The following letter will be submitted to the Israeli Civil Administration as they hold the 2nd hearing (originally scheduled for June 16th, now postponed to September 11) regarding the proposed construction of a bypass/apartheid road through portions of Wadi Foquin. Please review the letter addressed to the Israeli Civil Administration as well as the Minister of Defense and complete the sign on in support of Wadi Foquin's bid to stop this proposed road. Thank you very much!

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Brig. Gen. Hisham Ibrahim, Israeli Civil Administration

Yoav Gallant, Minister of Defense 

On May 20,  2024  a hearing was convened to receive objections regarding a proposed apartheid road which would destroy 1,000 trees and confiscate farm land in the village of Wadi Foquin (Fukin).  Objections were presented by groups addressing environmental impacts of the proposed road on the village as well as a procedural omission of consulting with the village during this process of review.   A number of us with the U.S. based group, Friends of Wadi Foquin attended the hearing via zoom.  Letters from members of the U.S. Congress were submitted on our behalf to your body, expressing their concerns about the proposed road.  It is our opinion that the proposed road is a symptom of the larger systemic apartheid reality Palestinians are facing.   Halting the construction of this road would be a gesture acknowledging the apartheid reality that it represents, and signal a willingness to treat Palestinians as equals worthy of human compassion and understanding.   

The International Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid defines apartheid as “inhuman acts committed for the purpose of establishing and maintaining domination by one racial group of persons over any other racial group of persons and systematically oppressing them.” According to international law, apartheid is a crime against humanity that meets three conditions: 1) a system of separation or segregation for domination (based on race, creed, or ethnicity) that is 2) legally enforced and 3) entails the commission of human rights violations, or inhumane acts. 

• Separate and unequal transportation systems already exist within the West Bank, privileging Israeli settlers over Palestinian residents.  The proposed road would expand this apartheid transportation infrastructure and exacerbate inequality for Palestinians.  A report titled Highway to Annexation examines this systemic inequality in transportation planning:   “The ultimate vision of the road and transportation projects currently planned and underway in the West Bank involve entrenching the segregation between Israeli settlers and Palestinians. These infrastructure projects, of course, do not provide for “separate but equal” development, but are rather guided primarily by the interests of the settler population and come at the expense of Palestinian development.” (1) This is apartheid.

• Settlements are a violation of the 4th Geneva Conventions and international law, and continue to take land from Palestinians across the internationally recognized borders of the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT).   The development of illegal settlements reflects the apartheid reality existing in the legal procedures  for planning, development, and construction of housing for Jewish only residents.   The expansion of the settlement transportation infrastructure paves the way for more settlement construction further expanding the unequal apartheid practices. In the case of this proposed road, the settlement of Betar Illit is the direct beneficiary, while the expansion of the settlement of G’vaot will also be facilitated by the construction of the new road.

• The new road will connect existing highways 367 and 375.  Roads 367 and 375,  are existing roads within the State of Israel which extend into the OPT for separate and privileged use for Israeli citizens only. The new road would expand the existing Israeli apartheid transportation infrastructure further into the OPT across the Green Line.  

In March, 2022 the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) of the United Nations condemned Israeli laws, policies, and practices of racial segregation, declaring that Israel has perpetrated the crime of apartheid as defined, inter alia, in the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court by establishing and maintaining an "institutionalized regime of systematic oppression and domination by one racial group over {another} racial group.” Further, the ICJ called on the UN Human Rights Council to urge Israel to end its apartheid system against Palestinians, and to “eradicate" apartheid systems in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. 

In addition, The Israeli human rights organization, B’tselem, stated:  “The roads regime, which is based on separation through discrimination, bears clear similarities to the racist apartheid regime that existed in South Africa until 1994. An individual's national origin determines their right to use various roads. This policy is based on a racist premise: that all Palestinians are security risks, and it is therefore justifiable to restrict their movement. Thus the policy indiscriminately harms the entire Palestinian population, in violation of their human rights and of international law.” (2)

The Israeli Civil Administration’s authority and approval of the construction of another settler by-pass road/apartheid road on confiscated Palestinian land not only further risks the livelihoods and  freedom of movement for the people of Wadi Foquin who are already living under apartheid laws and restrictions, but also perpetuates the apartheid systems of oppression that the international community and human rights organizations ,including those in Israel, recognize and condemn as a violation of human rights and detrimental to any lasting peace in the region.

Therefore, Friends of Wadi Foquin and the undersigned individuals and organizations call upon the Israeli Civil Administration  to immediately halt construction of this road.