Israeli settlers have been forcibly seizing and encroaching on Palestinian land, turning some of it into touristic sites for profit, while facing no accountability, as residents are displaced from their homes.
Earlier this month, Israeli settlers seized a Palestinian archaeological site in the Jordan Valley and filled an ancient pool at the location, paving the way for hundreds of Israelis to visit it.
The settlers arrived at the location before cleaning and renovating it and then diverted water that was serving the nearby Palestinian village of Fasayil to refill the pool, Haaretz reported.
The site was then converted into an unofficial tourist attraction after the settlers formed WhatsApp groups that were used to invite people, as well as call for volunteers and staff.
The incident has raised concerns among Palestinian experts, who say there is an increasing pattern of Israeli settlers seizing land to turn it into tourism sites.
“Many of these projects are established on land that Palestinians have historically owned, cultivated or used and they are often accompanied by infrastructure development, land seizures restrictions on Palestinian movement, and increased settler presence,” Ameer Dawood, the director general of documentation and publication at the Palestinian Colonisation and Wall Resistance Commission told The New Arab. Settlers also held prayers near the pool, staying at the site day and night.
Reports said that in the WhatsApp groups, settlers sent messages urging people to enjoy the “golden opportunity,” and framed the seizure of the land as a "rehabilitation effort".
"We have a gem here in the heart of the Jordan Valley that almost all parties, especially council head David Elhayani and Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu, want to rehabilitate and develop, as well as the entire area. Everyone who can should come to hike, visit, and especially camp near the pool starting tomorrow morning," one message read, according to Haaretz .
According to Dawood, Palestinian land is often seized under various justifications, with the end goal of furthering annexation.
“What is often presented as recreational, archaeological, religious, or nature tourism projects frequently serves a broader political objective: transforming Palestinian land into Israeli controlled spaces, restricting Palestinian access, attracting further settlement activity, and creating facts on the ground that reinforce de facto annexation,” he said.
The Palestinian owner of the site, who was not named, told reporters in an interview that he holds title deeds for the land, and that there was an ancient Roman pool on it.
Earlier this month, he said that settlers destroyed a water pipeline and diverted the flow of water to fill the pool, leaving him and other residents of the area with no water.
“…They are swimming in the pool, they put up Israeli flags and opened a tourist site for settlers, and they do not allow anyone to approach the area or repair anything,” he told Haaretz .
He said that this has happened despite the Israeli Civil Administration recognising his ownership of the land, and that the Coordination and Liaison Office said they could not do much to help.
"They said we could go fix the pipe tomorrow morning, but I know that if I fix it tomorrow, they will cut it the day after tomorrow, so we are suffering from this situation now. These settlers are dangerous,” he said.
Earlier this week, far-right Israeli Knesset member Zvi Sukkot announced a new settlement project at the site, making it an official tourism site.
Reports said the project will receive 3 million shekels worth of direct government funding, allocated by extremist minister Bezalel Smotrich.
Israelis refer to the site as Herod’s Pools, even though the area does not contain a water system dating back to the Herodian Period. Due to the site never being fully excavated, experts are uncertain about its precise dating.
However, Sukkot maintained the project will repair the site from alleged neglect and vandalism, claiming Palestinians caused the ancient pools to dry up.
Last year, various reports said Israeli authorities were encroaching on the ancient site of Sebastia in the West Bank, to create attractions for settlers, further raising the alarm over the displacement of Palestinians.
The site, home to Byzantine churches and a Roman theatre as well as ruins that date back to the time of Canaanites, however, the Israeli government called for the expropriation of the site and hundreds of acres of land surrounding it.
“Tourism has become one of the instruments through which the colonial settlement enterprise expands while "normalizing" and economically benefiting from an illegal situation under international law,” Dawood explained.
The latest developments come as the Israeli government continues to accelerate the annexation of Palestinian land in the West Bank, and settler attacks against Palestinians have sharply risen since the start of the war on Gaza in October 2023.