There are no health centers or ambulances in the village, so they have to go to other villages more than 10km away to get medical treatment. In 2014, alone, five families were forced to leave the village because of the harsh living conditions. “We are facing silent forcible displacement. Slowly, but many people are leaving the village. We do not have any basic living conditions and people cannot continue to live this way.” In the village itself, two of the houses are now occupied by Jewish-Israeli colonizers. These people do not face the same restrictions as the Palestinian villagers and can amend and renovate their houses. One of the houses has a new floor, but never received a demolition order.98 Lastly, the promotion of the site as a religious center attracts many JewishIsraelis to the area. The harassment by these visitors is very common and clashes take place almost weekly. During Muslim religious holidays the villagers are vulnerable to attacks by Jewish-Israeli colonizers. However, during Jewish holidays the Palestinian residents are not allowed to access their mosque, and no transportation is allowed to the village. The presence of Jewish-Israeli worshippers, many of them from colonies in the West Bank, create an unsecure atmosphere in the village, and add stress to the already difficult lives of the Palestinian residents. Conclusion A holistic consideration of Israel’s approach to zoning and planning in the West Bank reveals a clear and highly discriminatory pattern of behavior, underpinned by the motivation to reduce Palestinian presence within this territory. As demonstrated above, the legislation and ‘legal’ practices implemented by the occupying power in respect to ownership and control of Palestinian land –namely legality, proportionality, rationality, equality and participation cannot be said to satisfy any of these stringent requirements. Moreover, Israel is not affording Palestinian communities the level of protection demanded by international human rights norms and standards. For instance, the right to adequate housing is enshrined within the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (to which Israel is a signatory), and this right entitles individuals and communities to be protected from arbitrary displacement. On the contrary, the illustrated cases reveal an Israel-administered zoning and planning system which has drawn scholarly comparisons with South African state-legislated apartheid. It is a system inherently discriminatory in conception and deed; designed from its foundations to serve the strategic purpose of the occupying power: forced transfer of the indigenous population, and their subsequent replacement 98 Nawal Barakat, al-Nabi Samwil, Jerusalem. Interview, 18 November 2014. 34