land and equipment confiscation.185 These two measures operate in tandem in the West Bank, acting to increase Israeli corporate profits while causing economic devastation to Palestinian communities, therefore putting pressure on Palestinians to leave these communities in search of reliable income. In December 2011, the Israeli High Court of Justice legalized mining and quarrying by Israeli companies in the oPt. Today, there are 11 Israeli quarries in the West Bank. Most, like the Beitar-Illit and Nahal Raba quarries, are located adjacent to colonies.186 These quarries have proven quite lucrative as Israeli-run stone crushers produce twice the amount of Palestinian-run crushers. According to a report published by the PA on the costs of the Israeli occupation, the assessed value of “production from mining and quarrying in the West Bank under Israeli control is an estimated $900 million a year.”187 These Israeli quarries are a violation of IHL: the GCIV prohibits the occupying power from expropriating and utilizing the natural resources of the occupied territory for its own benefit. Furthermore, this expropriation has led to a denial of access and use of this resource by Palestinians in the oPt. This denial of access and use surpasses allowing Israeli companies to expropriate natural resources, as Israel has additionally created a set of discriminatory policies that targets Palestinian quarries and stone crushers as well. Beit Fajjar, a town located near Bethlehem, provides an example of these policies at work. Beit Fajjar was one of the major centers of stone quarrying in the West Bank, with 40 quarries that employed 80 percent of the town’s labor force.188 Human Rights Watch calculated that the “industry in Beit Fajar [sic.], including quarries and stone work factories, is worth at least $25 million per year.”189 According to residents and workers in the town, Israel has been systematically disrupting their work since 2008.190 Methods of disruption vary from confiscating equipment to imposing fines and extraction 185 B’Tselem, “Military effectively shutting down Palestinian quarries in Beit Fajjar to aid de facto annexation of area,” 21 Apr 2016, available at: http://www.btselem.org/planning_and_building/20160421_ military_shuts_down_palestinian_quarries [accessed 21 August 2017] [hereinafter B’Tselem, “Military shutting down Palestinian quarries”]. 186 Sari Bashi, “Jews and Germans Are Allowed to Quarry,” Human Rights Watch, 21 May 2016, available at: https://www.hrw.org/news/2016/05/21/jews-and-germans-are-allowed-quarry [accessed 21 August 2017] [hereinafter Bashi, “Jews and Germans”]. 187 Harriet Sherwood, “Israeli companies can profit from West Bank resources, court rules,” The Guardian, 3 January 2012, available at: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/jan/03/israeli-companieswest-bank-resources [accessed 21 August 2017] [hereinafter Sherwood, “Israeli companies”]. 188 B’Tselem, “Military shutting down Palestinian quarries,” supra note 185. 189 Human Rights Watch, “Israel: Quarry Shutdown Harms Palestinians,” April 2016, available at: https:// www.hrw.org/news/2016/04/21/israel-quarry-shutdown-harms-palestinians [accessed 21 August 2017] [hereinafter HRW, “Quarry Shutdown”]. 190 Sherwood, “Israeli companies,” supra note 187. 50