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Psagot ( he, פְּסָגוֹת, ''lit.'' Peaks) is an
Israeli settlement Israeli settlements, or Israeli colonies, are civilian communities inhabited by Israeli citizens, overwhelmingly of Jewish ethnicity, built on lands occupied by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War. The international community considers Israeli ...
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 cities of
Ramallah Ramallah ( , ; ar, رام الله, , God's Height) is a Palestinian city in the central West Bank that serves as the ''de facto'' administrative capital of the State of Palestine. It is situated on the Judaean Mountains, north of Jerusa ...
and al-Bireh. Established in 1981, it is organised as a community settlement and falls under the jurisdiction of Binyamin Regional Council, with the council's headquarters 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, a professor and head of the
Academy of the Hebrew Language The Academy of the Hebrew Language ( he, הָאָקָדֶמְיָה לַלָּשׁוֹן הָעִבְרִית, ''ha-akademyah la-lashon ha-ivrit'') was established by the Israeli government in 1953 as the "supreme institution for scholarship on t ...
. 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 s ...
. 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). In the wake of the
1948 Arab–Israeli War The 1948 (or First) Arab–Israeli War was the second and final stage of the 1948 Palestine war. It formally began following the end of the British Mandate for Palestine at midnight on 14 May 1948; the Israeli Declaration of Independence had ...
, 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 world, Arab states (primarily United Arab Republic, Egypt, S ...
, it came under Israeli occupation. 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 amoun ...
of land from the nearby Palestinian town of Al-Bireh in order to construct Psagot. There is also an archaeological site near some of the Caravillas on the hill of Psagot. In 1981,
Ariel Sharon Ariel Sharon (; ; ; also known by his diminutive Arik, , born Ariel Scheinermann, ; 26 February 1928 – 11 January 2014) was an Israeli general and politician who served as the 11th Prime Minister of Israel from March 2001 until April 2006. ...
, 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 List of intelligence gathering disciplines, approaches to provide guidance and direction to assist Commanding officer, commanders in decision making pr ...
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 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 The Second Intifada ( ar, الانتفاضة الثانية, ; he, האינתיפאדה השנייה, ), also known as the Al-Aqsa Intifada ( ar, انتفاضة الأقصى, label=none, '), was a major Palestinians, Palestinian uprising a ...
, 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 The Israel Defense Forces (IDF; he, צְבָא הַהֲגָנָה לְיִשְׂרָאֵל , ), alternatively referred to by the Hebrew-language acronym (), is the national military of the Israel, State of Israel. It consists of three servic ...
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 regar ...
. In November 2009, the Psagot settlement and
Regavim , meaning= Clods , image = Regavim - gardens in the Kibbutz.jpg , caption = , foundation = 1947 , founded_by = Italian and Algerian Habonim Dror members , district = haifa , council = Menashe , affiliation = Kibbutz Movement , popy ...
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 identified Psagot as the "parent settlement" of an Israeli outpost 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 Palestinian 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/positio ...
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 The Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, more commonly referred to as the Fourth Geneva Convention and abbreviated as GCIV, is one of the four treaties of the Geneva Conventions. It was adopted in Augu ...
'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 (signator ...
.


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 ''Haaretz'' ( , originally ''Ḥadshot Haaretz'' – , ) is an Israeli newspaper. It was founded in 1918, making it the longest running newspaper currently in print in Israel, and is now published in both Hebrew and English in the Berliner ...
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 ...
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 The Second Temple (, , ), later known as Herod's Temple, was the reconstructed Temple in Jerusalem between and 70 CE. It replaced Solomon's Temple, which had been built at the same location in the United Kingdom of Israel before being inheri ...
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 writ ...
, 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 (also or , ) is a set of dietary laws dealing with the foods that Jewish people are permitted to eat and how those foods must be prepared according to Jewish law. Food that may be consumed is deemed kosher ( in English, yi, כּשר), fro ...
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 hopes to make them a tourist attraction. According to the local Palestinians and the Israeli human rights group Yesh Din, 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 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