Human Rights Watch Report: “Jisr az-Zarqa”… A Palestinian Coastal Village Turned into a Ghetto by Israel – Al-Quds Al-Arabi Newspaper
Nazareth – Al-Quds Al-Arabi
In a rare and extensive multi-part report, the international organization Human Rights Watch sheds light on Israel’s policies of restricting Palestinian communities, explaining that these policies extend beyond the West Bank and Gaza Strip to affect Palestinians living in Palestinian towns and villages inside Israel. The organization states that these policies favor Jewish citizens over Palestinian citizens of Israel (also referred to as “Arab citizens of Israel,” “Palestinian citizens of Israel,” or “1948 Palestinians”) and severely limit their access to land for housing and natural population growth.
In this episode, the report examines the reality of the only Palestinian Arab coastal village inside the 1948 territories: Jisr az-Zarqa, located near Haifa, with a population of approximately 14,700 residents, which Human Rights Watch describes as having been transformed into a ghetto.
According to the report, Jisr az-Zarqa is a local council covering around 1,600 dunams and is among the poorest communities in Israel, with 80% of its residents living below the poverty line. Human Rights Watch states that Israeli government policies, as well as institutions during the British Mandate period a century ago, confined the residents to a limited area.
The report notes that in the early 1920s, the Jewish Colonization Association for Palestine, according to the Israeli Foreign Ministry, drained swamps used by Palestinian Arabs for buffalo grazing and reed mat weaving, in order to make way for Jewish settlements.
Residents told the organization that they eventually ended up with the land parcels they currently own, which are far smaller than the lands on which they historically lived before the 1948 Nakba.
The report continues:
“Jisr az-Zarqa did not experience the destruction and displacement that affected the neighboring towns of Tantura and Caesarea during the establishment of Israel in 1948. However, it came under military rule, like almost all Palestinian towns and villages inside Israel until 1966.”
During this period, Israeli authorities laid the foundations for restricting the village, and later planning policies and land-use allocations further limited residents’ ability to access land and housing.
Land Restrictions and Geographic Encirclement
To the north, in August 1949, Israeli authorities granted thousands of dunams of state land to the Jewish kibbutz Ma’agan Michael. Part of the kibbutz surrounds a cemetery that had been used by Jisr az-Zarqa residents for years.
In the 1970s, the kibbutz established fish ponds on its land extending southward toward the northern part of Jisr az-Zarqa.
Israeli authorities also established the Crocodile Stream Nature Reserve (Nahal Taninim) east of the fish ponds to protect the valley. The reserve covers approximately 470 dunams, where construction is prohibited, limiting the village’s expansion to the north.
Village council head Murad Ammash told Human Rights Watch that 90 dunams of the reserve are privately owned by Jisr az-Zarqa residents. The authorities designated part of the area for agriculture while preventing residential construction.
Highway and Separation
To the east, Highway 2, connecting northern and southern Israel, was built, separating the village from agricultural lands that had belonged to its residents.
Israeli authorities decided to construct the highway in the 1960s, when Jisr az-Zarqa residents under military rule had no ability to oppose the project. Israel confiscated approximately 1,600 dunams east of the highway, much of which had belonged to villagers and had been used for agriculture.
Most of these lands are now under the authority of the Jewish cooperative village Beit Hanania.
Israel did not create direct entrances or exits between the highway and Jisr az-Zarqa. The lack of access points adds 15–20 minutes to travel time north or south and leaves the village with only two entrances: one narrow underground passage originally used as a water channel, and another road between the northern edge of the village and the Crocodile Stream reserve.
Caesarea and the Separation Barrier
To the south, Israeli authorities established the town of Caesarea in 1952 on the site of the Palestinian village of Caesarea.
Israeli historian Benny Morris states that the Jewish armed group Haganah expelled Caesarea’s residents in February 1948.
Today, Caesarea, managed by the private Caesarea Development Corporation, is an affluent community and the residence of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, featuring villas, a golf course, a marina, an archaeological site, and industrial and commercial areas.
Human Rights Watch says many Jisr az-Zarqa residents have worked in Caesarea for years, mainly in house cleaning and manual labor. However, the Caesarea Development Corporation built an earth barrier between the two communities, measuring approximately 1.2 kilometers long and 9–12 meters high, to block the view of Jisr az-Zarqa and prevent the sound of the mosque call to prayer from reaching Caesarea.
Murad Ammash said the barrier makes it difficult for residents working in Caesarea to reach their jobs and has “damaged residents’ morale and hopes.” He added that it made them feel that Caesarea residents “do not consider us human” and want to “hide our existence.”
The Sea as the Western Boundary
To the west lies the Mediterranean Sea. Israeli law generally prohibits construction within 100 meters of the shoreline, and Israeli authorities established two nature reserves along the coast.
As a result, some village residents told Al-Quds Al-Arabi that the village has become like a ghetto.
Council member Sami Al-Ali explained that Jisr az-Zarqa suffers from severe overcrowding, a housing crisis, and serious economic and social challenges due to restrictions from all directions and rapid population growth.
He stated that according to Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics, population density in Jisr az-Zarqa is 9,178 people per square kilometer, three times higher than the neighboring Jewish town of Or Akiva (3,288), ten times higher than Caesarea (807), and more than thirty times higher than Ma’agan Michael (304).
Student Warda Jarbaan (26), who lives with her family of six in a 95-square-meter home, said:
“The town is extremely crowded. Your neighbors can see inside your house from their windows.”
Ahmed Juha, owner of Juha Guesthouse, the only guesthouse in the village, said that when he established the guesthouse in 2014, he had to request an exemption from parking requirements because the nearest parking area was 500 meters away.
The Israeli rights organization Bimkom estimated that in 2014 Jisr az-Zarqa needed 730 housing units to address its housing crisis.
Economic and Social Challenges
The restrictions have intensified economic and social problems in Jisr az-Zarqa. The village has no industrial zone, emergency medical services, post office, bank, ATMs, or sufficient public recreational facilities. It also lacks adequate infrastructure and basic services.
According to the Haifa-based rights organization Mossawa Center, fewer than a quarter of students complete high school matriculation exams, and residents’ average life expectancy is 20 years lower than the national average.
Murad Ammash said:
“There is no quality of life in Jisr az-Zarqa. The goal of these policies is clear: to suffocate us and displace us.”
Development Plans
In 2016, Israeli authorities approved a plan to expand Highway 2, including relocating the section adjacent to Jisr az-Zarqa eastward and creating entrance and exit ramps for the village.
In 2018, authorities approved a structural plan allowing new development areas, including high-density residential buildings and public spaces.
Murad Ammash explained that the plan would provide around 240 additional dunams for Jisr az-Zarqa, though this is far less than the 1,200 dunams requested by the local council in 2005 based on assessed needs.
The Planning Administration stated that it proposed plans for 700 housing units in this area, in addition to 1,500 housing units within the residential center and another 930 housing units near other designated areas.
However, construction has not yet been approved, and many steps remain before implementation.
In January 2019, the Ministry of Transport stated that it lacked approximately 174 million dollars needed to reroute Highway 2, according to government meeting records reviewed by Human Rights Watch.
Murad Ammash said that Jisr az-Zarqa proposed developing the land even without relocating the highway, but authorities rejected the request, claiming it would affect the town’s geographic connectivity.
The Israeli Planning Administration told Human Rights Watch that it expects the government to discuss rerouting the highway once a new government is formed.
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