“The wheels of justice turn slowly – but they have finally made their way to the Judean Desert. For years, Regavim has documented, reported, publicized and raised the alarm, together with the Gush Etzion Regional Council and the Knesset Land of Israel Caucus, the systematic decimation of the environment and the brazen violation of international law by the Palestinian Authority. At last, the Israeli government has taken the first step in the right direction. We congratulate Ministers Betzalel Smotrich and Orit Strock, who took the lead in passing the Cabinet decision to enforce the law in the Nature Reserve, and welcome today’s action, spearheaded by the Settlement Administration, the Ministry of Defense and the Civil Administration.

Illegal Palestinian destruction of nature reserve (Photo credit Regavim)

Urgent and substantial enforcement is needed against thousands of structures and hundreds of illegal roads that the Palestinian Authority has built in the nature reserve, and the path that must be taken to rehabilitate and restore the delicate desert ecosystem will be long and challenging.”

Regavim’s most recent aerial survey of Judea and Samaria reveals that as of 2024, there are some 3,400 illegal structures in the Wye-designated Nature Reserve, while there were only 268 structures on the ground when the area was placed under Palestinian Authority jurisdiction as a no-construction zone under the Wye Accords.

Illegal structures in the Nature Reserve, 2024 (Regavim)