New Settlement, expanding outposts, represent wholesale attack on World Heritage Site of Land of Olives and Vines – Cultural Landscape of Southern Jerusalem, Battir  

August 12, 2024

Joint alert by Peace Now, Combatants for Peace, Emek Shaveh

Summary:

The World Heritage Site known as the Land of Olives and Vines – Cultural Landscape of Southern Jerusalem, Battir southwest of Jerusalem is facing a full-on attack from ongoing and planned Israeli settlement activities throughout the section of the core zone of the World Heritage Site situated in Area C of the West Bank. Inscribed as a World Heritage Site in Palestine in 2014 for its unique cultural and agricultural landscape, the area is renowned for its ancient terraces and sophisticated irrigation systems, evidence of thousands of years of human activity. Located in the West Bank southwest of Jerusalem, the World Heritage Site consists of 11 square kilometers spanning the area between the villages of Husan, Battir and Walaje and the towns of Beit Jala and el-Khader. The unique agricultural landscape has been cultivated and maintained by local communities for thousands of years.

 

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Recent and simultaneous developments at several locations within the World Heritage Site area represent an extensive and severe threat to the Palestinian communities living in the area and their precious heritage: namely, the establishment of the Ain Bardamo/Battir settler outpost in December 2023,  attempts by settlers, backed by the army, in recent days to takeover land in Wadi al-Makhrour, as well as the proposed establishment of a completely new Nahal Heletz settlement. Together these are part of a larger strategy initiated by the Israeli government to disrupt Palestinian territorial continuity west of Bethlehem. In doing so, these actions are not only fragmenting Palestinian space and depriving large communities of their natural and cultural heritage, they also pose an imminent threat to an area considered to be of the highest cultural value to humanity. It should be noted that in so doing, Israel is in direct violation of the 1972 Convention Concerning the Protection of World Cultural and Natural Heritage, to which it is a signatory, which stipulates that State parties undertake not to take any deliberate measures that might damage the cultural or natural heritage situated on territory of other state parties to the convention.

 

These developments join previous and ongoing projects such as the expansion of road 60 in Beit Jala, and plans to expand the settlement of Har Gilo.

The following is a more detailed account of the latest developments at the three locations within the World Heritage Site:

Al-Makhrour – Kisiya Family 2024

Twelve days ago (July 31st 2024), settlers from the outpost in the al-Makhrour area of the World Heritage Site, accompanied by the Israeli army raided the land assaulting members of the Kisiya family and activists trying to force them to leave the area.

Since then, human rights activists (including Combatants for Peace, Rabbis for Human Rights and others) have been joining the Kisiya family every night in an attempt to reclaim their land. Despite the family’s attempts to enter the area, soldiers have violently forced the activists and family members off the land using “closed military zone” orders. On the 8th of August, the family together with other activists set up an encampment next to the land in nonviolent protest and are inviting solidarity activists to join.

Al Makhrour is an agricultural area west of the town of Beit Jala. Local families still cultivate its groves and orchards and some of the land is privately owned. Over the past decade, the Civil Administration has periodically demolished some of the small structures built by the farmers to shelter in during cultivation season. One of the families affected is the Kisiya family. In 2019 the Civil Administration demolished a home and restaurant which they had built on land for which the family possesses a deed which they say was recently reaffirmed by the Israeli court (in 2023). On an adjacent plot, a settler outpost was established. According to the Jewish National Fund and its subsidiary, Himanuta, the plot had been bought several decades ago from a local landowner. The increasing role of the Jewish National Fund in enabling the settlers to take over Palestinian properties and expand the settlements has been well documented. For more information, see here.

 

 

Battir/Ain Bardamo Outpost

In December 2023, an illegal settlers outpost was established on the slopes of the village of Battir half a kilometer from the village. As reported by Peace Now, an outpost had been established on the site twice before but has been subsequently dismantled. This time, under the fog of war, the outpost continues to expand uninterrupted.  In January, Emek Shaveh documented the destruction of agricultural terraces, uprooting of olive trees and the clearing and flattening of large areas at the site. The land on which the outpost was built was declared “state land” in the 1980s but its boundaries have not undergone the required precision mapping by the ‘Blue Line Team’. To facilitate the outpost the Israeli Civil Administration issued an eviction order (“removal of invaders”) to the Palestinians, turning the illegal outpost’s settlers into a de-facto enforcer for the Civil Administration (ICA). The fact that the outpost has not been dismantled and is being expanded is in keeping with the lack of enforcement in the wake of increased illegal settler activities and violence throughout the West Bank since the war in Gaza began.

 

For more information about the impact of the outpost on the World Heritage Site see Emek Shaveh’s analysis in the latest World Heritage Watch report p. 120.

 

Planned settlement of Nahal Heletz

In July, Peace Now reported on a new government plan to construct the settlement of Nahal Heletz as part of a cabinet decision to establish five new settlements. The area allocated is at a distance of between 30-250 meters from Area B and the homes of the village of Battir. The commander of the central command signed an order designating the jurisdictional area of 120 dunams for the settlement allowing planning to begin. The decision to establish Nahal Heletz aligns with the cabinet’s February 2023 decision to establish the “Sde Boaz” settlement to its south, thereby creating a continuous Israeli settlement block between Gush Etzion and Jerusalem and cutting through continuity of Palestinian areas.

It is important to note that the Oslo Accords designated the area as a “conservation area” which, under the accords, Israel was slated to transfer to Palestinian control although the Palestinians would be forbidden from building on it. The area was never transferred to Palestinian control and during the above mentioned meeting, the cabinet also decided that Israel would act to demolish Palestinian construction in the “Conservation Area” arguing it damages nature. In other words, according to the Israeli government, Palestinian construction harms nature, but Israeli construction does not.

For more information on Nahal Heletz settlement see here.

 

Land of Olives and Vines – Cultural Landscape of Southern Jerusalem, Battir – a UNESCO World Heritage Site

In 2014, UNESCO declared the agricultural landscape between the villages of Husan, Battir and Walaje and the towns of Beit Jala and el Khader a World Heritage Site in Palestine and a World Heritage Site in Danger in a rapid procedure designed to bestow protection to the area which was threatened at the time by Israel’s plan to build the separation barrier through the terraced landscape. Following the inscription, in early 2015, Israel’s High Court of Justice ruled to prevent the construction of the separation wall through Battir’s terraces.

The landscape, consisting of ancient agricultural terraces, some of them still in use, bear witness to thousands of years of human activity centered around the abundant springs across the slopes of the valley area. Among the factors contributing to the inscription, UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee cited “the dry-stone architecture represents an “outstanding example of a landscape that illustrates the development of human settlements near water sources and the adaptation of the land for agriculture […] The agricultural practices that were used to create this living landscape embody one of the oldest farming methods known to humankind and are an important source of livelihood for local communities.“

A management conservation plan has been adopted by UNESCO and is being implemented by the relevant stakeholders: Palestinian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities (MoTA), Battir Municipality, Beit Jala Municipality, Husan Village Council, the Ministry of Agriculture and the Environment Authority and the local communities. In their recent State of Conservation Report, the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities stated that the conservation plan is restricted by Israel preventing the farmers from restoring their agricultural terraces and watchtowers inside the World Heritage Property. In recent years, there have been several joint projects by UNESCO and local Palestinian communities including a renovation and restoration of the center of the ancient village of Battir. Currently a UNESCO-led project for rehabilitating the agro-cultural landscape and supporting sustainable tourism is underway.

In addition to the current threats outlined above to the integrity and authenticity of the World Heritage Site, the World Heritage Property also suffered significant damage from the expansion of the settler bypass Road 60 in the buffer zone of the World Heritage Site and a plan to expand the Har Gilo settlement into the declared buffer zone of the WHP (Plan 401-4-1) still looms.

Both Israel and Palestine are signatories to UNESCO’s 1972  Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage which allows both states to nominate sites to be included in the list of World Heritage Sites. Israel withdrew from UNESCO in 2019 but retains an observer status at the World Heritage Committee and is still bound by the convention. According to Article 6, clause 3, each state party to this convention undertakes not to take any deliberate measures which might damage directly or indirectly natural and cultural sites of Outstanding Universal Value situated on the territory of other States Parties to the Convention.

The Land of Olives and Vines – Cultural Landscape of Southern Jerusalem, Battir is one of five UNESCO World Heritage Sites recognized for the State of Palestine since it joined UNESCO as a full member State in 2011. The most recent of the sites, St. Hilarion/Tel umm Amer in Gaza was inscribed last month in an emergency procedure and was included on the list of World Heritage Sites in Gaza. The other sites are: Church of the Nativity and Pilgrimage Route, Bethlehem; Hebron/al Khalil Old Town; and Tel es-Sultan, Jericho.

The state of Palestine also currently has twelve sites on UNESCO’s Tentative List which are candidates for inscription. One of these is the site of Sebastia located in the northern West Bank near Nablus. The site which comprises an archaeological mound and a village is facing imminent threats as described in a recent update.

 

Conclusion:

Approximately 25,000 Palestinians reside in the villages west of Bethlehem. The establishment of the settlements aims to sever their connection to Bethlehem, and will rob them of the natural and cultural landscape cultivated for thousands of years.

Over the past decade and a half, international institutions have articulated the centrality of cultural heritage to human rights, recognizing the protection of cultural practices, traditions and artifacts as central to preserving communal cohesion and individual and collective identities.  The creation of the role of Special Rapporteur in the Field of Cultural Rights in 2009 by the UN’s Human Rights Council, is an expression of a growing appreciation of the fundamental role of culture in preservation of human dignity and advancing sustainable peace.  The 2030 Agenda adopted by the UN General Assembly in 2015 integrates for the first time the role of culture in the Sustainable Development Agenda.

In light of these understandings, the settlements in the World Heritage Property are not only an attempt at interrupting Palestinian territorial continuity but, we argue,  an assault on a major tenet of Palestinian human rights. The fact that the area is also a World Heritage Site means that the current and planned settlements threaten the very integrity and authenticity of an area which qualified it for inclusion in the list of World Heritage Sites in 2014, and as such it is also a threat to a site of universal value to humanity as a whole.

For more information contact:

Yonathan Mizrachi, Peace Now – yonatan@peacenow.org.il Tel. 054-5667299

Carly Rosenthal,  Combatants for Peace – carly.rosenthal@cfpeace.org  Tel. 058-5121176

Talya Ezrahi, Emek Shaveh – talya@emekshaveh.org Tel. 054-5981865

• West Bank

Batir Gush Etzion Settlers UNESCO