The Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) has accelerated the construction of a new separation wall around Sinjil village, northeast of Ramallah in central West Bank to be the last episode in Israel’s siege on the village, which is encircled by a cluster of settlements and outposts. This wall is part of an Israeli plan aimed at altering demographic dynamics in the West Bank amid an accelerated campaign of land confiscations, settlement activity and annexation plans across the West Bank.
The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) recalls the advisory opinion issued by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in August 2024 that has concluded Israel’s continued presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (oPt) is illegal. The advisory opinion also says that Israel is under an obligation to cease immediately all new settlement activities, and to evacuate all settlers from the oPt.
Based on PCHR’s field documentation, the IOF continues its land-razing operations in Sinjil village along 1500 meters using heavy machinery to establish a cement wall separating the village from /bypass Road 60, which serves Israeli settlers and extends along the northeastern part part of the village’s lands. The bypass road is one of the strategic routes in Israel’s settlement expansion plans. The land-razing and wall construction operations, which began on 28 September 2024, have resulted in the leveling of large areas of agricultural land, the uprooting and destruction of about 200 trees, including 135 old olive trees, and the destruction of retaining walls.
The Israeli authorities have constructed a 1,500-meter-long and 6-meter-deep road through Palestinian-owned lands to build the wall, paving it with base course. The new road is 14 meters away from Bypass Road 60, which connects the southern and northern parts of the West Bank, extending from Yatta through Bani Na’im and Sa’ir villages to Etzion. It then branches off northwest of Bethlehem, leading to areas such as Jaba and the Antout military camp near Hizma and Jaba villages, before ending in eastern al-Bireh city, where it continues extending towards areas in the northern West Bank, as documented by our field researchers.
Impact of the Annexation Wall:
The continued construction of the separation wall will entrench Israel’s settlement plan aimed at isolating the village from other Palestinian areas and imposing collective punishment against its residents with placing it in an area encircled by Israeli settlements, separation walls, and closed military gates.
According to information gathered by PCHR’s researcher from the villagers and municipality, the new wall completely isolates Sinjil village from Bypass Road 60 and its lands which amount to 8,000 dunams, located behind the road, specifically in the eastern part of the village. The wall also isolates Palestinian families and homes in the northeastern part of the village, with all the lands to be isolated being owned by Sinjil villagers, who have documents proving their ownership of these lands and certified extracts of civil registration records. There are 15 houses sheltering about 150 people located in the eastern part of the village that would be isolated. Some of these houses were built before the Israeli occupation in 1967, while others were granted building permits by the Israeli Civil Administration.
According to the Israeli settlement plans, the planned wall will be 4.5 meters high, confiscating 30 dunams of the village’s lands, following an appropriation order issued by the Israeli commander. Along the wall, there will be a security route designated for Israeli patrols. This road will have devastating consequences on the village, as it will not only isolate a large number of the village’s residents and their lands, but also separate the village from its surroundings, effectively trapping 7500 residents of the village in a closed prison. It will also obstruct the residents’ access to Ramallah and Nablus through a military gate, forcing them to take long alternative routes of over 55 km to reach Ramallah, compared to just 20 km previously. This will happen soon.
Settlements, Outposts, and Gates Tighten the Siege
Since the onset of the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip on 07 October 2023, the Israeli occupation authorities have imposed a strangulating closure on Sinjil village by closing its main entrances, establishing a military gate at its southern entrance, and setting up military checkpoints at other entrances. The construction of the new wall further besieges and strangulates the village.
In February 2024, the Israeli authorities issued a military order to confiscate 30 dunams of land adjacent to the main road between Sinjil and Turmus Ayya villages1. Palestinian residents were informed that the confiscated lands would be used for the construction of a security fence to protect Israeli settlers passing along the Route 60 from stone-throwing, pretext commonly used by the IOF to seize Palestinian land.
In August 2024, the Israeli authorities issued an additional order to confiscate 15 more dunums of agricultural land for the fence construction. (Photos of the military orders were attached).
In an interview with PCHR’s researcher, Dr. Mo’tza Tawafsha, Mayor of Sinjil village said that land-razing works have exceeded the course identified by the Israeli military orders for the construction of the separation wall. Tawafsha explained that 13 houses are located along the path of the wall, rendering them at risk of destruction or isolation from the rest of the village. Additionally, 8,000 dunums of agricultural land near settlements in northeastern Sinjil are at risk of being completely isolated, meaning these lands will fall under full Israeli control. Tawafsha added that the Sinjil Municipality filed an appeal to the Israeli Civil Administration against the wall construction plans that threaten residents’ lives and their ownership of the land, but their appeal was dismissed.
Testimonies of landowners:
Regarding the details of the Israeli occupation’s orders for the construction of the separation wall, citizen Ayed Rajeh Ahmed Ghifari provided the following to the PCHR field researcher:
“At around 10:00, on 24 September 2024, under the IOF’s protection, Israeli Civil Administration crews, accompanied by Israeli officers, land surveyors, and engineers, arrived at the village and marked olive trees along a 1.5 km stretch with red paint. This marked area will be the route for the annexation wall, which will be constructed about 14 meters to the west of Route 60. This means the wall will be built deep into Palestinian-owned lands, starting from the eastern entrance to Sinjil village. A permanent military gate will be established at this entrance to replace the current temporary metal detector gate, as confirmed by the Civil Administration officers. The wall will then extend northward towards the ‘electricity transformer’ area, which is the first stage of the wall construction. This route will lead to the complete closure of three entrances that connected the village to Route 60, and these entrances have been closed with sand berms and barbed wire since October 2023. At approximately 06:30, on 29 September 2024, three Israeli bulldozers levelled agricultural crops and uprooted about 70 ancient olive trees paving the way for the construction of the wall and security-related road.”
One of the Palestinian landowners, citizen Mousa Sameh Issa Shabana, informed the PCHR field researcher of the following:
“Following the October 7th events, particularly on 08 October 2023, I was shocked when Israeli soldiers arrived at my nursery in a civilian vehicle with an Israeli registration plate. The outrageous soldiers approached me and pointed their weapons at me, threatening: “If we see you here again, we will shoot you.” After that, I never reopened the nursery. However, from time to time, I would return from Sinjil village via the nursery’s side door to irrigate the trees and crops. Despite the risk, I drove my small car to the nursery to transport some trees, as owners of larger vehicles refused to accompany me for fear of being attacked or having their vehicles confiscated by the IOF. This situation continued until early October 2024, when the IOF began constructing a wall that would separate the eastern part of Sinjil village, where my nursery is located, from Bypass Road 60. Excavation and razing works extended to my nursery. I could not access the area where Israeli bulldozers were working due to the IOF’s presence all day and patrols at night. While riding my car on Bypass Road 60, I can see the Israeli bulldozers operating in my nursery. On 19 November 2024, I noticed that there were no bulldozers or Israeli soldiers in the area, so I dared to enter the nursery. I found that Israeli bulldozers dug a route for the wall in middle of my nursery and demolished all trees and crops, including 200 olive and almond seedlings as well as fig and grapevine seedlings. They then paved the land with a 6-meter-wide layer of base course. Additionally, about 500 seedlings were damaged, as I was able to access the land for irrigation. The old well, located on the new path border, was also damaged due to the excavation works, while the house, approximately one meter away from the path, remained undamaged. I have temporarily opened a new nursery near my home in Sinjil village, away from the bypass road, but the purchase has significantly declined, as most of my customers were from other villages and used the bypass road to reach my nursery. Currently, very few customers visit, especially after the IOF had closed the main entrance to Sinjil village and other entrances with metal detector gates, except for one entrance is closed with sand berms and rocks.”
Sinjil village is located in northeastern Ramallah and is home to approximately 7,500 residents. It is surrounded from west to east by five settlements: ” Ma’ale Levona” “Eli” “Haroeh” “Givat Haroeh” and “Shilo”, in addition to three pastoral settlement outposts, northeast of the village.
Based on PCHR’s field documentation, the establishment of these settlements and outposts aims to seize full control on Palestinian lands in the area amid the Israeli authorities’ continuously expanding them from time to time to extend Bypass Road 60. This main route runs through the West Bank and is used to reinforce settler control and connect settlements through a road network that facilitates settlers’ movement. Additionally, an Israeli military camp has been established on the northern lands of the village.
While the Israeli authorities claim that the construction of the wall was decided for security reasons according to an Israeli military order, field documentation indicates that the construction of the wall aims to impose new realities on the ground that reinforce Israeli control over Palestinian lands and completely isolate the village’s residents from their agricultural lands, which extend behind the wall and cover an area of approximately 8,000 dunams.
IOF’s actions in Sinjil village, including the wall construction and settlement expansion, are part of a systematic and ongoing seizure of Palestinian land occupied in 1967 in favor of annexation plans and demographic change of population. All Israeli measures are illegal under the international law. PCHR recalls the advisory opinion issued by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in August 2024, which concludes that Israel’s continued presence in oPt is illegal under the international law. The advisory opinion also says that Israel is under an obligation to cease immediately all new settlement activities, and to evacuate all settlers from the oPt. PCHR also reminds the international community of its obligations under international law, not only to recognize Israel’s unlawful presence in the oPt, but also to take serious steps to end it and stop Israel’s war crimes and grave violations against the Palestinian people.