Psagot ( he, פְּסָגוֹת, ''lit.'' Peaks) is an Israeli settlement in the

West Bank The West Bank ( ar, الضفة الغربية, translit=aḍ-Ḍiffah al-Ġarbiyyah; he, הגדה המערבית, translit=HaGadah HaMaʽaravit, also referred to by some Israelis as ) is a landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediter ...

, located on Tawil hill, adjacent to the

Palestinian Palestinians ( ar, الفلسطينيون, ; he, פָלַסְטִינִים, ) or Palestinian people ( ar, الشعب الفلسطيني, label=none, ), also referred to as Palestinian Arabs ( ar, الفلسطينيين العرب, label=non ...

cities of Ramallah and

al-Bireh Al-Bireh, al-Birah, or el-Bira ( ar, البيرة; also known historically as Castrum Mahomeria, Magna Mahomeria, Mahomeria Major, Birra, or Beirothah) is a Palestinian city in the central West Bank, north of Jerusalem. It is the capital of th ...

. Established in 1981, it is organised as a

community settlement A community settlement ( he, יישוב קהילתי, ''Yishuv Kehilati'') is a type of village in Israel and the West Bank. While in an ordinary town anyone may buy property, in a community settlement the village's residents are organized in ...

and falls under the jurisdiction of Binyamin Regional Council, with the council's

headquarter Headquarters (commonly referred to as HQ) denotes the location where most, if not all, of the important functions of an organization are coordinated. In the United States, the corporate headquarters represents the entity at the center or the to ...

s located there. In it had a population of . The international community considers Israeli settlements in the West Bank illegal under international law, but the Israeli government disputes this. The Israeli ''Psagot Winery'' was established in the settlement on privately owned Palestinian land; a demolition order ( COGAT Order 252/03) was issued by the Israeli authorities against the winery as, even under Israeli law, the Israeli building over privately-owned land was illegal. As of 2019, the order had yet to be enforced.

Etymology

The name Psagot was proposed by one of the early residents,

Moshe Bar-Asher Moshe Bar-Asher (; born 1939, Ksar es Souk, Morocco) is an Israeli linguist and the president of the Academy of the Hebrew Language in Jerusalem. Biography Moshe Ben Harush (later Bar-Asher) was born in Ksar es Souk (modern Errachidia), Morocc ...

, a professor and head of the Academy of the Hebrew Language. It expresses the hope that the new village will achieve a peak in settlement and study of the

Torah The Torah (; hbo, ''Tōrā'', "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. In that sense, Torah means the ...

. The name also refers to the location of Psagot on the peak of Mount Tawil.

History

The Arabic name of the hill is Jabel Tawil (long mountain). MatehBinyamin09

In the wake of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, and after the

1949 Armistice Agreements The 1949 Armistice Agreements were signed between Israel and Egypt,Jordanian rule. It was annexed by Jordan in 1950. Before 1967, Jabel Tawil was known to locals as "Kuwaiti hill" because of numerous visitors from the Persian Gulf who hiked in the area. In 1964, some of the land was purchased by the Jerusalem municipality for a future tourist resort. In the

Six-Day War The Six-Day War (, ; ar, النكسة, , or ) or June War, also known as the 1967 Arab–Israeli War or Third Arab–Israeli War, was fought between Israel and a coalition of Arab states (primarily Egypt, Syria, and Jordan) from 5 to 10 Ju ...

, it came under

Israeli occupation Israeli-occupied territories are the lands that were captured and occupied by Israel during the Six-Day War of 1967. While the term is currently applied to the Palestinian territories and the Golan Heights, it has also been used to refer to a ...

. From September 1976, Arabs were prohibited from building in the area. According to ARIJ, Israel confiscated 780

dunams A dunam (Ottoman Turkish, Arabic: ; tr, dönüm; he, דונם), also known as a donum or dunum and as the old, Turkish, or Ottoman stremma, was the Ottoman unit of area equivalent to the Greek stremma or English acre, representing the amount o ...

of land from the nearby

town of

Al-Bireh Al-Bireh, al-Birah, or el-Bira ( ar, البيرة; also known historically as Castrum Mahomeria, Magna Mahomeria, Mahomeria Major, Birra, or Beirothah) is a Palestinian city in the central West Bank, north of Jerusalem. It is the capital of th ...

in order to construct Psagot. There is also an archaeological site near some of the

Caravillas Caravan ( he, קראוואן; pl. קראוואנים, ''caravanim'') is an Israeli term referring to a portable building used as a living space, school classroom, synagogue, or community center. Description ''Caravanim'' are constructed of alumi ...

on the hill of Psagot. In 1981, Ariel Sharon, then Israeli Minister of Defense, told Pinchas Wallerstein, head of the Mateh Binyamin Regional Council, that he would support initiatives to settle the area. In July 1981, Wallerstein moved the council headquarters to the hill, then occupied by a

military intelligence Military intelligence is a military discipline that uses information collection and analysis approaches to provide guidance and direction to assist commanders in their decisions. This aim is achieved by providing an assessment of data from a ...

base. Five families from the

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

neighborhood of

Beit VeGan Bayit VeGan ( he, בית וגן, lit. ''House and Garden'') is a neighborhood in southwest Jerusalem. Bayit VeGan is located to the east of Mount Herzl and borders the neighborhoods of Kiryat HaYovel and Givat Mordechai. History Bronze Age A 4 ...

took up residence there. A year later, they were joined by a group from the Kerem B'Yavneh yeshiva who came to create a

kollel A kollel ( he, כולל, , , a "gathering" or "collection" f scholars is an institute for full-time, advanced study of the Talmud and rabbinic literature. Like a yeshiva, a kollel features shiurim (lectures) and learning ''sedarim'' (sessions); ...

Israeli–Palestinian conflict

According to

B'Tselem B'Tselem ( he, בצלם, , " in the image of od) is a Jerusalem-based non-profit organization whose stated goals are to document human rights violations in the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories, combat any denial of the existence of su ...

, Psagot prevents the expansion of Ramallah and cuts it off from the surrounding villages. During the course of the Second Intifada, snipers shot at Psagot from buildings in Ramallah, leading to the construction of a concrete wall to protect the inhabitants. In 2001, the Israeli army stationed nearby fired two missiles into Ramallah targeting

Marwan Barghouti Marwan Hasib Ibrahim Barghouti (also transliterated al-Barghuthi; ar, مروان حسيب ابراهيم البرغوثي; born 6 June 1959) is a Palestinian political figure convicted and imprisoned for murder by an Israeli court. He is rega ...

. In November 2009, the Psagot settlement and Regavim petitioned the

High Court of Justice The High Court of Justice in London, known properly as His Majesty's High Court of Justice in England, together with the Court of Appeal and the Crown Court, are the Senior Courts of England and Wales. Its name is abbreviated as EWHC (Englan ...

in an unsuccessful attempt to stop construction of the Al-Bireh International Stadium, citing security concerns. The

Sasson Report The Sasson Report is an official Israeli government report published on 8 March 2005 that concluded that Israeli state bodies had been discreetly diverting millions of shekels to build West Bank settlements and outposts that were illegal under Is ...

identified Psagot as the "parent settlement" of an

Israeli outpost In Israeli law, an outpost ( he, מאחז, ''Ma'ahaz'' lit. "a handhold") is an unauthorized or illegal Israeli settlement within the West Bank, constructed without the required authorization from the Israeli government in contravention of Israe ...

known as Mitzpe HaAi ( he, מִצְפֵּה הָעָי) located approximately 400 m to the southeast. According to the report, the settlement, unauthorized by the government, was built on land appropriated illegally from its

owners. According to

Peace Now Peace Now ( he, שלום עכשיו ''Shalom Achshav'', ) is a non-governmental organization, liberal advocacy and activist group in Israel with the aim of promoting a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Objectives/position ...

75.69% of the combined area of Psagot and Mitzpe HaAi is on appropriated private land.

Status under international law

The international community considers Israeli settlements to violate the Fourth Geneva Convention's prohibition on the transfer of an occupying power's civilian population into occupied territory. Israel disputes the applicability of the Fourth Geneva Convention and argues that the Palestinian territories were not legally held by a sovereign when Israel took control of them. This view has been rejected by the

International Court of Justice The International Court of Justice (ICJ; french: Cour internationale de justice, links=no; ), sometimes known as the World Court, is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN). It settles disputes between states in accordanc ...

and the

International Committee of the Red Cross The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC; french: Comité international de la Croix-Rouge) is a humanitarian organization which is based in Geneva, Switzerland, and it is also a three-time Nobel Prize Laureate. State parties (signato ...

Psagot Winery

The Psagot Winery was founded by Na’ama and Yaakov Berg, who started to plant vineyards either in 1998,Where you stand changes the view
Haaretz or 2002. Berg, who immigrated to Israel from the Soviet Union, is the CEO.David Kattenburg
'Inside the mind of an Israeli settler,'

Mondoweiss ''Mondoweiss'' is a news website that began as a general-interest blog written by Philip Weiss on ''The New York Observer'' website. It subsequently developed into a broader collaborative venture after fellow journalist Adam Horowitz joined it ...

13 November 2019. According to the Independent, in 2007 the Falic family of Florida, who own Duty Free America, purchased 32,000 shares in Psagot winery for 4.1 million shekels, becoming majority shareholders and directors. In addition to a modern barrel cellar, some of the oak barriques are stored in a cave dating back to the Second Temple era. The winery's top wine is a Bordeaux blend named Edom. Regular varietal wines are produced in the Psagot series and there is also a Port-style wine. In 2007 and 2008, the winery produced 65,000 bottles annually.Psagot Winery
at Rogov's Reviews In 2010, the winery produced 80,000 bottles of wine a year, the majority for export. By 2015, the number produced had grown to 250,000 bottles per year, of which 65% are exported. Palestinian Arabs and Israeli Jews work there side by side which, according to Akiva Novick, creates an island of co-existence in sea of mistrust.

YNET Ynet (stylized as ynet) is one of the major Israeli news and general-content websites, and is the online outlet for the '' Yedioth Ahronot'' newspaper. However, most of Ynet's content is original work, published exclusively on the website and wri ...

, by Akiva Novick, 08.25.10 The American evangelical Christian organization HaYovel has sent volunteers to tend and harvest Psagot Winery's vineyards. Non-Jews are not allowed to work in the vineyard itself, for kosher reasons. Berg says calls to boycott his wines have only increased demand. The winery has developed into "a favourite destination" for right-wing Israeli and American politicians. Other wineries exist around Psagot, and the

Yesha Council The Yesha Council ( he, מועצת יש"ע, ''Mo'etzet Yesha'', which is the Hebrew acronym for Yehuda Shomron, Aza, lit. "Judea Samaria and Gaza Council") is an umbrella organization of municipal councils of Jewish settlements in the West Ban ...

hopes to make them a tourist attraction. According to the local Palestinians and the Israeli human rights group

Yesh Din Yesh Din: Volunteers for Human Rights ( he, יש דין) is an Israeli organization working in Israel and in the West Bank. The organization was founded in 2005 by a group of women who previously worked with the organization Machsom Watch. The p ...

, the wineries are partially planted on privately owned Palestinian land.Settler vineyards take root in West Bank
BBC. 17 June 2009 Israeli officials confirmed that the Berg house lies atop a quarter hectare of privately owned Palestinian land; in 2003 a demolition order ( COGAT Order 252/03) was issued by the Israeli authorities against Mr Berg’s home as, even under Israeli law, his decision to build on the privately owned land is illegal. As of 2019, the order had yet to be enforced. Writing in November 2019,

Gideon Levy Gideon Levy ( he, גדעון לוי; born 2 June 1953) is an Israeli journalist and author. Levy writes opinion pieces and a weekly column for the newspaper '' Haaretz'' that often focus on the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories ...

and

Alex Levac Alex Levac (Hebrew: אלכס ליבק, born 1944, Tel Aviv) is an Israeli photojournalist and street photographer. He was awarded the Israel Prize for photography in 2005.Haaretz photographer Alex Levac wins Israel Prize By Smadar Sheffi and ...

noted:

"The land is owned by Palestinians, with documents to prove it – but is now the site of a Jewish winery." ."This is the estate of Yaakov Berg, CEO of the Psagot winery, in the central West Bank. Berg’s house stands on section 233 of bloc No. 17. This property belongs to two sisters, Amal and Keinat Quran and their cousin, Karima – but they don’t have any access to it. The grapes are planted on sections 219-220, which is owned by Huria Quran, another relative. That petite, elderly woman is also unable to get to her property."

In November 2020, US Secretary of State

Mike Pompeo Michael Richard Pompeo (; born December 30, 1963) is an American politician, diplomat, and businessman who served under President Donald Trump as director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) from 2017 to 2018 and as the 70th United State ...

became the first top US official to visit a Jewish settlement including the Psagot Winery.

EU legal proceedings

The company initiated legal proceedings in Europe to try to reverse regulations requiring settlement produce to be labelled. On 12 November 2019 the Court of Justice of the European Union in a ruling covering all territory Israel captured in the 1967 war decided that labels on foodstuffs must not imply that goods produced in occupied territory came from Israel itself and must "prevent consumers from being misled as to the fact that the State of Israel is present in the territories concerned as an occupying power and not as a sovereign entity". In its ruling, the court said that failing to inform EU consumers they were potentially buying goods produced in settlements denies them access to "ethical considerations and considerations relating to the observance of international law".

Canadian legal proceedings

The

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749, ...

Jewish university instructor David Kattenburg won a similar judgement in a Canadian court against the fraudulent branding of settlement wines for export, naming the Psagot products on sale in his country. In May 2021, the Federal Court of Appeal dismissed a government appeal and ordered CFIA to explain its decision. Kattenburg submitted information to CFIA in September 2021 showing that the Psagot Winery was situated entirely on Palestinian property. In May 13, 2022, the CFIA reaffirmed its original decision.

References

{{Use dmy dates, date=September 2019 Israeli settlements in the West Bank Populated places established in 1981 Mateh Binyamin Regional Council 1981 establishments in the Israeli Military Governorate Community settlements