Settlement & Annexation Report: September 26, 2025

Welcome to FMEP’s Weekly Settlement & Annexation Report. To subscribe to this report, please click here.

September 26, 2025

Trump Says No to Israeli Annexation
United Nations Adds 68 New Companies to List of Businesses Supporting the Settlement Enterprise
Bonus Reads

Trump Says No to Israeli Annexation

President Trump told reporters in the Oval Office that he “will not allow” Israel to formally annex the West Bank, saying further “It’s been enough. It’s time to stop now.” Netanyahu has reportedly been preparing an de jure annexation plan to appease members of his cabinets, framed as a response to international recognition of a Palestinian state. However, a senior government official has told the press that Trump actually helped Netanyahu out of yet another jam, providing him cover with his coalition partners to defer formal annexation and preserve the Abraham Accords.

International pressure against annexation has continued to mount, including new warnings from Saudi Arabia and France and a lot of attention at the UN gathering this week in NY. Nonetheless, Israeli officials surrounding Netanyahu have taken to social media to react to Trump’s comments and urge Netanyahu to move forward with unilateral annexation. On the same day as Trump’s comments, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar told a reporter that Israel is considering areas of the West Bank that are not under PA control, saying Israel has no interest in annexing Palestinians. This plan hints at a plan introduced by Smotrich weeks before to annex 82% of the West Bank, leaving six discontiguous Palestinian population centers under Palestinian control, surrounded entirely by Israel.

United Nations Adds 68 New Companies to List of Businesses Supporting the Settlement Enterprise

The United Nations updated its database of businesses involved in building, maintaining, securing, and servicing Israeli settlements in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the Golan Heights.Sixty-eight new companies were added to the list, including German construction giant Heidelberg, while seven companies were removed from the list.

Ravina Shamdasani, spokesperson of the UN human rights office said in a statement:

“Businesses working in contexts of conflict have a due diligence responsibility to ensure their activities do not contribute to human rights abuses. We call on businesses to take appropriate action to address the adverse human rights impacts of their activities.”

As a reminder, on February 12, 2020, following nearly four years of delay, the UNHRC published a (non-comprehensive) database of businesses involved in building, maintaining, securing, and servicing Israeli settlements in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the Golan Heights. The database was requested by members of the Council in March 2016, in order to assist member states in complying with international legal obligations with regards to doing business with companies involved in activities which violate the human rights of people around the world. The publication of the database was repeatedly been delayed due to heavy pressure from Israel and the United States, neither of which are members of the Human Rights Council. Even before its publication, Israel and the U.S. argued that the database would by definition be anti-Israel and antisemitic. From the start they also labeled the database a “blacklist,” even though the database itself neither calls for nor imposes any punitive consequences on the listed businesses.

Bonus Reads

“Top Israeli Official Overseeing West Bank Land Removed After Disputes With Smotrich Allies” (Haaretz, 9/24/25)
“Settler Takeover or Hotel? Fate of One of Israel’s Most Beautiful Buildings Now in Doubt” (Haaretz, 9/21/25)
“Israeli Police Didn’t Actually Investigate the Settler Incident, but Still Made a Firm Conclusion” (Haaretz, 9/26/25)

Welcome to FMEP’s Weekly Settlement & Annexation Report. To subscribe to this report, please click here.

September 12, 2025

Netanyahu Signs Final Approval of E-1, Celebrates End of Palestinian State
Netanyahu Delays Discussion of Plan to Annex the Jordan Valley
‘Formalizing Apartheid’: Smotrich Presents Plan to Annex 82% of the West Bank
State Land Declaration to Legalize Havat Gilad Outpost
Settlers Establish New Enclave on Key Hebron Street (Currently) Open to Palestinians
West Bank News & Analysis
East Jerusalem News & Analysis
Bonus Reads

Netanyahu Signs Final Approval of E-1, Celebrates End of Palestinian State

On September 11th, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu held a ceremony in the Ma’ale Adumim settlement to celebrate the signing of the E-1 settlement framework plan, the final approval for the construction of a settlement designed to foreclose any possibility of a Palestinian state. Netanyahu is happy to state the intention behind the settlement, saying at the ceremony that “We are going to fulfill our promise that there will be no Palestinian state, this place belongs to us.”

Bezalel Smotrich also attended the ceremony, where he told Bibi in front of the crowd:

“Mr. Prime Minister, all of us, soon, will thank you and congratulate and celebrate together the application of sovereignty throughout Judea and Samaria.”

The signing of the E-1 framework was done as part of a massive umbrella agreement worth billions of shekels to develop the wider Ma’ale Adumim and E-1 area. Peace Now reports that the framework includes a government commitment to invest 3 billion shekels in infrastructure for the construction of 7,600 housing units, of which about 3,400 are in E1. The plan seeks to double the population of the Ma’ale Adumim settlement and build new roads, public institutions, and other infrastructure – – furthering Israel’s de facto annexation of a huge area east of Jerusalem.

Ir Amim said in a statement:

“Today, the Israeli Government is expected to sign a government umbrella agreement with the West Bank settlement of Ma’ale Adumim, which will allocate 3 billion NIS to finance and accelerate the development of the E1 and Ma’ale Adumim area. The signing ceremony will be attended by the Israeli Prime Minister, underscoring the high-level political backing for this move.

In other words, annexation par excellence.

For perspective: an umbrella agreement was signed with the Jerusalem Municipality seven years ago for the city’s development that totaled just 1 billion NIS. Despite the fact that Jerusalem has 25 times more residents than Maaleh Adumim, the settlement will receive triple what was allocated to the Jerusalem municipality.

This comes on the heels of last month’s approval of the E1 settlement plans and publication of tenders for 3300 new housing units between Maaleh Adumim and the Mishor Adumim industrial zone. Following the recent intervention by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a percentage of these housing units will likely be sold at discounted rates as part of a government subsidized housing lottery.

Annexation and entrenchment of Israeli apartheid on full throttle.”

Netanyahu Delays Discussion of Plan to Annex the Jordan Valley

Last week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu postponed the Security Cabinet’s discussion of his plan to formally annex the Jordan Valley (some 30% of the West Bank). Israel Hayom reports that in preparing the plan for discussion in the Security Cabinet, Ron Dermer (Netanyahu’s Strategic Affairs Minister) worked with U.S. officials to OK the Jordan Valley plan and believes that, contrary to annexation of the full West Bank, the annexation of the Jordan Valley would receive bipartisan support in the United States. Netanyahu and Dermer reportedly framed the annexation push as a response to increasing diplomatic pressure on Israel vis a vis Gaza, particularly European promises to recognize a State of Palestine

Rumors of Netanyahu’s intent to advance the annexation of the Jordan Valley were followed quickly by two significant, headline-grabbing responses. First, Israeli Minister Bezalel Smotrich publicly debuted his own plan for annexation – a plan that would see Israel annex 82% of the West Bank (for more, see below), a plan that far overshadows the Netanyahu-Dermer plan. Second and in response to Smotrich’s plan, the UAE released a statement saying that annexation is a “red line” and “means there can be no lasting peace” and would “end the pursuit of regional integration” (hinting at ending the Abraham Accords, which the UAE signed in 2020). Only after the UAE statement was it reported that Netanyahu pulled Jordan Valley annexation off of the agenda for the Cabinet meeting scheduled for September 4th.

Netanyahu’s plan for a more limited annexation of the Jordan Valley is nothing new (and is of course being actively carried out in a de facto manner). Netanyahu has pushed for the de jure annexation of the Jordan Valley since at least 2019.

The Jordan Valley is home to around 65,000 Palestinians, though ~10,000 settlers have managed to exert their control over nearly 85% of the Valley. On a weekly basis, FMEP shares reporting from the ground of settler attacks on PAlestinians communities in the Jordan Valley, new outposts, more declarations of state land or closed military zones – – all of which have violently coerced many Palestinians into leaving while Israel silently annexes the Jordan Valley.

‘Formalizing Apartheid’: Smotrich Presents Plan to Annex 82% of the West Bank

On September 2nd, Israeli Finance Minister Smotrich held a press conference to unveil his proposal to annex 82% of the West Bank, a plan accompanied by a map (emblazoned with a government logo) leaving only six major Palestinian population centers as un-annexed land, entirely surrounded by the Israeli state. Smotrich publicly promoted his plan days after reporting that suggested Netanyahu was prepared to advance a plan to annex the Jordan Valley, which constitutes 30% of the West Bank – much less than Smotrich and his settlers allies are aiming for, and indeed working to achieve.

While showing off his proposed map, Smotrich said:

“We have no desire to apply our sovereignty over a population that seeks our destruction. Enemies must be fought, not allowed a comfortable life. Therefore, the overriding principle for applying sovereignty is: maximum land with minimum population.”

Smotrich estimated 80,000 Palestinians live on land that he proposes annexing to Israel, and those Palestinians will be offered the status currently held only by Palestinian East Jerusalemites — a status short of full citizenship and which denies Palestinians the right to vote for the government that rules their lives. However, as Haaretz notes, Smotrich’s assertion that 80,000 live in areas his map shows as future Israeli territory does not comport with known demographics. For example, Smotrich’s map shows all of Bethlehem and its surrounding lands as annexed to Israel, and it’s estimated that the population of this area is around 200,000 Palestinians.

Smotrich proposes the un-annexed Palestinian population centers will be islands of land administered by “regional civilian management alternatives,” calling for the Palestinian Authority to be dismantled. Knesset Member Aido Touma-Sliman said:

“Smotrich’s annexation map is the clearest expression yet of this government’s fascism. It seeks to erase an entire people by redrawing borders with brutality and arrogance, turning the West Bank into fragmented prisons with no geographic continuity under Israeli sovereignty. It exposes a regime no longer hiding behind false claims of democracy, but openly pursuing fascist control over millions of Palestinians. The international community must not look away. Every endorsement, every silence, every normalization in the face of this map is complicity in the crime of apartheid and in the erasure of the Palestinian people’s right to exist.”

Smotrich’s public pitch for annexing the majority of the West Bank (and formalizing apartheid) received harsh criticism from many corners of the international community – most notably from Israel’s Abraham Accords core partner the UAE. The Trump Administration, on the other hand, not only refrained from criticism of Smotrich but repeatedly clarified for Israeli news outlets that the U.S. has never expressed opposition to Israeli annexation plans.

To be clear, Smotrich’s plan proposes a large scale of annexation of the West Bank that he is already implementing in a de facto nature (he has admitted as much repeatedly). Since taking control over the Settlements Administration, a new division created within the Israeli Defense Ministry, Smotrich has acted as the reigning sovereign of the West Bank. With authority over all civilian matters in the West Bank and significant input on security matters, Smotrich has undertaken a mass-scale effort to annex land, increase the number of settlers, demolish/displace Palestinian communities, and hollow out the Palestinian Authority. Smotrich has fundamentally transformed Israel’s governance of the West Bank, bringing the West Bank under Israeli civilian authority and virtually eliminating the thin facade of separation between how Israel governs the occupied territories and how it governs its own sovereign territory

State Land Declaration to Legalize Havat Gilad Outpost

Peace Now reports the Israel Civil Administration has declared a huge area of land (112 acres) near Nablus to be “state land.” The land historically belonged to the Palestinian villages of Tell, Jit, and Far’ata, but in 2002 settlers illegally built the Havat Gilad outpost on privately owned land in the area and have since lobbied the Israeli government to legalize the outpost.

However – the land that has been seized does not include the land on which structures in the Havat Gilad outpost are currently built, and the seized land is, according to The Times of Israel, a “tortuously drawn and include islands of land within the state land zone that may be privately owned by Palestinians.”

Peace Now says this is an Israeli effort to establish a new settlement, not to legalize the Havat Gilad outpost. Peace Now explained:

“…the state has declared land about one kilometer south of the outpost as “state land” for the purpose of “legalizing” it. However, the declared lands show that the vast majority of the outpost’s houses are built on private land and therefore cannot be legalized. To make the outpost “legal” according to Israel’s own rules (all settlements are illegal under international law), the existing houses would have to be demolished and the outpost rebuilt elsewhere, about a kilometer away from its current location.

It is already clear, however, that in practice no buildings will be demolished; instead, new construction will simply be added on the declared land. For decades the government has allowed the outpost to continue to seize private land and has refrained from removing the settlers. It is hard to believe that now, as it promotes formal ‘regularization,’ it will suddenly demolish homes.”

As Kerem Navot has chronicled, the Havat Gilad outpost has been the subject of controversy since it was first established by settlers in 2002. Since then, the outpost has become a source of radical, serious, and frequent violence against Palestinians. In 2014, two Havat Gilad settlers were sentenced to prison for setting Palestinian vehicles on fire in a price-tag attack; its residents have also been documented harassing Palestinian farmers and denying them access to their own lands. The Israeli NGO Yesh Din – which has documented violence emanating from Havat Gilad, including against Yesh Din employees – has filed several petitions against the outpost, including a 2010 case that resulted in the demolition of some of the outpost’s structures that were built on land Israel recognized as privately-owned by Palestinians. Yesh Din’s investigation shows that Havat Gilad was built on lands that the Israeli Civil Administration has now declared to be “state land” have in fact been continuously cultivated and privately owned by Palestinians; most of the outpost’s structures have standing (but unenforced) demolition orders issued against them.

In 2018, the Israeli government came under intense pressure from the settler lobby to legalize Havat Gilad in response to a Palestinian terror attack that killed a Havat Gilad settler — and came very close to doing so. At the time, the government ran into difficulties in legalizing the outpost because some of the illegal buildings were located on land Israel recognized as privately-owned by Palestinians, and the government could not – at that time – find a legal means by which to expropriate it. Meanwhile, the settler killed in the attack was subsequently buried at the outpost, and as Al-Monitor explains, the presence of a cemetery in the outpost makes its future evacuation nearly impossible. Kerem Navot’s Dror Etkes spoke to Haaretz around this same time about the phenomenon of settlers being buried in the West Bank:

“Etkes tells Haaretz he believes the choice of where the cemeteries are situated – particularly when they lie on private land some distance from the nearest homes – is not a coincidence. ‘I work on the assumption that there are always deliberate intentions afoot,’ he says. The placement of a cemetery ‘is not chosen for no reason. It is a very long-term investment – and in Judaism, whoever buries people in a certain place does so on the understanding they will not be removed. Obviously, there is deliberate intent lurking behind the location of these cemeteries,’ Etkes continues, ‘and it may be assumed that whoever buries the dead on private Palestinian land knows exactly what he’s doing.’”

Settlers Establish New Enclave on Key Hebron Street (Currently) Open to Palestinians

Settlers have taken over a building on Shallala Street in Hebron, one of the main access streets available for Palestinians to reach the Old City of Hebron and the Ibrahimi Mosque. Shallala Street runs parallel to Shuhada Street, which is closed to Palestinians. Peace Now warns the new enclave raises concern that the Israeli government or army may move to close the street to Palestinians in order to provide security to the settlers.

Peace Now said in a statement:

“This settlement is a direct initiative of the government. The Custodian of Government Property allocated the building to the settlers, and the army opened a special passage for them to enter. The goal of establishing a settlement in the heart of Hebron’s casbah is to seize new areas of the city and displace Palestinians from them, similar to what was done in the city center around the existing settlements. The settlement in Hebron is the ugliest face of Israeli control in the territories. Nowhere else in the West Bank is apartheid so blatant. Establishing a new settlement in Hebron is a provocation that harms Israel’s political and security interests.”

On the same day as Smotrich’s presentation, Israeli forces arrested the mayor of Hebron, Tayseer Abu Sneineh. Hebron is the largest Palestinian city in the West Bank and is home to 800,000 Palestinians. Some 500 messianic Israeli settlers have been imposing their presence in the city’s old town since the 1980s, and Abu Sneineh is known for his role in a Fatah cell that planned and carried out the shooting of six Israeli and Jewish settlers in the city’s old town in 1980, locally known as the “Dabuya Operation.” After his initial arrest, Abu Sneineh was later released in a prisoner swap in 1983 alongside other members of the cell.

Abu Sneineh’s arrest came days after Israeli media outlets reported that Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, was considering the establishment of a tribal “emirate” in Hebron, separate from the Palestinian Authority, which first surfaced in the pages of the Wall Street Journal last July.

Local Palestinian media speculated as to whether Abu Sneineh’s arrest was possibly a prelude to removing potential sources of local opposition to annexation, especially given Abu Sneineh’s

Welcome to FMEP’s Weekly Settlement Report, covering major news on Israeli settlement and annexation activity this week.

To subscribe to this report, please click here.

February 7, 2025

East Jerusalem Settlement Plans to Watch
Israel Pushing Raze Palestinian Homes in Sheikh Jarrah, Build New Settlement Enclave
High Court Orders Zanuta Return, Again
High Court Orders Investigation Into Settler Municipal Councils
Settler Population Grew 2.3% in 2024
Trump to Decide on West Bank Annexation In Four Weeks
Bonus Reads

East Jerusalem Settlement Plans to Watch

Haaretz reports that, with Trump installed in office, the Israeli government is pushing forward at least three settlement plans in the greater Jerusalem area:

Atarot Settlement – see background here.
Givat Hamatos settlement expansion towards Beit Safafa – see background here.
The Glassman Yeshiva plan for Sheikh Jarrah – see background here.
A settlement enclave plan in Sheikh Jarrah (See below)

Israel Pushing Raze Palestinian Homes in Sheikh Jarrah, Build New Settlement Enclave

Haaretz reports the Jerusalem Municipality is advancing plans for the construction of a new settlement enclave – composed of 312 residential units in 15 buildings – in the heart of the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of East Jerusalem. If enacted, the plan will displace dozens of Palestinian families in the Um Haroun section of the community, destroying approximately 40 buildings, in favor of Israeli Jews.

East Jerusalem expert Danny Seideman writes:

“For the first time since 1967, the Government of Israel intends to raze a Palestinian [neighborhood] in East Jerusalem, displace its residents and build an Israeli settlement in its stead. This is without precedent.”

The land in question was secretly brought under the management of the Israeli General Custodian, a clandestine effort that was discovered in May 2021 by Ir Amim and Bimkom. The land registration procedures were carried out without notifying Palestinian residents or providing an opportunity to defend ownership claims. Legal efforts to halt Israel’s registration of the lands were denied.

Ir Amim researcher Aviv Tatarsky told Haaretz:

“The plan is part of a racist policy aimed at establishing Jewish supremacy in the city and pushing out its Palestinian residents. The new plan being promoted by the government is nothing but a calculated assault on Palestinian presence in Jerusalem. It aims to erase an entire neighborhood and turn it into a settler outpost.”

High Court Orders Zanuta Return, Again

For the second time, the Israeli High Court of Justice ordered the State of Israel to facilitate the safe return of residents to their homes in Zanuta, located in the South Hebron Hills, by February 16th. Residents of Zanuta have been forced to flee from their homes twice now, both times due to the persistent violent harassment and attacks perpetrated by nearby settlers. In the most recent ruling, the Court ordered that Israeli police and the army must provide ongoing and sustained protection to the residents, and the Court ruled the State must allow residents to repair homes and infrastructure that were damaged/demolished by settlers when the residents were absent. In the past, the State tried to coerce residents into permanently abandoning Zanuta by refusing to issue new permits and to carry out demolitions against the remaining buildings that did not already have permits.

The villagers first left in November 2023 after violence escalated dramatically following the events of October 7th. In July 2024 the Israeli High Court of Justice ruled that the State of Israel must facilitate their safe return to the land. Villagers started returning to the area in August 2024 to discover that in the intervening months, settlers have been allowed to enter the area and destroy nearly all of the houses, the small school, and the village’s health clinic. The village appeared ransacked. Only days after their initial return, the village was attacked by Yinon Levy (a settler under international sanctions for his involvement in violence) while the Israeli police and army watched.

High Court Orders Investigation Into Settler Municipal Councils

On February 4th, the Israeli High Court of Justice ordered Israeli police to open a criminal investigation into the involvement of two settlement regional councils in the illegal construction of outposts. The Court made this ruling in response to petitions filed by Peace Now, which documented the alleged involvement of the settlement councils in constructing three outposts: Shvut Rachel, Haroeh, and Alonei Shiloh. Since the petition was filed in 2018 the Shvut Rachel outpost has been granted retroactive legalization by the Israeli government; and, the Alonei Shiloh outpost is in the process of receiving retroactive legalization.

Settler Population Grew 2.3% in 2024

According to data compiled by the pro-settlement advocacy group “West Bank Stats”, the population of settlers in the West Bank (not including East Jerusalem) rose by 2.3% in 2024 – 12,000 individuals. The 2023 growth rate was 2.9%.

The group’s founder, Baruch Gordon, told ABC News that he expects “an explosion in [settlement] construction” during the Trump Administration.

Trump to Decide on West Bank Annexation In Four Weeks

At a press conference on February 4th alongside Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, President Trump said he will announce whether or not his administration will support Israel’s de jure annexation of the West Bank in four weeks. When asked a question by a reporter who stated their support for annexation, President Trump said:

“We’re discussing that with many of your representatives. You’re represented very well… [but] we haven’t been taking a position on it yet…People do like the idea, but we haven’t taken a position on it yet. We’ll be making an announcement probably on that very specific topic over the next four weeks.”

Trump has appointed many officials in his administration who strongly support Israeli sovereignty over the West Bank, including his nomination for U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, and the newly appointed Ambassador to the UN, Elise Stefanik.

During Trump’s election campaign, Miriam Adelson – who donated $100 million to Trump’s effort – reportedly conditioned her funding on Trump’s pledge to support West Bank annexation, though a spokesperson for Adelson denied the report.

Bonus Reads

“NGOs, Trade Unions, Call on EU to Ban Trade with Israel’s Illegal Settlements” (Human Rights Watch)
“As part of West Bank offensive, Israel conducts largest demolition in years” (Mondoweiss)
“Curfews, demolitions and airstrikes: Israel expands West Bank offensive to Tulkarem, Jordan Valley” (Mondoweiss)
“Israeli Settler Indicted After Opening Fire on Palestinian Family Harvesting Olives in the West Bank” (Haaretz)
“West Bank? No, Judea and Samaria, Some Republicans Say.” (New York Times)
“What Just Happened: Trump’s Termination of West Bank Settler Sanctions” (Just Security)
“Trump’s Gaza plan suggests his pro-settler advisers are in the ascendant” (The Guardian)

Welcome to FMEP’s Weekly Settlement Report, covering everything you need to know about Israeli settlement and annexation activity this week.

To subscribe to this report, please click here.

January 31, 2025

Bill to Allow Israelis to Buy West Bank Land Advances in Knesset
Weekly Settlement Advancements Continue for Ninth Week
On First Day in Office, Trump Cancels Sanctions on Violent Settlers
Bonus Reads

Bill to Allow Israelis to Buy West Bank Land Advances in Knesset

On January 29th, the Israeli Knesset’s plenum approved the preliminary reading of a bill (58 – 33) that will allow Israelis to purchase land in the West Bank without any restrictions. In response, Peace Now called this “annexation and apartheid.”

Under the current law, private, non-Arab individuals cannot purchase land in the West Bank. In 1971, the law was amended to add a loophole allowing companies registered to operate in the West Bank (like the World Zionist Organization and the Jewish National Fund) to purchase property, and often do so only to give it to Israeli settlers. This additional change would open the door for private purchases across the West Bank by settlers and their backers, including in the heart of Palestinian cities. Notably, Israeli security officials have in the past objected to changing this law, based on their recognition of the fact that settlers implanting themselves wherever they want in the West Bank – including in acts intended to be deliberately provocative – will be a security nightmare for the IDF and will enable settlers and their financial patrons to further hijack the national security agenda of the state of Israel.

MK Aida Touma-Sliman wrote:

“Annexation on steroids: The bill that was approved in preliminary reading in the Knesset plenary now removes another obstacle on the way to a complete takeover of the West Bank. In serious violation of international law, Israel behaves as a sovereign in an occupied territory and promotes de jure annexation, a colonialism that is brazenly called “equality”. The approval of the bill today is a direct continuation of structural changes carried out in the area, including construction permits, declaration of state lands, construction of outposts in Area B, road construction, transfer of civil administration powers to Messianic ministers and more. The annexation is no longer crawling, not racing, it is carried out slowly but surely.”

Peace Now writes:

“This is yet another annexation move initiated by the messianic right. The proposal seeks to allow settlers to purchase land without any oversight throughout the West Bank, effectively making them ‘landlords’ in the West Bank in both symbolic and practical terms. The bill would give a small number of extremist settlers the ability to acquire land and later establish settlements, whether in the heart of Hebron or anywhere else and drag the IDF to risk soldiers’ lives and protect them. Furthermore, the Knesset has no authority to legislate laws for areas that are not under Israeli sovereignty, and the attempt to apply Knesset laws to the occupied territory constitutes annexation and a blatant violation of international law.”

Yesh Din explains:

“The law aims to ease the purchase of land in the occupied territory by settlers and to expand the settlement enterprise. It seeks to establish permanent changes in land ownership in the West Bank by enabling, for the first time, individual Israelis to buy land directly instead of the current requirement to buy land through companies registered with the Civil Administration Companies Registry. This kind of ownership would be permanent and irreversible.

The name of the law and its explanatory notes are misleading. The bill presents itself as fixing an ongoing injustice of alleged discrimination against settlers. In reality, the land regime in the West Bank enacts blatant discrimination in which 99% of the public (‘state’) lands are allocated to settlements. If the legislation is fully enacted, it will not only futher entrench the existing discrimination but ease and facilitate the purchase of West Bank lands by Israeli settlers.

Additionally, and no less significantly, legislation by the Israeli Knesset regarding the occupied territory constitutes the application of Israeli sovereignty to the occupied land, in violation of international law, which prohibits annexation.”

Weekly Settlement Advancements Continue for Ninth Week

Peace Now reports the Israeli High Planning Council advanced plans for the construction of 682 settlement units on January 29th. The units are planned for three settlements:

Halamish – plans for 531 new units were deposited for public review. If approved, these plans will double the number of houses there.
Mitzad – plans for 126 new units were deposited for public review. And,
Peduel – plans for 25 new units received final approval.

This marks the continuation of the weekly convening of the High Planning Council in order to greenlight massive settlement construction.

On First Day in Office, Trump Cancels Sanctions on Violent Settlers

On January 20th – the same day he took office – President Trump announced that he will rescind the February 2024 Executive Order under which the Biden Administration implemented sanctions against Israeli settlers and settler-aligned organizations alleged to have participated in violence in the West Bank. The U.S. Treasury Department officially lifted the sanctions on January 24th.

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich called Trump’s move an “expression of your deep connection to the Jewish people and our historical right to our land.”

Executive Order 14115 issued on Feb. 1, 2024, which authorized the imposition of certain sanctions “on Persons Undermining Peace,

In a statement, the U.S. advocacy group DAWN said in a statement:

“President Trump’s decision to revoke the U.S. government’s only sanctions against violent settlers and malign settlement organizations driving land theft and settler violence isn’t only a slap in the face to millions of Palestinians enduring decades of terrorist pogroms, but erodes what little hope we have that Trump will succeed in establishing a Palestinian state,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, executive director of DAWN. “Instead, Trump is kowtowing to his vicious pro-Israel donor base who were apoplectic at efforts to hold extremist Israelis accountable and convinced him to revoke the sanctions.”

Bonus Reads

“Humanitarian Situation Update #260 | West Bank” (OCHA)
“As Ceasefire Nears, Jared Kushner’s New Investments Could Boost Israeli Settlements” (The Lever)
“US: Sanction Jewish National Fund-Israel (KKL-JNF) for Funding Settlement Expansion and Fostering Settler Violence” (DAWN)
“From Gaza to the West Bank: Israel’s Shifting Fire and the Cost of Impunity” (CIHRS)
“Jenin is ‘only the beginning’: Israel moves its war on Palestinians to the West Bank” (Mondoweiss)
“Israel is shifting its battlefield from Gaza to the West Bank” (The New Arab)
“Online Calls to Action Preceded a Settler Onslaught in the West Bank, and Once Again Palestinians Were Left Unprotected” (Haaretz)
“Israeli Finance Minister Smotrich Appoints West Bank Council Chief as Ministry Director” (Haaretz)

Welcome to FMEP’s Weekly Settlement Report, covering everything you need to know about Israeli settlement activity this week.

To subscribe to this report, please click here.

July 19, 2024

Historic ICJ Advisory Opinion Says Israel’s Occupation is Illegal, Calls for Settlements to be Dismantled
Israel Grants Itself Civilian Control of An Additional 3% of West Bank Land
Settlers Enter Abu Nab House in Batan al-Hawa, Silwan As Shehadeh Family Faces 20-Day Eviction Notice
Palestinians Blast IDF Closure of Courtyard in Ibrahimi Mosque Complex
New Outpost Established East of Ramallah
European Union Issues New Sanctions on Israeli Settlers, Orgs, and Outposts
U.S. Sanctions Two More Individuals, Including First Military Target
Further Reading on Silwan, Masafer Yatta & More
Bonus Reads

Historic ICJ Advisory Opinion Says Israel’s Occupation is Illegal, Calls for Settlements to be Dismantled

In an advisory opinion issued on July 19th, the International Court of Justice ruled that Israel’s occupation of East Jerusalem and the West Bank is illegal, and its policies constitute apartheid. The Court said that Israel should immediately end its occupation, make restitution to those damaged by it, including dismantling settlements, evacuating all settlers, and dismantling parts of the Separation Barrier that fall east of the 1967 Green Line. It also calls for the return of all Palestinians who were displaced from their homes as a result of Israel’s occupation.

In delivering the Court’s findings, ICJ President Nawaf Salam said:

“The sustained abuse of Israel of its position as an occupying power through annexation and an assertion of permanent control over the occupied Palestinian territory and continued frustration of the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination violates fundamental principles of international law and renders Israel’s presence in the occupied Palestinian territory unlawful.”

Further, the Court – which is the principal judicial organ of the United Nations – calls on all States “not to recognize as legal the situation arising from the unlawful presence of the State of Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and not to render aid or assistance in maintaining the situation created by the continued presence of the State of Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.” This includes banning trade and investments that touch Israel’s settlements. Though the advisory opinion is non-binding, the Court’s rulings hold legal and moral authority.

The Palestinian human rights group Al-Haq issued a detailed explainer in advance of the opinion’s release, which is a good resource for understanding the legal questions the Court was considering. Following the publication of the opinion, Al-Haq posted on X:

“This is a first step towards rectifying the generational harm of Israel’s illegal occupation, ongoing Nakba, settler-colonialism and apartheid to the Palestinian people, which must be ended, and all Israeli discriminatory measures and legislation repealed. Set against a backdrop of aggressive settlement expansion, increased settler attacks & the GazaGenocide the Advisory Opinion is a stark reminder to States and corporations alike of the need to take concrete action against Israel’s crimes and end Israeli presence in Palestine.”

Even in advance of the release of the ICJ’s advisory opinion, Israeli government officials were bracing for its findings. Smotrich even called on Netanyahu to annex the West Bank in retaliation, a demand he reiterated after the opinion was published.

Israel Grants Itself Civilian Control of An Additional 3% of West Bank Land

Peace Now reports that the Israeli Commander of the Central Command has signed two new orders granting the Israeli government vast planning authorities an additional 3% or 41,300 acres (167,000 dunams) of the West Bank, in the areas to the east of and between Bethlehem and Hebron. Previously, these lands were under the (theoretical) civilian control of the Palestinian Authority (areas A & B according to the Oslo Accords), much to the dismay of settlers and their government allies who have been agitating for control over an ever-increasing amount of land in the West Bank in order, at least in part, to demolish Palestinian construction in the area.

The first order granted Israeli authority to operate in these areas, and the second order made construction in the areas illegal – establishing guidelines for Israeli authorities to demolish any/all Palestinian buildings if they were built after 1998 (the Wye Agreement). Importantly, Bezalel Smotrich and his allies hold authority within the Civil Administration to pursue and enforce demolitions.

Peace Now said in a statement:

“There is no end to the desire for control and annexation by the settler government. The Israeli government is taking upon itself authorities that Netanyahu himself transferred to the Palestinians under the Wye Agreement in 1998. There is no Israeli interest in demolishing Palestinian homes in Area B, which will only harm Israel’s security and international standing, but it solely serves the interests of messianic settlers. It should be noted that the “Agreed-Upon Reserve” is not a genuine nature reserve. It is an Israeli invention born out of the Wye Agreement, where Netanyahu sought to prevent the implementation of agreements signed with the Palestinians and to avoid transferring authority to them in these territories. Therefore, they were defined as “reserves” so that the territories would be transferred to Palestinians but with a prohibition on Palestinian construction. However, they do not constitute an actual reserve.”

Settlers Enter Abu Nab House in Batan al-Hawa, Silwan As Shehadeh Family Faces 20-Day Eviction Notice

Peace Now reports that on July 16th settlers entered the home owned by the Palestinian Abu-Nab family in Silwan and immediately began construction work inside. Last week the Jerusalem District Court ruled in favor of the settlers claim to home and ordered the immediate dispossession of the Abu Nab family. Settlers acted fast to take possession of the home while the family was not home, even as the Abu Nab family lawyer prepared an appeal against the ruling.

On the same day that settlers entered the Abu Nab family home, the Shehadeh family (who lives next door to the Abu-Nabs) received an eviction notice giving them 20 days to leave their home or face forcible eviction. The Shehadeh family has already been denied an appeal by the Israeli Supreme Court.

Peace Now said in a statement:

“This is a real alarm. If the government does not intervene and if pressure is not applied on it to intervene, we may see Israeli police forcibly evicting Palestinian families from their homes in Silwan in the coming weeks, and settlers moving in instead. This is a terrible injustice based on discriminatory laws and the exploitation of the vulnerability of East Jerusalem residents, who are not equal citizens living under occupation in Jerusalem. This is part of a larger scheme to expel an entire Palestinian community to make way for settlements in East Jerusalem, and this crime must be stopped. Now.”

Palestinians Blast IDF Closure of Courtyard in Ibrahimi Mosque Complex

The Palestinian-run Hebron Municipality condemned the closure of a courtyard outside of the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron. The director of the Hebron Endowments, Ghassan Al-Rajabi, on July 11th Israeli troops used sheet metal to close off the courtyard area. Rajabi called it, “a blatant assault against the sanctity and status of the Mosque.”

The Hebron Municipality issued a statement saying:

“This assault comes as part of the statistical projects that seek to consecrate the honorable Abrahamic Shrine and its surroundings, and impose complete control over it by erecting tracks and an electric elevator earlier to facilitate the settlers’ access to the shrine, which will cause its historical and religious landmarks to be distorted and changed and violated the religious and cultural rights of the original owners of the land And the ability to exercise and access their religious rights freely and safely. Know that the occupation authorities had this plan for years and it has been objected and objected by the Ministry of Endowments and Religious Affairs, the owner of the legal, legal and administrative state on the shrine.”

New Outpost Established East of Ramallah

Palestinian sources report that settlers established a new outpost east of Ramallah on July 15th.

Hassan Mleihat, the general supervisor of the Al-Baidar Organization said at a press conference:

“A group of extremist settlers set up tents and placed barbed wire over land belonging to the village of Burqa, east of Ramallah…This area has seen rising conflicts between illegal settlers and Palestinians over land, and the new outpost is part of the occupation government’s plans to seize more land for settlement expansion.”

European Union Issues New Sanctions on Israeli Settlers, Orgs, and Outposts

On July 15th the European Union on Monday sanctioned five Israeli settlers, two outposts and one settler organization group that it deemed are “responsible for serious and systematic human rights abuses against Palestinians in the West Bank.” the European Council, the E.U. body that represents the heads of the member governments, said in a statement.

These sanctions duplicated some of the sanctions the U.S. has imposed already.

Israeli press reports that several additional countries – including the U.K. under new leadership – have warned Israeli officials that more sanctions should be expected should Smotrich continue his settlement and annexation activities. Haaretz reports that Israeli officials are concerned sanctions will be placed on the major settler groups Amana and Regavim.

U.S. Sanctions Two More Individuals, Including First Military Target

The United States made two announcements of new sanctions this week. First on July 17th the U.S. said it had designated Shlomo Yehezkel Hai Sarid, who is the head of the previously-sanctioned Tsav 9 settler organization. Then on July 18th the U.S. announced that it had sanctioned Elor Azaria, who is a former IDF sergeant who was filmed executing a wounded Palestinian in 2016. Azaria was convicted by an Israeli court and served only 18 months in prison.

So far, the U.S. has placed sanctions on 11 settlers and 11 settler entities who have perpetrated violence and disorder in the West Bank. Azaria is unique among the designated individuals in that he was sanctioned for his actions while serving in the Israeli IDF some eight years ago, not for his active participation in settler terrorism.

Bonus Reads

“The US held off sanctioning this Israeli army unit despite evidence of abuses. Now its forces are shaping the fight in Gaza” (CNN)
“Some 100,000 Palestinian Residents of Jerusalem Receive Only 4-12 Hours of Running Water per Week” (Ir Amim)
“Israel’s legalization of settlements in the northern West Bank, explained” (Mondoweiss)
“Far-right groups that block aid to Gaza receive tax-deductible donations from US and Israel” (AP)
“What life is like for Palestinians living under Israeli occupation” (Al Jazeera Video)

Welcome to FMEP’s Weekly Settlement Report, covering everything you need to know about Israeli settlement activity this week.

To subscribe to this report, please click here.

July 12, 2024

A Stunning, Expansive Time for Israel’s West Bank Annexation
Civil Admin Seizes Patchwork of Plots as “State Land” in Order to Legalize the Evyatar Outpost
Government Establishes Jurisdiction for New Settlement on World Heritage Site Near Bethlehem
Settlers Takeover New Building in Hebron
Historic Year for Land Grabs: Israel Seizes Over 3,000 Acres in the Jordan Valley as “State Land”
Civil Admin Advances Plans to Legalize Three Outposts & Build 5k New Units Across West Bank
Israeli Cabinet Gives Civil Admin Authority Over Antiquity Sites in Area B
Israeli Cabinet Supports Knesset Considers Bill to Transfer West Bank Antiquities Control from Civil Admin to Domestic Body
U.S. Issues New Round of Sanctions Against Settlers & Settler Organizations
Israeli Court Orders 11 Families Out of Homes in Batan al-Hawa, Silwan
Israeli Court Rules to Demolish Wadi Hilweh Info Center in Silwan
Israeli Court Tells Settlers To Leave Khalidi Library in Old City of Jerusalem
Israel to Advance 6,000+ Settlement Units in East Jerusalem in Coming Weeks
Amidst Wave of Violence, Settlers Lead Progrom On Massafer Yatta Region
Ariel Settlers Close Access Road to Palestinians
IDF Demolishes Outposts, Clashes With Settlers
Bonus Reads

A Stunning, Expansive Time for Israel’s West Bank Annexation

Over the past two weeks, Israel has unleashed a flurry of settlement activity that makes its annexation of the West Bank complete. Even a small sampling of those acts, detailed below along with other news, are stunning when taken together. Indeed, Israeli National Missions Minister Orti Strock called this “a miraculous time,” referring to the control her and her allies have over key government bodies and how easy it is for them to fund settlement construction. Strock is a member of the Religious Zionism party, along with Bezalel Smotrich.

Renowned Israeli human rights lawyer Michael Sfard encapsulates this time powerfully in an article entitled, “Smotrich Has Completed Israel’s Annexation of the West Bank”:

“The only thing the annexationist criminals must be saying to themselves now is: why did we wait for 57 years? It’s so easy.”

Civil Admin Seizes Patchwork of Plots as “State Land” in Order to Legalize the Evyatar Outpost

On July 8th, the Israeli government declared 16 acres (66 dunams) of land south of Nablus as Israeli “state land” in order to pave the way for the legalization of the Evyatar outpost. Palestinians who have private ownership claims to the land have 45 days in which to submit an appeal. The declaration is the result of three years of “work” by Smotrich’s Settlements Administration to examine the status of the land in order to find a way for the state to take control of the land in order to legalize the outpost. The declaration comes one week after the Israeli Security of Cabinet decided in favor of legalizing the Evyatar outpost along with four other outposts.

The Evyatar outpost was illegally built by settlers on a strategic hilltop named Mount Sabih, located just south of Nablus on land historically belonging to nearby Palestinian villages Beita, Yatma, and Qablan. It was evacuated by the Israeli government in 2021 in the context of an agreement with settlers that left all construction at the site in place, maintained an IDF presence at the site, and made clear the government’s intent to legalize settlement at the site in the future – a goal which was made more than official when it was agreed to in writing as part of the coalition agreements that formed the current Israeli government.

To underscore the absurdity which has characterized the State’s blatant intent to legalize Evyatar even though Israeli law makes that an impossibility because parts of the land are recognized by the State as privately owned by Palestinians (which is the only reason Evyatar has yet to be legalized), the State’s new declaration of “state land” is a complete patchwork. The order does not include the land on which the central square of the outpost is built, nor does it include 11 buildings, or, very importantly, the access road leading from the main road to the outpost. The implications of this patchwork is that even though the privately owned land was not seized, Palestinians will remain unable to access the land and will, in practice, lose that land as well as land abutting the settlement as it grows, expands, and establishes control over the area with the assistance of the IDF.

Peace Now reports that this is the fifth “state land” declaration so far in 2024 bringing the total land in the West Bank taken into Israeli control this year to 5,879 acres (23,572 dunams), breaking all previous annual records combined. Israel invented the concept of “state land” in order to find means by which to confiscate land in the occupied West Bank, and to do so Israel cites Ottoman law which provided that land which has not been cultivated in consecutives years becomes the property of the sovereign. Peace Now explains:

“The declaration process is essentially a legal maneuver developed by Israel to circumvent the prohibition in international law against expropriating private property of the occupied population for the benefit of the occupying power. To “convert” private land into public land (termed “state land”) without expropriating it, Israel claims that it is not changing the land’s status but merely “declaring” it officially.

According to Israel’s interpretation of Ottoman land law, which underpins the land laws in the occupied territories, if a landowner does not cultivate their land for several years, the land is no longer theirs and becomes public property. To this end, the mapping personnel of the Civil Administration, now operating under the Settlements Administration with legal counsel under Minister Smotrich, examine aerial photographs to identify uncultivated lands and mark them as “state land.”

The declaration map for the Evyatar outpost shows that there were indeed several cultivated lands, even by Israel’s stringent interpretation. For example, the declaration creates an enclave of about 3.5 dunams in the middle of the area designated for the settlement, considered private land. In principle, Israel would argue that it is not expropriating this area and that the Palestinian landowners are still recognized as the owners. However, as in hundreds of similar cases, it is clear that they will not have access to their land and no possibility of using it when it is located in the middle of an Israeli settlement.

To enable an access road connecting the outpost to the main road without crossing private land, the map’s designers managed to “find” an 11-meter-long and 1.5-meter-wide corridor of land that they claim was uncultivated and thus considered state land. This interpretation of Ottoman law brings it to absurdity.

According to this, if a person has a plot and cultivates it intensively, but there is a small uncultivated strip on the edges, say a rock that cannot be plowed, that small part of the plot is not owned by the landowner. This interpretation is far removed from the purpose of the Ottoman law, which was to encourage the empire’s subjects to cultivate the lands to increase its tax revenues.

Regarding the access road – in any case, for modern vehicles, a road 1.5 meters wide is insufficient, and it is clear that to allow access to the settlement, the state will encroach on private Palestinian lands (requiring another legal maneuver). Thus, it can be said that this entire declaration of state land is essentially an unlawful expropriation under international law.”

Government Establishes Jurisdiction for New Settlement on World Heritage Site Near Bethlehem

On July 9th, the IDF Commander signed an order establishing the jurisdiction for a new settlement on the lands just west of Bethlehem, lands that are recognized as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. Notably, the jurisdiction for the new settlement, called “Nahal Heletz”, does not include the land on which two illegal outposts already exist on Battir’s land. The new settlement is being planned for land that is between Bethlehem and several villages to its west (Walaja, Battir, and Husan) – meaning that construction on this land will sever the territorial continuity of Palestinian land in the Bethlehem region, and, in the words of Peace Now: “turn them [the villages] into an enclave within Israeli territory.”

There are several extraordinary facts about this land and Israel’s legal acrobatics to establish a new settlement at this location:

1. The status of the land within the new jurisdiction is unclear, and quite possibly includes privately owned Palestinian land. The Israeli Blue Line Team (a government effort to precisely map the boundaries of state land in the West Bank) has prepared updated maps to show the boundaries of state land in the area, but has yet to release it – meaning that the status of the land is unclear. The jurisdiction appears to stretch beyond the previously understood boundaries of land that Israel seized as “state land” in the 1980s, onto land that is privately owned by Palestinians. The updated boundaries might change that fact in the eyes of the Israeli government. But,once the new Blue Line in the area is made public, Palestinians will/should be able to contest it.
2. There is no access road to the area, and it is surrounded by privately owned Palestinian land. Israel will have to unilaterally expropriate privately owned Palestinian land in order to pave a road to the new settlement – – an extraordinary act which Israel has done in the past (having invented a legal basis on which to do it, a concept which considers Israeli settlers as part of the “local population” of the West Bank).
3. The jurisdictional area established by this new order is too small for real development – just under 30 acres (120 dunams). Peace Now explains that “small settlements severely impact open spaces, require substantial resources for infrastructure and transportation, and contradict fundamental planning principles. The sole reason for establishing such a settlement is political: the desire to prevent a Palestinian territorial continuity in the Bethlehem area and the possibility of a viable Palestinian state.”
4. The jurisdiction is a stones throw away from Palestinian houses and Area B.

Settlers Takeover New Building in Hebron

Peace Now reports that in early June 2024 settlers have taken over a building (“Beit HaTkuma”) in Hebron and established a new settlement enclave there. The house, which settlers illegally entered once before but were removed under the Bennet-Lapid government, on the main road leading from the Kiryat Arba settlement to the Tomb of the Patriarchs/Al-Ibrahimi Mosque.

Settlers claim to have purchased the house, which is a three-story building, from its Palestinians owners, and report that the Civil Administration has recently issued them a permit to begin the registration process. The timing of this permit coincides with the first days of Hillel Roth’s assumption of his role in the Defense Ministry as the civilian in charge of all land matters in the West Bank. Upon receiving the permit (allegedly), the settlers decided to enter and occupy the building although the permit does not provide for that. [map]

Historic Year for Land Grabs: Israel Seizes Over 3,000 Acres in the Jordan Valley as “State Land”

On June 25th, the head of the IDF signed an order declaring 3,138 acres (12,700 dunams) of land in the Jordan Valley as “state land” – the largest state land seizure since the Oslo Accords were signed in 1993. This is the first declaration enacted under the authority of Hillel Roth, the new civilian deputy in the Civil Administration responsible for land policy in Area C of the West Bank. Peace Now reports that the legal opinion supporting this massive declaration of state land was crafted by lawyers in the Department of Defense and not legal advisors with the IDF.

Peace Now further reports:

“A significant part of the area that was declared as state land was previously defined as a nature reserve, and also as a “fire area”, for military use, for decades. Today’s announcement completes the Israeli takeover of this area that has been done so far through the declaration of the area as a military area and as a nature reserve – something that imposed many restrictions on the Palestinians’ ability to use their lands. The declaration creates a territorial continuity between the settlements in the Jordan Valley (Yifit and Masu’a) and the settlements at the eastern end of the mountainside (Gitit and Ma’ale Efraim).”

So far in 2024, Israel has declared 5,852 acres as “state land” a figure eclipsing any other year since the Oslo Accords were signed in 1993. The highest previous total was in 2014, and it was for 1,181 acres.

Civil Admin Advances Plans to Legalize Three Outposts & Build 5k New Units Across West Bank

On July 4th, the Israeli Civil Administration approved the advancement of plans for 5,295 settlement units, including plans which would in effect legalize three outposts under the guise of being “neighborhoods” of existing settlements. This is the first time the Civil Administration’s High Planning Council has met since it came under the authority of a civilian official, Hillel Roth, who was appointed by Bezalel Smotrich. The HPC last met in March 2024. The Associated Press has called Israel’s advancement of plans a “turbo charged settlement drive [that] threatens to further stoke tensions on the West Bank.”

The three outposts that are now on their way to legalization, once given final approval, are:

Mahane Gadi – to be legalized as a neighborhood of the Masu’a settlement in the northern Jordan Valley. This outpost was built in 2018 on an abandoned Isareli military camp. The outpost currently functions as an educational campus and pre-military academy. Plans advanced this week are for the construction of 260 settlement units. Masu’a settlement, and its outpost satellites, were recently benefitted by the Israeli government’s massive declaration of state land that borders Masu’a.
Givat Hanan (Susya East) – to be legalized as a neighborhood of the Susya settlement located in the South Hebron Hills.
Kedem Arava – it appears that the Kedem Arava outpost was legalized along with Beit Hogla in February 2023 (previously unclear), located south east of Jericho. Plans advanced this week are for 316 settlement units in the Kedem Arava outpost area, but filed as if they are plans for the Beit Hogla settlement.

The settlement plans that were approved for validation (a near final step in the West Bank planning process) are:

Beitar Illit – 298 settlement units. An additional 453 units were approved for deposit (751 settlement units total).
Givat Zeev – 452 settlement units
Mitzpe Yericho – 365 settlement units
Nokdim – 290 settlement units
Immanuel – 266 settlement units
Elon Moreh – 186 settlement units
Kiryat Arba – 165 settlement units
Negohot – 158 settlement units
Tzofim – 74 settlement units
Ganei Modiin – 46 settlement units
Etz Efraim – 12 settlement units. An additional 24 units were approved for deposit (36 units total)
Eli – 24 settlement units
Mitzad (Asfar) – 6 settlement units

The settlement plans that were approved for deposit (an earlier step in the West Bank planning process) are:

Neria – 436 settlement units
Modin Illit – 300 settlement units
Gva’ot – 250 settlement units. There were over 1,000 plans for the Gva’ot settlement on the High Planning Council’s agenda, but only one plan was advanced, the rest continue to be worked on.
Yakir – 168 settlement units. Haaretz reports that these units are slated to be built on land that is discontiguous from the built up area of the Yakir settlement, on the far side of the settlement’s access road, effectively building a new settlement. The construction of these units requires the evacuation of a military base.
Kiryat Netafim – 136 settlement units
Hagai – 135 settlement units
Maale Shomron (Elamatan) – 120 settlement units
Almon (Anatot) – 91 settlement units
Shilo – 90 settlement units
Pduel – 37 settlement units
Revava – 16 settlement units
Elkana – 8 settlement units
Shaarei Tikva – 6 settlement units

Peace Now said in a statement:

“Netanyahu and Smotrich’s agenda became evident through the decisions of the Planning Council: approval for thousands of housing units, the establishment of three new settlements, and strategic appointments of Smotrich’s allies in key roles instead of military personnel underscore the annexation occurring in the West Bank. Our government continues to change the rules of the game in the occupied West Bank, leading to irreversible harm. While the north is neglected and citizens across the country are abandoned, with 120 hostages still in Gaza, the process of annexation and land theft continues to expand, contrary to Israeli interests. This annexationist government severely undermines the security and future of both Israelis and Palestinians, and the cost of this recklessness will be paid for generations to come. We must bring down the government before it’s too late.”

Israeli Cabinet Gives Civil Admin Authority Over Antiquity Sites in Area B

In late June, the Israeli Cabinet approved several punitive measures against the Palestinian Authority, measures which included usurping the Palestinian Authority’s singular responsibility for antiquity sites in Area B. Under the decision passed last week, the Civil Administration was granted enforcement powers over antiquity sites in Area B that are alleged to be damaged.

Emek Shaveh explains why this is incredibly significant:

“Approximately 6,000 archaeological sites have been identified in the West Bank. Almost every village or settlement contains archaeological and historical remains that require archaeological supervision to prevent damage to sites, structures, or findings. Thousands of sites are located in Areas A and B…expanding the powers of the [Civil Administration] into these areas represents another Israeli departure from the Oslo Accords. The implications of the decision for Palestinian residents are far reaching. The Staff Officer for Archaeology [in the Civil Administration], which derives its authority from the antiquities law effective in the West Bank (the Jordanian Antiquities Law of 1966), will now be empowered to perform various enforcement actions in Area B including:

Declaration of archaeological sites, determining their boundaries.

Issuing work stoppage orders for any development within the boundaries of a declared site or a site suspected of containing archaeological remains.

Imposing fines for damage to an antiquity site, whether the site is declared or not.

Demolishing structures located within a declared archaeological site or one that will be declared in the future.

Collecting information, investigating, and requesting the arrest of suspects in antiquities theft or illegal antiquities trade.

This decision taken together with other decisions for Area B aimed at promoting annexation will dramatically reduce Palestinian space. It should be noted that the SOA consistently avoids enforcing the law when it comes to heritage site destruction by settlers (this is true in Hebron, Battir, and in other places)….

The expansion of archaeological activity into the oPt, especially as reflected in this cabinet decision, indicates the government’s intention to promote annexation by any means. It also fundamentally challenges the possibility of conducting impartial archaeological-scientific activity as long as it operates as part of an oppressive mechanism under military auspices. Israeli archaeological activity in the West Bank necessarily becomes an act of land appropriation and a deepening of Israel’s hold on the West Bank. This action violates international law and ethics, disregards the existence of the Palestinian community, and serves as a weapon for oppression.

The destruction of sites cannot and should not serve as a pretext for political action, and political action should not be disguised as archaeological activity. Blurring the distinction between heritage preservation and settlement and annexation activities turns the practice of archaeology into a weapon of oppression while undermining its professional legitimacy.”

Notably, Israel Hayom credits this Cabinet action to a settler group called “Keepers of the Eternal,” (or, “Guardians of Eternity” – an offshoot of Regavim) the leader of which called the new powers granted to the Civil Administration “dramatic.” FMEP has reported on this group repeatedly as it has increased its pressure on and work with the government to take control of West Bank antiquity sites. Dating back to June 2020, the “Guardians of Eternity” began surveying areas in the West Bank that Israel has designated as archaeological sites, looking for Palestinian construction (barred by Israel in such areas) that they could then use as a pretext to demand that Israeli authorities demolish it. The group systematically began communicating its findings to the Archaeology Unit of the Israeli Civil Administration.

Then in January 2021, the Israeli government committed funding to a settler initiative to surveil archeological sites under Palestinian control. While the objective of protecting antiquities might appear uncontroversial and apolitical, the true (and transparently self-evident) objectives behind this effort are: to support yet another pretext to surveil and police Palestinians; to establish and exploit yet another means to dispossess Palestinians of their properties; to expand/deepen Israeli control across the West Bank; and to further entrench Israeli technical, bureaucratic and legal paradigms that treat the West Bank as sovereign Israeli territory. It is the result of a campaign that has taken place over the past year in which settlers have escalated their calls for the Israeli government to seize antiquities and “heritage sites” located in Palestinian communities across the West Bank, especially in Area C, which Israel today treats as functionally (and legally) indistinguishable from sovereign Israeli territory.

Israeli Cabinet Supports Knesset Considers Bill to Transfer West Bank Antiquities Control from Civil Admin to Domestic Body

Emek Shaveh reports that the Israeli cabinet gave its support to a bill in the Knesset that would transfer authority over West Bank antiquity sites from the Defense Ministry’s Civil Administration to the domestic Israeli Antiquities Authority, bringing the cultural, heritage, and archaeological sites in the West Bank under the direct control of the Israeli government in which West Bank Palestinians have no rights.

The bill, as proposed by Likud’s Amit Halevi, explains that the move is justifiable because the West Bank antiquity sites (unbelievably) “have no historical or other connection to the Palestinian Authority.” The bill passed a preliminary vote in the Knesset on July 10th.

U.S. Issues New Round of Sanctions Against Settlers & Settler Organizations

On July 11th, the United States announced another round of sanctions targeting Israeli settlers and settler organizations it asserts are perpetrating violent crimes against Palestinians and Israeli solidarity activists in the West Bank. These sanctions expand the web or already sanctioned individuals and entities.

The individuals and entities sanctioned by the U.S. this week are:

1 settler organization:
- Lehava – a settler group led by Benzi Gopstein, who is already under U.S. sanctions.
3 individuals:
- Issachar Manne – who established the Manne’s Farm outpost.
- Reut Ben Haim – the co-head of the Tzav 9 settler group, which is already under U.S. sanctions;
- Shlomo Sari – the co-head of the Tzav 9 settler group, which is already under U.S. sanctions;
Four illegal outposts:
- Meitarim Farm (established by Yinon Levi, who is already under U.S. sanctions);
- HaMahoch Farm (established by Neria Ben Pazi, who is already under U.S. sanctions);
- Neria’s Farm (established by Neria Ben Pazi, who is already under U.S. sanctions); and,
- Manne’s Farm, established by Issachar Manne, who came under sanctions this week, and located in the South Herbon Hills.

Notably, The Times of Israel has previously reported that in 2021 a corporation owned by the Har Hebron Regional Council signed a legally binding contract with Yinon Levi (a previously sanctioned individual) to establish Meitarim Farm. This legal connection exposes the settlement municipality to US sanctions as well.

Aaron David Miler, a former state department Middle East negotiator now a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, tells The Guardian that the expanding targets of U.S. sanctions are creeping closer towards the Israeli government, saying:

“It appears that [the U.S. State Department] not just targeted extremist settlers but … introduced a linkage to territoriality by citing illegal outposts…It doesn’t take much imagination to conclude that the next target would be [Israeli] government financing for illegal outposts. And that would be a new departure to be sure.”

Sara Yager, Washington director of Human Rights Watch, said:

“In this case we’re pleased that the Biden administration is going farther than before with the alert…Now it’s time for sanctions against the Israeli authorities that are approving and inciting. We want to see the US, UK, Canada and others focus on power behind all this in the West Bank.”

Israeli Court Orders 11 Families Out of Homes in Batan al-Hawa, Silwan

This week the Jerusalem District Court ruled on two significant cases affecting 11 Palestinian families in Silwan facing forcible eviction from their homes at the hands of the Ateret Cohanim settler organization. Both cases were found in favor of the settlers, leaving 11 families at risk of imminent mass displacement from East Jerusalem. The Palestinians plan to appeal the ruling to the Israeli Supreme Court – though it was only a month ago that the Supreme Court rejected an appeal by the Shehadeh family whose case is similar to those decided this week.

On July 9th, the Israeli court rejected the final appeal of the Gheith and Abu Nab families (4 family units totalling 22 individuals) and ordered their immediate eviction. The families were also ordered to pay the legal fees incurred by Ateret Cohanim.

On July 10th, the Israeli court rejected the final appeal of the Rajabi family (7 family units, 65 individuals), ruling that the 66-member family must vacate their longtime home by January 2025.

In both cases, Ateret Cohanim claims ownership of the buildings becuase it gained control of the historic Benvenisti Trust, which oversaw the assets of Yemenite Jews who lived in Silwan in the 19th century. In 2001 the Israeli Charitable Trust Registrar granted Ateret Cohanim permission to revive the trust and become its trustees following 63 years of dormancy. In 2002, the Israeli Custodian General transferred ownership of the land in Batan al-Hawa to the Trust (i.e., to Ateret Cohanim). Since then, Ateret Cohanim has accelerated its multi-pronged campaign to remove Palestinians from their homes, claiming that the Palestinians are illegal squatters. Silwan is just one site of Ateret Cohanim’s work to establish Jewish enclaves inside densely populated Palestinian neighborhoods of East Jerusalem, for the explicit purpose of “reclaiming” Palestinian parts of Jerusalem for Jews.

Ir Amim explains:

“These families are among some 85 Palestinian families, consisting of over 700 individuals, who face largescale displacement and settler takeovers of their homes in Batan al-Hawa. This is a result of eviction claims filed by a Jewish trust established in the 19th century, which is now controlled by the Ateret Cohanim settler group who is exploiting it to take over Palestinian homes.

While carried out under a veneer of legitimacy, the proceedings are underpinned by discriminatory laws, political motivations, and a system that is rigged against Palestinians from the outset which deprives them of equal access to justice. Moreover, theses measures are a violation of international law and could amount to a form of forcible transfer.

Rather than adjudicating these cases from a broader perspective, which includes moral, geopolitical, and humanitarian considerations, as well as international law, the Israeli judiciary is instead complicit with these moves.

These cases are part and parcel of a coordinated and systematic political campaign aimed at uprooting Palestinians and expanding Jewish settlement in the heart of Palestinian neighborhoods. While the eviction claims themselves are initiated by settlers, they are aided and abetted on all levels of the state, which carry far-reaching implications on the future of Jerusalem and the conflict as a whole.”

Israeli Court Rules to Demolish Wadi Hilweh Info Center in Silwan

On July 3rd, the Jerusalem Court of Local Affairs ruled that the Wadi Hilweh Information Center will be demolished within a year, and fined the Center over $5,000 (NIS 20,000). The Wadi Hilweh Information Center is run by prominent activist Jawad Siyam, who along with the center is a fixture in Silwan and an important interlocutor with diplomats and alternative tourism who are seeking to learn about Palestinian history in the area and current struggles to remain there while enduring state + settler harassment and displacement.

The Center was opened in 2009, at which time the Jerusalem Municipality issued a warning notice demanding the demolition of part of the building that was recently “renovated” (the roof was repaired) because the Center did not obtain an Israeli-issued building permit to do the work. The Center says that the building itself predates Israel’s control of the area in 1967. It currently stands in the shadow of the massive “City of David Visitors Center” complex that the Elad settler organization has built over the years.

Peace Now said in a statement:

“Instead of taking care of all the residents of Jerusalem, Jews and Arabs, the Jerusalem Municipality works to harm the Palestinian residents and make their lives difficult. The tourist settlement in the Palestinian neighborhoods around the Old City, which is massively supported by the government, is aiming at erasing the Palestinian presence from the public space in East Jerusalem. The pressures exerted by the municipality against the Wadi Hilweh Information Center in Silwan and the intention to demolish it, are for the political purpose of not allowing the residents to organize and make their voices heard in the public domain.”

Israeli Court Tells Settlers To Leave Khalidi Library in Old City of Jerusalem

On June 30th, the Jerusalem District Court made a group of settlers vacate ta building in the Khalidi Library complex located in the Old City of Jerusalem after they broke into the building and occupied it three days prior. The library is within eyesight of the Western/Wailing Wall plaza (Kotel Plaza), on Chain Gate Road, which leads to the Haram al-Sharif. There is an IDF checkpoint right outside of the door, reflecting what an intensely sensitive area it is in.

The settlers had forged documents claiming to have purchased the building, but upon review of the Khalidi families’ own documents which show the family has owned the building for at least 160 years, the Court ordered the settlers to leave. There is another hearing set in the coming weeks which will allow the settlers, if they choose, to make their case.

Listen to Rashid Khalidi explain the history of the Khalidi Library, the current situation and its importance, and the ongoing fears of settler takeover in a conversation with FMEP Fellow Peter Beinart on a recent episode of FMEP’s “Occupied Thoughts” podcast.

In a statement, the Khalidi family said:

“Despite this temporary success, there is an ongoing fear of settler violence and the chilling effect of the occupation. Two of the settlers involved have been identified as Eli Attal ad Erez Zaka, the former linked to previous takeovers of Palestinian properties in the old city. After today’s ruling, scores of settlers remain lingering outside the house and on the rooftops filming and occasionally bagining on the doors and windows, posing a threat of breaking and entry and further illegal actions.”

Israel to Advance 6,000+ Settlement Units in East Jerusalem in Coming Weeks

Ir Amim reports that within the next two weeks Israel is planning to advance plans for 6,700 new settlement units in East Jerusalem. Plans to be advanced include:

- Givat Hamatos – plans for 3,500 new units, 1,300 new hotel rooms, five synagogues, and two mikvahs (ritual baths). This plan wouldl double the number of units in the settlement and expand its size by nearly 40%;
- Gilo – two plans for a total of 1,288 new settlement units, expanding hte settlement to the south east, further choking the Palestinian neighborhood of Beit Safafa and severing neighborhoods in southern Jerusalem from the Bethlehem area;
- Ramot – plans for 800 new settlement units.

Details of the plans slated for advancement are reported here by Ir Amim, and will be reported by FMEP in more detail when they are advanced.

Amidst Wave of Violence, Settlers Lead Progrom On Massafer Yatta Region

Palestinian residents in Masafer Yatta, an area of small villages in the South Hebron Hills, have been live streaming the frequent and intensifying terror that Israeli settlers have been inflicting on them for years. The terror peaked to unimaginable levels over the last weeks when, on multiple occasions, armed settlers descended on villages in the area inflicting terror, violence, and intimidation.

Eid Suleman, a prominent activist in Umm al-Khair, told the Associated Press:

“We know what this is. They’re trying to expel us out of here. The military did the dirty job last week and now the settlers are following up.”

Some of the events that have transpired include:

On June 26th, the IDF arrived in Umm al-Khair early in the morning and proceeded to demolish a third of Umm al-Khair’s structures (11 homes), leaving 38 people (30 children) homeless).

On July 1st, armed settlers descended on Umm al-Khair, some dressed as IDF officers, and fired live ammunition toward Palestinians, deployed tear gas, and attacked people with wooden sticks. Israel soldiers and police were nearby but did not intervene.

On July 2nd, settlers were accompanied by Isreali soldiers as the entered the village of Umm al-Khair and built a tent in the center square, where 40 settlers gathered in a sort of celebration. When they eventually left, the settlers cut the water pipes supplying the village and warned of their plans to return the next day.

On July 3rd, settlers descended on the nearby village of Khalled al-Daba’a and set agricultural crops and trees on fire. The settlers then proceeded to march on the homes in the village carrying cans of gasoline and guns.

On July 4th, Palestinian residents reported that 100 settlers attacked the village of Khaled al-Daba, setting fire to fruit trees and shooting live ammunition directly towards Palestinians. Settlers proceeded to beat villages with sticks. Israeli forces arrested one Palestinian.

Settlers then moved to Mufagarah, a nearby village, where they destroyed vehicles and prevented emergency medical workers from reaching Palestinians and internationals in need. Palestinians report several Palestinians and two internationals were injured by the settlers.

On July 7th, the IDF arrested members of the Hureini family – who are all prominent activists in the area – who had called the police to report that settlers had shepherded flocks of sheep onto the Hureini’s land.

The Center for Jewish Nonviolence (which maintains a protective presence in Masafer Yatta and closely allied with the local population there) reports that “the attacks on Umm al-Khair after the demolition on Wednesday are being led by a settler named Shimon Atiya (or Atia), a leader of the nearby illegal outpost, Havat Shorashim (or “Roots Farm” in English). For months, he has been one of countless settlers acting with impunity while wreaking havoc on Palestinian communities across Area C.”

The events in Massafer Yatta bring into stark relief the intensity and persistence of settler terrorism in the West Bank, especially since October 7, 2023. AIDA (Association of International Development Agencies) has recorded 1,000 incidents of settler violence since October 7th.

The outgoing head of the Israeli Army’s Central Command, Yehuda Fuchs, used his farewell speech to criticize Israel policy makers for their failure to deter settler terrorism in the West Bank.

Ariel Settlers Close Access Road to Palestinians

The Mayor of the Ariel settlement has blockaded on the main access road leading to the nearby Palestinian village ofSalfit, boasting about his actions in an Instagram post. In addition to building a blockade of boulders and a welded gate, workers also destroyed parts of the road. The Civil Administration has attempted to remove the blockades and restore use of the road, but each time the settlers have re-constructed the blockade.

The Ariel settlement Mayor, Yair Chetboun, said in the video:

“Security is foremost upon us, upon the city. We trust the IDF, love the IDF, but if the senior levels don’t understand the importance of blockading this route – which led to attacks and enables car theft. We won’t permit such a reality. We are also operating on the political front but also on the ground.”

IDF Demolishes Outposts, Clashes With Settlers

On July 3rd, settlers clashed with Israeli authorities as they attempted to demolish the illegal outpost “Oz Zion B.” Haaretz reports that five settlers were arrested for violence against Israeli Border Police, and four were quickly released without questioning or restrictions. One settler who pepper sprayed an officer was brought to court for a hearing but later released and forbidden from going near the outpost.

The demolition of the outpost was reportedly ok’d by Prime Minister Netanyahu – going over the head of Bezalel Smotrich and the Settlement Administration, which has seized control of building enforcement in the West Bank. The outpost, according to the Shin Bet, was the source of violent terror.

Bonus Reads

“Road to Redemption: How Israel’s War Against Hamas Turned Into a Springboard for Jewish Settlement in Gaza” (Haaretz)
“A look at how settlements have grown in the West Bank over the years” (AP)
“West Bank Annexation and Destabilization in the Shadow of the Israel-Hamas War” (J Street)
“The Status of De Jure West Bank Annexation” (Israel Policy Forum)
“Mounting International Sanctions Against Powerful Israeli Settler Group Could Be Earth-shattering” (Haaretz)
“A warm relationship is being built between Judea, Samaria and America” (JNS)
“Why there is no uprising in the West Bank – yet” (Mondoweiss)
“In His Retirement Speech, Israel’s Top Officer in the West Bank Revealed the Hidden Truth” (Haaretz)
“The Companies Making it Easy to Buy in the West Bank” (The Intercept)

Welcome to FMEP’s Weekly Settlement Report, covering everything you need to know about Israeli settlement activity this week.

To subscribe to this report, please click here.

June 28, 2024

West Bank Annexation: Israeli Military Cedes Control of West Bank Civilian Affairs to Settler
In Secretly Recorded Tapes, Smotrich Confirms Israel is Annexing the West Bank via Bureaucracy
Israel Authorizes Five Outposts, Hints at Thousands of Units & More Annexation to Come
Knesset Forms Caucus to Push for Resettlement of Gaza
Canada Sanctions Prominent Settler Groups & Leaders
Israeli High Court Hears Petition Challenging De Facto Annexation in the Jordan Valley
Bonus Reads

West Bank Annexation: Israeli Military Cedes Control of West Bank Civilian Affairs to Settler

In an act of de jure annexation of the West Bank, on May 29th the head of the Israeli Civil Administration signed an order ceding a significant part of the military’s authority over affairs in the West Bank to a newly created, civilian administrator who reports to Bezalel Smotrich. Filling that role is Hillel Roth, a close ally of Smotrich and resident of the radical, violent Yitzhar settlement. Roth was appointed as Deputy head of the Civil Administration and now has authority over the enforcement of building regulations in settlements and outposts; West Bank real estate transactions; government property; land and water arrangements; protection of holy places (except the Cave of the Patriarchs, Rachel’s Tomb and Samuel’s Tomb); forestry laws; tourism; public bathing; planning of cities, villages and construction; some land registration processes; management and administration of regional councils; and many more.

Smotrich stressed that these changes are meant to be long lasting, and that if the current government changes, the architecture of annexation will remain.

This is a significant continuation of the transfer of control over the West Bank from the Israeli military – which has acted as the occupying power of the West Bank since 1967 – to Israeli civilian government elected by Israelis (and not Palestinians living in the West Bank) to advance Israeli state interests. It’s reasonable to expect that Roth, working in tandem with Smotrich, will continue to advance annexation, accelerate settlement construction, outpost legalization, and enforcement against Palestinian construction. To learn more about why this transfer of power matters, listen to a new FMEP podcast featuring FMEP Fellow Peter Beinart speaks with Professor Yael Berda.

Longtime anti-settlement activist Yehuda Shaul described the step as “de jure annexation,” claiming that “Israeli civilian governance has been extended into the West Bank under Smotrich’s guidance.”

Mairav Zonszein, a senior analyst for Israel-Palestine at Crisis Group, told The Guardian:

“The big story is that this is no longer ‘creeping annexation’ or ‘de facto annexation’, it is actual annexation…This is the legalisation [and] normalisation of a long-term policy. Smotrich is basically re-establishing the way in which the occupation works by taking a large part out of the hands of the military…Half the people he has brought in to the defence ministry are from [the pro-settler Israeli NGO] Regavim. The same people who worked at Regavim to disposess Palestinians in Area C are now in government positions.”

In Foreign Policy, David Rosenberg writes:

“Control over public bathing may seem like a minor business on par with dog catching. But it is not: A big part of the contest for the future of the West Bank is about demographics—increasing the settler population—and control of land. The Settlements Administration is meant to give the settlers the tools to do that more effectively. The natural springs that dot the West Bank serve Palestinian farmers as well as Israeli bathers and constitute one of many battlegrounds for control of the land and its resources.”

In Secretly Recorded Tapes, Smotrich Confirms Israel is Annexing the West Bank via Bureaucracy

At a settler event on June 9th, members of the Peace Now team secretly recorded a speech Bezalel Smotrich made in which he detailed how the Israeli government is bringing the West Bank under Isreal’s civilian/domestic government through a series of administrative moves that were designed to obscure Israel’s annexation from the world, making it appear that the military is still in charge. Smotrich described the efforts as “mega dramatic” saying that the government is cementing its control over the Area C of the West Bank by transferring powers from the military to civilians, but doing it in a way that:

“would be easier to swallow in the political and legal context, so that people wouldn’t say that we are now doing an annexation, and sovereignty, etc., so we did not change the legal status of the land. The military commander is still the sovereign.”

Smotrich went on to detail what the government has accomplished over the past several years, including the establishment of the Settlement Administration and the transfer of powersf from the military to that civilian body, establishing a legalization bypass route to grant outposts authorization, and the upcoming transfer of legal authority from the military to an official under Smotrich’s control. To read more about these moves, see Peace Now’s reporting.

Smotrich’s ultimate goal is, of course, to have no distinction between Israel’s governance regime over 48 Israel and the whole West Bank, not just Area C. A Palestinian settlement expert, Khalil Tafakji, told Mondoweiss that the next logical step is for Smortich to set his sights on Area B, where the Palestinian Authority is empowered to oversee civilian affairs.

Peace Now said in a statement:

“Smotrich said out loud what Netanyahu is trying to hide. While all eyes are on what the Israeli government is doing in Gaza, they are also actively pursuing annexation of the West Bank. Since the war began over two dozen new outposts have been established, and a similar number of Palestinian communities have been forcibly displaced. And in a blatant violation of international law, the government has transferred power in the Occupied West Bank from the army to a civilian body. This illegal act of annexation makes clear that two legal systems are now officially at play for the Palestinians and one for Israeli settlers.”

Michael Sfard, an Israeli human rights lawyer, told The Guardian:

“The bottom line is that [for] anyone who thought the question of annexation was foggy, this order should end any doubts. What this order does is transfers vast areas of administrative power from the military commander to Israeli civilians working for the government.”

The Haaretz Editorial Board writes:

“Netanyahu, Smotrich and their colleagues are annexing the West Bank right now. They are instituting apartheid and destroying the two-state solution. And if they succeed, Israel will cease to exist as a democratic country.”

Israel Authorizes Five Outposts, Hints at Thousands of Units & More Annexation to Come

On June 27th, the Israeli Security Cabinet approved the retro legalization of five outposts along with a series of punitive sanctions on the Palestinian Authority. In announcing the decision, Smotrich said the Cabinet also approved the advancement of plans for thousands of new settlement units across the West Bank as well as forcible transfer of authority over a specific West Bank nature reserve in Area B from the Palestinian Authority to Israel (an act of de jure annexation). According to the Times of Israel the nature preserve, which is not named, has been an obsession of Regavim and other settler groups which allege the Palestinian Authority has been building there (entrenching a Palestinian presence on land the settlers want) and damaging heritage sites – which is a common and often baseless accusation settlers level against Palestinians.

The Prime Minister’s office has not independently confirmed the details of the Cabinet’s decisions, but the Cabinet Secretary Yehuda Fuchs did confirm the decision to legalize the five outposts. The outposts set to be legalized as full-fledge settlements – which will be afforded the ability to expand its territory, receive Israeli services, etc etc – are:

Evyatar, which was built on a strategic hilltop named Mount Sabih, located just south of Nablus on land historically belonging to nearby Palestinian villages Beita, Yatma, and Qablan. The history of the Evyatar outpost and the Israeli government’s efforts to legalize were headline news in 2021, with Palestinians staging regular protests against the outpost and settlers along with the IDF violently attacking those protests. Since 2021, the Israeli government has been “examining” the land in order to find a basis by which to declare the area as “state land” and allow settlers to once again live there. For further background, see here.
Sde Efraim;
Givat Asaf, located east of Ramallah;
Heletz, in the southern West Bank;
Adorayim, in the southern West Bank.

The proposal for authorizing these outposts was first promoted as a response to European states – Norway, Ireland, Spain, and Slovenia – announcing recognition of a Palestinian state.

As a reminder, the Israeli government has spent decades finding means by which to grant authorization to outposts that settlers have illegally built (oftentimes with the open encouragement and funding of the government) throughout the West Bank. The outposts that, to date, are still illegal under Israeli law for the most part are either newly constructed outposts, or they are located on land that even the Israeli government has in the past recognized as privately owned Palestinian land. For the past five years at least, the Israeli government has been inventing new legal bases by which to expropriate privately owned Palestinian land in order to authorize those remaining and new illegal outposts – even tasking government teams to design legal pathways for each outpost to receive authorization. Newly invented legal tools have included most notably the Regulation Law (which was later overturned by the Israeli High Court), and the Market Regulation Principle, and the findings/recommendations of the 2018 Zandberg Report. It remains unclear what basis will be used for these five new outposts set for legalization, or if the Israeli government intends

Knesset Forms Caucus to Push for Resettlement of Gaza

Two members of the Knesset recently launched the “Knesset Caucus for the Renewal of Settlement in the Gaza Strip.” The Caucus is dedicated to push legislation and policy in favor of establishing Jewish settlements in Gaza, an increasingly popular idea even beyond settlers and their allies. A recent survey by the Pew Research Center found that 50% of Jewish Israelis support occupying the Gaza Strip after the war against Hamas ends — although it did not explicitly ask about settlement.

Canada Sanctions Prominent Settler Groups & Leaders

On June 27th, the government of Canada announced sanctions against 5 settler entities and 7 individuals, including prominent settler groups like Amana, Lehava, and the Hilltop Youth, as well as prominent settler leaders, including Daniella Weiss. Canada is the first foreign government to issue sanctions against Weiss or Amana, which is one of the most powerful and well resourced settler organizations behind the illegal construction of outposts in the West Bank. Amna has also received Israeli government funding despite its very public involvement in illegal activities.

In a statement the Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly said:

“We remain deeply concerned by extremist settler violence in the West Bank and condemn such acts, not only for the significant impact they have on Palestinian lives, but also for the corrosive impact they have on prospects for lasting peace. We call on authorities to ensure the protection of civilians and hold perpetrators of such violence accountable.”

Israeli High Court Hears Petition Challenging De Facto Annexation in the Jordan Valley

On June 22nd, the Israeli High Court held a hearing on a case submitted by Palestinian herders in the Jordan Valley who have had their livestock seized by the Jordan Valley Regional Council. The Palestinians, whose petition is supported by Yesh Din, argue that the settler regional council does not have authority to enforce its bylaws on Palestinians.

The three-judge panel appeared to at least partially sympathize with the legal argument of the Palestinians, which assert that the settlers do not have jurisdiction to regulate Palestinians or the land. Instead, one of the judges asked the settlers why they do not just call the Israeli Civil Administration to handle the issue.

Since October 7th, Yesh Din has documented several instances of settlers conspiring with the Jordan Valley Regional Council to confiscate herds of livestock belonging to Palestinians based on the claim that they are illegally grazing in the Regional Council’s jurisdiction, and then demanding exorbitant fees for their return. Yesh Din identifies this not only as an illegal practice, but as a policy “designed to annex and take over Areas C while pushing Palestinians out…to force Palestinian communities from their homes.

The IDF’s own legal council has issued a legal opinion confirming that settler municipalities do not have jurisdiction or authority to enforce any laws or regulations against Palestinians. But the settler regional council rejected this opinion, saying that its jurisdiction applies to an area of land (and anyone/thing who enters that land) – not just a certain type of people (i.e. Israeli settlers).

Yesh Din explained why this is a significant legal claim:

“The danger posed by the pretension of the regional council, which seeks to hold the power to regulate the grazing of Palestinian herders, has enormous ramifications. This is a new and predatory form of economic violence by settlers and an authority that has distinct annexationist aspects, as it expresses the degradation of the military commander’s responsibility in the occupied territory and the assignment of its authorities to civilian governmental bodies.”

Bonus Reads

“A settler shot my husband. Then Israel bulldozed my childhood home“ (+972)
“Is the US poised to sanction an Israeli minister for the first time?” (The Times of Israel)
“Settler Real Estate Company Allegedly Sold Land It Doesn’t Own. Israel Threatens Legal Action” (Haaretz)
“Israeli legal team seeks clarification on US sanctions against protest group” (JNS)

Welcome to FMEP’s Weekly Settlement Report, covering everything you need to know about Israeli settlement activity this week.

To subscribe to this report, please click here.

March 15, 2024

Yesh Din Files High Court Petition to Stop Jordan Valley Regional Council
Construction Starts on New Settlement, Ariel West
IDF Demolishes Outpost Near Ofra
Subcommittee Hearing Defends Settler Violence, Points Finger at Human Rights Activists
US Announces New Sanctions on Three Individuals & Two Outposts
Bonus Reads

Yesh Din Files High Court Petition to Stop Jordan Valley Regional Council

On March 7th the Israeli NGO Yesh Din assisted Palestinians in the Jordan Valley to file a petition with the High Court of Justice seeking to force the IDF Central Command to prevent settlers and settler regional councils in the Jordan Valley from illegally seizing and ransoming herds of livestock belonging to Palestinians, and to return all livestock currently confiscated and funds paid to the regional council for the return of livestock. Since October 7th, Yesh Din has documented several instances of settlers conspiring with the Jordan Valley Regional Council to confiscate herds of livestock belonging to Palestinians based on the claim that they are illegally grazing in the Regional Council’s jurisdiction, and then demanding exorbitant fees for their return. Yesh Din identifies this not only as an illegal practice, but as a policy “designed to annex and take over Areas C while pushing Palestinians out…to force Palestinian communities from their homes.”

The IDF’s own legal council has recently issued a legal opinion confirming that settler municipalities do not have jurisdiction or authority to enforce any laws or regulations against Palestinians. But the settler regional council rejected this opinion, saying that its jurisdiction applies to an area of land – not just a certain type of people (i.e. Israeli settlers). As a reminder, the West Bank remains under Israeli military rule via the Israel Ministry of Defense and the IDF. Israel has extended its domestic laws to settlers, so that settlers are subject to Israeli domestic law and Palestinians remain under military rule. In this case, the settler regional argues that it has authority over land, and any Palestinians (and their property) who enter that land.

Yesh Din explains why this is a significant legal claim:

“The danger posed by the pretension of the regional council, which seeks to hold the power to regulate the grazing of Palestinian herders, has enormous ramifications. This is a new and predatory form of economic violence by settlers and an authority that has distinct annexationist aspects, as it expresses the degradation of the military commander’s responsibility in the occupied territory and the assignment of its authorities to civilian governmental bodies.”

Over the past six months, settlers have regional councils have repeatedly kidnapped herds of livestock and demanded exorbitant fees

Construction Starts on New Settlement, Ariel West

Peace Now reports that Israel has begun construction of a new settlement, Ariel West, plans for which were first made public in November 2021 and tenders were issued in May 2023 — all under the guise of a plan to “expand” the Ariel settlement [for more on how this plan was kept quiet, see Peace Now’s detailed history]. The Ariel West settlement is being built on a hilltop located 1.2 miles away from Ariel, in an area that is non-contiguous with the built-up area of the current Ariel settlement. To perpetuate the framing of this new construction as the growth of an existing settlement rather than a new settlement – settlers and the government call Ariel West the“Amririm Neighborhood.” The new settlement will be directly adjacent to the Palestinian village of Salfit, further limiting the future development of Salfit and restricting Palestinian agricultural workers’ access to land, as illustrated in this video by Peace Now.

Peace Now said in a statement:

“The construction of Ariel West, a new settlement deep in the West Bank, just before Ramadan and amidst the imminent danger of escalation in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, is further proof that the Israeli government is seeking violent escalation and opening a third front of war. It is also further proof, for anyone still in doubt, that it is doing all it can to destroy the possibility of the two-state solution. Israeli citizens deserve a better government, and its actions and decisions are endangering the lives and futures of both Palestinians and Israelis, as well as that of the entire region. The construction of a new settlement is part of recent initiatives amidst the ongoing war, aimed at advancing thousands of housing units in the territories, declaring thousands of dunams as state land, and approving significant budgets for settlements in the 2024 budget.”

IDF Demolishes Outpost Near Ofra

The Times of Israel reports that on March 11th, the Israeli Civil Administration demolished an illegal outpost known as “Or Ahuvia,” located close to the Ofra settlement north east of Ramallah. The IDF forced settlers to leave the area, demolished a rudimentary house, and confiscated other materials – saying that the outpost was built illegally on privately owned Palestinian land.

The “Or Ahuvia” or “Ma’aleh Ahuvia” outpost was originally erected (and demolished) in 2022 in memory of Ahuvia Sandak, a settler “hilltop youth” who died when the car he was traveling crashed as it was fleeing Israeli police with a group of settler youth who allegedly has been stoning Palestinian cars. Settlers and their supporters have painted Israeli police as perpetrators of a crime of negligence (or worse) against the settler youth; the Knesset has taken up the issue; and Sandak has been memorialized as a hero and a martyr to the cause of Greater Israel.

Subcommittee Hearing Defends Settler Violence, Points Finger at Human Rights Activists

At the demand of settler groups, the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee convened a subcommittee hearing on March 12th to hear testimony regarding the alleged “harassment” perpetrated by human rights defenders against Israeli security personal. MK Merav Michaeli denounced the hearing saying the chairman, Tzvi Succot, seeks to “present an upside down and false world.” MK Limor Son Har Melech (Otzma Yehudit) said at the hearing:

“They [pro-Palestinian activists] are aggressive to IDF soldiers, to settlers, they damage property, they blacken Israel’s name around the world, engage in the demonization and delegitimization of Israel and damage our image.”

The hearing turned out to be more than a smear campaign against human rights defenders, but also a defense of extremists settlers. The senior police commander in the West Bank perpetuated the claim that settler violence is over exaggerated, testifying to the committee that 50% of complaints regarding settler violence turn out to be false.

US Announces New Sanctions on Three Individuals & Two Outposts

On March 14th the U.S. government announced it had imposed sanctions on three Israeli settlers and two settlement outposts, adding to the four individuals it had previously sanctioned. This is the first time the U.S. has imposed sanctions on entities (the two outposts) in addition to individuals – demonstrating the possible far-reaching targets of U.S. sanction authority. The settlers and outposts were documented to have taken part in (or be a base of action for) acts of violence against Palestinians in the West Bank.

The two outposts sanctioned are known as “Moshe’s Farm” and “Zvi’s Farm” – and the individuals are the leaders of those outposts.

The U.S. Department of State said in a statement:

“Today, we are taking further action to promote accountability for those perpetuating violence and causing turmoil in the West Bank by imposing sanctions on three Israeli individuals and two associated entities involved in undermining stability in the West Bank. There is no justification for extremist violence against civilians or forcing families from their homes, whatever their national origin, ethnicity, race, or religion. The United States is committed to enduring peace and prosperity for Palestinians and Israelis alike and will continue to use all available tools to promote accountability for those engaging in actions that threaten the peace, security, and stability of the West Bank.”

Bonus Reads

“Norway Advises Against Trade, Business With Israeli Settlements” (Bloomberg)
“The government is tightening its grip on Israeli settlements – the Pole is considering stopping the sale” (NRK)
“Israel deploys 15,000 troops in West Bank as Ramadan starts” (Mondoweiss)

Welcome to FMEP’s Weekly Settlement Report, covering everything you need to know about Israeli settlement activity this week.

To subscribe to this report, please click here.

July 21, 2023

“Dizzying” East Jerusalem Settlement Activity Continues: Israel Approves Givat Hamatos Building Permits & Schedules Discussion to Double Its Size
Israel Expands West Bank Annexation via Archaeology, Including Construction of 4-7 New Settler Tourism Sites
Smotrich Prepping Plans to Expand Campaign Against Palestinian Construction, With Aim to Expand Authority to Areas A & B
Israel Opens First High Tech Campus in “Silicon Wadi” East Jerusalem Project
Knesset Pushes Bill to Directly Fund Settlements
Another Palestinian Bedouin Community Coerced to Leave Homes By Settler & State Terrorism
In the Press: Bibi Denies Reports of “Settlement Freeze” Promise to Biden, Talks His Vision of Peace
Smotrich Claims Credit for U.S.-Israeli Tensions
Bonus Reads

“Dizzying” East Jerusalem Settlement Activity Continues: Israel Approves Givat Hamatos Building Permits & Schedules Discussion to Double Its Size

Ir Amim reports that Israel has continued its “dizzying pace” of settlement advancements in East Jerusalem, this week granting approval to four building permits for the yet-to-be-built Givat Hamatos settlement, and take an irregular step to advance a new plan – called “New Talpiot” – that would serve to massively expand the fully-approved plan for Givat Hamatos settlement.

The four building permits were issued on July 16th and will allow the foundation to be laid for several buildings in the Givat Hamatos settlement – which, if built, will be the first new settlement to be built in East Jerusalem in over two decades. The buildings (which will require separate building permits to be issued) will have a total of 900 units. The Israeli government has approved a plan to build a total of 2,610 settlement units in the Givat Hamatos settlement.

In addition, the Jerusalem District Planning Committee is set to convene on Monday, July 24th to discuss a plan referred to as “New Talpiot Hill” that will, if approved and constructed, expand double the number of housing units in the Givat Hamatos settlement and increase its land mass by 40%, stretching Givat Hamatos eastward towards the settlement of Har Homa. The Givat Hamatos A project is directly adjacent to the area of the New Talpiot Hill project. The plan provides for 3,500 new settlement units and 1,300 hotel rooms – the latter posing a direct competition to the Palestinian tourism industry in nearby Bethlehem. The plan also calls for five synagogues and two mikvehs, clearly showing that the construction is designed to serve Israeli Jews although the neighboring Palestinian communities are suffering an acute housing crisis.

Ir Amim further notes that Israel is carrying out land registration on plots of land implicated by the New Talpiot Hill plan, a process which Israel has weaponized as a tool of settlement expansion.

Ir Amim writes:

“Together, Givat Hamatos A and New Talpiyot Hill along with concurrent settlement advancements in the area are cumulatively sealing off East Jerusalem’s southern perimeter from Bethlehem and the southern West Bank. These measures likewise further fracture the Palestinian space and deplete all remaining land reserves in the area for Palestinian development. Such conditions severely undermine the prospects of an agreed political future of Jerusalem, while depriving Palestinians of their fundamental right to housing and shelter.”

Israel Expands West Bank Annexation via Archaeology, Including Construction of 6-7 New Settler Tourism Sites

On July 17th the Israeli government approved a three-year $33 million (NIS 120 million) plan to take control over archaeological sites throughout the West Bank, including plans to establish 4-7 new settlement tourist sites. The approval of this plan is the fulfillment of a commitment made in the government’s coalition deal, which called for

The plan has several alarming components, including:

Nearly $3million allocation of monitoring alleged antiquity destruction by PAlestinians and the Palestinian Authority, as well as for enforcement activities such as demolitioning Palestinian construction near antiquity sites.
The construction of 4-7 new tourist installments at archaeological sites throughout the West Bank – the first being a new site at the “Hasmonean Pools” near Jericho. On this, Peace Now explains:

“The Hasmonean Palaces are located in Area C, adjacent to the Palestinian city of Jericho, which mostly falls under Areas A and B. Currently, access to the site passes through Area A. Beyond the site development, the goal of the program is also to enable access and regulate the movement of Israeli visitors from Area C into the site itself. In the past, there have been reports of plans to build a bridge over Area A to allow Israelis to reach the site.”

The construction of a heritage center to showcase West Bank artifacts, with the possibility of building a new archaeological museum somewhere in the West Bank (location not determined).
Surveys and excavatations.

Emek Shaveh and Peace Now both note that this new $33 million project comes in addition to the $9 million dollars in funding that the government approved in May 2023 to develop and “renovate” the archaeological site of Sebastia, located near the Palestinian village of Sebastia, north of Nablus in the heart of the West Bank. The project includes plans to pave a new access road for Israelis to reach the site, which they currently have to access by traveling through the Palestinian village of Sebastia, which will increase and entrench Israeli control not only over the site itself but the surrounding area – effectively weaponizing archaeology as a tool for dispossession.

Emek Shaveh said in a statement:

“With Bezalel Smotrich responsible for the Civil Administration and Jewish Power in charge of the Ministry of Heritage, the archaeological sites are weaponized more than ever before as a means for justifying ‘touristic settlements’, significantly entrenching and expanding the occupation and have become a central component in the present government’s steps towards advancing annexation. Along with massive settlement expansions, settler violence and legislation, the development of heritage sites in the West Bank will give control over substantial public areas and transform the multi-layered historical character of the area beyond recognition.

Although the plan is titled “an emergency plan for protection of antiquities”, only 10 million NIS of a budget of 120 million NIS are actually earmarked for defending sites against antiquity theft. Most of the budget is allocated to acts that constitute de facto annexation of the West Bank in complete violation of international law and the Oslo Accords. It is quite clear that for the current government the plan is yet another component in its efforts to thwart any possibility for a two-state solution and establish a biblical theocracy. We call on the international community to hold the State of Israel accountable to its own commitments under the Oslo accords, to the Two States Solution and to international law.”

Peace Now said in a statement:

“The Israeli government continues to settle in the West Bank in every possible way and continues to strengthen the friction with the Palestinian population. Investing over 150 million NIS in new tourist settlements implies exploiting archaeology in the West Bank to promote settlements and adversely affect Palestinians. Instead of investing in archaeological and tourism sites within Israel, the Israeli government continues to prioritize the settler minority over millions of Israelis. Investing in new settlements under the guise of heritage in the West Bank is a divisive move that harms Palestinians, distances peace and the two-state solution, and also undermines Israel’s tourism potential.”

As background, in January 2021, the Israeli government committed funding to a new settler initiative to surveil archeological sites under Palestinian control. While the objective of protecting antiquities might appear uncontroversial and apolitical, the true (and transparently self-evident) objectives behind this effort are: to support yet another pretext to surveil and police Palestinians; to establish and exploit yet another means to dispossess Palestinians of their properties; to expand/deepen Israeli control across the West Bank; and to further entrench Israeli technical, bureaucratic and legal paradigms that treat the West Bank as sovereign Israeli territory. It is the result of a campaign that has taken place over the past year in which settlers have escalated their calls for the Israeli government to seize antiquities and “heritage sites” located in Palestinian communities across the West Bank, especially in Area C, which Israel today treats as functionally (and legally) indistinguishable from sovereign Israeli territory. Funding committed by Israel for West Bank “heritage sites” should be understood in this context

Previous victories for the settlers in this same arena include the Israeli Civil Administration’s issuance in 2020 of expropriation orders – the first of their kind in 35 years – for two archaeological sites located on privately owned Palestinian property northwest of Ramallah. The settlers’ pressure is also credited as the impetus behind the government’s clandestine raid of a Palestinian village in July 2020 to seize an ancient font.

In June 2020, the “Guardians of Eternity” group began surveying areas in the West Bank that Israel has designated as archaeological sites, looking for Palestinian construction (barred by Israel in such areas) that they could then use as a pretext to demand that Israeli authorities demolish it. The group communicates its findings to the Archaeology Unit of the Israeli Civil Administration (reminder: the Civil Administration is the arm of the Israeli Defense Ministry which since 1967 has functioned as the de facto sovereign over the West Bank). The Archaeology Unit, playing its part, then delivers eviction and demolition orders against Palestinians, claiming that the structures damage antiquities in the area.

And one more reminder: in 2017, Israel designated 1,000 new archaeological sites in Area C of the West Bank. The “Guardians of Eternity” group, not coincidentally, is an offshoot of the radical Regavim organization, which among other things works to push Israeli authorities to demolish Palestinian construction (on Palestinians’ own land) that lacks Israeli permits (permits that Israel virtually never grants).

Smotrich Prepping Plans to Expand Campaign Against Palestinian Construction, With Aim to Expand Authority to Areas A & B

At a meeting of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, Bezalel Smotrich revealed several plans that intensify and expand Israel’s annexation of the West Bank,, including plans to extend Israeli civilian operations – specifically the demolition of Palestinian construction – into Areas A & B.

Most drastically, Smotrich said that he is preparing a plan – expected to be approved within a month – that would allow him to direct the demolition of Palestinian buildings in Areas A & B which are determined to be a “security threat.” Smotrich told the Knesset that Israel’s ability to operate in Areas A & B are “key” to national security, and that he is working on plans to create a new unit within the Border Police which will be assigned specifically to construction law enforcement. This would be yet another advancement of Israel’s de facto annexation of the entire West Bank, which is increasingly focused not just on solidifying Israeli sovereignty over Area C but on Areas A & B as well. Haaretz notes that the Knesset Committee spent more time discussing Areas A & B than Area C. It should be noted that the Knesset Committee was convened to discuss what the Israeli government and the settlers believe to be “The Palestinian Authority’s takeover of open areas in Judea and Samaria” — a completely warped narrative of what is transpiring in the West Bank, where Israeli settlements are expanding while Palestinian are facing apartheid conditions. As admitted by an Army officer at the hearing, the Israeli military rejects 90-95% of Palestinian building requests while granting 60-70% of settler building requests

During a discussion of the Palestinian construction, Smotrich said his plan would also see Israel declare activities by Palestinian Authority to be a “foreign hostile activity,” which would prompt Israel to seize funds from the PA.

Smotrich also discussed two projects being prepared by the Jewish National Fund to plant trees on 2,500 acres of West Bank land. Smotrich talked about this tree-planting operation as a means of annexation, saying: “The [PA] actively works to seize lands. We need to do the same thing….[This means] legalization, construction, agriculture. “ This news comes the same week Israeli operated tractors were filmed uprooting Palestinian owned olive trees near the village of Tarkumiya.

As a reminder, in his role as a civilian minister in the Defense Ministry in charge of the Civil Administration, Smotrich is already empowered to order demolitions in Area C (powers which had previously been held by Israel’s military) — powers which he has wielded aggressively. As defined by the Oslo Accords, Areas A & B constitute 40% of the West Bank where the Palestinian Authority is assigned responsibility for civilian administration matters, like construction. Smotrich’s moves only underscore Israel’s erasure of any meaningful distinction between these areas, which has also been evidenced by routine military incursions into Nablus and Jenin, Israeli activity around antiquity sites under PA control, and more.

Israel Opens First High Tech Campus in “Silicon Wadi” East Jerusalem Project

The Times of Israel reports that Israel celebrated the opening of its inaugural high tech workspace that is part of the “Silicon Wadi” project, under which Israel aims to establish a major high-tech hub along the western side of East Jerusalem’s Wadi Joz neighborhood. While touted as a plan that will benefit Palestinians, its implementation has required the eviction of many Palestinian businesses in the area.

The new $2.8million (NIS 10 million) tech campus is a free workspace for Israeli and international high tech companies, and it has the capacity to host 250 workers with workstations, meeting spaces, and other available services. Four companies have already began working out of the new building.

You can read Ir Amim’s in-depth reporting on the Silicon Wadi project here.

Knesset Pushes Bill to Directly Fund Settlements

The Israeli Knesset is advancing a bill that will allow Israel to transfer tax revenue to the settlements, therefore bringing the settlements under direct Israeli law (an act of de facto annexation, illegal under international law) and further subsidizing the settlement enterprise. Even though the Israeli government has funded settlements from the outset, it has not permitted tax revenue sharing and has typically tried to hide other direct lines of funding to the settlements through non profits and other intermediaries.

The Combatants for Peace told Haaretz:

“The Netanyahu government has already ceased even trying to hide the institutionalization of apartheid. MK Asher’s reckless bill is another way to transfer budgets and to support the settlement enterprise and perpetuate the oppression and dispossession of Palestinians. What they can’t get in through the door, they’re trying to get in through the window – the main thing is to keep building.”

Another Palestinian Bedouin Community Coerced to Leave Homes By Settler & State Terrorism

B’Tselem reports that the al-Baq’ah Palestinian bedouin village was forced to abandon its village lands located west of Hebron under daily violence inflicted upon it by nearby settler outposts, and decades of harassment by the Israeli state.

The village’s decision to leave comes less than one week after the IDF demolished a water cistern used by all six families living in al-Baq’ah for personal and agricultural work. The villages told B’Tselem researchers that they are fleeing the village in fear of their lives.

B’Tselem writes:

“Al-Baq’ah joins the nearby communities of Ras a-Tin and ‘Ein Samia, which have already been driven off their lands over the past year under the same circumstances: Israel’s policy creates oppressive, unreasonable living conditions that leave residents of these communities with no choice but to abandon them. Relying on more official means (settlement building, extreme restrictions on Palestinian construction, a prohibition on infrastructure and demolitions), and on less official ones (settler violence against Palestinians), the policy has one goal: taking over more and more Palestinian lands and handing them over to Jewish hands, and it is applied against other communities still living in the area. Forcible transfer is a war crime, even if the state perpetrates it not by forcing people onto trucks but by putting so much pressure on them that their lives become unbearable and they cannot help but leave their homes and lands.”

In the Press: Bibi Denies Reports of “Settlement Freeze” Promise to Biden, Talks His Vision of Peace

Axios reports that on a July 17th call, Netanyahu informed President Biden that he does not expect to advance any more settlement planning, construction, or outpost “legalization” through the end of the 2023 year. Netanyahu issued a statement denying these reports, however Haaretz reports that Netanyahu contradicted that statement during private briefings for members of his staff and foreign journalists.

Separately, in an interview with podcaster Lex Fridman, Netanyahu provided a fresh look at what his vision of a “peace” deal is, explicitly saying that no settlements or settlers (no matter their location) would be uprooted, and that settlers would remain under Israeli sovereignty. He went on to reject Palestinian sovereignty.

Smotrich Claims Credit for U.S.-Israeli Tensions

In an interview with the settler-allied Arutz Sheva outlet (aka Israel National News), Smotrich made a few eye-opening remarks on his policies and motivations, saying:

“Our mission first and foremost is to provide security to the citizens of Israel in the settlements and all over the country. When we talk about the fight against terrorism there are two legs: the first is the development of the settlements and strengthening our grip on the territories of the Land of Israel. After all, terrorism is designed to weaken our grip – and our true answer that will eradicate it and make terrorism futile – will be further construction. When you look at Judea and Samaria, this government is building, regulating, developing, both in construction and in infrastructure on an unprecedented scale….quite a lot of the tensions that exist between the American administration and the Israeli government – and these are tensions between friends and partners and we manage these disputes with respect – stem from the policy that I am leading as a minister in the Ministry of Defense in the settlements with the full backing of the Prime Minister and the Minister of Defense.”

Bonus Reads

“How settlers justify their pogroms” (Shabtay Bendet in +972 Magazine)
“I was handcuffed and blindfolded for reporting on settler violence” (Basel Adra in +972 Magazine)
“‘The escalation is frightening’: Jerusalem Christians fear for their future“ (+972 Magazine)
“Israeli Soldiers Protect the Settlers, Then Attack Us Activists” (Illana Hammerman in Haaretz)

Welcome to FMEP’s Weekly Settlement Report, covering everything you need to know about Israeli settlement activity this week.

To subscribe to this report, please click here.

July 6, 2023

Israel Advances Plans for 5,700 New Settlement Units, Making 2023 (after just 6 months) A Record Year for Settlement Growth
No Surprise – Settlers Get Away with More Illegal Construction Under Smotrich
UN Updates Database of Companies Doing Business in the Settlements
Peace Now Report on Effect of Smotrich’s “Settlement Administration”
Who Profits Documents Role of Israeli National Water Company in Perpetuating Occupation
Bonus Reads

Knesset Members Establish “Jordan Valley Sovereignty Lobby”

Settlers continue to build on their campaign to annex the Jordan Valley. At an event held at the Knesset on June 28th, a group of Israeli lawmakers launched the “Jordan Valley Sovereignty” lobby, aimed at passing legislation during the current Knesset term that will annex the Jordan Valley to Israel. Three ministers participated in the event, Minister of Agriculture Avi Dichter, Minister of Settlement and National Mission Orit Struk, and Minister of the Negev and Galilee and National Resilience Yitzhak Wasserlauf. The effort was encouraged on by the head of the World Zionist Organization, Yaakov Hagoel, who said: “We need to implement sovereignty…the sooner the better,”

The group, led by MKs Dan Illouz (Likud) and Yossi Taieb (Shas), presented a plan for annexation written by Kobi Eliraz and Atty. Eran Ben-Ari. No details of the plan have been reported. Eliraz previously served as an adviser on settlement affairs to the Israeli Defense Minister from 2015-2019, but was fired by Prime Minister Netanayhu, a move which upset settlers who broadly respected and trusted Eliraz to advance their agenda.

Minister of Settlement and National Missions Orit Struk said at the event:

“Our government is doing a great deal to develop the Jordan Valley in many areas, but our goal, ultimately, is sovereignty over the Jordan Valley, and this is anchored in the coalition agreements; it all depends on this lobby’s resolute action, and I trust you to act in such a way that they will set the wheel in motion so that it will be impossible not to apply sovereignty over the Jordan Valley. We will be here to support you and stand behind you so that you will succeed in this goal, G-d willing.”

Head of Jordan Valley Council David Elhayani said:

“In December 1981, the Begin government approved, in one day, in three readings in the plenum, the law applying Israel’s law and jurisdiction over the Golan Heights, when the government actually established sovereignty over the Golan Heights. The law passed with a majority of 63 members of the Knesset, eight of whom were members of the opposition. In today’s situation, I cannot help but wonder why this is not happening now. In the present government, there are 64 members of the Knesset from the Right; it is years since we have had such a right-wing government committed to its electorate. I tell you, do not miss this historic opportunity. Apply sovereignty over the Jordan Valley in the present Knesset. This is your duty.”

As a reminder, annexation of the Jordan Valley has, in the past, garnered serious effort from the Israeli government. During his 2019 campaign, Netanyahu announced that he would immediately annex the Jordan Valley if reelected, and presented an error-ridden map explaining how he would annex the area without annexing a single Palestinian. His plan called for the annexation of an area which constitutes nearly a quarter of the area of the West Bank (22.3%) where (at the time) 30 settlements and 18 outposts had been established. Peace Now estimated 20% of the targeted land (62,000 acres) is privately owned by Palestinians – a fact that Netanyahu did not even mention, much less explain how he would address. After being elected, Netanyahu faced international opposition to the plan, and in order to quiet the criticism while saving face with his base – Netanyahu formed an inter-ministerial task force dubbed the “Sovereignty Committee” to design a plan for the annexation of the Jordan Valley.

No Surprise – Settlers Get Away with More Illegal Construction Under Smotrich

Haaretz reports that ever since Bezalel Smotrich became responsible for civil affairs in the West Bank, the Israeli military has almost entirely abandoned its already paltry efforts to curtail illegal settlement construction. In 2022, Israeli authorities demolished an average of 25 buildings per month, but since February 2023 (when Smotrich took power), that figure dropped to just 2. The trend is hardly a surprise, given Smotrich’s long standing support for the outposts, and his open encouragement of granting retroactive legalization to every outpost (thereby rewarding illegal settler construction instead of punishing it) since taking office.

Since taking power, Smotrich has routinely also intervened on a number of occasions to prevent the IDF from carrying out outpost evacuations, most recently in the case of the outpost called HaMor. Haaretz reports Smotrich also intervened in several other cases in order to stop the IDF from evacuating and demolishing illegal settler construction, including:

In February 2023, Smotrich temporarily halted the evacuation of a vineyard near the settlement of Shiloh.
In May, Smotrich stopped the demolition of new illegal construction at the Adei-Ad outpost.
Also in May, the demolition of a structure that settlers built at the Ein Rashash spring in the Jordan Valley was stopped by Smotrich’s associates, a structure which was likely built by the settlers in an attempt to take over control of the spring from Palestinian shepherds.

An anonymous official in the Defense Ministry told Haaretz:

“For a while now, there has effectively been no Israeli enforcement. Once, enforcement was an internal IDF issue. Now almost everything gets sent to the Settlements Administration.”

As a reminder, in February 2023, Netanyahu reached a coalition deal to change the way Israel exercises authority over the West Bank. The new arrangement represents the extension of Israeli civilian/domestic authority over the entire West Bank. As such, it represents Israeli annexation of the West Bank, even without formal declaration of annexation. Specifically, authority in the West Bank will no longer be the hands of the Isareli Defense Minister, but is now split between Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich (acting in his capacity as a “Minister in the Defense Ministry”). While the agreement takes pains to leave a tiny amount of power over West Bank civilian affairs with the Defense Minister in order to maintain a thin veneer of compliance with international law (the only authority left to Gallant with respect to “civilian” affairs will be to demolish illegal settler activity “in case of security and irregular events,” and even then, Smotrich must be given advance notice of any such demolition), in effect Smotrich is the new reigning sovereign over the West Bank via the newly established “Settlement Administration” within the Defense Ministry, which he appointed Yehuda Eliahu to lead (Eliahu and Smotrich co-founded the radical settler group Regavim) . This “Settlements Administration” enjoys virtually total autonomy and unchecked power, with almost no accountability to anyone in the Israeli Ministry of Defense (Gallant in principle can overrule Smotrich’s decisions but must put his reasoning in writing after first meeting with Smotrich to hear his case, and even then, Gallant cannot issue any order to overrule Smotrich). Importantly, the agreement allows Smotrich to systematically apply Israeli law over the settlements.

UN Updates Database of Companies Doing Business in the Settlements

On June 30th, the United Nations Office of the High Commission on Human Rights released an update to its 2020 database identifying businesses involved in building, maintaining, securing, and servicing Israeli settlements in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the Golan Heights. The original database listed 112 companies found to be conducting business with Israeli settlements, the updated database removed 15 companies and did not add any new companies.

In a statement on the update, Al-Haq, Amnesty International, Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies, Human Rights Watch, and International Service for Human Rights said:

“…we welcome the fact that the Office of the High Commissioner has finally published an update on 30 June. We are heartened to see that, according to the report’s analysis, fifteen businesses may have ceased conducting reportable activity during the reporting period, though note that some companies may have adjusted their business structures to avoid falling within the definition of reportable activity. Indeed, this demonstrates the significant impact the database can have in encouraging and promoting compliance with international law. We are concerned, however, that the Office of the High Commissioner has not undertaken the work to identify new businesses that began, during the reporting period, to conduct reportable activity. Such a one-sided approach is not consistent with the mandate of providing a comprehensive update to the Council and runs the risk of being abused by business actors seeking to avoid listing.”

Peace Now Report on Effect of Smotrich’s “Settlement Administration”

Peace Now has published a new report that reveals the exact details of the agreement signed by Bezalel Smotrich, Yoav Gallant, and Netanyahu to create the new “Settlement Administration” for Smotrich to take control over settlement affairs. The extent of Smotrich’s power has until now been unclear, but as Peace Now writes there is a larger significance to the establishment of this new body which wields such vast authority, writing:

“…beyond the personal question of who is responsible for the mechanism and who will implement it, and what their political obligations are, the establishment of the Settlements Administration is not merely a symbolic or political process but instead constitutes as annexation of the oPt and their direct management by the Israeli government. Moreover, it involves a nationally-based separation within the same governing entity between Israeli settlers, who are managed by one body, and Palestinian residents, who are managed by another body. This is one of the characteristics of an apartheid regime.”

The report – entitled “Annexation Under the Radar: The Establishment of the Settlements Administration under Minister Bezalel Smotrich” – is available online.

Who Profits Documents Role of Israeli National Water Company in Perpetuating Occupation

In a new report entitled, “Dried Up: Mekorot’s Involvement in the Israeli Occupation”, Who Profits examines the role Israel’s nationa water company plays in facilitating the dispossession and displacement of Palestinian communities on both sides of the Green Line, and its role in facilitating settlement expansion in service of an Israeli water sector contingent on the exploitation of occupied natural resources, and the violation of Palestinian and Syrian rights.

Who Profits writes:

“Israel’s national water company, Mekorot, is a central facilitator of this embedded dispossession, systematically denying adequate Palestinian access to water, leading to structured dependency and the captivity of the Palestinian water sector. In a world increasingly concerned by the disastrous impact of global warming and water scarcity, Mekorot plays an integral role in the development of the Israeli occupation economy by positioning Israel as a global leader in the development of innovative technological solutions to global issues.”

Bonus Reads

“73 Home Demolitions in East Jerusalem for First Half of 2023 Mark Highest Number since 2018” (Ir Amim)
“Israeli settlers burn Palestinian crops in Hebron: PA” (Al-Monitor)
“US Embassy invites Binyamin Council head to July 4 celebration” (Arutz Sheva)

Trump Says No to Israeli Annexation

United Nations Adds 68 New Companies to List of Businesses Supporting the Settlement Enterprise

Bonus Reads

Netanyahu Signs Final Approval of E-1, Celebrates End of Palestinian State

Netanyahu Delays Discussion of Plan to Annex the Jordan Valley

‘Formalizing Apartheid’: Smotrich Presents Plan to Annex 82% of the West Bank

State Land Declaration to Legalize Havat Gilad Outpost

Settlers Establish New Enclave on Key Hebron Street (Currently) Open to Palestinians

West Bank News & Analysis

East Jerusalem News & Analysis

Bonus Reads

East Jerusalem Settlement Plans to Watch

Israel Pushing Raze Palestinian Homes in Sheikh Jarrah, Build New Settlement Enclave

High Court Orders Zanuta Return, Again

High Court Orders Investigation Into Settler Municipal Councils

Settler Population Grew 2.3% in 2024

Trump to Decide on West Bank Annexation In Four Weeks

Bonus Reads

Bill to Allow Israelis to Buy West Bank Land Advances in Knesset

Weekly Settlement Advancements Continue for Ninth Week

On First Day in Office, Trump Cancels Sanctions on Violent Settlers

Bonus Reads

Historic ICJ Advisory Opinion Says Israel’s Occupation is Illegal, Calls for Settlements to be Dismantled

Israel Grants Itself Civilian Control of An Additional 3% of West Bank Land

Settlers Enter Abu Nab House in Batan al-Hawa, Silwan As Shehadeh Family Faces 20-Day Eviction Notice

Palestinians Blast IDF Closure of Courtyard in Ibrahimi Mosque Complex

New Outpost Established East of Ramallah

European Union Issues New Sanctions on Israeli Settlers, Orgs, and Outposts

U.S. Sanctions Two More Individuals, Including First Military Target

Further Reading on Silwan, Masafer Yatta & More

Bonus Reads

A Stunning, Expansive Time for Israel’s West Bank Annexation

Civil Admin Seizes Patchwork of Plots as “State Land” in Order to Legalize the Evyatar Outpost

Government Establishes Jurisdiction for New Settlement on World Heritage Site Near Bethlehem

Settlers Takeover New Building in Hebron

Historic Year for Land Grabs: Israel Seizes Over 3,000 Acres in the Jordan Valley as “State Land”

Civil Admin Advances Plans to Legalize Three Outposts & Build 5k New Units Across West Bank

Israeli Cabinet Gives Civil Admin Authority Over Antiquity Sites in Area B

Israeli Cabinet Supports Knesset Considers Bill to Transfer West Bank Antiquities Control from Civil Admin to Domestic Body

U.S. Issues New Round of Sanctions Against Settlers & Settler Organizations

Israeli Court Orders 11 Families Out of Homes in Batan al-Hawa, Silwan

Israeli Court Rules to Demolish Wadi Hilweh Info Center in Silwan

Israeli Court Tells Settlers To Leave Khalidi Library in Old City of Jerusalem

Israel to Advance 6,000+ Settlement Units in East Jerusalem in Coming Weeks

Amidst Wave of Violence, Settlers Lead Progrom On Massafer Yatta Region

Ariel Settlers Close Access Road to Palestinians

IDF Demolishes Outposts, Clashes With Settlers

Bonus Reads

West Bank Annexation: Israeli Military Cedes Control of West Bank Civilian Affairs to Settler

In Secretly Recorded Tapes, Smotrich Confirms Israel is Annexing the West Bank via Bureaucracy

Israel Authorizes Five Outposts, Hints at Thousands of Units & More Annexation to Come

​​Knesset Forms Caucus to Push for Resettlement of Gaza

Canada Sanctions Prominent Settler Groups & Leaders

Israeli High Court Hears Petition Challenging De Facto Annexation in the Jordan Valley

Bonus Reads

Yesh Din Files High Court Petition to Stop Jordan Valley Regional Council

Construction Starts on New Settlement, Ariel West

IDF Demolishes Outpost Near Ofra

Subcommittee Hearing Defends Settler Violence, Points Finger at Human Rights Activists

US Announces New Sanctions on Three Individuals & Two Outposts

Bonus Reads

“Dizzying” East Jerusalem Settlement Activity Continues: Israel Approves Givat Hamatos Building Permits & Schedules Discussion to Double Its Size

Israel Expands West Bank Annexation via Archaeology, Including Construction of 6-7 New Settler Tourism Sites

Smotrich Prepping Plans to Expand Campaign Against Palestinian Construction, With Aim to Expand Authority to Areas A & B

Israel Opens First High Tech Campus in “Silicon Wadi” East Jerusalem Project

Knesset Pushes Bill to Directly Fund Settlements

Another Palestinian Bedouin Community Coerced to Leave Homes By Settler & State Terrorism

In the Press: Bibi Denies Reports of “Settlement Freeze” Promise to Biden, Talks His Vision of Peace

Smotrich Claims Credit for U.S.-Israeli Tensions

Bonus Reads

Knesset Members Establish “Jordan Valley Sovereignty Lobby”

No Surprise – Settlers Get Away with More Illegal Construction Under Smotrich

UN Updates Database of Companies Doing Business in the Settlements

Peace Now Report on Effect of Smotrich’s “Settlement Administration”

Who Profits Documents Role of Israeli National Water Company in Perpetuating Occupation

Bonus Reads

Knesset Forms Caucus to Push for Resettlement of Gaza