Court orders sanctioned settler to stop vandalizing Palestinian family’s property
Awawdeh family says it suffered violence and repeated harassment since Hanina’s Farm outpost was set up in June; settlers seized livestock pen for own use, then dismantled it
Jeremy Sharon is The Times of Israel’s legal affairs and settlements reporter
The Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court has issued a restraining order against two Israeli West Bank settlers, one of whom is under sanctions by the US, to prevent them from further destroying the property of a Palestinian shepherding family, building on their land, or altering the land or property in any way.
Judge Liat Benmelech prohibited the settlers “or anyone on their behalf” from “carrying out construction, demolition, or any other change to the land and structures” on the two plots of land lawfully leased by the Awawdeh family.
The order comes in response to a civil suit filed by activists representing the family in response to what they allege is severe harassment at the hands of the settlers, who established an illegal outpost just a few dozen meters away from the family’s residence on land east of Ramallah.
One of the settlers at the Hanina’s Farm outpost is Neria Ben Pazi, who was the target of an IDF restraining order earlier this year due to his hostile actions against local Palestinians, and who in July was hit with US sanctions for having “expelled” hundreds of rural Palestinians and for his involvement in a violent incident last year.
The outpost was established in April by a group of settlers, including Ben Pazi and another individual by the name of Hanina Friedman, near the Palestinian town of Deir Dibwan and the Maale Michmash settlement in the central West Bank. They dubbed it Hanina’s Farm.
The outpost was at first built some two kilometers form the home of the Awawdeh family, which makes its livelihood from herding livestock and other agricultural endeavors. The Awawdeh family are primarily sheep herders who lease the land around their home from a private land owner and who have built rudimentary agricultural infrastructure at the site, including several sheep pens.
After Hanina’s Farm was set up, the family began suffering harassment at the hands of residents of the outpost who sent their own livestock to graze in the area, an attorney for the Awawdeh family noted in court on Sunday.
Rabbi Arik Ascherman, a veteran Palestinian rights activist, subsequently filed a legal motion for the illegal farming outpost to be removed, identifying it as the source of the Awawdeh family’s problems. Eventually Hanina’s Farm was dismantled by the settlers themselves.
But on June 18, they re-established Hanina’s Farm on state land less than 200 meters from the home of the Awawdeh family, and just a few dozen meters from one of their sheep pens. On that same night, the family reported that their home came under attack by numerous settlers, who they alleged stole animal feed, furniture and solar panels from them. The Awawdeh family fled to nearby Deir Dibwan.
The family’s attorneys said that despite repeated and documented requests from the lawyers and from Ascherman, the IDF, the Civil Administration and the police had refused to remove the illegal outpost, protect the Palestinian farmers or investigate the settler attacks.
They further alleged that following the attack and the flight of the Awawdeh family, the Hanina’s Farm settlers began using the family’s sheep pen to shelter their own sheep. Awawdeh’s attorney submitted photographs and video footage of the settlers using the pen to the court.
The IDF again refused to intervene, as evidenced by correspondence seen by The Times of Israel, leaving the settlers to use the pen themselves.
Last week, however, the settlers dismantled much of the sheep pen and used the materials to build their own pen at a different location.
The Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court heard the civil law suit brought by the Awawdeh family on Sunday. Ataf Awawdeh, the central complainant, was unable to attend since he was not able to secure an entry permit into Israel, although his attorney Tamir Blank represented him in court.
Ben Pazi and Freedman did not attend the hearing, although they were notified of the proceedings.
Ascherman welcomed the restraining order issued b the court, but was dubious that it would prove effective, since in the absence of IDF and police willingness to respond in real-time to incidents of violence, harassment or theft, there was little to stop further criminal activity.
“As long as the outpost is there then the family and its property will not be properly protected,” said Ascherman.
Ben Pazi has established several illegal farming outposts on land east of Ramallah, where local Palestinian herders have complained on numerous occasions of repeated harassment by him and his associates in the area.
In January this year the IDF issued a three month restraining order against Ben Pazi, banning him from the West Bank because of his hostile actions toward Palestinians. In March he was hit with US sanctions for having “expelled Palestinian shepherds from hundreds of acres of land” and for having “attacked Palestinians near the village of Wadi as-Seeq” in August 2023.
Wadi as-Seeq is just 2 kilometers northeast of the Awawdeh family residence.
In July, the US hit Ben Pazi with further sanctions, targeting two of the illegal outposts he has set up in the West Bank, HaMahoch Farm and Neria’s Farm.
At the same time, Ben Pazi has received NIS 49,000 ($13,000) from the Agriculture Ministry in subsidies issued through its “Preserving Open Spaces through Animal Grazing” program.
Farming outposts are viewed by radical settlers as a way of asserting control over large swaths of land in Area C of the West Bank (where Israel has full military and civilian control) while using minimal resources.
Settlers at such illegal farming outposts are often ultranationalist extremists whose presence causes friction with local Palestinians, and numerous violent incidents have been reported in recent years as emanating from such outposts.
Neither Ben Pazi nor Friedman responded to requests for comment from The Times of Israel.
