BADIL Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee

From the Nakba to the Present Day – Ongoing Displacement
The latest route was approved by the Israeli Cabinet in April 2006 and is 703km long (more than twice the length of
the 1949 armistice line, the “Green Line”). While the Wall follows the Green Line on some 20% of its route, most of it
is being built inside the occupied Palestinian West Bank, thereby isolating some 10.1% of Palestinian land outside the
Wall (west of the Wall). This land is likely to be annexed by Israel. 121 The total amount of land in the occupied West Bank
de facto confiscated by the Wall and Jewish colonies is 45%. 122 Close to 50,000 dunums (50km²) have been confiscated,
and about 300,000 dunums (300km²) are isolated by the Wall. 123
Over 650,000 persons in 150 villages in the occupied West Bank are affected by the Wall. 124 Particularly affected are
approximately 260,000 Palestinians (10.6% of the population) in the occupied West Bank, including parts of eastern
Jerusalem, who will be trapped between the Wall and the Green Line and cut off from the occupied West Bank. 125
Construction of the Wall and its associated regime is creating a new category of IDPs. John Dugard, UN Special
Rapporteur, speaks of “the emergence of a new wave of internally displaced persons.” 126 By 2005, an estimated 15,000
persons had been forcibly displaced from 145 localities as a result of the Wall and its regime. 127 Both refugees and nonrefugees
are affected by the Wall, indicating both repeated and first-time displacement.
Approximately 50,000 Palestinians living in the “Closed Areas” between the Wall and the Green Line (also known as
“Seam Zones”) require special permits to live in their own houses. 128 Palestinians wanting access to their farmland in the
“Closed Areas” also require a permit, and these are difficult to obtain. 129 Farmers are increasingly denied access to their
land on the West side of the Wall. 130 Palestinian communities living in the “Closed Areas” are particularly vulnerable to
forced displacement. 131 Twenty per cent of the residents of the “Closed Areas” reported that household members had
been forced to move to other places within the occupied West Bank. 132
Other vulnerable communities may be displaced as a result of the construction of the Wall; these include the approximately
2,700 members of the Jahalin Bedouin refugee community living near the Jewish colony of Ma’ale Adumim in the
occupied West Bank.
It is clear that the Wall and its regime are generating forced displacement in occupied eastern Jerusalem: 17.3% of all
Palestinians in Jerusalem who have changed their previous place of residence since 2002 have done so as a direct result
of the construction of the Wall. The number of those currently considering changing their place of residence is also
increasing (63.8% compared to 52.2% in the past).
As noted by John Dugard, UN Special Rapporteur, “the wall in the Jerusalem area is being constructed to transfer many
Palestinians with Jerusalem identity documents to the West Bank.” 133 Among those who are likely to lose their Jerusalem
IDs and become displaced by the Wall are approximately 11,000 refugees from the Shu’fat refugee camp. 134 Violations
of the right to an adequate standard of living, as a result of restrictions on movement and access to services and basic
goods, are the major factors leading to forced displacement as a result of the Wall and its regime in eastern Jerusalem.
1.6.8 The Closure and Permit Regime in the Jordan Valley
Jewish colonies control the majority of the Jordan Valley where a number of measures such as land confiscation, “closed
military zones”, and a strict permit regime have imposed a “virtual wall” that isolates Palestinian residents of the Valley
from the rest of the West Bank. 135 These measures are also causing the forced displacement of Palestinian communities. 136
Palestinian communities in the Jordan Valley, in particular the 17 semi-nomadic Bedouin communities, depend on
agriculture and animal grazing for subsistence, and are particularly affected by lack of access to water, grazing lands,
local markets, and essential services. The number of Palestinians in the Jordan Valley who have officially changed their
places of residence has increased dramatically in recent years, from 945 persons in 2004, to 1,935 in 2005 and over
3,000 in the first months of 2006. 137
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