Balasan Initiative for Human Rights BIHR

Balasan Initiative for Human Rights BIHR Independent Palestinian Human Rights Initiative promoting rights across Occupied Palestine under international law.
📍Bethlehem, Palestine

As agriculture remains an important source of livelihood in the West Bank, this farming season provides a critical tempo...
04/06/2026

As agriculture remains an important source of livelihood in the West Bank, this farming season provides a critical temporal lens to examine the cumulative pressures affecting agricultural access in the occupied West Bank and their devastating overall impact on Palestinian livelihoods, including movement restrictions, administrative access regimes, and settler crimes impacting farming communities. Approximately 700,000 families reside in the West Bank, of whom an estimated 115,000 depend on agriculture for their livelihoods, highlighting the sector’s role in supporting food security and household income.

To read the full update, https://balasan.org/farming-season-in-the-west-banklands-and-livelihoods-under-israeli-access-restrictions-settler-terror-and-demolitions/

English follows:يمثل الاستيطان الرعوي أحد أكثر أشكال التهجير والسلب الإسرائيلية استخداماً وأشدها خطورة في الوقت الراهن ف...
26/05/2026

English follows:

يمثل الاستيطان الرعوي أحد أكثر أشكال التهجير والسلب الإسرائيلية استخداماً وأشدها خطورة في الوقت الراهن في الضفة الغربية. وعادة ما ينطوي ذلك على إقامة بؤر استيطانية غير قانونية في الضفة الغربية ترتكز على رعي الماشية والأغنام. يأتي ذلك لكون إجمالي مساحة أراضي الرعي تبلغ نحو 2.2 مليون دونم (حوالي 30% من مساحة الضفة الغربية)، يقع 90% منها في المنطقة "C". وقد أتاح هذا الوضع توظيف "النشاط الرعوي" كأداة مباشرة للسيطرة الإقليمية، مما مكن المستوطنين من الاستيلاء على مساحات شاسعة من الأراضي المفتوحة خلال فترة وجيزة من خلال إنشاء بؤر رعوية خفيفة البناء. ولاحقاً، تطورت هذه البؤر إلى فرض أمر يحميه جيش الاحتلال الإسرائيلي وتدعمه مؤسسات الدولة. واليوم، تُقدّر أراضي الرعي التي يسيطر عليها المستوطنون بضعف مساحة المناطق الاستيطانية المبنية.

Pastoral Settlement represents one of the most widely used and currently most dangerous forms of Israeli displacement and dispossession in the West Bank. It usually entails illegal settlement outposts in the West Bank centered around livestock grazing and shepherding. This is because the total grazing area amounts to approximately 2.2 million dunams (around 30% of the West Bank), 90% of which lies in Area “C”. This has enabled the instrumentalization of “pastoral activity” as a direct tool of territorial control, allowing settlers to seize vast areas of open land within a short period of time through the establishment of lightly built pastoral outposts. Later, it evolved into permanent facts on the ground, protected by the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) and supported by state institutions. Today, the grazing lands controlled by settlers are estimated to cover twice the area of built-up settlement zones.

To read the full update: https://balasan.org/pastoral-settlement-dispossession-forced-displacement-and-the-erosion-of-livestock-based-livelihoods-in-the-context-of-eid-al-adha/

The settlement of Efrat constitutes one of the most dangerous Israeli settlement projects in the southern West Bank, giv...
21/05/2026

The settlement of Efrat constitutes one of the most dangerous Israeli settlement projects in the southern West Bank, given its central role in reshaping the political and demographic geography, specifically in the Bethlehem governorate. Yet, little attention is given to the danger it poses to more than 11 Palestinian villages and towns within the Bethlehem Governorate and profoundly threatens their future as a Palestinian historic and urban center.

Since its establishment in 1983, the Efrat settlement has evolved beyond being merely a residential settlement for Israeli settlers; rather, it has become an integrated colonial tool aimed at consolidating Israeli control over the southern and eastern extensions of the city of Bethlehem, restricting its natural urban growth, and imposing permanent geographic and political alterations on the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt).

To read the full report: https://balasan.org/efrat-settlement-lifeline-for-israels-e-1-and-e-2-settlement-and-annexation-plans-report/

Artas village in the southwest of Bethlehem is among the oldest continuously inhabited rural communities in Palestine, h...
19/05/2026

Artas village in the southwest of Bethlehem is among the oldest continuously inhabited rural communities in Palestine, historically shaped by permanent agricultural settlement and sophisticated water-management systems. Its semi-enclosed geographic location between mountain ranges, combined with the abundance of natural springs, enabled the development of a fertile agricultural basin that sustained the village and its surroundings for centuries. The village is known for its Convent, which has been serving it and its surrounding communities for over a century. Artas also served as a key agricultural and water supplier to Bethlehem and Jerusalem through an integrated network of springs, canals, and reservoirs, most notably Solomon’s Pools, whose origins date back to the Roman and Byzantine periods and remained operative for nearly two millennia. This water system constituted a foundational element of the village’s socio-economic stability and regional significance.

To read the full update, https://balasan.org/artas-village-and-convent-a-living-heritage-facing-aggressive-annexation-policies/

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