Read and weep: B’Tselem’s assessment of 2022

JVL introduction

B’Tselem is Israel’s premier human-rights organisation and has led the fight for human rights in the Occupied Territories for 30 years.

We repost without further comment extracts from its annual report for 2022 on Israel and the occupation which it introduces simply as “another year of oppression, violence and apartheid”.

2022 has been another year of oppression, violence and apartheid. Here is our annual summary of activities:

Not a “vibrant democracy.” This is apartheid.

The Israeli apartheid regime camouflages the fact that the Jewish and Palestinian population between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea is roughly equal in number by breaking the territory up into units, each with a different level of oppression for Palestinians. As the Jewish-Israeli collective has a monopoly on political power, holding supposedly fair and open elections is merely a false show of “democracy.” Ahead of Israel’s latest general elections, we published a position paper titled “Not a ‘vibrant democracy’. This is apartheid” and distributed in 90,000 print copies with the weekend edition of Haaretz.

Fighting against the expulsion of Masafer Yatta communities

On 4 May 2022, Israel’s Supreme Court handed down its judgment in petitions filed against Israel’s plan to expel more than 1,000 Palestinians from their homes in the South Hebron Hills. In their ruling, Justices David Mintz, Isaac Amit and Ofer Grosskopf permitted the state to commit a war crime. We published an analysis showing how three judges in Israel’s highest court willfully overlooked the true purpose of the expulsion: gaining Jewish control of the land. They disregarded all the evidence and legal claims brought before them, and determined – contrary to the provisions of international law and to basic morality – that there is no obstacle to carrying out the expulsion.

Israel would like to avoid harsh images of residents being evicted from their homes spread around the world. To that end, it employs daily measures designed to make the residents’ lives so unbearable that they leave, ostensibly of their own accord. After pressuring these communities for years, Israel has stepped up its efforts since the Supreme Court ruling by increasing home demolitions, confiscations of property, harassment, delays, restrictions on movement, and what it calls “military training” in the area.

In early October, we wrote to the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court requesting his urgent intervention to clarify that Israel must immediately cease its efforts to expel these communities from their homes and land. In the letter, we called on the Prosecutor to warn Israel that forcible transfer of residents in occupied territory, even without putting them on trucks, is a war crime.

The killing of Shireen Abu Akleh

We are proud of the key role we played in quickly refuting the false version promoted by Israeli officials – including the prime minister, minister of defense, minister of foreign affairs and other ministers, as well as the IDF spokesperson – that journalist Shireen Abu Akleh was likely killed by Palestinian gunmen. Our field researcher in Jenin, Abdulkarim Sadi, proved on the very morning of the shooting that there could not have been a direct line of fire between the point where the footage shared by the government and military was filmed, and the point where the Al Jazeera camera crew was standing.

Israel has since discarded this version is yet to take responsibility for the killing, so far agreeing only to call it “likely” that Abu Akleh was shot by a soldier. In any case, as we stressed in the immediate aftermath, experience shows there is zero chance of true accountability so long as Israel is responsible for the investigation.

The year 2022: The deadliest in the West Bank since 2004

Last year was the deadliest in the West Bank since 2004. In 2022, Israeli forces killed 146 Palestinians in the West Bank (including East Jerusalem), 34 of them minors and five of them women, and 32 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, eight of them minors and three of them women. We investigated many of these incidents and found that the killing of 63 persons, 19 of them minors, was unlawful and unjustifiable. We continue to publish our findings.

Apartheid isn’t Israel’s internal affair

We believe that effective international action is a crucial to the struggle to end apartheid and the occupation. That is why we held dozens of meetings this year with officials, diplomats and elected representatives from around the world. We took 215 diplomats on 25 field tours and held meetings and briefings with about 380 representatives from the international community.

Public Outreach

In 2022 we continued to develop new ways to reach Israeli and international audiences. We created a VR installation titled State Business, on state-backed settler violence against Palestinians. The installation, based on video footage captured by B’Tselem’s camera project volunteers, illustrates how Israel uses violence by settlers as another means of driving Palestinians out of their land and taking control of it. It was shown twice in Tel Aviv, and in December was displayed at the UK Parliament and at the London Jewish Cultural Centre.

In July, we welcomed US President Joe Biden to the region with billboards reading: “Mr. President, this is apartheid.” The campaign was widely covered by leading media in Israel and abroad.