is considered one of the methods used by the Israeli occupation to control agricultural land and reduce the presence of Palestinians there. Fasa'il Village is surrounded on all sides by several settlements and bypass roads that limit the village’s expansion and serve as a means to force residents to leave.

The Beginning of Outposts: They start with a truck, then develop into a colonial outpost and are legalized to become a settlement!

Field monitoring by the Land Research Center's team has observed settlers establishing colonial outposts a few hundred meters from existing major settlements. It has been noted that these new outposts are established in multiple locations in the West Bank. Settlers start by bringing enclosed trucks and housing one or two families of religious settlers in them. The trucks are chosen for their mobility and quick relocation to targeted sites. The truck is placed and used as a residence for a period, often positioned on a hill near an existing settlement but outside its master plan. Once the local authorities in the settlement provide services to the truck, the settlers then bring ready-made buildings, such as caravans or construct shelters from insulated corrugated metal, gradually establishing a new outpost on the ground.

Fasa'il Village:

Fasa'il Village is located north of Jericho, bordered by the Jordan River to the east, the town of Al-Auja to the south, the village of Al-Mughayer (in Ramallah and Al-Bireh Governorate) to the west, and the village of Al-Jiftlik to the north. The total area of Fasa'il Village is 46,826 dunums. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics for 2013, the village has approximately 1,258 residents. The Israeli occupation authorities have established four settlements on Fasa'il’s land in Jericho Governorate: Tomer, Gelgal, Betsael, and Netiv HaGdud. These settlements confiscate 3,363 dunums of the village's land.

مشروع: حماية الحقوق البيئية الفلسطينية في مناطق "ج" SPERAC IV - GFFO

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this report are those of Land Research Center and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of the project donor; the Norwegian Refugee Council.

إخلاء المسؤولية: الآراء ووجهات النظر الواردة في هذا التقرير هي آراء ووجهات نظر مركز أبحاث الأراضي ولا تعكس بالضرورة وجهات نظر أو مواقف الجهة المانحة للمشروع؛ المجلس النرويجي. للاجئين