A Bedouin village in Nahal Og in the West Bank, where Bennett announced a new nature reserve would be built. Credit: Emil Salman

by Kathryn Shihadah

Ha’aretz reports:

Defense Minister Naftali Bennett approved Wednesday the establishment of seven new national parks and nature reserves in the West Bank, with some apparently to be built on privately owned Palestinian land.
The land on which the reserves are planned to be built is in Area C, the part of the West Bank under full Israeli control.

Note: Area C is Palestinian land, but has been under “full Israeli control” for over a quarter of a century. It is already home to hundreds of thousands of Israeli settlers (illegal under international law).

Some 20,000 dunams of the land [about 15%] slated for construction is privately owned by Palestinians.
In addition, a Bedouin community that lives on one of the lands, will be effectively barred from further building.
Aside from establishing the new reserves, Bennett approved the expansion of 12 existing reserves…
Bennett's announcement means that Palestinian land owners may be barred from growing crops or pasturing their flocks there. Exact restrictions will depend on the specific rules set for each reserve.

Take that in: Naftali Bennett, Israel’s Defense Minister, just decided to take private land away from Palestinians and develop it for Jewish Israelis. Palestinians will lose their ability to provide for their families so that Jewish Israelis can get close to nature on Palestinian land.

“Today, we’re giving a great boost to the Land of Israel and continuing to develop Jewish settlement in Area C through actions, not words,” Bennett said.
“There are nature sites with stunning landscapes in Judea and Samaria,” he added, using the biblical name of the areas comprising the West Bank. “We’ll expand the existing ones and also develop new sites. I invite all Israelis to get up and roam through the land, come to Judea and Samaria, hike, discover and continue the Zionist enterprise.”

Map showing population distribution (pink) in Israel (yellow) (By Nableezy - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0) Grey is the Palestinian West Bank - Israeli settlements not shown - white is the Palestinian Gaza Strip.

Observe Bennett’s use of the words “Land of Israel” together with “Area C.” This is the language of annexation.

Annexation is illegal under international law.

As the map indicates, Israel has plenty of undeveloped land of its own (taken from Palestine in 1948) to convert into nature reserves.

Bennett’s invitation to Israelis to “roam through” Area C is incitement.

He is literally recommending that Israeli Jews trespass on Palestinian land, daring Palestinians to kill a trespasser.

Unfortunately, it will probably happen.

On some level, Bennett and all of the Israeli government know this. Israeli Jews know this. They will tempt fate, each hiker hoping he/she will not be the next victim – but when someone is eventually killed, the blame will be placed on “Palestinian terrorism,” not Israeli incitement.

Collective punishment will follow.

“Continue the Zionist enterprise” is the language of apartheid, of racism. Bennett is blatantly encouraging Jewish Israelis to lord it over Palestinians on the Palestinians’ own land.

All of this is being done so openly, for all the world to see, because Israel enjoys unprecedented immunity from international censure.

The world can’t muster up so much as a shrug in the face of child torture, apartheid, and a host of other human rights violations.

We are indeed hypnotized by Israel, and we need to wake ourselves up.

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