Defending Palestinians with Strategic Litigation

On 15 May 2025, we marked the 77th anniversary of the 1948 Nakba (“The Catastrophe”), the mass expulsion and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from their homes and lands, and the destruction of hundreds of villages to establish the State of Israel. Under the current radical and openly racist Israeli government, Palestinians in Israel and in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) are facing what can only be described as a second Nakba. Daily, since 7 October, we have witnessed killings, forced displacement, mass home demolitions and deliberate starvation of the people in Gaza. These same policies are now being expanded across the West Bank, and some measures are even being applied to Palestinian Bedouin communities in the Naqab (Negev) in Israel.  These actions reflect a clear attempt by Israel to fully erase the issue of Palestinian refugees. Once again, we are witnessing the repeated horrors of the Nakba, not as a historical event, but as an ongoing reality. In this issue, we highlight several key cases that Adalah is working on, which reflect the continuation of Nakba-related policies.

Forced Evictions and Land Grab in the Naqab

Under the cover of War, the Israeli government has aggressively accelerated policies and practices of forced displacement to uproot Bedouin communities and expand Jewish-Israeli settlements in the Naqab. The scale of destruction is staggering: 8,194 Bedouin structures, most of them homes, were demolished in the Naqab in 2023 and 2024, while in parallel, the Southern District Planning and Building Committee (SDPBC) recently approved a plan to establish five new Jewish settlements. 

One of the government’s plans for the Bedouin residents of unrecognized villages, citizens of Israel, is to forcibly transfer them to “temporary displacement camps”, essentially “refugee camps”. The plan authorizes the placement of temporary housing (e.g., caravans) within already overcrowded and poor government-planned Bedouin towns for up to five years, without offering any permanent housing solutions and without proper infrastructure and services. These units will expose residents to substandard living conditions, with no end in sight. 

On 9 May 2025, Adalah and Bimkom- Planners for Planning Rights submitted an appeal to the National Planning and Building Council against this plan on behalf of the Regional Council for Unrecognized Villages, local committees, and residents of 19 unrecognized villages. The SDPBC approved this plan In March 2025, following an initial objection by the groups in September 2024.

In addition to challenging the establishment of these “displacement camps”, Adalah is representing hundreds of Bedouin residents in state-initiated evacuation cases in Ras Jrabah,  Al-Bqea’ah, and Umm Badoun . Adalah and Bimkom are also challenging the plan to expand the Jewish city of Dimona onto the land of Ras Jrabah, targeting the village for evacuation.   

Forced Mass Displacement of Palestinian Refugees in the West Bank

Since January 2025, the Israeli military initiated massive operations throughout the West Bank, with a particular focus on the Palestinian refugee camps. These attacks have triggered the largest wave of displacement in the West Bank since the 1967 occupation, forcing around 40,000 Palestinians from their homes. According to the UN, a systematic assessment of the demolitions has been impossible due to severe restrictions on access. The demolition plans have been widely condemned as a punitive collective measure.

On 1 May 2025, the Israeli army issued military orders mandating the large-scale demolition of 104 civilian structures in the refugee camps of Tul-Karem and Nur-Shams in the northern West Bank. At least 1,000 people lived in these homes, primarily refugee families who were displaced during the Nakba, and who are currently sheltering in nearby towns. Most residents were never notified of the demolition orders and were therefore denied any opportunity to contest them, a clear violation of basic due process rights.

The Israeli Supreme Court (SCT) rejected a petition filed by Adalah to cancel these mass demolitions in Nur-Shams and Tul-Karem, arguing that this extensive destruction amounts to a violation of the rights to property, shelter, and dignity, and constitutes a forcible transfer of a protected population, prohibited under international law. Adalah further argued that the military’s claim that the demolitions upheld “public order” does not meet the conditions of “absolute military necessity.”  The Court accepted the military’s vague justifications that it needed more space to continue its operations, without holding a hearing and without demanding any supporting evidence, effectively legitimizing the army’s sweeping powers and endorsing its violent campaign against Palestinian refugees. The ruling underscores the absence of judicial oversight, scrutiny, and accountability.

Israel Moves to Dismantle UNRWA, Putting Palestinian Refugees at Grave Risk

In October 2024, Israel enacted two anti-UNRWA laws to severely undermine its operations and to cause devastating consequences for millions of Palestinian refugees in Gaza and in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. Despite the international condemnation of these laws, including a case before the International Court of Justice (ICJ), Israel has moved forward with their implementation. 

On 16 January 2025, Adalah filed a petition to the SCT on behalf of 10 Palestinian refugees and Gisha- Legal Center for Freedom of Movement challenging these laws. The petition argued that dismantling UNRWA’s operations would deprive Palestinian refugees of essential services and violate both Israeli and international law. The Court rejected the petitioners' request for an interim order to freeze the implementation of the laws, allowing them to take effect on 30 January 2025. 

“If the agency [UNRWA] stops operating, I don’t know where I will get food for my children or buy my medications. For example, in the past, when the agency couldn’t provide me with the medication I needed, I couldn’t buy it, so I didn’t take it.”- A petitioner from Al-Aroub refugee camp in the West Bank.

Months later, the SCT also denied a motion by Adalah to halt the closure of six UNRWA-run schools in East Jerusalem in May 2025, based on an order issued by the Israeli Ministry of Education on 6 April 2025. Despite Adalah’s additional attempts to halt the orders, on 8 May, Israeli police raided three schools, forcibly closing them, leading to the subsequent closure of the remaining three. As a result, the education of nearly 800 Palestinian refugee students is now at immediate risk.

The crackdown on UNRWA schools in East Jerusalem, one month before the end of the academic year, comes amid the worst man-made, politically motivated humanitarian crisis in Gaza since the genocidal war began in October 2023. Since 2 March 2025, Israel has intensified its military attacks on Gaza, imposed a total blockade on goods resulting in the starvation of the population, banned all UNRWA international staff from Gaza and systematically targeted and killed aid workers, making humanitarian relief nearly impossible and depriving over two million people of lifesaving aid. UNRWA is continuing to assist the besieged population in Gaza wherever possible, although its ability to function remains under constant threat.

READ MORE IN ADALAH'S NEWSELTTER: 

77 Years Since the Nakba: Palestinians Face Imminent Dange,15 May 2025