The Jordan Valley and the northern Dead Sea constitute almost 30% of the West Bank. Nearly 65,000 Palestinians and some 11,000 settlers live there. Although the region serves as the Palestinians’ most significant land reserve, Israel has taken over most of the land with a view to enabling its de facto annexation. Israel also endeavors to minimize Palestinian presence there: barring Palestinians from using 85% of the land, restricting their access to water resources and keeping them from building homes. Israeli authorities are also taking measures to drive out over 50 Palestinian communities across the Jordan Valley, by making their lives intolerable.read more >>
Israel’s regime of occupation is inextricably bound up in human rights violations. B’Tselem strives to end the occupation, as that is the only way forward to a future in which human rights, democracy, liberty and equality are ensured to all people, both Palestinian and Israeli, living between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea.