CCPR/C/120/D/2285/2013
Esraa Ahmed Issa Yassin, born in 1987 in Bil’in; Yosra Youcef Mohammed Yassin, born
in 1957 in Bil’in; Mazen Ahmed Issa Yassin, born in 1980 in Bil’in; the estate of the late
Ahmed Issa Abdallah Yassin; and Mohammed Ibrahim Ahmed Abu Rahma, Vice-Chair of
the Bil’in Village Council, on behalf of the Bil’in Village Council. The authors claim to be
victims of violations by Canada of their rights under articles 2, 7, 12, 17 and 27 of the
Covenant. The authors are represented by counsel. The Optional Protocol entered into force
for Canada on 19 August 1976.
The facts as submitted by the authors
2.1
The Palestinian village of Bil’in is located north of Jerusalem and west of Ramallah,
in the West Bank, occupied Palestinian territory. Its municipal lands are adjacent to the
1967 border with Israel proper, also known as the Green Line. In 1991, land formerly
considered private and/or under Bil’in municipal jurisdiction was determined by Israeli
authorities to be “State land”. The land thus expropriated was subsequently used to
construct part of the settlement known as the Modi’in Illit settlement bloc.
2.2
Construction on parts of the expropriated land began in 2001, and construction of
the settlement neighbourhood of East Mattityahu, which sits squarely on the authors’ land,
began around 2003. The neighbourhood constitutes approximately 25 per cent of the
village’s historical municipal lands (approximately 700 dunams, or 70 hectares). Green
Park International, Inc. and Green Mount International, Inc., transnational corporations
based in Canada, were among the main corporations involved in building the
neighbourhood and marketing the purchase of condominiums among the Israeli population.
2.3
Until expropriated, these lands had been used by the authors for livelihood purposes,
including for olive groves and the grazing of sheep and goats. In addition to limiting their
livelihood, barring Bil’in residents from access to their land denies them the ability to enjoy
it, including to experience and express their culture on their land and to engage in
recreational activities on it. For instance, olive groves are a symbolic and traditional
element in Palestinian culture and their harvesting is a community activity. Many of the
olive trees uprooted to construct the settlement were 50 to 100 or more years old and were
planted by the parents and grandparents of Bil’in residents, and thus had a familial value.
2.4
While Israel is responsible for depriving the authors of their rights over the lands in
question, it was Green Park International and Green Mount International that made the
construction of the settlement possible and profited from it. Accountability mechanisms in
Israel have failed to provide the authors with an effective remedy. Four related petitions
were submitted to the Supreme Court of Israel, sitting as the High Court of Justice, against
the Government of Israel and the Israeli Defence Forces commander in the West Bank,
among other respondents.
2.5
The first petition was filed on 5 September 2005 by the Chair of the Bil’in Village
Council, Ahmed Issa Abdallah Yassin. Based on Israeli jurisprudence on the matter, the
petition challenged the route of the separation barrier (“the wall”) on Bil’in land, cutting off
the village from over half of its municipal land. The decision on this petition was handed
down on 4 September 2007. The Court accepted the authors’ argument that the route was
chosen to support the construction of the new neighbourhood rather than for security
reasons, and ordered the Government and the West Bank commander to present an
alternative route for the security barrier that would be less harmful to the residents of Bil’in.
As a result of the decision, in July 2011 the barrier was transferred to a route closer to the
Modi’in Illit settlement and about 25 per cent of Bil’in’s land was returned to it. Some 25
per cent of Bil’in’s land remains behind the barrier.
2.6
The second petition was filed on 4 January 2006 and challenged the legality of the
building permits and construction work carried out to build the settlement. This petition
was based on Jordanian planning and construction law as enshrined in Israeli military
orders applied to the occupied Palestinian territories. 1 During the deliberations on this
petition, an interim injunction was issued ordering all construction of the new
1
2
In the first and second petitions, Green Park International and Green Mount International requested,
and were approved, to be joined as respondents.
GE.17-21900