Settlement & Annexation Report: November 7, 2025

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

November 7, 2025

Tenders Issued for New Neighborhood in Geva Benaymin Settlement
Israel Advances Plans for 1,985 New Settlement Units
Israel Delivers Demolition Notices to Entire Village of Umm Al Kheir in South Hebron Hills
Israel Allocates $12 Million to Deepen Control Over West Bank Archaeology Sites
Settler Violence & The Olive Harvest
Bonus Reads

Tenders Issued for New Neighborhood in Geva Benaymin Settlement

Peace Now reports that on November 4th the Israeli Housing Ministry published tenders for the construction of 342 new settlement units – establishing a new neighborhood in the Geva Benyamin (aka Adam) settlement. The new construction will expand the settlement northward towards the Jaba’ bedouin community, and connect the settlement to an outpost established by settlers in February 2025. Since the outpost was established, settlers have routinely and violently attacked the Jaba’ community.

Peace Now warned:

“Since the beginning of 2025, tenders have been published for a total of 5,667 housing units in settlements – an all-time record and about 50% more than the previous peak year, 2018, when tenders were published for 3,808 units. If the tenders published this year are built, these homes would add roughly 25,000 settlers to the West Bank.”

Israel Advances Plans for 1,985 New Settlement Units

Peace Now reports that on November 5th, the High Planning Council advanced plans for the construction of 1,985 new settlement units across the West Bank.

Since the beginning of 2025, including the plans slated for approval this week, Israel has advanced a total of 28,195 settlement units — setting a record for annual numbers. See Peace Now’s records here.

The plans that received final approval this week include:

133 new units in the Kfar Tapuach settlement, located south of Nablus.
80 units in the Etz Efraim settlement, located south of Qalqilya and on the Israel-annexed side of the Separation Barrier.
178 units in the Ganei Modi’in settlement, located on the Israel-annexed side of the Separation Barrier in the northern West Bank.

The plans which were deposited for public review this week include:

720 units in the Avnei Hefetz settlement, located just east of Tulkarem;
568 units in the Einav settlement, located east of Tulkarem and east of the Avnei Hefetz settlement.
48 units in the Etz Efraim settlement (in addition to the plans which received final approval).
258 units in the Rosh Tzurim settlement, located south of Bethlehem in the Etzion settlement bloc.

Israel Delivers Demolition Notices to Entire Village of Umm Al Kheir in South Hebron Hills

On October 28th, the Israeli Civil Administration delivered demolition notices to 13 structures (including 11 homes) in the village of Umm al-Khair in the South Hebron Hills – a village that is almost entirely surrounded by Israeli settlements and violent outposts. The residents were given four days to appeal the demolition notices, which were issued due to lack of Israeli-issued building permits (the buildings are over a decade old).

These notices come only a few weeks after the Jerusalem District Court attempted to temporarily stop settlers from establishing another new outpost literally next to homes in the Umm Al-Khair.

For an in-depth background of Umm al-Khair is its struggle to stay on its land despite settler and state violence, see Peace Now’s reporting and 972 Magazine’s repository of stories on the village – including several written by Awdah Hathaleen, a native of Umm Al-Khair who was murdered by an internationally sanctioned settler earlier this year (a settler who is facing no legal repercussions for the murder).

Israel Allocates $12 Million to Deepen Control Over West Bank Archaeology Sites

Emek Shaveh reports that on October 26th the Israeli government allocated an additional $12million (NIS 33.6 million)to renovate and strengthen Israeli control over archaeological sites in the West Bank. The government had previously allocated $33 million (NIS 120 million) in 2023 to the same project as well as a special budget of NIS 32 million for the Sebastia site alone.

Israeli Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu said: ““will not wait for the formal imposition of sovereignty over the West Bank.” As a reminder, in July 2024 the Israeli government gave the Civil Administrative sweeping powers over archaeological sites in Area B of the West Bank.

Emek Shaveh said in a statement:

“The government decision to redirect funds from other offices to sites in the West Bank reflects the ministers’ true priorities. At a time when health, welfare, and education systems have been severely impacted by two years of war and soaring defence spending, the government is diverting critical resources to advance the settlers’ long-standing agenda: expanding control over territory through archaeology.

By declaring more areas as archaeological sites “off limits” to Palestinians and developing them as tourist attractions to draw mainstream Israeli visitors into the settlements, the government is instrumentalising antiquities both as a bureaucratic tool for displacement and annexation, and as a means of shaping a biblical-nationalist narrative that excludes other histories and denies Palestinian connection to the land.”

Settler Violence & The Olive Harvest

Settlers have continued to terrorize Palestinians harvesting olives during the 2025 harvest season, with virtually no recourse or accountability. Over the course of October, OCHA recorded the highest monthly number of Israeli settler attacks since OCHA began documenting such incidents in 2006, documented 260 attacks – an average of 8 per day. In addition Palestinians continue to suffer from increasingly restrictive Israeli policies that limit access to agricultural land located near settlements and/or the Separation Barrier. Adding to the heightened settler violence, the Israeli government has undertaken a deportation campaign against international solidarity activists who, for years, have accompanied Palestinians during harvest season as a protective presence.

Since October 21st, there have been at least 104 attacks, 20 of which were directly related to the olive harvest, including the following incidents of note over the past two weeks:

Mikhmas: On October 20th, settlers from a newly established outpost attacked a group of Palestinians and solidarity activists in the bedouin villages of Mikhmas and al-Ara’ara, located north of Jerusalem. The settlers threw stones at the Palestinians and set a house and olive trees on fire. Then, on October 23rd settlers cut the water pipelines which serviced Mikhmas. On October 25th, settlers violently attacked Mikhmas, burning six structures and injuring Palestinians and solidarity activists. Many residents of Mikhmas have left the village under the coercive displacement policies of the state and the escalating violence of the settlers – which goes unpunished. OCHA has documented
Al-Mughayyir: On October 24th dozens attacked al-Mughayyir during the night, setting cars on fire. This is the 43rd time this year that settlers have attacked Al-Mughayyir, a town that is surrounded by seven outposts.
Samu, South Hebron Hills: Settlers were filmed ransacking a farm and torturing livestock – including baby lamb – in a small village in the South Hebron. Six lambs were killed and four were severely injured.
Beit Ummar: Wafa News reports that on October 29th settlers cut down approximately 50 olive trees and stole construction equipment. Israeli settlers and soldiers have carried out more than 250 attacks on Palestinian olive farmers since the harvest began earlier this month, according to the Ramallah-based Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission
Qarawat Bani Hassan: On November 4th, settlers attacked Palestinians harvesting olives alongside a large group of volunteers (including American volunteers). As filmed by the harvesters, settlers flew a drone directly into the crowd of activists injuring one, and then proceeded to shoot live ammunition into the air, threatening to shoot the volunteers while they attempted to retrieve the drone. Haaretz reports the settlers were part of the security unit of the nearby Revava settlement.

The continued violence prompted the following statement by Tom Fletcher, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator:

“Reports of attacks by Israeli settlers on Palestinians and their property across the West Bank continue. Many are related to Palestinians’ attempts to harvest their olive crops. Palestinians have been killed and injured. Their homes and property damaged. Their livestock attacked. More trees have been damaged and more communities affected this year than in the previous six years. The failure to prevent or punish such attacks is inconsistent with international law. Palestinians must be protected. Impunity cannot prevail. Perpetrators must be held accountable.”

Bonus Reads

“The Business of Apartheid: What Companies and Investors Should Know” (AFSC, 10/30/25)
“How one road and an Israeli settlement could end dreams for this Palestinian city” (Los Angeles Times, 10/24/25)
“Israel’s Education Commissar Wants to Force Settler Indoctrination in Schools” (Haaretz, 10/29/25)
“Smotrich proposes weekly protest in ‘Sovereignty Square’ to push for Judea and Samaria annexation” (World Israel News, 10/26/25)

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.

December 5, 2024

End of Year Rush: High Planning Council Set to Meet Twice to Advance Settlement Plans

Peace Now reports that the Civil Administration’s High Planning Council met on Nov. 4th and is scheduled to meet again on Nov. 11th to consider advancing plans for a total of 501 new settlement units. In total, Peace Now reports that Israel has advanced plans for a total of 8,720 new settlement units in the West Bank in 2024.

The following plans for a total of 274 units were listed on the agenda for November 4th, with all slated to be deposited for public review (a latter stage of the planning process):

83 new units in Elon Moreh settlement, located east of Nablus (for background on the significance of the Elon Moreh settlement, please see here);
79 new units in the Mitzpe Yishai settlement; and,
112 new units in the Ma’ale Amos settlement, located between Bethlehem and Hebron.

The Committee is set to meet again on November 11th with the following plans for a total of 227 new settlement units on the agenda:

196 units in the Telem settlement – ready for final approval. The Telem settlement is located north of Hebron;
21 units in the Eli settlement – ready for deposit. The Eli settlement is located southeast of the Ariel settlement in the central West Bank. Though the Eli settlement previously received Israeli government approval, a “Master Plan” – which officially zones land for distinct purposes (residential, commercial, public) – has never been issued for Eli, meaning all construction there is illegal under Israeli law; and,
10 units in the Givat Ze’ev settlement – ready for final approval. Givat Zeev is located south of Ramallah in an area that is on the Israeli side of the barrier.

Peace Now said in a statement:

“The Israeli government is expanding settlements in the occupied West Bank as part of its broader plan to entrench Israeli control over the territories, thereby harming any chances for a political solution. After more than a year of war, Israelis and Palestinians do not need more settlement expansion but rather hope for peace and a future free from the horrors of war and occupation.”

Settlers Violently Storm Palestinian Towns After Outpost Evacuation

In the early morning hours of December 4th, dozens of settlers marauded two Palestinian cities near Nablus, and were stopped by the IDF from raiding a third. While storming through Huawara and Beit Furik, settlers threw Molotov cocktails setting at least one home and two cars on fire, and violently attacking at least one person with stones and sticks, fracturing his skull. Israeli police said that eight people have been arrested.

The attackers reportedly came from the Yitzhar settlement, and was launched as a response to the IDF’s removal of settlers from a nearby outpost called Hill 617.

In an Editorial entitled, “Israel’s Government Instigates Settler Pogroms Against Palestinians,” the Haaretz Editorial Board writes:

“When Defense Minister Israel Katz announced when he took office that would stop the use of administrative detention orders against settlers, the lawbreakers in the occupied territories immediately understood they had been given a green light to run amok. The spirit of the new commander is that there is no commander, that the extremist settlers are above the law, that the military, the Shin Bet security service and the police must obey them, that the blood of the Palestinians can be shed and that their land and assets are there for the taking. Aware of Katz’s new policy, on Wednesday, dozens of settlers threw Molotov cocktails and set fire to homes and vehicles in the towns of Beit Furik and Hawara, near Nablus.”

Beit Furik has been a repeated target of settler attacks, including a major incursion last month.

Israel Gives Settler Power Over Palestinian Property in East Jerusalem

The Israeli government has appointed Hananel Gurfinkel as the head of a newly established position of Adminstrator General of the Custodian of Absentee Property Division in the Finance Ministry. This role holds the important and powerful task for managing absentee property owned by Palestinians in East Jerusalem.

Gurfinkel lives in the Nof Zion settlement enclave in East Jerusalem, and is the founder of an organization (Boneh Yerushalayim) dedicated to building settlements in East Jerusalem.

For the past ten years, Gurfinkel has worked in the Justice Ministry’s Custodian General’s office, where he managed Jewish-owned absentee property. In that role, Haaretz reports Gurfinkel:

“used his position to aid settler organizations seeking to control Palestinian-owned properties and promote new settlement projects in the city. He facilitated the sale of land in the Silwan area to the pro-settler group Ateret Cohanim, and hired attorneys affiliated with the group and other right-wing organizations to represent the state in eviction cases targeting Palestinian families. Gurfinkel also actively supported right-wing efforts to expand Jewish settlement and reshape the demographic landscape of East Jerusalem.

Before Gurfinkel took his post, the Custodian General’s Office rarely initiated construction plans for properties under its authority. His tenure, however, marked a significant shift, culminating in a collaboration between the Justice Ministry, Ateret Cohanim and a right-wing-managed real estate company, to advance plans for three new Jewish settlements near Palestinian neighborhoods in East Jerusalem.

Hundreds of homes for Jews are set to be built in each of these new neighborhoods, adjacent to or even inside Palestinian communities.

The construction plans include the neighborhoods of Givat Shaked near the Palestinian Arab neighborhood of Sharafat, Kdmat Zion near Ras al-Amud and another neighborhood between the Palestinian villages of Umm Lison and Jabal Mukkaber…

According to Palestinian residents of Sheikh Jarrah, Gurfinkel has been enthusiastic about evicting them.”

Settlement Construction Group is Working in North Gaza, As Israeli Govt Officials Meet with Gaza Settlement Activists

Drop Site news reports that Israel has contracted with private companies specializing in settlement construction to work in northern Gaza. It is reported to be the first confirmation that Israel has hired private contractors to conduct demolitions and construction work in northern Gaza (previously documented in Rafah) – an arrangement which brings Israeli civilians to an area outside of Israel’s internationally recognized borders.

One of the confirmed private construction companies working in northern Gaza, Libi Constriction and Infrastructure Ltd., is owned by settlers and participates widely in settlement construction, including reportedly the Adei Ad outpost, the Itamar settlement, the Revava outpost. The company’s founder (Harel Libi) has a documented criminal history of illegal construction in the West Bank and has been subjected to a removal order in 2012 after participating in violent attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank.For more details on Harel Libi and his construction company, read Drop Site’s reporting.

As Israel’s actions in Gaza continue to come under increased scrutiny (with Amnesty International recognizing it as genocide this week), Israeli government officials and actions on the ground point to a long term Israeli presence. The New York Times documents how the Israeli military has entrenched its presence in Netzarim Corridor – which has been cleared of any signs of life prior to the military’s arrival. Satellite images show at least 19 large IDF bases, 12 of which have been built or expanded since September. There are also dozens of small bases in the area. Israel’s Minister of for Food Security Avi Dichter – who also services on the Isreali Security Cabinet – said at a press conference this week:

“I think most people understand that [Israel] will be [for] years in some kind of West Bank situation where you go in and out and maybe you remain along Netzarim [corridor].”

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich recently advocated for the Palestinian population in Gaza to be “thinned” by half within two years.

Meanwhile, Israeli Housing Minister Yitzhak Goldknopf was photographed on the Gaza border meeting with prominent settlement activists Daniella Weiss, who was seen showing Goldknopf a map of Gaza showing where she plans to establish Israeli settlements.

Goldknopf stated;

“Jewish settlement here is the answer to the terrible massacre and the answer to the international court in The Hague which, instead of caring about the 101 hostages, chose to issue warrants against the Prime Minister and (former) Defense Minister.”

Appearing on Israeli TV last week, Weiss said:

“The moment that entry is possible, we enter,” she said. “We don’t wait for water supply infrastructure, generators or any other preparations. If 300 people enter at once, evacuating them would require 1,000 soldiers.”

Emek Shaveh Challenges Development of Sebastia

In November 2024, Emek Shaveh joined Palestinian landowners and the Sebastia municipality to file a petition against the construction of a military facility g at the summit of the Sebastia archaeological site. The petition complains that the plans violate private property rights and that the Isareli Staff Officer for Archaeology in the Civil Administration did not submit an opinion regarding the potential impact of a military facility on the ancient site.

The plans for construction were disclosed only months after the Israeli army issued a military order seizing the plot of land, and a year after the Israeli government passed a $9 million (NIS 32 million) plan designed to impose Israeli control over the site both logistically and in the narrative about the site’s history. E

As in other cases across the West Bank, settlers allege that Palestinians are damaging the Sebastia site and that the Israeli government needs to intervene. In 2021 amidst intensifying settler efforts related to the site, the Palestinian Foreign Ministry called on UNESCO to “protect all Palestinian archaeological and religious sites from Israeli violations, attacks and falsifications.” The archaeological site of Sebastia is on the tentative list of World Heritage sites in Palestine.

Recapping Knesset Debate on Annexation via Archaeology

On November 27th, the Knesset’s Education, Culture, and Sports Committee discussed a proposed bill to expand the Israel Antiquities Authority’s jurisdiction into the West Bank, effectively annexing West Bank antiquity sites to Israeli control. This bill is being prepared for a first reading soon.

The discussion, as summarized by Emek Shaveh, included the strong objections to the bill from the Israeli archaeological community, which stressed the move would be tantamount to annexation and have repercussions for Israel. The Committee’s own legal advisor said that the bill is “incompatible with the region’s laws.”

Emek Shaven Director Alon Arad said:

“Advancing this legislative proposal amounts to the annexation of parts of the West Bank and is contrary to international law and agreements to which the State of Israel is a signatory. This is a bad and dangerous legislative proposal that reflects an extreme and messianic Jewish supremacist ideology. It is being promoted against the opinions of professionals and will inevitably harm the State of Israel, its foreign relations, its political horizon, and put its academic community at risk while hollowing out the field [of archaeology] and turning it into nothing more than a political tool.”

Settlers Set Operational Plan for Trump Administration

At the end of November, the settler Yesha Council convened a high-level meeting in Jerusalem to develop a “operational strategy” to implement the expansion of settlements and annexation of the West Bank during the Trump Administration.

The meeting reportedly proposed a plan that would establish 3-4 new settlements and expand the jurisdiction of regional councils over all of the West Bank land, including Palestinian areas (current jurisdictions only include settler populations). In tandem, the group proposes removing he Palestinian Authority from a position of any control and hinting at dismantling it altogether. Israel Hayom reports that MK Boaron explains:

“Instead [of the PA], the Arab population in the West Bank would be under self-governing municipal authorities. These would receive and pay for services from Israel, with residents holding status similar to Jerusalem’s Arab residents. Their national orientation would mirror the pre-1967 arrangement under Jordanian administration.””

MK Boaron also called for transforming the Jordan Valley into a “power generation huib” by building many power stations there. Plans for the two new power stations were recently announced by Israeli Energy Minister Eli Cohen.

Likud MK Avihai Boaron, who attended the meeting, said:

“We are at a critical juncture – a window of opportunity that we can utilize either wisely or squander. Taking the foolish path would merely result in 700,000 residents and additional housing units four years from now. The wise approach would establish conditions to make Judea, Samaria, and the Jordan Valley inseparable from Israel – not just by creating demographic facts on the ground, but by fundamentally transforming the region’s administrative framework.”

Don’t Miss: New Reports from B’Tselem & Yesh Din

On December 3rd, B’Tselem released a new report on the escalation of brutal policing of Palestinians in Hebron, including patterns of arbitrary arrests, severe beatings and zero accountability. The report presents over 20 testimonies collected between May and August 2024. Victims describe being randomly seized by soldiers, mostly as they were walking down the streets of the city, going about their daily affairs. They were beaten and subjected to severe abuse by soldiers, sometimes in the street, and at other times inside military outposts where they were taken.

In November, Yesh Din released a report documenting at the Abu Awwad family’s case and the severe (and insane) movement restrictions facing the family in the village of Turmusaya in the central West Bank. The family’s sole access to their residential compound, located on the outskirts of the town, was blocked by an earth mound of dirt and stones placed by soldiers and settlers in October 2023. This was only the start of a year of increasing imposition of restrictions imposed on the family by Israeli soldiers. Yesh Din has accompanied the family in filing a petition with the Israeli High Court of Justice to have the earth mound removed.

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.

January 12, 2024

Peace Now Petitions Israeli High Court Over Illegal Outpost

Peace Now reports that the Israeli Supreme Court will convene on January 29th to hear a petition concerning an illegal outpost that settler built initially on July 23, 2023 on land belonging to the Beit ‘Awwa municipality, west of Hebron. The petition was filed by the municipality, Peace Now, and a group of Palestinian residents who have been severely affected by the outpost and accompanying construction.

The petition seeks the re-opening of a road that leads to six homes and agricultural land, a road that has been blocked by the UDF since August 2023. Since then, Palestinians who live in those six homes have been forced to walk several hundred meters uphill with their water, supplies, and food (amongst other challenges posed by the inability to access one’s home and agricultural land by vehicle). Meanwhile, since October 7, 2023 settlers have illegally paved at least two new roads between the outpost and the Negohot settlement.

Peace Now said in a statement:

“The establishment of the new outpost has had severe consequences on the lives of Palestinians in the area. The military’s involvement with the settlers, through securing illegal activities and blocking Palestinian roads, is unbearable. Instead of halting the settlers and preventing the establishment of illegal outposts and roads in an area that affects the future of the State of Israel and regional security stability, the IDF is assisting lawbreakers. It is time to put an end to lawlessness in the territories and dismantle the illegal outposts.”

The outpost was established in July 2023 by setters from the nearby Negohot outpost. Settlers initially took over dozens of dunams of land, bulldozing and clearing th area with heavy machinery and assistance from the IDF. Since then, the outpost has evolved and grown to have many structures and a permanent settler presence. These settlers have engaged on violent intimidation and harassment of Palestinians who live and work near the outpost.

With Eyes on Gaza, Four Major Developments Regarding West Bank Antiquity Sites Targeted for Annexation by Israel

Emek Shaveh has raised concerns over recent developments at four different antiquity sites in the West Bank, explaining that these events taken together show how “processes tantamount to the weaponization of heritage in the service of settlement expansion in the Occupied Territories continue unhindered.” Details of the developments are below.

New Outpost in Battir

As FMEP has previously reported, on December 24, 2023 settlers established an illegal outpost on land near the Palestinian village of Battir (a UNESCO World Heritage Site). Emek Shaveh adds, “The new outpost established […] is situated half a kilometer from the village Battir i n the core zone of the World Heritage Site. The announcement of plans to expan d the Har Gilo settlement in 2022 also remains a threat to the integrity of the World Heritage site.”

Allocation of Funds for Secret “Khirbet Eqed” Site

Emek Shaveh reports that on December 31, 2023 the Knesset’s Finance Committee approved a $3.25 million (NIS 12.25 million) budget for the preservation and development of a site called “Khirbet Eqed,” located in a JNF-established Park (the Ayalon-Canada Park) in the “seam zone” area between the Israeli separation barrier and the 1967 Green Line.

Emek Shaveh explains:

“Khirbet Eqed and its environs has been excavated multiple times by Israeli archaeologists since 1976, mainly by the Civil Administration’s Staff Office for Archaeology (SOA) and Tel Aviv University. Since the construction of the separation wall east of Mavo Horon in the early 2000s, this area had been de-facto annexed both physically and, with the help of the park, also conceptually…The Ayalon-Canada Park and the investment in Khirbet Eqed is an example of a site where the process of annexation has been completed. What began with the expulsion of Palestinian communities in 1967 and was followed by the establishment of a settlement segued into the creation of a park which has been cut off from the West Bank. The latest plan takes this process to its logical conclusion with the development of the archaeological site and tourist attractions, all in service of erasing the greenline. Investment in Khirbet Eqed has the same purpose of entrenching Israeli control and normalizing tourism on Palestinian land like at multiple other sites throughout the West Bank.”

Military Activity in Bani Naim

Over the past week, Emek Shaveh has fielded many reports about increased military activity in the village of Bani Naim, where there are three antiquity sites. Bani Naim is located in Area A of the West Bank as defined by the Oslo Accords, where the IDF does not have authority to operate. Settlers have targeted at least two of these sites, located a bit south of the village, in their lobbying efforts to push the Israeli government to unilaterally seize and “safeguard.”

Government Budget Allocation Funds Settlers’ Antiquity Agenda

Emek Shaveh reports key details on the government’s December 2023 approval and allocation of $19 million (NIS 72 million) for a “Jerusalem and Heritage” program.

The approved budget and later additions include:

$4.25millino (NIS 16 million) to promote tourism to antiquity sites in the West Bank.
$8.8million (NIS 33 million) for a project entitled “Strengthening and Branding of Jerusalem’s Historical Basin”.
$4.25 million (NIS 16 million) for the Shalem Plan C which is focused on the excavation, preservation and development of archaeology in the Historic Basin mainly in the archaeological park of the City of David, located in the Silwan neighborhood of East Jerusalem.
$670,000 (2.5 million NIS) for the Sebastia plan () aimed at turning the site into a tourist stronghold with a total budget of 32 million NIS.

Knesset Caucus, Settler Leader Promises Gaza Resettlement

In early January 2024, the Knesset “Caucus to Strengthen the Awareness of Israeli Victory” held a meeting to encourage the re-establishment of settlements in Gaza. Led by MK Tzvi Succot, the caucus discussed what “victory” in the context of the current war on Gaza could look like, with applause for nearly every time a speaker mentioned resettlement.

MK Zuccot led the charge, encouraging that:

“At least in the northern Gaza Strip we first have to conquer, annex, destroy all the houses, build neighborhoods – large and expansive neighborhoods, large settlements in that place that will be named after our heroes, after the nation’s heroes who fought there. We will distribute free plots there to the soldiers who fought, to the wounded who fought. This image, and this is the most important thing, of the destroyed Gaza, of Palestine Square that will become Israeli Heroism Square, this image will echo in every home around the world so that everyone will see what happens to those who mess with the people of Israel.”

One of the figures leading the calls for the resettlement of Gaza, is settler leader Daniella Weiss who attended the caucus meeting. Weiss later claimed on X that she is planning a convoy to the northern areas of Gaza on January 11th. Weiss has said that over 1,000 Israelis are ready to move to Gaza, and called for the Israeli government to clear all Palestinians out of Gaza so that the settlers can see the sea. It is unclear at the time of publication if the convoy proceeded.

Bonus Reads

“Editorial | Arming and Mobilizing Settlers Must Stop to End Violence Against West Bank Palestinians” (Haaretz)
“Settlers killed a Palestinian teen. Israeli forces didn’t stop it.” (Washington Post)

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.

October 6, 2023

Smotrich Sidelines Military Legal Advisor In Order to Pursue Agenda
Smotrich & Settlers Demand Bypass Road Near Huwara Following Latest Violence
Israel Tightens Grip on Sebastia Site
Settlers, Knesset Continue Push for IDF to Seize “Archaeological Site” at Mt. Ebal/El-Burnat
The Acceleration of “Herding Outposts”, And Their Impact
OCHA Reports on Ongoing Ethnic Cleansing of Masafer Yatta
The JNF Is Funding Hilltop Youth
Bonus Reads

Smotrich Sidelines Military Legal Advisor In Order to Pursue Agenda

Haaretz reports that Bezalel Smotrich has taken further steps to consolidate his governance over settlements and outposts in the West Bank by sidelining the Defense Ministry’s top military legal advisor in favor of his own hand-picked deputy legal advisor, Moshe Frucht. Prior to joining Smotrich, Frucht was a researcher at the far-right Kohelet Policy Forum, an organization that is widely understood to be the architect behind the anti-democratic judicial revolution and author of many legal opinions arguing for the legality of Israeli settlements under international law.

In recent meetings on the topic of settlements, Smotrich has gone from overruling the objections of the military advisor to excluding them from meetings altogether. One Israeli MK, Gilad Kariv (Labor), also accuses Smotrich of hiding the army’s official legal position from the Knesset in committee hearings and when discussing government decisions.

As a reminder, in February 2023 Smotrich was effectively made the ruling sovereign of Area C of the West Bank via his role as a minister in the Defense Ministry and as the head of the newly created Settlements Administration, which was given power over civilian affairs in Area C.

Smotrich & Settlers Demand Bypass Road Near Huwara Following Latest Violence

The Palestinian village of Huwara has been a focal point of violence over the past few days after a Palestinian gunman opened fire on a settler vehicle on October 5th, following repeated incidents of rock-throwing at Israeli vehicles near Huwara this week. Over the night of October 5th, hundreds of settlers – including MK Zvi Sukkot – descended upon Huwara in what they claim was an attempt to set up a Sukkah in celebration of the Sukkot holiday and in response to the attack. Settlers attacked Palestinian homes and businesses resulting in clashes with Palestinians. A 19-year old Palestinian boy, Labeeb Mohammed Dmaidi, was shot and killed while standing on the roof of his family home and allegedly throwing rocks towards the settlers and IDF soldiers. Palestinians believe a settler was the shooter.

The violence has resulted in the settlers demanding that the government complete the Huwara Bypass road, which has dragged on since construction began in 2021. Bezalel Smotrich publicly stated his support for the demand while in Huwara the day after the attacks, where he further called on Netanyahu to force Palestinian shops on Huwara’s main road to remain closed until the road is complete. Smotrich later criticized Netanyahu and Defense Minister Gallant for closing down Route 60 during the funeral procession for Dmaidi. Recall that earlier this year Smotrich said that Israel should “wipe out” Huwara.

The initial shooting attack occurred on Route 60, which is used by both settlers and Palestinians as the main thoroughfare connecting central and northern West Bank. Route 60 passes through Huwwara. The bypass road is designed so that residents of Nablus-area settlements can more easily/directly access Jerusalem without driving through Huwara. Israel unilaterally expropriated private Palestinian land along the route of the road in preparation for construction.

Beyond the new demand and the possible implications it will have on the freedom of movement for Palestinians to and from Huwara, National Security Minister Ben Gvir posted on X during the settlers October 5th attack on Huwara that “”Our [Jewish Israeli] lives take priority to the Palestinians’ freedom of movement (and commerce). We’ll continue to say this truth and actively work to implement [this truth].” This is the second time that Ben Gvir has said that the rights and freedoms of Jews are more important than Palestinians.

Israel Tightens Grip on Sebastia Site

Emek Shaveh reports that on October 1st Israeli Minister for Environmental Protection, Idit Sliman, toured the archaeological site of Sebastia alongside settler leader Yossi Dagan, declaring that the land belongs to Israel. The Sebastia site is located near the Palestinian village of Sebastia, north of Nablus in the heart of the West Bank, and straddles the line designating Areas B and C, with most of the site is in Area C. The Palestinian village of Sebastia – which settlers travel through to reach the site – is in Area B entirely. During Sliman’s tour of the site the IDF sealed off all entry points to the village.

On May 7, 2023, the Israeli government approved nearly $9 million (NIS 32 million) for a project to develop and “renovate” the archaeological site of Sebastia. 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.

Settlers have been openly agitating for Israel to assert control over the archaeological site in Sebastia for years, and the settler Samaria Regional Council organizes regular tours to the site. To secure the settlers’ visits, the IDF shuts down the town of Sebastia, closing Palestinian streets and businesses. As in other cases across the West Bank, settlers allege that Palestinians are damaging the Sebastia site and that the Israeli government needs to intervene. In 2021 amidst intensifying settler efforts related to the site, the Palestinian Foreign Ministry called on UNESCO to “protect all Palestinian archaeological and religious sites from Israeli violations, attacks and falsifications.” The archaeological site of Sebastia is on the tentative list of World Heritage sites in Palestine.

Emek Shaveh further explains the history and politicization of this archaeological site

“The battle over Sebastia is also played out in the narratives each side presents to the public. The informational material distributed by the PA does not include an explicit reference to the Kingdom of Israel or to the Hasmonean connection. On the other hand, in recent years the settlers have been rehabilitating the figure of Omri, a King of the Kingdom of Israel, in an effort to imbue Sebastia with greater nationalist significance. Sebastia also holds a special place in recent history for the settlers because it is the place where the leaders of Gush Emunim, the group that first fought for the establishment of settlements in the West Bank in the 1970s, celebrated the government’s agreement to establish the first settlement in the area in 1975.

In tandem with the growing campaign of recent years to apply full Israeli control over Sebastia, larger numbers of Israelis visit the site every week in buses organized by the Samaria Regional Council and accompanied by soldiers.

Sebastia, is a declared national park. National parks and nature reserves in Area C of the West Bank are managed by the Civil Administration and are referred to as “parks”. Their total area spans approximately 500,000 dunams and constitutes roughly 14.5% of Area C. Palestinians’ rights are violated in these territories through various means. In the Ein Prat Nature Reserve, for example, landowners cannot cultivate their land as their access is restricted. In Herodion National Park and Nabi Samuel, residents can neither construct nor renovate their homes.”

Settlers, Knesset Continue Push for IDF to Seize “Archaeological Site” at Mt. Ebal/El-Burnat

This week settlers have carried out daily trips to the archaeological site at Mt. Ebal, known as el-Burnat to Palestinians, located in Area B of the West Bank. On Monday, the Israeli army coordinated a trip for hundreds of Israelis to the site, but has not coordinated with settlers on their trip to the site in the subsequent days. Over the past two years, settlers have been clamoring for the army to take unilateral control over the site after the Palestinian Authority began to develop land nearby.

On October 6th, MK Son-Harmelech participated in a trip to the site and subsequently called on the government of Israel to establish a new settlement at the site (which, again, is located in Area B).

In a further show of the settlers influence and the government’s intentions with the site, Emek Shaveh reports that on September 25th a subcommittee of the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense met to discuss accusations (which have proven to be false yet are weaponized by settlers) that the Palestinian Authority has recklessly damaged and is attempting to destroy the site. Emek Shaveh explains: “The reports and the special subcommittee session are part of an orchestrated attempt by the settlers and their representatives in the Israeli parliament to use antiquity sites as a ruse for advancing annexation.”

At the hearing, the Civil Administration’s Head of Infrastructure, Lieutenant Colonel Adam Avidan, acknowledged that the site is in Area B where the IDF has limited authority. He also said the IDF constructed an observation tower to monitor Palestinian activity at the site. Avidan also explained that the IDF had summoned the Palestinian village leader to warn him not to conduct any construction work at the site, showing a map that marked the borders (reminder that the IDF does not have any authority over antiquity sites in Areas A or B).

Mt.Ebal/el-Burnat is purported to be an antiquity site where the biblical prophet Joshua built an altar, originally identified as such in the 1980s by an Israeli archaeologist though the majority of professional archaeologists do not support that conclusion. Emek Shaveh, an Israeli NGO with expertise in archaeology, called the settler campaign to seize Mt. Ebal as a “watershed in Israeli archaeology.” In July 2023, Emek Shaveh reported that a triad composed of settlers, an American Christian evangelical organization, and the Israeli army collaborated on a recent unlicensed excavation on Mount Ebal, which Emek Shaveh called antiquity theft. Further, the groups transferred some 80 cubic meters of soil from Mount Ebal to the Shavei Shomron settlement, where settlers then promoted an opportunity for members of the public to join the archaeologists in sifting through the materials (thereby promoting tourism to the settlements). Haaretz called the excavation “is mainly used as a tourist attraction to the West Bank and is of little scientific significance.”

Emek Shaveh’s explained the significance of what is happening on Mount Ebal:

“The archaeological site at Mount Ebal is becoming a watershed in Israeli archaeology. The activity on the site has turned from a pirate operation led by a group of Messianic Jews and Christians into a state sponsored operation under the auspices of the Civil Administration led by Minister Bezalel Smotrich.This is yet another violation of the Oslo Accords and suspected violation of domestic and international law that is whitewashed by Israeli authorities and intended to serve as a method for advancing the annexation of the West Bank to Israel.In addition to the alleged violation of the law, the excavation constitutes an ethical failure by the entire archaeological community in Israel whose silence continues to grant legitimacy to such projects. A comprehensive and immediate investigation is required by all the relevant parties as well as independently by the Israeli Archaeological Association.”

The Acceleration of “Herding Outposts”, And Their Impact

On October 3rd The New York Times published an article describing the impact of so-called herding outposts on the battle for control over land in the West Bank, highlighting reporting from Kerem Navot that shows how settlers have been establishing herding and farming outposts as a way to coerce the displacement of Palestinians and assert control a maximal amount of land with a minimal number of Israeli settlers.

That 20 new herding outposts have been established so far this year, showing how this tactic has accelerated since 2018 when settlers began to strategically focus on herding outposts as an effective mechanism. Three Palestinian herding communities have been displaced from their lands this year, largely in fear of nearby settlers.

The Times reports:

“The Israeli settlers’ stated intention is to chip away at wide expanses of land that the Palestinian leadership, at the advent of the Oslo peace process 30 years ago, hoped would form the territorial spine of a future Palestinian state. ‘It’s not the nicest thing to evacuate a population,’ said Ariel Danino, 26, an Israeli settler who lives on an outpost and helps lead efforts to build new ones. ‘But we’re talking about a war over the land, and this is what is done during times of war’.”

In a 2022 report on this herding phenomenon, Kerem Navot explains:

“…the development of Israeli sheep and cattle grazing in the West Bank, […] has gradually become Israel’s most significant mechanism for dispossessing Palestinian communities. At issue are tens of thousands of acres of open areas expropriated by the Israeli authorities and settlers through dozens of shepherd outposts and farms, the great majority of which have been established over the past decade. The use of grazing to seize land began in the early 1970s and continued intermittently in the 1980s and 90s. In recent years, however, the phenomenon mushroomed in terms of area size, investments, and the destructive repercussions for Palestinian communities.

The declared objective of the farm outposts is to “protect state lands”. In practice, however, they are designed to uproot Palestinian grazing and farming communities from public or private lands, and turn them into lands that only settlers can use. To promote this objective, one instrument must be used above all others: violence. Indeed, the farm outposts have recently seen some of the most violent incidents in the West Bank. It is no wonder that the uprooting of people from their lands, often also their ancestral lands, requires severe and ongoing violence. Accordingly, countless incidents involving threats, harassments, and assaults on Palestinian farmers and shepherds have occurred around these outposts in recent years, often in the presence and full support of military or police forces.

These outposts are the spearhead of a violent land-grabbing system, well planned and generously funded by various state and quasi-state bodies. These include the military, the Israeli Civil Administration (of the West Bank), regional and local councils, the World Zionist Organization’s Settlement Division, the Ministries of Agriculture and Education, and the new Ministries of Settlement and Intelligence. All are preoccupied with what has recently been referred to as the “Battle for Area C”, meaning the coercive transfer of Palestinians from the area, which represents 61% of the total area of the West Bank, and their enclosure in isolated enclaves.”

OCHA Reports on Ongoing Ethnic Cleansing of Masafer Yatta

In a new report, OCHA OpT reports that over the past three months, 13 Palestinian families (84 individuals, 44 of which are children) have been forcibly displaced from the homes and grazing lands in the Masafer Yatta region in the South Hebron Hills.

OCHA reports:

“Over the years, and increasingly since May 2022, the Israeli authorities have imposed movement restrictions, confiscated property, demolished homes, and carried out military trainings in Masafer Yatta. Jointly, these practices have contributed to a coercive environment that has pressured residents to move out. In the past three months, movement restrictions have further intensified. Operating from a newly established military base, Israeli forces now patrol the area more frequently, further restricting people’s movement and access to markets and basic services, as well as the shipment of fodder and other inputs for livestock, on which most families rely. They have additionally confiscated vehicles used by residents. Two schools in the area report that 24 students have dropped out this year, including pupils whose families have left amid this coercive environment, and others who fear the unsafe journey to school. In one incident, in September, Israeli forces stopped teachers who were travelling to work and threatened to seize their vehicle if they used it again.”

The JNF Is Funding Hilltop Youth

Haaretz reports that the Jewish National Fund has givn $1million over the past two years to organizations which are involved in the construction of illegal outposts, specifically to support a project aimed at the “Hilltop Youth.” The funding is meant to offer professional training for young high school drop outs living in illegal WEst Bank outposts.

In response the this revelation, the Haaretz Editorial Board writes:

“The Jewish National Fund is continuing to bolster its role as a key player in the settlement enterprise and its accompanying looting and dispossession of the Palestinians in the West Bank, in preparation for a future annexation. Like all other settlement players, JNF too seems to view all means as kosher. And if they aren’t kosher, then they’ll be koshered retroactively in the future, after the settlers finish their takeover of Israel. Over the last two years, the Jewish National Fund has invested 4 million shekels in a project to rehabilitate teen dropouts living on farms and herding outposts in the West Bank. The money, which was meant to fund professional training for teens, is passed on to organizations that encourage the establishment of illegal settlement outposts….. the occupied territories aren’t the periphery, and “agricultural farms” in the West Bank lie outside Israel’s borders. And judging by its response, JNF is indifferent to their illegality. “The JNF is active in educational programs and does not deal with the legal status of these farms,” it said. In practice, it is directing at-risk youth to join the settlers’ extremist “hilltop youth.” Like all of Israel’s other national institutions, JNF completed its national mission once the state was established and should have been closed at that time. This is doubly true now that it has become the Settlement and Annexation National Fund.”

Bonus Reads

“How to establish a new settlement without the world noticing” (+972 Magazine)
“Settler violence is fueling the effects of climate breakdown on Palestinians” (+972 Magazine)
“West Bank Dispatch: Settlers escalate harassment campaign, while army targets more resistance groups” (Mondoweiss)
“Biden and Europe Beware: Your Silence on Israel’s Annexation Strengthens Putin” (Haaretz)
“PA police extract 5 tourists mobbed after illegally entering Joseph’s Tomb in Nablus” (The Times of Israel)
“How Israel uses settler violence to displace Palestinians” (The New Arab)
“Why I spent Yom Kippur protecting Palestinian villagers from settler violence” (JTA News)
”Analysis | Israeli Far Right’s Ambitious West Bank Plan Could Be Saudi Deal’s Achilles’ Heel” (Amos Harel 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.

September 8, 2023

Israel Establishes Official Borders for Three Outposts
IDF Demolishes Illegal Settler Structures Near Yitzhar
Settler Leader Pushes Campaign to Seize Mt. Ebal, Located in Area B
New Civil Admin Head Nominated, Without Input or Approval of Smotrich
Real Estate Developer Files Suit Against Settlers, IDF
Blistering New UN Report Calls Israeli Occupation Illegal & Calls for Reparations
Settler Terrorism as a Means of State-Sanctioned Ethnic Cleansing
Bonus Reads

Israel Establishes Official Borders for Three Outposts

On September 6th, the head of the IDF signed a military order establishing municipal borders for three outposts – Avigail, Asa’el, and Beit Hogla – a significant step towards the retroactive legalization of the outposts, which was directed by the Israeli government in February 2023 (along with five others). The Avigail and Asael outposts are located in the South Hebron Hills; the Beit Hogla outpost is south east of Jericho.

The next step in the legalization of the outposts is creating a masterplan to designate the area for residential construction, so that the existing buildings can be granted retroactive legalization and future building can commence planning.

Bezalel Smotrich (who is effectively governor of the West Bank in his capacity as a minister within the Defense Ministry) celebrated this step towards legalization of the outposts, saying:

“Great things are happening in the settlements, and the nationalist government is advancing right-wing, Zionist and nationalist policies that see the development of the settlements in Judea and Samaria as an asset to the State of Israel,”

Peace Now said in a statement:

“The annexation has for a long time stopped creeping. The Israeli government led by Netanyahu and Smotrich has officially decided to promote with all its vigor the annexation of the West Bank. The decision of the commander of the IDF Central Command regarding the municipal boundaries is yet another step in this process. Not only is the State of Israel promoting more settlements, which do great damage to Israelis and Palestinians, it is also giving each settlement a huge and disproportionate area for its boundary jurisdiction…The main goal of the regime and the messianic [judicial] coup is to enable such processes, and to import the reality of apartheid in the [West Bank] territories into the territory of the State of Israel,” it added. “Anyone who opposes the regime coup must oppose this process that will lead us to the end of the State of Israel as a democratic and Jewish state.”

Reported last week, the Israeli non-profit Kerem Navot says that the proposed new boundary of the Asa’el settlement is eighteen times larger than the outpost, which currently has 71 (illegal, even under Israeli law) buildings. The boundary of the Avigail settlement is nearly three times the size of the outpost.

The Avigail outpost, currently composed of 48 buildings, is located in Firing Zone 918 in the South Hebron Hills. This is the same firing zone that is home to the Palestinian communities of Masafer Yatta — whose existence pre-dates Israel’s declaration of the area as a firing zone. Those communities are today in the process of being ethnically cleansed by Israel. Both Avigail and Asael have, illegally, built access roads on privately owned Palestinian land. Legalization of the Avigail outposts will undoubtedly also include the theft of the Palestinian-owned land these roads were illegally built on.

The Beit Hogla outpost is located in the Jordan Valley near the Dead Sea, and has 22 buildings currently.

IDF Demolishes Illegal Settler Structures Near Yitzhar

On September 4th, an estimated 150 Israeli soldiers and police arrived on land near the radical Yitzhar settlement to forcibly remove settlers and demolish three illegal structures. One of the structures, described as a lookout point, was located in Area B, while two others were built on land that the Oslo Accords designated as Area C. The Times of Israel reports this is only the third time the current government has carried out a demolition order against illegal settler construction.

Settlers expressed fury following the demolition of the structures, which settlers say were constructed in the memory of Rina Schnerb – an Israeli settler who was killed by a bomb placed by a Palestinian at a West Bank spring. The fury, almost entirely, was directed at Bezalel Smotrich who is single handedly responsible for overseeing demolition actions in Area C of the West Bank.

Settler Leader Pushes Campaign to Seize Mt. Ebal, Located in Area B

Yossi Dagan, head of the Samaria settlement council and a prominent leader, went on Israeli TV to push the government to unilaterally annex the area of Mt. Ebal in the northern west bank, known as el-Burnat by Palestinians. Mt. Ebal/el-Burnat is located in Area B of the West Bank, some 22% of the West Bank that the Oslo Accords does not afford Israel control over civilian matters like archaeology. Dagan alleges that the Palestinian Authority is “systematically trying to destroy the heritage sites of the Jewish people.” As FMEP has chronicled, settlers and their allies are intent upon using claims of Palestinian damage/neglect as a pretext for Israel taking control of archaeological sites and artifacts across the West Bank.

Dagan pushed for action, saying:

“I am very upset because we will not be able to chase the mosquitoes. We need to dry up the swamp. The Israeli government must regain full control over Joshua’s Altar on Mount Ebal. It must fence it and place a guard there. Netanyahu said two years ago that we would place a guard there and I expect that the promise will be kept and a guard will be posted. No nation would accept a situation where its most important heritage sites are abandoned to systematic destruction and looting.”

Emek Shaveh’s explained the significance of what is happening on Mount Ebal:

“The archaeological site at Mount Ebal is becoming a watershed in Israeli archaeology. The activity on the site has turned from a pirate operation led by a group of Messianic Jews and Christians into a state sponsored operation under the auspices of the Civil Administration led by Minister Bezalel Smotrich.This is yet another violation of the Oslo Accords and suspected violation of domestic and international law that is whitewashed by Israeli authorities and intended to serve as a method for advancing the annexation of the West Bank to Israel.In addition to the alleged violation of the law, the excavation constitutes an ethical failure by the entire archaeological community in Israel whose silence continues to grant legitimacy to such projects. A comprehensive and immediate investigation is required by all the relevant parties as well as independently by the Israeli Archaeological Association.”

As a reminder, 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 $33million budget came in addition to $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.

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).

New Civil Admin Head Nominated, Without Input or Approval of Smotrich

On September 3rd,, the IDF Chief of Staff appointed Brig. Gen. Hisham Ibrahim as head of the Civil Administration, the body within the Israeli Defense Ministry which acts as administrator of the occupation. The appointment was made without the approval of Bezalel Smotrich, who wields virtually unchecked power over civilian matters in Area C of the West Bank as a minister within the Defense Ministry and head of the “Settlements Administration” and as entitled to appoint the Deputy Chief of the Civil Administration.

Israel Hayom further reports that Smotrich recommended his own candidate for the post, but was rebuffed by Defense Minister Gallant and the head of the IDF.

Real Estate Developer Files Suit Against Settlers, IDF

Haaretz reports that the Union Construction and Investment company has filed a $5.2million lawsuit with the Tel Aviv District Court against six settlers, the IDF, and Israeli police – a lawsuit which documents 74 raids by Israeli settlers into the land and construction site the company is developing in the Palestinian village of Turmus Ayya in the northern West Bank. The company is owned by Palestinian-Canadian Khaled Al-Sabawi, who purchased land in Turmus Ayya in 2019, planning to build a housing project on the land.

The lawsuit alleges that settlers damaged the construction site in 26 separate incidents, which include damaging construction equipment and physical attacks on the company’s employees and clients. The settlers also have been repeatedly video-taped intimidating Palestinian workers and clients who go to the site, telling them “This isn’t your land,” “You can’t be here,” “If you love your children, don’t bring them here.” The Israeli police and IDF are accused in the lawsuit of failing to stop the settlers’ violence.

One of the six defendants is Elisha Yered, a well-known, radical, and violent settler who has been repeatedly in the news cycle, most recently for his involvement in the murder of Qosai Jammal Mi’tan in Burqa. Yered lives in the outpost of Ramat Migron in the northern West Bank, and is under ongoing investigation following his arrest in August 2022 for “racist conspiracy” — amongst other charges for crimes against Palestinians. Yered also serves as the spokesman for Otzma Yehudit lawmaker Limor Son Har-Melech.

Al-Sabawi – represented by prominent human rights lawyer Michael Sfard and Hussein Abu Hussein – told Haaretz that he is suing for $5.2 million in damages the company incurred due to the settlers attacks, saying that because of the settlers he cannot sell the properties and some of his clients have even asked for refunds.

The six settlers listed in the lawsuit have filed a response, claiming that their actions are legal forms of protest, that the statute of limitations has expired, and that the development is located in Area B where the Israeli court does not have jurisdiction.

Blistering New UN Report Calls Israeli Occupation Illegal & Calls for Reparations

On August 30th, the United Nations Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People (CEIRPP) released an exhaustive 106-page report on the conduct of Israel in the occupied Palestinian territories, concluding that the occupation is illegal and that “reparations should be accorded to… Palestinian individuals, corporations & entities, for the generational harm caused by Israel’s land & property appropriations, house demolitions, pillage… denial of return & other war crimes & crimes against humanity.” The report calls for the immediate, unconditional and total withdrawal of Israel’s military forces; the withdrawal of colonial settlers; and the dismantling of the military administrative regime” and more.

Former UN Special Rapporteur on PalestineMichael Lynk called the report:

“the most comprehensive, the most detailed, the most thorough documentation addressing the questions that the UN General Assembly has put before the International Court of Justice regarding its advisory opinion on the legality of Israel’s now over 56-year occupation of Palestine.”

Settler Terrorism as a Means of State-Sanctioned Ethnic Cleansing

There have been several must-read articles detailing how settler violence towards Palestinian herding communities amounts to ethnic cleansing. FMEP recommends reading:

“The End of Widady” (Jewish Currents)
“Settlers Have a Very Effective System for Forcing Palestinians Out of Their Homes” (Avishay Mohar for Haaretz)
“Israeli Settlers Target the Weakest Link as Ethnic Cleansing Becomes Policy” (Gideon Levy for Haaretz)

Bonus Reads

“Important Update on the 6 Homes at Risk of Imminent Demolition in Al-Walaja (East Jerusalem)” (Ir Amim)
“’There Is an Apartheid State Here’: Ex-Mossad Chief on Israel’s West Bank Occupation” (Haaretz)
“Far-right activists in Ma’ale Adumim try to curb Palestinian presence in settlement” (The Times of Israel)
“The Druze ‘Hilltop Youth’: Young men building illegal outposts on Mount Carmel” (Arutz Sheva)

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

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 14, 2023

Settlers Move In After Israel Forcibly Evicts Ghaith-Sub Laban Family
Israel Starts Planning New East Jerusalem Settlement Enclave Via Weaponization of the Land Registration Process
Settlers Takeover Another Palestinian Home on Shuhada Street in Hebron, Potentially with IDF Help
Settlers Lead State-Backed Archaeological “Excavation” in Area B
Government Admits it Deliberately Permitted Illegal Construction at Homesh Outpost
Bonus Reads

Settlers Move In After Israel Forcibly Evicts Ghaith-Sub Laban Family

On the early morning of July 11th, a large contingent of Israeli police arrived at the home of Nora Ghaith and Mustafa Sub Laban to forcibly remove the elderly couple from their apartment in the Muslim Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem. The apartment was handed over to settlers, who moved in as soon as the Ghaith-Sub Labans were removed.

Twelve human rights activists were arrested by Israeli police during protests held in solidarity with the Gaith-Sub Laban family. The eviction was widely panned by the international community.

The Ghaith-Sub Laban family has spent more than 45 years in a legal battle against settlers (and the State) over their home in the Muslim Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem. This family’s story is not unique, and the broader, systemic processes behind the forcible dispossession of Palestinians in Jerusalem is also discussed. In March 2023, FMEP hosted Rafat Sub Laban and Ir Amim’s Amy Cohen on a podcast – “‘We Are Determined to Stay”: One Palestinian Family’s Story of Dispossession in Jerusalem” – to discuss the Sub Laban case and how it relates to broader State-back settler efforts to dispossess Palestinians across Jerusalem.

Ir Amim explains the Israeli legal system which aids settlers in taking possession of Palestinian properties across East Jerusalem, including the Sub Laban home:

“… lawsuits were filed by settler groups on the basis of the 1970 Legal and Administrative Matters law. This discriminatory law exclusively affords Jews with land restitution rights for assets allegedly owned by Jews in East Jerusalem prior to 1948 despite many of these properties now inhabited by Palestinian refugees. No parallel legal mechanism exists for Palestinians to recover pre-1948 assets on the Israeli side of the Green Line now inhabited by Jews. To the contrary, the 1950 Absentee Property Law enshrines that Palestinians who were forced to abandon their homes in what became Israel due to the war of 1948 cannot retrieve them.

Settler organizations aided by state bodies act to secure ownership rights of these assets through various means despite having no relation to the previous Jewish owners or occupants. Acquisition of these rights provides settler groups with the legal platform to then “retrieve” the property from the General Custodian and initiate eviction lawsuits against Palestinian families through application of the 1970 law.

A department within the Ministry of Justice, the General Custodian is the Israeli body responsible for managing pre-1948 Jewish assets in East Jerusalem until “reclaimed.” It should be noted that the General Custodian has become one of the leading state institutions who works in cooperation with settler groups to facilitate evictions of Palestinians and seizure of their homes in East Jerusalem. Many of the families facing eviction are Palestinian refugees who lost homes on the Israeli side of the Green Line in 1948 and now stand to be displaced for a second or even third time.”

For a comprehensive overview of the Sub Laban family’s legal battle, as well as other East Jerusalem eviction cases, please see Ir Amim’s report.

Israel Starts Planning New East Jerusalem Settlement Enclave Via Weaponization of the Land Registration Process

Ir Amim and Bimkom report that Israel has initiated the planning process on a new settlement enclave in the Umm Lysoon neighborhood in East Jerusalem, and in order to facilitate the new enclave the State is simultaneously carrying out land registration for the land where the enclave will be built. The plans for the settlement enclave call for the construction of 450 settlement units, on an open piece of land between Umm Lysoon and the adjacent neighborhood of Jabal Mukkhaber, one of the only open land reserves in the area where Palestinians face a severe housing Crisis. Unsurprisingly, some of the same settlers who are pushing the Umm Lysoon plan not only live in Jabal Al-Mukaver, but have already succeeded in massively expanding the Nof Zion/Nof Zahaf settler enclave in that neighborhood.

The plan for the new Umm Lysoon enclave hinges on the settlers’ work with the State to transfer ownership of the land into the hands of settlers using the land registration process – – which Ir Amim and Bimkom have shown to be a politically-driven tool used by the State to fuel the expansion of settlements across the city.

The land where the new enclave is being planned for has been managed by the Israeli Custodian General, the State body which acts as a caretaker for property abandoned by Israeli Jews as a result of the 1948 war, with the idea that the property will be returned to its original owners. Settlers have worked with the state to secure ownership rights to East Jerusalem land despite having no relation to the previous Jewish owners. Such is the case with the Umm Lysoon land, where the Israeli Custodian General is submitting the plans (even though it does not own the land, just manages it) for the new enclave alongside Topodia LTD, a settler-linked construction company. Topodia managed to acquire ownership of a very small percentage of the land within the enclaves planned borders, but the planning requires the willing participation of the Israeli Custodian General.

The plan for Umm Lysoon is the third settlement plan in the last 1.5 years that has been promoted not only on lands managed by the General Custodian, but also with its direct involvement – the others being the Givat HaShaked and Kidmat Zion settlement plans.

Ir Amim and Bimkom write:

“If constructed, it would constitute a major settlement within the heart of Umm Lysoon, which until now has remained untouched from the threat of setter presence or encroachment. As with other East Jerusalem neighborhoods, Umm Lysoon continues to suffer from a severe shortage in housing, public buildings, infrastructure, and basic services. Instead of promoting residential development and urban planning to meet the needs of local residents, the plan is rather being advanced to establish a new Jewish settlement inside a Palestinian neighborhood on land marked in policy documents for the community’s development.”

Settlers Takeover Another Palestinian Home on Shuhada Street in Hebron, Potentially with IDF Help

Peace Now reports that settlers have illegally moved into a Palestinian-owned property in the heart of Hebron on Shuhada Street, just south of the Cave of the Patriarchs, in an area of downtown Hebron where no other Israeli settlers live. The settlers appear to have accessed the home, which until recently was blockaded by concrete barriers, with the assistance of the IDF and further claim to have purchased the home. This location – and the alleged purchase of the home – is hugely significant both on the ground and in the Israeli government’s brazen support facilitation of settlement expansion, as explained by Peace Now:

“Hebron is perhaps the most scattered city in the West Bank. Any change in ownership of a store, courtyard, and especially a structure means establishing a new settlement in the city. Many houses and properties in the part of the city controlled by Israel have remained vacant and abandoned over the past decades and serve as a target for settlers’ takeover. Until recently, approvals for the settlement of new houses by the settlers required the approval of the Minister of Defense and the Prime Minister. As part of the transfer of civilian authority to Bezalel Smotrich, it was decided that in Hebron, the approval of settlement would be in the hands of Smotrich in coordination with Minister Yoav Gallant. The settlers’ entry into the house openly indicates that both ministers agreed to establish the new settlement. The new settlement is located on Shuhada Street (the settlers changed its name to King David Street), between the Pool of Siloam and the neighborhood of Avraham Avinu. This is an area populated by Palestinians and far from the existing settlements in the city. The new settlement is, in fact, an entry into a new area in the city.”

Years ago, the IDF installed concrete barriers preventing anyone from accessing the house, and evicted settlers from the home last year when they used a ladder to climb over the barriers. Those concrete barriers were recently removed (which can only be done with heavy equipment), suggesting that the IDF is planed to allow the settlers to enter (and likely remain) in the house.

The home is owned by the Palestinian Jariwi family, which petitioned the Israeli High Court of Justice to evict the settlers. The state initially responded to the petition saying that the settlers had already been evicted (clearly not true), and the State is now facing a July 30th deadline with the Court to submit an updated response given that the settlers are still squatting in the house illegally.

Photo of the new enclave found at: https://peacenow.org.il/en/a-new-settlement-was-established-in-hebron-with-the-return-of-settlers-to-a-house-that-the-idf-evicted-a-year-ago

Settlers Lead State-Backed Archaeological “Excavation” in Area B

Emek Shaveh reports that a triad composed of settlers, an American Christian evangelical organization, and the Israeli army collaborated on a recent unlicensed excavation on Mount Ebal – located north of Nablus near the Palestinian town of a-Sira al-Shaliya in Area B of the West Bank (where Israel does not have civilian authorities, according to the Oslo Accords). The excavation was approved by the Israeli Civil Administration under pressure from settlers, but given the location of the site in Area B and the lack of any license to carry out the excavation – Emek Shaveh states that this could be considered antiquity theft.

The groups transferred some 80 cubic meters of soil from Mount Ebal to the Shavei Shomron settlement, where settlers then promoted an opportunity for members of the public to join the archaeologists in sifting through the materials (thereby promoting tourism to the settlements). Haaretz called the excavation “is mainly used as a tourist attraction to the West Bank and is of little scientific significance.”

Emek Shaveh’s explained the significance of what is happening on Mount Ebal:

“The archaeological site at Mount Ebal is becoming a watershed in Israeli archaeology. The activity on the site has turned from a pirate operation led by a group of Messianic Jews and Christians into a state sponsored operation under the auspices of the Civil Administration led by Minister Bezalel Smotrich.This is yet another violation of the Oslo Accords and suspected violation of domestic and international law that is whitewashed by Israeli authorities and intended to serve as a method for advancing the annexation of the West Bank to Israel.In addition to the alleged violation of the law, the excavation constitutes an ethical failure by the entire archaeological community in Israel whose silence continues to grant legitimacy to such projects. A comprehensive and immediate investigation is required by all the relevant parties as well as independently by the Israeli Archaeological Association.”

Government Admits it Deliberately Permitted Illegal Construction at Homesh Outpost

In response to a petition submitted by Yesh Din, the Israel state formally confirmed reports Defense Minister Yoav Gallant ordered the Israeli army to stand down when it arrived in May 2023 to stop settlers’ attempt to relocated the Homesh outpost onto a small sliver of “state land” in the area of the former Homesh settlement in the northern West Bank. Gallant’s intervention only served to confirm the unapologetic determination of the Israeli government to reestablish the Homesh settlement on the “state land,” despite the fact that the land is surrounded by privately owned Palestinian property belonging to the nearby village of Burqa. (spoiler: In 2018, Israel established basis in its legal books for violating the private property rights of Palestinians in order to build an access road to the Haresha outpost).

In the weeks since settlers were permitted to illegally move into the area, the outpost has been connected to the state water grid.

On July 7th, a group of ~400 Israeli, Palestinian, and international activists attended a Peace Now protest march intended to start in Burqa and end at the Homesh outpost, in an effort to call on the government of Israel to stop the establishment of a settlement there. Though the marchers had requested and received a permit to hold the march, the IDF used force to stop the march from approaching Burqa. One marcher was detained and later released.

As a reminder – the legalization of Homesh was explicitly agreed to in the coalition deals which formed the current Israeli government. And despite the message to the U.S. behind closed doors, Israeli lawmakers and settler leaders hailed the Israeli government’s moves on Homesh as concrete steps toward the realization of this commitment. Otzma Yehudit MK and settlement activist Limor Son Har Melech hailed the news and said that the real goal is to reestablish all four settlements located near the Homesh outpost which were dismantled by the Israeli government in 2005 (the order issued by the IDF Commander on May 18th that allows Israelis to enter to the Homesh area did not extend to the areas of the other three settlements – Sa-Nur, Ganim, and Kadim).

Bonus Reads

“Four Palestinians said wounded in settler attack in West Bank” (The Times of Israel)
“Smotrich wants one million West Bank settlers. That’s not so far-fetched” (+972 Magazine)
“Senate Foreign Relations Committee set for debate over Biden guidance on Israeli cooperative funding” (Jewish Insider)
“Israeli Human Rights Violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory – Weekly Update: 06-12 July 2023” (PCHR)

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.

May 26, 2023

IDF & Settlers Move Ahead with Re-Establishment of Homesh Settlement
Israeli Authorities Approve New East Jerusalem Settlement of “Kidmat Zion”
State & Settler Violence Coerce the Forcible Transfer of Ein Samia Bedouin Community
Israel Attempts to Assuage U.S. Concern Over Smotrich’s “Double the Settlers” Planning
Israeli State Budget Awards “Several Billion” Shekels to Settlements & Outposts
Government Gives Settler Group $41 Million for East Jerusalem Archaeological Projects
Annexation, End of Civil Society on the Government’s Agenda This Weekend
Bonus Reads

IDF & Settlers Move Ahead with Re-Establishment of Homesh Settlement

On May 18th the IDF Commander signed a military order that finalizes the Knesset’s recent repeal of key sections of the 2005 Disengagement Law, allowing Israelis to enter the area in the northern West Bank where the Homesh settlement stood before it was dismantled by the Israeli government in 2005 as part of Disengagement. In parallel, the Israeli Defense Minister announced that the government plans to relocate the Homesh outpost – a yeshiva (that is, a Jewish religious school) established illegally by settlers as part of their drive to re-establish the Homesh settlement – from its current location, which is on land that Israeli courts have recognized as private Palestinian property, to a small plot of nearby “state land.” The Times of Israel further reports that the IDF Commander signed additional orders on May 15th that temporarily bar Israelis from entering the existing Homesh outpost until the outpost’s yeshiva is relocated to the “state land” plot, and that add the Homesh outpost as an official community under the umbrella of the Shomron Regional Council (a settlement municipal body).

Following the IDF Commander’s order, Yesh Din said in a statement:

“The Homesh outpost is on private land belonging to residents of the Palestinian village of Burqa. The entry of Israelis into the area is an additional tool in the expulsion of residents from their lands. The process of authorizing the outpost is a prize and an incentive for criminals and a violation of international law.”

On May 25th, Haaretz published photos of settlers using tractors to clear the plot of “state land” for construction, ostensibly in preparation for the relocation of the existing Homesh outpost/yeshiva. Israel’s plan to relocate the outpost is an attempt to sidestep a pending petition filed in 2009 by the Palestinian landowners and Yesh Din seeking removal of the Homesh outpost/yeshiva from the Palestinians’ land and providing for the landowners to access the area (discussed in greater detail below). To state the obvious, moving the Homesh settlement to the tiny plot of “state land” in the area will not cure any of the underlying infringements on Palestinian rights. Yesh Din explains “Israel is well aware that as long as there is an Israeli presence in the area, the Palestinian landowners will not be able to access their lands safely and the violation of their rights will continue.”

This land clearing by settlers is taking place despite the fact that, according to Haaretz, the settlers do not have the permits legally required by Israel to carry out work at the site, resulting in the IDF attempting to stop the illegal work. Reportedly Defense Minister Gallant and Minister Smotrich ordered the IDF to back off and allow the settlers land-clearing to continue, lack of permits notwithstanding. On May 24th Yesh Din submitted an urgent appeal with the Israeli Central Command to stop the settlers’ work at the site; the appeal is still pending, even as the settlers’ work continues because the Israeli government has instructed the IDF to allow it.

Israeli actions on the ground send strong signals that Israel will soon act to transform the Homesh outpost, relocated to its new site, into an official new (or in this case, resuscitated) settlement. Yet, following U.S. criticism of its policies and actions vis à vis Homesh, the Israeli government reportedly sought to assuage U.S. concerns by drawing a (manufactured, meaningless) distinction between establishing a settlement and relocating an existing outpost. Axios reports that “the Israeli side made it clear to the Biden administration that it has no intention of rebuilding the Homesh settlement and stressed the new order was signed only to allow the moving of the Homesh outpost from private land to state land.”

Kerem Navot adds more detail to the settlers’ grand ambition in this area of the West Bank – between the major cities of Nablus and Jenin where there is currently no official Israeli settlement or control. Kerem Navot writes:

“the settlers have already made it clear that from their perspective, returning to Homesh is only the beginning. And that it is their intention to also re-establish the settlement of Sa-Nur, which was located on a hill a few kilometers to the north, next to the Nablus-Jenin road. At the same time as the takeovers of these sites, the settlers have also been pursuing a plan to take over the Al-Mas’udiyya train station, which is located north of the violent and isolated settlement of Shavei Shomron. As we reported here last September, they intend to establish the “Settlement Museum” there…the racist and violent settler right that, in practice, controls the Israeli government, plans on taking over an area where there haven’t been settlements since 2005. At this stage, the intention is to 1. Re-establish two settlements (Homesh and Sa-Nur) that were evacuated in 2005. 2. Take over two new spots (the archeological site in Sebastiya and the Al-Mas’udiyya train station), by turning them into tourist sites. The wider Israeli public will provide the money and the soldiers required to realize this plan. And the land, and most of the blood that will be spilled in order to realise this plan, will, as always, be supplied by the Palestinians.”

And a further reminder: The Israeli government has for nearly three years delayed its response to a 2019 petition filed by Yesh Din seeking both the removal of the illegal outpost and yeshiva at the site of the dismantled Homesh settlement, as well as the site’s return to its Palestinian landowners. Despite Homesh being dismantled in 2005, Israel never permitted Palestinians to regain access to or control of the land, declaring it a closed military zone. That status has prevented Palestinians from entering the area, even as the IDF permitted settlers to routinely enter the area, to live (illegally, under Israeli law) at the site, and to illegally establish a yeshiva there. That yeshiva, according to Kerem Navot, has become one of the West Bank’s “hardcore centers of settler terror”. Settlers have also wreaked terror on nearby Palestinian villages, most notably Burqa and Sebastia. One Israeli politician even went so far as to say that settlers are “carrying out a pogrom” in Burqa.

Proving Kerem Navot’s point, on May 24th, on the heels of a visit to the area by foreign diplomats, a group of settlers attacked Burqa, near the Homesh site, throwing stones and setting homes on fire.

Israeli Authorities Approve New East Jerusalem Settlement of “Kidmat Zion”

The Jerusalem District Planning Authority gave initial approval to a plan to build a new settlement enclave, “Kidmat Zion,” to be located between the Ras al-Amud neighborhood and the Israeli separation barrier, with the Abu Dis neighborhood on the other side of the wall. The settlement enclave will be accessible only by driving through densely populated areas of Ras Al-Amud.

The plan – which calls for 400 settlement units [translating, conservatively, to at least 2,000 settlers] – is being promoted by the Ateret Cohanim settler organization. Speaking publicly about the plan, Ateret Cohanim said it will:

“change the map of the eastern part of the city. The neighborhood sits in a strategic location, and can gradually change its image to Jewish and prevent the Arab takeover of the city’s eastern neighborhoods.”

Construction of this settlement could well achieve the considerable geopolitical consequences the settlers hope for — most notably by complicating if not outright blocking any future division of Jerusalem (or sharing agreement) under any possible Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement. It is worth recalling that Abu Dis has been repeatedly suggested by Israel and its allies (including in the Trump Plan) as the capital of a future Palestinian state (as a substitute for Jerusalem), and an unfinished building in Abu Dis was designed to be the future home of a Palestinian parliament. This settlement plan would scuttle all such ideas. Indeed, in the planning documents Ateret Cohanim explained:

“Palestinian institutions in Abu Dis were built with the vision of turning the town into the capital city of Palestine and building a corridor and passage to the center of Jerusalem, and thus promoting the takeover of the entire city…The significance of establishing and developing the neighborhood is to create a shield for Jerusalem against Palestinian ambitions. The neighborhood will disturb the contiguity [of the area] and protect us from dividing the city.”

The new settlement enclave will also further solidify the infrastructure connecting settlements south of Jerusalem to the city. Kidmat Zion will be located adjacent to the so-called “American Road,” which will tunnel underneath parts of Abu Dis. The “American Road” is a section of north-south highway that is meant to seamlessly connect settlements located in the north and south of Jerusalem to one another, and to serve as a bypass for settler traffic to cut through East Jerusalem’s Palestinian neighborhoods. While the road will be accessible to Palestinians (a fact touted by Israel as proof of Israeli good intentions), the obvious primary purpose is to entrench Israel settlements, expand Israeli control over all of East Jerusalem, and close off Palestinian East Jerusalem neighborhoods from the rest of the West Bank, thereby (further) torpedoing Palestinian hopes of one day establishing a capital in East Jerusalem.

State & Settler Violence Coerce the Forcible Transfer of Ein Samia Bedouin Community

On May 22nd, the approximately 200 residents (27 families, including 80 children) of the Ein Samia bedouin community were forcibly coerced to leave their homes and abandon their land. The community faced nearly constant and often violent harassment by settlers from a nearby settlement, Kochav HaShachar and its shepherding outpost, as well as state-backed violence, including the looming demolition of the community’s only school.

The Ein Samia community lived on the land for 40 years, and its residents have endured violence and oppression for decades. However, as +972 journalist Basel Adra reports, the community has been living through a true nightmare over the past week. Adra writes:

“Residents say they were compelled to leave after a fierce spate of violence over the previous five days, during which settlers attacked them at night, blocked the roads to the village, and threw stones at the old homes. The mental toll of the attacks, especially on the children, was the decisive factor in the residents’ choice to destroy the village and move away…‘Ein Samia is located next to the Kochav HaShachar settlement and is east of Tzir Alon, an area settlers have been attempting to take over in recent years. It is one of 180 Palestinian villages in Area C of the West Bank that are “unrecognized” by the Israeli authorities and whose residents are denied permits for any construction or connection to basic utilities, like water and electricity.”

Yesh Din said in a statement:

“Yesterday, a Bedouin Palestinian family was forced to leave their home in Ein Samia due to escalating settler violence. This heartbreaking incident is not an isolated case. Rather, it has become a distressing phenomenon in the West Bank, growing worse with each passing day. In Ein Samia – like other areas in the west bank – the plight of Bedouin communities has been unfolding for decades. For approximately 60 years, Bedouin communities have resided and worked on the agricultural lands surrounding Kafr Malik – an area called Ein Samia. These families were first displaced in the 1960s and have since relied on these lands for their livelihoods. They have endured hardships and harassment, but recent events have taken a sinister turn. The establishment of ‘Micha Farm,’ a settler shepherding outpost, marked a turning point. (5/10) It not only disrupted the lives of the Bedouin communities but sparked a surge in violence. With increasing frequency, settlers armed with guns and attack dogs invade their lands, stealing livestock, damaging crops, and subjecting Palestinian residents to physical assaultsThe situation has become unbearable. The attached photo captures the heartbreaking moment when a family had no choice but to pack their belongings, forced out of their home by the constant terror they could no longer endure.”

B’Tselem said in a statement:

“Israel’s policy, whose goal is to allow the state to take over more and more Palestinian land to be used by Jews, is applied across the West Bank against dozens of Palestinian communities. This policy is illegal. Forcible transfer is a war crime.”

Israel Attempts to Assuage U.S. Concern Over Smotrich’s “Double the Settlers” Planning

Last week it was reported that Bezalel Smotrich, who has been granted vast authority over civil affairs in the West Bank, has set out to initiate wide-scale planning with the goal of adding 500,000 new settlers within the next two years. This week, Haaretz reports that Israeli government officials told the Biden Administration that, notwithstanding Smotrich’s intentions and plans, the government does not have an official policy seeking to add 500,000 new settlers in the next two years.

Israeli State Budget Awards “Several Billion” Shekels to Settlements & Outposts

On May 24th, the Knesset approved a state budget which, among other things, provides (at least) several billion (yes, with a “b”) shekels for settlements and outposts.

In particular, the State budget invests massively in West Bank infrastructure projects. Fully one-fourth of the total Transportation Ministry’s budget is for projects in the West Bank, even though settlers are just X% of the total Israeli population. Specifically, the budget provides the Transportation Ministry with NIS 3.5 billion ($941 million) to invest in upgrading and paving new roads in the West Bank over the next two years. The Times of Israel details the settlement-related budgets and projects that this funding includes:

NIS 2 billion ($538 million) will go to upgrading Highway 60, the main north-south highway which runs from Jerusalem to Hebron;
NIS 500 million ($134 million) will go toward expanding a road between the Ariel settlement and Tapuach Junction in the northern West Bank;
NIS 366 million ($98 million) will go to upgrading the access road to the Beit El Regional Council area;
NIS 300 million ($81 million) will pay for a new road between the Migron settlement and Qalandia north of Jerusalem;
NIS 200 million ($54 million) for a road circumventing the Palestinian village of Al-Funduq in the northern West Bank west of Nablus; and,
NIS 150 million ($40 million) for a road in the Alfei Menashe settlement.
Hundreds of millions more were allocated for roads in and around East Jerusalem.

The newly created Settlements and National Missions Ministry, headed by Religious Zionism MK Orit Strock (a longtime settler activist from the Hebron settlements) received NIS 268 million ($72 million) in funding, including NIS 399 million ($107 million) that will be funneled to the World Zionist Organization’s Settlement Division and NIS 74 million ($20 million) to support settlement municipal authorities in their efforts to monitor “illegal” Palestinian construction in Area C.

Yoni Mizrachi, a researcher with Peace Now told The Times of Israel:

“All Israeli governments prioritize the West Bank settlements in the budget, but this government has gone even further and has taken money from core funds and given it to a small group living in the West Bank which in a political agreement with the Palestinians Israel will leave. We are seeing an effort here to deepen Israel’s presence in the West Bank.”

Government Gives Settler Group $41 Million for East Jerusalem Archaeological Projects

On May 21st, at a ceremonial cabinet meeting held in the Western Wall tunnels of the Old City of Jerusalem (timed to coincide with Jerusalem Day celebrations), the Israeli government approved 41 million shekels ($11 million) for archaeological sites in East Jerusalem, almost all of which are managed by the Elad settler organization. Another 6 million shekels ($1.6 million) were budgeted for programs which bring Israeli soldiers and students to Jerusalem’s archaeological sites. The Chairman of Elad, David Be’eri, attended the meeting.

Emek Shaveh, an association of left-wing archaeologists, said in a statement:

“The government will invest millions of shekels in developing tourism and promoting an ideology dictated by the radical settler organization Elad. This year, large swaths of the funding were also earmarked for bringing students and soldiers to participate in archeological and tourist settler activities. Consequently, not only will our taxes go toward Judaizing East Jerusalem, but so will our children.”

Peace Now said in a statement:

“Like in every year, the Israeli government celebrates Jerusalem Day by transferring funds to settlers in East Jerusalem. The cabinet meeting in the Western Wall tunnels is a direct continuation of the hate march we witnessed last week on Jerusalem Day. Both of these actions are intended to increase hostility, tension, and hatred between Israelis and Palestinians in the city, rather than finding a peaceful solution between the peoples.”

Annexation, End of Civil Society on the Government’s Agenda This Weekend

The Israeli Ministerial Committee on Legislative Affairs (a body of ministers who decide whether or not the government will back legislative proposals in the Knesset) is set to meet on Sunday, May 28th to vote on multiple bills that are particularly concerning for settlement watchers.

The committee may (rumor has it the government is reconsidering) vote on a resolution, authored by Galilee and National Resilience Minister Yitzhak Wasserlauf (Otzma Yehudit), that seeks to make the commit the whole of the Israeli government to advancing “Zionist values” as described in the Nation-State law. The Times of Israel reports the resolution is specifically aimed at promoting settlement growth across the West Bank, and the resolution’s language uses “The Land of Israel” to refer to the entirety of the land between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea. The Times of Israel further details:

“Wasserlauf’s proposed resolution appears to be expressly focused on the issue of advancing the Jewish presence in the West Bank and throughout Israel, with the text of the resolution stating that it is applicable to government agencies involved in land allocation and construction planning, such as the Israel Land Authority and the National Council for Planning and Construction…It appears likely that a central objective of Wasserlauf’s resolution will be to further expand the West Bank settlements.”

The committee is also expected to vote on a bill to de facto annex national parks and nature reserves in the West Bank. The bill, proposed by Likud MK Danny Danon, seeks to transfer the power to declare “national sites” in the West Bank from the Defense Ministry (which is hte occupation government) to the Interior Ministry (an entirely domestic body), which is currently headed by acting Minister is Michael Malchieli (Shas). Revealing the bill’s true goal – to bring every archaeological and heritage site in the West Bank under Israeli control – the explanatory note filed with the bill reads:

“The lands of Judea and Samaria [the West Bank] are full of heritage sites of great national and historical importance to the development of settlement in the Land of Israel. In these lands, our forefathers walked, established their homes, and were exiled from these places twice in history. After nearly 2,000 years of exile, the people of Israel have returned to their land, and during the Six Day War, the lands of Judea and Samaria were liberated as well. We must recognize the history of the Jewish people that can be found in every clod of earth in Judea and Samaria.”

Amid international outcry, the committee is also expected to vote on an extremely dangerous bill targeting civil society organizations and, in particular, the human rights sector. The legislation would in effect remove the tax-exempt status of these groups and replace it with an onerous, and quite openly punitive, vindictive tax rate of 65% applied to the groups’ income and/or endowments. Please listen to a new FMEP podcast with Lara Friedman, Jessica Montell (HaMoked) and Francesca Albanese (UN Rapporteur), entitled “Israel’s new anti-NGO legislation: An Effort to Eradicate Opponents of Illiberalism”

Another bill seeks to penalize students flying the Palestinian flag on Israeli school campuses, making it a punishable offense with suspension and/or expulsion.

Bonus Reads

“The Palestinian Village in Smotrich’s Sights” (Jewish Currents)
“Opinion | Israel’s Absent Finance Minister Serves the Settlements” (Nehemiah Shtrasler, 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.

May 19, 2023

Peace Now Reports: 613 New Settlement Units Advanced, Including Tender for A New Settlement – “Ariel West”
March of Flags Expanded Route
Gallant Orders IDF To Allow Israeli Jews to Reestablish Homesh Outpost & Yeshiva
Smotrich is Leading a Push to Double Settler Population
Al Walajah Checkpoint Construction Blocks Palestinians from Land
Settler Visit to Joseph’s Tomb Causes Conflict
MKs Oppose New Section of Security Wall, Say it Will Divide Settlements from Israel
Bonus Reads

Peace Now Reports: 613 New Settlement Units Advanced, Including Tender for A New Settlement – “Ariel West”

Peace Now reports that Israeli planning authorities convened on May 17th to advance plans for a total of 613 new settlement units, including a move by the Israeli Ministry of Housing and Construction to re-publish a tender for the construction of 58 units constituting a new “neighborhood” of the Ariel settlement which is, in effect, a new settlement. The Civil Administration’s High Planning Committee also convened on the 17th and is expected to have issued final approval to a plan for 552 units in the Givat Ze’ev settlement, and also to have deposited for public review a plan for 2 more units in Givat Ze’ev as well as a plan for 1 new unit in the Itamar settlement (final confirmation of the Committee’s decision was not available at the time of publication). Peace Now warns that construction could commence quickly on the plan to build 552 new units in the Givat Ze’ev settlement because a contractor has already been selected. Givat Ze’ev is located south of Ramallah in an area that is on the Israeli side of the barrier.

The Ministry of Housing and Construction’s issuance of a tender to build 58 units in the Ariel settlement is final approval to build a brand new settlement, dubbed “Ariel West.” Plans for the Ariel West settlement were first made public in November 2021, after the tenders were issued 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 units for the new Ariel West settlement will be 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. 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. [map]

Peace Now said in a statement:

“It is clear that annexing the West Bank is the main agenda of the Israeli government. Promoting more than 600 housing units in settlements, among them a tender for the construction ‘Ariel West’, an entirely new settlement established under the official guise of a neighborhood an Ariel settlement, joins previous devastating annexationist decisions advancing annexation, made by the government, such the decision to legalise 15 outposts, the advancement of nearly 10,000 housing units in settlements, the cancelation of the disengagement law from the North part of the West Bank, the promotion of the apartheid road east of Jerusalem and the transfer of powers from the military to Minister Smotrich. Each decision alone demonstrates that the government is acting with an intention to annex the occupied territory, prevent the possibility of establishing a viable Palestinian State, and to escalate tensions between Palestinians and Israel.”

March of Flags Expanded Route

Tens of thousands of ultra-nationalist extremist Israeli Jews participated in the annual Jerusalem Day “Flag March” through Jerusalem in celebration of Israel’s (illegal) annexation of East Jerusalem in 1967. The parade drew security support from over 3,200 Israeli security forces and aerial drones, which sealed off the route of the parade and shuttered large parts of Jerusalem for Palestinians. The parade poses an annual threat of erupting into large-scale violence because it is a direct provocation – which Israeli lawmakers egg on and participate in – against Palestinians in Jerusalem. Israeli Jews participating in the parade chant Jewish Supremacist slogans and anti-Palestinian slurs including “Death to Arabs” and “May Your Village Burn,” the latter of which is particularly horrific given the pogrom Israeli settlers committed against the Palestinian village of Huwara earlier this year.

This year the Israeli government extended the route of the Flag March, which Haaretz estimated to impact at least an additional 50,000 Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem. The longer route will include stops at two East Jerusalem settlement compounds, bringing the parade for the first time through the Palestinian neighborhood of A-Tur and near the village of Ras Al-Amud. Haaretz also reports that march organizers will hold tours in Sheikh Jarrah.

Ir Amim’s Yudith Oppenheimer explained the motivation of the marchers:

“At the parade’s core lies an ideology that Palestinians ought to be humiliated and pushed to their limit; they should be reminded at every moment that they live in an occupied city where they have no authority and no place; every reaction by Palestinians must be exploited to justify increased use of force and establish more facts on the ground.This is why the parade organizers and their sponsors insist on the route going through Damascus Gate and the Muslim Quarter. And if necessary, may our city burn just to prove it.”

The Haaretz Editorial Board wrote:

“The essence of the Flag March is to poke a finger in the eye of the city’s Palestinian inhabitants, to humiliate them and to drive home the fact that 40 percent of the residents of Israel’s capital live under occupation. Absurdly, the march actually underscores the fragility of Israeli sovereignty over East Jerusalem. It takes place under heavy security provided by thousands of police officers, after the police impose severe restrictions on the Palestinian public and merchants.”

Gallant Orders IDF To Allow Israeli Jews to Reestablish Homesh Outpost & Yeshiva

On Wednesday May 17th, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant issued an order instructing the head of the IDF Central Command – Yehuda Fuchs – to sign a military order that makes it legal for Israeli Jews to enter and reside in the area of the Homesh settlement in the northern West Bank, including the Homesh settlement which settlers have been pushing to reestablish. The military order is needed even after the Knesset repealed clauses of the 2005 Disengagement Law in March 2023, which it did explicitly in order to facilitate the reestablishment of the Homesh settlement which was dismantled under the law, along with three other settlements in the area.

The Knesset’s repeal of the Disengagement Law faced international criticism, which Prime Minister Netanyahu, at the time, assuaged by issuing a statement that his government has ““no intention of establishing new settlements in the area.”

The U.S. State Department issued a statement to Israel Hayom in reaction to Gallant;s order, reiterating opposition to the reestablishment of Homesh, saying:

“The United States strongly urges Israel to refrain from allowing the return of Israeli settlers to the area covered by the legislation passed in March, consistent with both former PM [Ariel] Sharon’s and the current Israeli government’s commitments to the United States…We have been clear that advancing settlements is an obstacle to peace and the achievement of a two-state solution. This certainly includes creating new settlements, building or legalizing outposts, or allowing building of any kind on private Palestinian land or deep in the West Bank adjacent to Palestinian communities”

Further reports suggest Gallant and Smotrich are working on a plan to build the Homesh settlement on a small plot of “state land” in the settlement’s former location, which was built almost entirely on land that belongs to (and is recognized by Israel as registered as belonging to) Palestinian owners. The Israeli NGO Yesh Din noted that the repeal of clauses related to Homesh in the Disengagement Law did not change the legal status of the land, and did not create a legal option for reestablishing the Homesh settlement there. Smotrich and Gallant are apparently advancing a plan to build Homesh on the small parcel of “state land” in the area, which in effect will allow settlers – and the security apparatus that enables, accompanies, and entrenches their presence – to retain total control over the Homesh area even though the land is privately owned by Paelstinians.

As a reminder, even after the Homesh settlement was dismantled in 2005, control over the land was never returned to its owners. The area was instead declared by the Israeli army to be a closed military zone, with Palestinains, including the owners of the land, barred from access. The Palestinians owners have been fighting for the right to access their own land since 2009, with no success. At the same time, the Israeli army allowed Jewish Israeli settlers to access the area regularly, and even permitted the settlers to illegally (under Israeli law) establish a religious school and settlement outpost at the site. Rather than enforce Israel’s own laws against the settlers, the current Israeli government has agreed to grant retroactive approval to the settlers’ illegal presence, the first step towards doing so being the aforementioned repeal of clauses in the Disengagement Law that make any Israeli presence there illegal. A

Smotrich is Leading a Push to Double Settler Population

Haaretz reports that since Bezalel Smotrich was granted vast authority over civil affairs in the West Bank, he has set out to initiate wide-scale planning to add 500,000 new settlers, essentially doubling the current number of Isarelis living in the West Bank (not including East Jerusalem). This push includes orders to improve the infrastructure for every settlement and outposts (regardless of legal status) within the next two years. Smotrich is also pursuing ways by which to make it easier for settlers to cross into Israel without the hassle imposed on currently by the checkpoint system.

Haaretz further reports that Defense officials are expected to oppose Smotrich’s planning, even though detailed information has not yet been provided. In addition to security challenges to Smotrich’s plan, he also lacks the massive budget that such an effort would require.

Al Walajah Checkpoint Construction Blocks Palestinians from Land

Ir Amim reports that the Jerusalem Municipality has formally announced the start of work on a project to relocate a key IDF checkpoint leading to the Palestinian village of Al-Walajah, a village which is located on (and partially within) the southern perimeter of Jerusalem’s expanded municipal borders. The effort to move the checkpoint closer to the built-up area of Al-Walajah is part of the Israeli government’s long running effort to take control over an increasing amount of land – and importantly, the Ein Haniya spring – that historically belongs to Al-Walajah.

By relocating the checkpoint to a point closer to Al-Walajah, Palestinians from the village will no longer have unfettered access to approximately 1200 dunams of agricultural land, including the site of the Ein Haniya springs. The Ein Al-Hanya spring, which the Jerusalem Municipality declared a national park in 2013 and then spent years and millions of dollars renovating into a tourist destination, is located on land historically part of Al-Walajah and it long served as a main source of water for households, farms, and recreational purposes for the village’s residents.

Since 1967, Al-Walajah has suffered due to its location and its complicated status (much of the village’s lands, including areas with homes, were annexed by Israel in 1967, but Israel never gave the villagers Jerusalem legal residency by Israel – meaning that under Israeli law, their mere presence in their homes is illegal). Today it is acutely suffering from a multi-prong effort by the Israeli government and settlers to grab more land for settlement expansion in pursuit of the “Greater Jerusalem” agenda. This land grab campaign includes home demolitions (four homes in Al-Walajah were demolished by Israel on November 2, 2022, for example), the construction of the separation barrier and bypass roads in a way that seals off the village on three sides, and the systematic denial of planning permits.

You can join a webinar entitled “What’s Next for al-Walaja”on May 24th at 12pm eastern to learn more about al-Walajah (hosted by Ameinu, Peace Now, T’ruah, and Telos on May 24th at 12pm eastern. Register here.

Settler Visit to Joseph’s Tomb Causes Conflict

On the night of May 17th, thousands of Israeli Jews – including at least two elected officials – staged a trip to the Joseph’s Tomb site in Nablus under the heavy protection of the IDF, which attempted to enforce a curfew on nearby Palestinian neighborhoods. Clashes erupted as Palestinian confronted the parade of settlers, resulting in at least two injuries.

In response to the violence, settler leader Yossi Dagan called on Israel to take complete control over the site, to build a yeshiva there, and to “restore the ISraeli flag at this holy site and show everyone, both ourselves and our enemies, that we are not afraid.”

The tomb is located within Area A of the West Bank (where Israel does not, under the Oslo Accords, have direct control). However, Joseph’s Tomb is one of two sites in Area A which the Oslo Accords stipulate are under the control of the Israeli military. As such, it has been a perennial flashpoint, largely due to deliberately provocative actions by settlers. The whole circumstance – of settlers visiting Joseph’s Tomb – was recently called “absurd” by former IDF Major General Gadi Shamni.

MKs Oppose New Section of Security Wall, Say it Will Divide Settlements from Israel

Israel Hayom reports that the Israeli Defense Ministry is moving towards the start of construction on a very controversial section of the West Bank separation barrier near the Etzion settlement bloc. This particular section has not been built since its initial approval in 2006 because of fierce opposition to the proposed route that, even though the barrier’s route cuts deeply into the West Bank in order to keep the majority of settlements in the Etzion Bloc on the “Israeli side” of the barrier, it leaves a few settlements including Nokdim on the “Palestinian side.”

The IDF said in a statement that the project does not include the construction of concrete walls, but will feature different types of construction that cater to wildlife and the area’s topography – to include “special monitoring technology and sensors.”

Israeli lawmakers reacted negatively to the news of this project, saying that it has the potential to create a “de facto border” between the settlements and Israel proper and that it would turn settlements in the area into enclaves. This opposition is in line with the right wing demands to annex the West Bank to Israel, in which context building a barrier is viewed as conceding land to Palestinians.

For background on the separation barrier, please see B’Tselem’s explainer.

Bonus Reads

“The Settler Terrorists in Palestinian Vineyards” (Amira Hass, Haaretz)
“A precious resource: how Israel uses water to control the West Bank” (The Guardian)
“When Israel’s Highest Court Assaults Human Rights” (Jessica Montell, Haaretz)