Outposts Versus Forced Displacement: An Old Plan Being Reproduced
Muayyad Sha’ban
Head of the Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission
Monday, November 20, 2023.
It is not possible to create a functional separation between the issue of establishing pastoral outposts, which escalated after 2015, and the current issue of forced displacement, which reached its peak after the aggression on the 7th of October, 2023. The state of emergency and the declaration of war have served as a cover for the behaviour of terrorist colonisers’ militia, originally aimed to impose this kind of displacement as a part of the functional exchange between the official institution and these militias.
The Data of the Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission (CWRC) points to the existence of 96 active pastoral and agricultural outposts out of 196 colonial outposts that have various missions (update data the commission). The existence of these colonial outposts hinders Palestinian citizens from “usingaccessing” more than 390,000 dunums of privately owned lands in different places in the West Bank, most of these lands are concentrated in the eastern slopes and the Jordan Valley. This control over the lands is not backed up by any official military orders or declared procedures; it is merely a control established by terrorism, domination, and official military protection.
The attached map illustrates how these colonial outposts are situated alongside Bedouin communities, accompanied by the behaviour of armed extremist colonizer occupants, who are adamant about using aggression and implementing evacuation plans to force these communities to leave. This is achieved by depriving these communities of grazing areas and water sources and instilling fear in the hearts of the elderly, women, and children, compelling them to depart. Data from the Commission, along with other human rights organizations, indicates that more than 23 Bedouin communities of varying sizes were forcibly displaced between the years 2022 and 2023 due to the terrorism of colonizers’ militias emanating from these outposts.
This approach (outpost versus forced displacement) is based on one of the focal plans of the settler-colonial project after the occupation in 1967. This plan was uncovered in the same year and can be traced back to the acting Prime Minister and Minister in the third occupation government, Yigal Allon, who proposed a plan to empty the eastern slopes of the West Bank, annexing Jerusalem, and control Palestinian natural resources (see the side map).
The monitoring process of the occupation’s colonial behaviour over the past decades concludes that the Israeli occupation state has spared no effort in implementing this specific plan. This is in addition to other prominent schemes, with Matityahu Drobles' 1978 Plan (former head of the colonial department) at the forefront. The plan, which proposed, alongside annexing the eastern slopes, the reinforcement of colonial blocs, has remained steadfast and is being rapidly executed. This commenced with the isolation and evacuation of the Jordan Valley, continued with the establishment of colonies through pastoral and agricultural outposts, and culminated in the imposition of terrorism to accomplish the forced displacement process.
Data from the CWRC indicates that 71% of these colonial outposts were established after the year 2015. The Commission observes that over 78% of these outposts were erected in the eastern part of the West Bank, starting from the Jordan Valley in the north, passing through the eastern areas of Ramallah and Jerusalem, and ending in the southern part of Hebron Governorate. They are also situated in regions overlooking these areas, such as the eastern part of Nablus Governorate, forming a path to them in operational terms from a control perspective.
From an outside perspective, the invented colonial titles in each separate stage seem to be completely disconnected from each other, supporting the occupation's claim regarding the existence of necessities and security justifications for these actions. However, upon reviewing this project in its cumulative dimension, it becomes evident, leaving no room for doubt, that there exists a close interconnection that traces itself back to ancient origins and literary principles adopted since the beginning of the occupation. These principles do not relinquish control as a concept and do not loosen their grip on the land and its people as an on-the-ground practice.
While the settler-colonial project on Palestinian land is ancient, distant, and ongoing, on the other hand, Palestinian legal and popular national struggle is no less rooted, and authentic, in all of its forms. It stems from the concept of inherent rights and the struggle safeguarded by all the laws of the land and the sky, preserved by the Palestinian people who know it by heart.