Case 3: Deir Istiya The way to reach our land used to take us an hour, now we need between three to five hours. It’s impossible to get there in less than three hours unless we take a taxi, which costs 100 shekels [28 USD]. You can never work enough to afford covering the cost of transportation to your land. Ibrahim Yousef, 57-year old resident of Deir Istiya. Interview: Deir Istiya, 21 March 2017 The Palestinian village of Deir Istiya, Salfit. 2017 (©BADIL). Background Located in the West Bank governorate of Salfit, the Palestinian village of Deir Istiya contains 4,000 inhabitants and is surrounded by seven Israeli colonies: Emmanuel, Karne Shomron, Ginnot Shomeronm, Yakir, Nofim, Revava and Ma’ale Shomron.155 Between 1967 and 2013, Israel confiscated 4,071 dunums (4.071 km2) of Deir Istiya land, which is equivalent to 12 percent of the total town area. Numerous military orders issued by the Israeli Civil Administration (ICA) facilitated,156 and continue to facilitate, the construction of colonies and 155 Tulkarem Qalqilya Team, “The road that blocks other roads,” EAPPI BLOG, 29 June 2016, available at: https://blog.eappi.org/tag/deir-istiya/ [accessed 22 September 2017]; The Applied Research Institute - Jerusalem, “Deir Istiya Town Profile,” September 2013, available at: http://vprofile.arij.org/salfit/ pdfs/vprofile/Deir.pdf [accessed 22 September 2017][hereinafter ARIJ, “Deir Istiya”]. 156 ARIJ, “Deir Istiya Town Profile”, 21, supra note 155. 56