Boulders the size of compact cars are carved out here at a vast quarry near Bethlehem and pushed noisily through grinders, producing gravel and sand that go into apartment buildings in this rapidly growing Israeli settlement and all across Israel itself.
The land of the West Bank is, of course, disputed. Israel occupies it, and the Palestinians want it for a future state. But more and more of it is gone — quarried by Israeli companies and sold for building materials, a practice that is the focus of a new legal challenge.
“Israel is transferring natural resources from the West Bank for Israeli benefit, and this is absolutely prohibited not only under international law but according to Israeli Supreme Court rulings,” said Michael Sfard, lawyer for the Israeli rights group Yesh Din, which is bringing the case to the high court next week. “This is an illegal transfer of land in the most literal of senses.”
Sand and rocks might seem like trivial resources in a country that is half desert. But with strict environmental restrictions on quarrying because of the noise and dust produced, they turn out to be surprisingly valuable. Building contractors are often caught in the Negev Desert stealing them by the truckload in the dead of night. A government study last year predicted a serious shortage of raw building materials within a decade.
So the 10 or so expanding West Bank quarries that are the focus of the legal challenge now account for nearly a quarter of the sand and gravel Israel uses, 10 million tonnes out of 44 million tonnes yearly. Palestinians are incensed and say that if there is ever to be a prospering Palestinian economy, control over their natural resources is essential.
“This is causing harm in a real way,” said Sam Bahour, a Palestinian entrepreneur and businessman in Ramallah. “It is an example of the way in which economic interests in Israel are perpetuating the occupation. It makes it so much harder to end.”
The Fourth Hague Convention of 1907 states that occupying powers may not remove natural resources, and that any gain obtained from their exploitation must be kept in a designated fund for the local population. That is how the US military handles oil in Iraq.
Since the status of the West Bank before Israel won it in the 1967 war is unclear — it was occupied by Jordan after 1948 — many Israeli legal experts say it is wrong to consider the West Bank a classically occupied territory. The Israeli Supreme Court has declined to rule on the legality of Israeli settlements, deeming them a political question, even though legal experts abroad consider them illegal.
Still, Israel’s justices have generally issued rulings on the occupation that parallel international law. In the early 1980s, they said that a road could not be built here if it did not benefit the Palestinians.
“A region apprehended in fighting is not an open field for economic exploitation,” the court said.
The trade association that represents Israel’s quarrying companies says that everything they do here is in keeping with international law and with the regulations set down by the Israeli military, which controls the West Bank.
“Royalties are paid, and they are reinvested in the territories and that benefits the Palestinians,” said Dan Catarivas, director of foreign trade for the Manufacturers Association of Israel. “Most of what is quarried is used in the territories themselves, and that, too, is for the benefit of the population.”
But the government study last year on building materials found the opposite — that three-quarters of what is quarried in the West Bank goes to Israel. The remainder is bought by Palestinians on the open market. If there were a Palestinian state, that might still be the case, but the owners of the quarries would presumably be Palestinian and planning would be done by Palestinians.
NEXT GENERATION: The four plants in the Central Taiwan Science Park, designated Fab 25, would consist of four 1.4-nanometer wafer manufacturing plants, TSMC said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) plans to begin construction of four new plants later this year, with the aim to officially launch production of 2-nanometer semiconductor wafers by late 2028, Central Taiwan Science Park Bureau director-general Hsu Maw-shin (許茂新) said. Hsu made the announcement at an event on Friday evening celebrating the Central Taiwan Science Park’s 22nd anniversary. The second phase of the park’s expansion would commence with the initial construction of water detention ponds and other structures aimed at soil and water conservation, Hsu said. TSMC has officially leased the land, with the Central Taiwan Science Park having handed over the
AUKUS: The Australian Ambassador to the US said his country is working with the Pentagon and he is confident that submarine issues will be resolved Australian Ambassador to the US Kevin Rudd on Friday said that if Taiwan were to fall to China’s occupation, it would unleash China’s military capacities and capabilities more broadly. He also said his country is working with the Pentagon on the US Department of Defense’s review of the AUKUS submarine project and is confident that all issues raised will be resolved. Rudd, who served as Australian prime minister from 2007 to 2010 and for three months in 2013, made the remarks at the Aspen Security Forum in Colorado and stressed the longstanding US-Australia alliance and his close relationship with the US Undersecretary
‘WORLD WAR III’: Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene said the aid would inflame tensions, but her amendment was rejected 421 votes against six The US House of Representatives on Friday passed the Department of Defense Appropriations Act for fiscal 2026, which includes US$500 million for Taiwan. The bill, which totals US$831.5 billion in discretionary spending, passed in a 221-209 vote. According to the bill, the funds for Taiwan would be administered by the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency and would remain available through Sept. 30, 2027, for the Taiwan Security Cooperation Initiative. The legislation authorizes the US Secretary of Defense, with the agreement of the US Secretary of State, to use the funds to assist Taiwan in procuring defense articles and services, and military training. Republican Representative
TAIWAN IS TAIWAN: US Representative Tom Tiffany said the amendment was not controversial, as ‘Taiwan is not — nor has it ever been — part of Communist China’ The US House of Representatives on Friday passed an amendment banning the US Department of Defense from creating, buying or displaying any map that shows Taiwan as part of the People’s Republic of China (PRC). The “Honest Maps” amendment was approved in a voice vote on Friday as part of the Department of Defense Appropriations Act for the 2026 fiscal year. The amendment prohibits using any funds from the act to create, buy or display maps that show Taiwan, Kinmen, Matsu, Penghu, Wuciou (烏坵), Green Island (綠島) or Orchid Island (Lanyu, 蘭嶼) as part of the PRC. The act includes US$831.5 billion in
RSS