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

To subscribe to this report, please click here.

February 7, 2025

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

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East Jerusalem Settlement Plans to Watch

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

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

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

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

East Jerusalem expert Danny Seideman writes:

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

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

Ir Amim researcher Aviv Tatarsky told Haaretz:

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

High Court Orders Zanuta Return, Again

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

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

High Court Orders Investigation Into Settler Municipal Councils

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

Settler Population Grew 2.3% in 2024

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

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

Trump to Decide on West Bank Annexation In Four Weeks

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

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

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

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

Bonus Reads

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

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

To subscribe to this report, please click here.

November 8, 2024

1. Givat Hamatos Expansion Plan to Advance
2. MK Sukkot Introduces Bill to Legalize All Outposts
3. Settlers Lead Pogrom in al-Bireh
4. Mapping the Settler-Led Expulsions of 50+ Palestinian Communities Since 2022
5. Settlers Rejoice Over U.S. Election Results
6. Netanyahu Appoints Kahanist Settler as New Ambassador to the U.S.
7. Bonus Reads

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Givat Hamatos Expansion Plan to Advance

Ir Amim reports the Jerusalem District Court was scheduled to meet on November 5th (coinciding with the U.S. presidential election) to advance a highly controversial plan to expand the Givat Hamatos settlement in East Jerusalem (called the “Hebron Road”). The outcome of hte meeting has not been reported at the time of publication, though Ir Amim expected the Committee to discuss and dismiss objections to the plan, advancing it to the final approval stage.

The plan to expand Givat Hamatos calls for 3,500 new settlement housing units in addition to 1,300 hotel rooms to be built on the eastern slopes of the settlement. This plan will double the number of housing units in the Givat Hamatos settlement and increase its land mass by 40%. Further, the new settlement will be built on a strategic strip of land that will expand the area of Givat Hamatos eastward, connecting it with another new settlement plan – the “Lower Aqueduct Plan.” These plans ultimately create a string of settlements — spanning from Gilo to Givat Hamatos to Har Homa — that, together with the planned “Givat HaShaked” settlement to its north, completely encircle the East Jerusalem Palestinian neighborhood of Beit Safafa with Israeli settlement construction. 

Ir Amim comments:

“Currently under construction, Givat Hamatos is the first new settlement to be built in East Jerusalem in over 20 years. These two plans along with concurrent settlement advancements in the area are cumulatively sealing-off East Jerusalem’s southern border from Bethlehem and the southern West Bank, while creating more contiguity with the Gush Etzion settlements. Rather than utilizing these plans to address the acute housing needs of the local Palestinian population, they are instead intended for Jewish Israelis despite the land’s proximity to Palestinian neighborhoods, including Beit Safafa, which is being encircled and choked-off by Israel settlements.”

MK Sukkot Introduces Bill to Legalize All Outposts

MK Zvi Sukkot has tabled a draft bill that would grant legal status (under Israeli law) to ~140 outposts across the West Bank. The bill would transform illegal outposts – regardless of the status of land on which settlers built on – into government-recognized settlements within two years, connecting the outposts to all Israeli infrastructure and services – entrenching the presence of radical (and often violent) Israeli settlers on Palestinian land near Palestinian population centers.

Settlers and their allies in the Knesset have been pushing for years for the government to grant formal recognition to outposts. The coalition agreements which brought the current Israeli government into power included a commitment to the full recognition and integration of outposts. The government has done a lot to fulfill this pledge, as seen in the actions taken to legalize the Homesh outpost, the Evyatar outpost, and the Israeli Cabinet’s February 2023 decision to legalize ten of the most isolated, legally complicated outposts. That decision also included approval of a clause that makes the remaining outposts eligible – right away, even as they remain illegal – to receive Israeli municipal services like water and electricity.

Settlers Lead Pogrom in al-Bireh

At 3am on November 4th, a group of masked settlers violently attacked the Palestinian town of El-Bireh (near downtown Hebron) – leaving at least 17 cars on fire and buildings defaced with the slogan, “For Judea and Samaria – War.” The armed settlers shot at Palestinians attempting to stop the pogrom and put out the fires and they shot at an ambulance arriving at the scene. Reuters described the settler’s attach as “one of their boldest raids yet in the area that serves as the Palestinians’ seat of government in the occupied West Bank.”

The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights said in a statement:

“The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) strongly condemns Israeli armed settlers’ attack on two towns in Ramallah, central West Bank, and burning 19 vehicles. This incident follows a month during which settlers carried out more than 180 attacks, primarily against olive harvesters, in an alarming escalation of state-backed violence across the West Bank.

These crimes are part of a broader systematic violence by settlers under the protection of IOF. This violence persists amid an atmosphere of impunity and protection settlers receive within Israel, perpetuating a broader policy of demographic change and entrenching Israel’s sovereignty and grip on the West Bank, as well as furthering the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians…

PCHR condemns settler violence, pointing out that most of it occurs under the protection of IOF, which intervene to secure settlers during their attacks and their subsequent withdrawal while suppressing Palestinians attempting self-defense. Often, no serious complaints or investigations are pursued.”

Mapping the Settler-Led Expulsions of 50+ Palestinian Communities Since 2022

The Israeli settlement watchdog group Kerem Navot has published a new map with aerial photography documenting the expulsion of 50+ Palestinian communities which have been targeted by settler terrorism. The map contains two aerial photos (one before and one after the expulsion) for each community. 

The need for such a map came into focus after the Palestinian residents of Ras al-Tin left their land under constant threat of violence by the nearby agricultural outpost called Micha’s Farm.  Kerem Navot explains:

“After the expulsion of the residents of Ras Al Tin, we [Kerem Navot] described the event here as unprecedented at that time. What we didn’t know was that this would become a pattern, one that would repeat itself in dozens of other Palestinian communities and settlement clusters in the coming years, reshaping the map of the West Bank.

The “success” of the settlers in Ras Al Tin inspired settlers in other areas of the West Bank to adopt similar methods. During the 15 months between the expulsion of the residents of Ras al-Tin and the massacre on October 7, 2023, five more Palestinian shepherd communities were forcibly removed.

…Even though this violence is primarily carried out by settler gangs, it proceeds without fear or concern for law enforcement authorities. This impunity reflects a clear and consistent policy advanced by successive Israeli governments. Especially the current one, which is more corrupt and racist than its predecessors, aiming to effectively annex increasing parts of the West Bank, devoid of its Palestinian population.”

Settlers Rejoice Over U.S. Election Results

Settlers have been celebrating the election of Donald Trump as the next U.S. President, and Netanyahu was amongst the first foreign leaders to congratulate Trump on his victory. Ben Gvir said in the Knesset that “this is the time for sovereignty, the time for total victory, ” and Israel Ganz (head of the Yesha Council) called for the government to annex the West Bank, posting on X:

“Time for sovereignty! One strong Trump, One Jewish state.”

Mayor of the Beit El settlement, said that Trump’s election heralded “a golden age for settlement” continuing:

“This is an unparalleled opportunity to act with great resolve in the Judea and Samaria region, to put an end to the murderous terrorism here, and to continue Israeli construction widely and extensively in all our territory…This is the time to apply sovereignty to Judea and Samaria and to recognize the region is part of the complete Israel…there will not be two states here between the sea and Jordan.”

Settlers widely hope (and expect) Trump to repeal the Biden Administration’s sanctions against Israeli settlers and settler identities. So far, Biden has sanctioned 14 settlers and 13 settler entities. 

Al-Monitor reports that settler leader Yossi Dagan (head of the Samaria Regional Council) has close ties to the Trump inner circle after making several visits to the U.S. over the past few months – rallying Jewish communities in swing states to vote for Trump. Dagan also campaigned in Israel to get U.S. citizens living there to vote. Dagan told Haaretz:

“A great burden has been lifted, a great weight. The American pressure affected everything regarding security and the settlements. I believe that this pressure will stop or weaken. It’s still too early to know what will change, but it’s clear that the Israeli government won’t be able to come and say that there is American pressure.”

Netanyahu Appoints Kahanist Settler as New Ambassador to the U.S.

Prime Minister Netanyahu has appointed Yechiel Lieter as Israel’s new Ambassador to the United States. Born in the U.S., Lieter is has extreme far-right roots in Israel. He has been active in the settlement movement and lives in the Eli settlement. The Times of Israel reports Lieter was one of the first residents of the Admot Yishai settlement enclave in the city Hebron, and two years later he founded an organization to support more settlement growth there. In his youth, he was active in the Jewish Defense League – a designated terrorist group founded by extremist rabbi Meir Kahane. 

More recently, Lieter served as a senior fellow at the Kohelet Policy Forum (which has played a hugely significant role in shaping Israel’s far-right legislative agenda) and has published articles calling for Israel to annex the West Bank and dismantle the Palestinian Authority. He campaigned against hte Oslo Accords in the 90s.

Haaretz reports that Lieter is close to David Friedman, who served as the U.S. Ambassador to Israel during Trump’s first term.

In a statement on Leiter’s appointment, Hadar Susskind (CEO of Americans for Peace Now) said: 

“Netanyahu has never been subtle, and this appointment is no different. Sending a Kahanist settler to Washington is a clear sign that Netanyahu and his government are moving toward their goal of annexation and doing so openly.”

Bonus Reads

1. “DAWN: Sanction Amana Settlement Organization and Its Leadership for Promoting Settler Violence, Seizing Private Palestinian Land” (DAWN)
2. “​​In Masafer Yatta, our very right to education is under fire” (+972 Magazine)

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.

August 16, 2024

1. New Blue Line Map Paves Way for New Settlement, Nahal Heletz
2. New Blue Line Map Grants Migdal Oz Settlement More Land
3. Tender Issued for Alon Shvut Construction
4. Givat Hamatos Expansion Plan Deposited
5. Settlers Open Long Awaited “Zip Line” Project in Jerusalem
6. Settlers Lead Violent Pogrom in Jit
7. Threat of Multiple Demolitions in al-Bustan, Along with Settler Takeovers, Amplifies Threat of Mass Displacement
8. IDF Partially Dismantled Giv’at Oz Zion Outpost
9. Settlers Stage Another Protest On Gaza Boundary
10. Regavim Files Lawsuit Against U.S. Government Over Settler Sanctions
11. Canada Revoked JNF Tax Exemption
12. Bonus Reads

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New Blue Line Map Paves Way for New Settlement, Nahal Heletz

On August 14th the Israeli Civil Administration’s Blue Line Team released an updated map delineating more state land in the area of the Palestinian village of Battir, land on which the government is advancing plans to build a new settlement, called Nahal Heletz. This move is tantamount to issuing a new declaration of “state land,” though the Israeli government views it as a correction and/or update to previous maps. If built, Nahal Heletz would be the first new settlement the Israeli government has planned since 2017, when the Amichai settlement was established. 

Speaking after the declaration, Smotrich said:

“No anti-Israelism or anti-Zionism will stop the continued development of the settlements. We will continue to fight the dangerous idea of a Palestinian state, and establish facts on the ground. This is my life’s mission and God willing I will continue with it as much as I can.”

The updated map of the Blue Line changes the status of an irregularly shaped area of 602.7 dunams to “state land”, allowing the settlement to be planned there – a slice of land much larger than what had previously been planned for the new settlement. Palestinians – whose access to their own privately owned land near the area of the settlement will be restricted – have 45 days to submit an appeal against the designation. Peace Now notes that the shape of the new line:

 “rais[es] questions about how it is possible to construct a settlement in such a fragmented and irregularly shaped area. Based on the settlers’ past experience, it is highly likely that parts of the land outside the blue line will be incorporated into the settlement, and Palestinians will be denied access to their land. As seen in the map, extraordinary efforts have been made to create a blue line for the intended settlement…The pace of declarations of blue line boundaries and state land is unprecedented. Just last week (7.8.24), 116 dunams were declared as state land in the Migdal Oz settlement. The numerous declarations of state land and blue line boundaries for settlements are a result of the government’s policy to prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state and to legitimize the settlement enterprise.”

Recall that a month ago the Israeli government established a jurisdiction for the new settlement before the status of the land was clear. The Israeli Blue Line Team (a government effort to precisely map the boundaries of state land in the West Bank) said at the time that it had updated its maps of state land boundaries in the area, but those maps were note released until August 14th, and – to no one’s surprise – discovered the boundaries of state land in the area to include more area than previously declared, allowing for the settlement to be established.

Battir is a Palestinian village known for its ancient terraced hills, which are recorded as a UNESCO World Heritage site. Notably, the new settlement 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.”

Palestinian journalist and commentator Nour Odeh told Al Jazeera:

“[Smotrich] is flexing his muscles, telling the world that he cares very, very little about international law…[the settlement] devours what’s left of [Palestinian] land in the Bethlehem area, which has shrunk to nearly 10 percent of its original size…[it is located] not just in any UNESCO World Heritage Site, but also in … the only place left for agriculture, for picnics, planning and building”.

New Blue Line Map Grants Migdal Oz Settlement More Land

On August 7th, the Israeli Civil Administration published a new map which expands the amount of land in the area of the Migdal Oz settlement by 116.2 dunmans. According to Israeli press, the government is preparing plans for the construction of 500 new settlement units on this land.

Migdal Oz is located between Bethlehem and Hebron in the southern West Bank, in an area where the Israel separation barrier cuts deeply into the West Bank so much so that the Migdal Oz, and Efrat settlements are on the Israeli side of the barrier (de facto annexed into Israeli proper.

Peace Now said in a statement: 

“The Israeli government continues to legitimize the injustice and original sin of the settlement enterprise. Instead of evacuating settlements established through military seizure orders, which have taken hundreds of dunams from the Palestinian residents of Beit Ummar, the government perpetuates this injustice with regulations and laws that deepen the hostility between Israelis and Palestinians. This is a messianic government focused solely on annexation and the perpetuation of the  war & occupation, with no regard for the security of either Israelis or Palestinians.”

Tender Issued for Alon Shvut Construction

Peace Now reports that the Israeli Ministry of Housing issued a tender for the construction of 110 new settlement units in the Alon Shvut settlement. The Alon Shvut settlement, located just north of the Kfar Etzion settlement and between Bethlehem and Hebron. The Alon Shvut settlement was last expanded in 2019, when the Israeli government created a new outpost near the settlement in order to “temporarily” house settlers who had been forcibly evacuated from the Netiv Ha’avot outpost. The government then added the area on which the settlers were relocated to the jurisdiction of Alon Shvut.

Peace Now notes that this is the second tender published for West Bank construction in 2024.

Peace Now said in a statement: 

“This new tender adds to the additional construction that the Israeli government has been advancing across the West Bank since the beginning of the year. So far, the government has promoted over 8,700 units in the planning council, and with this new tender, the total number of housing units put up for tender stands at 630. Instead of focusing on areas like the north or the south that are in need of development and investment, the Israeli government chooses to promote housing units in occupied territories that do not belong to it.”

Givat Hamatos Expansion Plan Deposited

Ir Amim reports that on August 4th the Jerusalem District PLanning Committed formally deposited for public review a plan to massively expand the Givat Hamatos settlement along the Hebron Road. The plan calls for 3,5000 new settlement units and 1,300 hotel rooms to be built on the eastern slopes of the Givat Hamatos settlement – construction which would double the number of housing units in the Givat Hamatos settlement and increase its land mass by 40%. Further, the new settlement will be built on a strategic strip of land that will expand the area of Givat Hamatos eastward, connecting it with another new settlement plan – the “Lower Aqueduct Plan.” These plans ultimately create a string of settlements — spanning from Gilo to Givat Hamatos to Har Homa — that, together with the planned “Givat HaShaked” settlement to its north, completely encircle the East Jerusalem Palestinian neighborhood of Beit Safafa with Israeli settlement construction. 

Previous iterations of this plan included the Greek Patriarchate as a co-developer, but the newly deposited plans do not include mention of the Church anywhere. The Church has said in the past that part of the development is intended for use by the city’s Christian community, though previous reports indicate that the plan calls for five synagogues and two mikvehs, clearly showing that the construction is designed to serve Israeli Jews.

Settlers Open Long Awaited “Zip Line” Project in Jerusalem

On August 14th, the settler organization Elad celebrated the opening of one of its many touristic settlements in Jerusalem, this one a zipline in the Jerusalem’s Peace Forest. The zipline travels over the heads of Palestinian houses in the Jabal al Mukhaber neighborhood (see pictures). The zipline connects the “Peace Forest” in the Abu Tor neighborhood to another popular tourism site, the Armon Hanatziv promenade. 

As part of this project, Elad also established a new tourism center in the Peace Forest, a project that was paid for by the Israeli Ministry of Housing, to the tune of 43 million NIS ($12.38 million USD). The House – which the settlers have named “Beit Shatz” – was purchased by Elad as part of Elad’s broader efforts to use tourist projects as a means for taking control over the area, which is situated in a national park.

The behavior of Elad and the Israeli government in the Peace Forest underscores the the systematic discrimination in planning policies and enforcement facing Palestinians in Jerusalem. The several Palestinian families living in the “Peace Forest” and are prohibited from building or expanding/renovating their homes because of the strict building prohibitions for national parks.  Elad managed to circumvent those same restrictions by pushing the Jerusalem Municipality to request that the area they are targeting be designated as an “open public space,” which would allow the project to advance. In December 2019, Jerusalem planning authorities granted the settler-backed request. That same month, Israel pursued demolition orders against Palestinian homes in the Peace Forest that lacked building permits, despite the fact that in some cases Palestinians have repeatedly applied for and been denied permits. 

Peace Now said in a statement:

“The zip line project is one of many initiatives by the Elad organization in Jerusalem, where, in every case, the municipality and/or government bodies were involved in transferring responsibility for the sites to the foundation. For example, the archaeological site of the City of David has been operated by the Elad organization for decades, the Israeli government is constructing a cable car to the Elad organization’s tourism complex in the City of David, a camping site at the edge of the Peace Forest was developed with three million shekels of state funds, and the Hinnom Valley was handed over for agro-tourism development under Elad’s responsibility

These projects, along with the latest zip line initiative, represent a tourism activity intertwined with political interests, aimed at allowing the foundation to become a powerhouse in Jerusalem’s tourism sector. Elad seeks to control and manage numerous sites, both in terms of the content delivered to the public and the shaping of the space. Elad’s tourism activities can be seen as a form of “touristic settlement,” designed to make the area as “Jewish-Israeli” as possible and to complicate any future compromise agreement in Jerusalem, where two capitals for two states are envisioned.”

Jerusalem expert Daniel Seidemann commented on X: 

“Gleeful teenagers will screech as the race above the iconic views of the Mt. of Olives, the Old City and al Aqsa included in the ticket. This is the crass Disneyfication of historic Jerusalem, and it’s not the first.  A cable car is under construction leading from West Jerusalem to the settler headquarters in Silwan, a mere 179 meters away from Al Aqsa mosque.”

Settlers Lead Violent Pogrom in Jit

On August 15th, ~100 Israeli settlers from the X settlement launched a violent attack on the Palestinian village of Jit, located near Nablus in the northern West Bank. One Palestinian was killed by settler gunfire and many more were injured. Video of the pogrom show widespread damage to property as a result of settlers setting vehicles and homes on fire. The IDF arrived about an hour into the ordeal, and removed settlers from the town, but made only one arrest.  The IDF later said it has opened an investigation into the incident.

Threat of Multiple Demolitions in al-Bustan, Along with Settler Takeovers, Amplifies Threat of Mass Displacement

Ir Amim continues to raise alarm regarding the imminent mass displacement of Palestinians from their longtime homes in the al-Bustan section of Silwan, in East Jerusalem. 

The threat turned into reality for the Shehadeh family, whose home was taken over by settlers on August 15th with the assistance of Israeli police. Ir Amim says the Shehadeh family, “lost their home to an organization intent on displacing their entire community, all with the help of a legal system that imparts anything but justice” This is the 15th Palestinian family dispossessed by the Ateret Cohanim settler organization, with another 80+ families facing the same threat. Ateret Cohanim, in coordination with the state, has capitalized on Israel’s discriminatory laws which allow Jews to “reclaim” houses that they owned prior to 1948 (Palestinians have no such parallel right).

On August 5th, Israeli authorities demolished another home in Al-Bustan, where eight more homes face the same demolition threat.

Ir Amim writes:

“All legal remedies have been exhausted. As a result, over 20 more Palestinians stand to be displaced. Several additional homes could likewise be under impending threat. The increased risk of mass demolition in Al Bustan follows the demolition of the home of community leader and well-known activist, Fakhri Abu Diab, in February, which profoundly impacted the community and triggered extreme alarm among its residents. It is assumed that Abu Diab was deliberately targeted due to his work to secure a housing solution for the community and a cruel way for the authorities to instill fear in the rest of the neighborhood.

Demolitions of Palestinian homes have reached unparalleled levels since the outbreak of the war. Such practices constitute a form of collective punishment, retaliatory state violence, and part of a series of repressive measures currently being employed by Israel against Palestinians under its control. Since October 7, 160 homes have been destroyed in East Jerusalem alone, marking a two-fold monthly increase in demolitions compared to the period preceding the war. Between January 1-August 8, 2024, 113 homes have been demolished, representing a 75% increase compared to the same period last year.

The numbers are only liable to accelerate in light of the planned changes in the government ministry which presides over the National Enforcement Unit–one of the units responsible for carrying out demolitions in East Jerusalem. On July 24, the Knesset approved the transfer of the National Enforcement Unit from the Ministry of Finance to the Ministry of National Security, placing it under the direct authority of ultranationalist and far-right Minister Itamar Ben Gvir. The transfer of the unit was included in coalition agreements during the formation of the government last year. Over the past year and half, Ben Gvir has made numerous statements calling for the intensification of demolitions of Palestinian homes. Such a move is cause for extreme alarm and will directly impact areas of East Jerusalem.”

To read more about the multitudes of threats facing Palestinians in al-Bustan, see Ir Amim’s reporting.

IDF Partially Dismantled Giv’at Oz Zion Outpost

On August 6t the IDF dismantled 15 temporary buildings that compromised a new and expanded section of the illegal Giv’at Oz Zion outpost, which settlers built on privately owned Palestinian land north of Ramallah. The outpost, according to the Shin Bet, has been the source of violent terror. Prime Minister Netanyahu and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich (who oversees building enforcement in the West Bank) both approved this demolition at the request of the IDF Commander.

Just over a month ago the IDF clashed with settlers at the Oz Zion outpost when forces arrived to demolish the new section. The July demolition 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. 

Settlers Stage Another Protest On Gaza Boundary

On August 12th, ~300 Israeli settlers held a protest near the Gaza barrier, continuing to promote their call to resettle the Gaza strip.  Specifically, the event was to be held near the entrance to the so-called Netzarim Corridor, a road and control zone that IDF cut into Gaza to severing the north and the south – destroying everything in its path and near it. In anticipation of the rally, the IDF expanded the closed zone around the Gaza barrier. The IDF told The Times of ISrael that it feared the event would be attacked by Palestinians, though Haaretz reports that the IDF anticipated the protestors trying to enter Gaza as they have done at previous protests. During the event itself the IDF escorted 100 protestors to the ANZAC memorial site close to the Netzarim junction.

One of the protestors told Haaretz:

“We requested entry to Netzarim Junction because it is a symbolic location with available land for settlement, a fitting Zionist response to our enemies,” she said. “We have over 600 families ready to move here. We can’t wait for the war to end, and it will also significantly support the war effort.”

The protest, organized in part by the Nahala settler group, was held on the Jewish holiday Tisha B’Av (which commemorating the dates on which two ancient temples in Jerusalem were destroyed) and featured prayer and a traditional reading of scripture. 

Regavim Files Lawsuit Against U.S. Government Over Settler Sanctions

The Israeli settler group Regavim “assembled a team of lawyers” (according to its newsletter) and filed a petition challenging sanctions imposed by the Biden Administration on Israeli settlers. The Christian Zionist group “Texas for Israel” filed the petition with the District Court of Northern Texas, arguing that the sanctions violate the rights of Americans because it prohibits citizens from providing financial support to designated individuals and entities, which the complainants say constitutes a violation of the rights to free speech and religion.

There is a growing international sanction regime targeting individual settlers and increasingly connected entities that are alleged to have participated in acts of violence in the West Bank. In July, reports began circulating that the European Union was/is considering sanctions against Regavim specifically. Fearing  sanctions, settlers and their allies in the government have mobilized a concerted effort to push back against the continued escalation of those sanctions – which to date have not touched Israeli government officials or major settler organizations other than Amana (which was sanctioned by the Canadian government only).

Canada Revoked JNF Tax Exemption

In addition to being the first state to issue sanctions on the Amana settler organization, Canada has also become the first state to revoke the tax exempt status of organizations – in this case the very prominent Canadian arm of the Jewish National Fund and the Ne’eman Foundation – because of its illegal activities in the West Bank. Haaretz reports that the revokation was prompted by complaints submitted to the government by Palestinian rights groups, alleging that the organizations finance illegal settlement construction.

Bonus Reads

1. “New Settlement, expanding outposts, represent wholesale attack on World Heritage Site of Land of Olives and Vines – Cultural Landscape of Southern Jerusalem, Battir” (Joint alert by Peace Now, Combatants for Peace, Emek Shaveh)
2. “While We Were at War: The Government’s Annexation Revolution in the West Bank Since October 7th” (Peace Now)
3. “Israel is redrawing the West Bank, cutting into a prospective Palestinian state” (Washington Post)
4. “Israel’s Top Court: IDF Must Protect Palestinians From West Bank Settlers, Even During War” (Haaretz)
5. “US leads international condemnations of Ben Gvir’s ‘provocations’ at Temple Mount” (The Times of Israel)
6. “What if the U.S. Doesn’t Veto Sanctions Against Israel? ‘It’s the End of the World,’ Says Legal Expert” (Haaretz)
7. “Which countries have sanctioned Israeli settlers – and does it mean much?” (Al-Jazeera)
8. “US to continue aid to Israeli military unit involved in Palestinian American’s death” (Middle East Eye)
9. “IDF says US activist shot by troops accidentally at West Bank anti-settlement rally” (The Times of Israel)
10. “Is the wall around the West Bank for protection or separation?” (Israel Hayom)

 

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 15, 2023

1. 1. New from FMEP
   2. Israel Advances Plan for New, Heavily Fortified Settlement Enclave in East Jerusalem – “Kidmat Tzion”
   3. Israel Advances Plan to Massively Expand of Givat Hamatos Settlement (New Talpiyot Hill/Hebron Strip Plan)
   4. Settlers Forcibly Seize East Jerusalem Home, Later Removed
   5. Oslo & The Settlements
   6. Bonus Reads

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New from FMEP

• This week FMEP launched a new microsite dedicated to tracking Palestine-related lawfare. Lawfare refers to efforts that seek to exploit U.S. laws and courts in order to quash criticism and activism challenging Israeli policies, to delegitimize Palestinian organizations and the Palestinian cause, and to undermine and even criminalize support for and/or solidarity with the Palestinian people. This includes legislation and policies targeting Americans’ rights to boycott Israel and/or settlements. Notably: these efforts almost universally mandate, explicitly or implicitly, that Israeli settlements in the OPT be treated as part of Israel. You can visit the new site here: lawfare.fmep.org
• This week FMEP hosted a webinar entitled, “Forcible Transfer is a War Crime: West Bank Pogroms are Working” featuring B’Tselem’s Sarit Michaeli and Kareem Jubran in conversation with FMEP’s Sarah Anne Minkin. The discussion highlights the role settler terrorism is playing in forcibly displacing entire Palestinian communities from Area C. You can watch or listen to the discussion here.

Israel Approves New, Heavily Fortified Settlement Enclave in East Jerusalem – “Kidmat Tzion”

On September 11th, the Jerusalem Local Planning & Building Committee met, and subsequently approved for deposit, plans to build a massive new settlement enclave inside of the Ras al-Amud neighborhood of East Jerusalem. The new enclave – called “Kidmat Tzion” – was approved for the construction of 384  settlement units, to be located on a tiny strip of land 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. To deal with the reality of its location, the architects of the plan have designed the enclave to be a heavily guarded and gated community. It will be surrounded by an electric fence, a patrol road, a concrete guard station at its entrance, and the roofs of the houses will have cameras and spotlights installed. The security plan for the enclave had to be prepared and filed by the IDF’s Central Command, which specified that four armed security guards will patrol the neighborhood at all times, as well as a security chief and an armored vehicle.

Haaretz notes that – despite its sensitivity – the plan has been flying through the planning process at a much faster speed than is typical, and was brazenly approved this week while U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Barbara Leaf – a senior U.S. official – was in Israel. Sari Kronish of the Israeli NGO Bimkom told Haaretz: 

“The lightning speed with which the District Committee is promoting a plan to build a Jews-only, gated village in the heart of a Palestinian neighborhood in [East] Jerusalem raises the suspicion that this is a political ploy.”

Amy Cohen, Ir Amim’s Director of International Advocacy told Haaretz:

“Israel promotes tens of thousands of housing units for Jews in East Jerusalem every year, while systematically denying Palestinians the same housing rights, all with the aim of pushing them out of East Jerusalem and influencing the city’s demographic balance in a crude and artificial way,” said “This proposal severs the single access road leading to Palestinian homes and is being advanced with a speed we have never seen before. The move is doubly problematic since the City Engineer himself notes that necessary basic tests were not conducted.”

Originally introduced in April 2023, the plan is the product of the Ateret Cohanim settler group – rather, its affiliate the Bahorim Company – which filed documents with the planning committee that show it (Bahorim) only owns 10% of the land where Kidmat Tzion is planned for. The land is unregistered, but Bahorim submitted a table of ownership purporting to show that dozens of plots were owned by Jews prior to 1948, still other plots are owned by settler affiliated groups including one run by U.S. millionaire and settlement financier Irving Moskowitz, and 1 or 2 plots are owned by Palestinians. Part of the land is owned by the Israeli Custodian General.

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. 

Israel Approves Expansion of Givat Hamatos Settlement (New Talpiyot Hill/Hebron Strip Plan)

On September 11th, the Jerusalem District Planning Committee also approved for deposit a plan that will expand the Givat Hamatos settlement. The plan – referred to as “New Talpiot Hill” and/or Hebron Strip – stands to double the number of housing units in the Givat Hamatos settlement and increase its land mass by 40%, introducing not only 3,500 new settlement units but 1,300 hotel rooms in highrise buildings, posing a direct competition to the Palestinian tourism industry in nearby Bethlehem.

Further, the new settlement will be built on a strategic strip of land that will expand the area of Givat Hamatos eastward, connecting it with another new settlement plan – the “Lower Aqueduct Plan.” These plans ultimately create a string of settlements — spanning from Gilo to Givat Hamatos to Har Homa — that, together with the planned “Givat HaShaked” settlement to its north, completely encircle the East Jerusalem Palestinian neighborhood of Beit Safafa with Israeli settlement construction. 

Peace Now reports that the project is a joint initiative of the Greek Orthodox Church and a private company. The Church has said that part of the development is intended for use by the city’s Christian community, though previous reports indicate that the plan calls for five synagogues and two mikvehs, clearly showing that the construction is designed to serve Israeli Jews.

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.”

Settlers Forcibly Seize East Jerusalem Home, Later Removed

On September 12th, a group of settlers forcibly seized a Palestinian home belonging to the Idris family in the Old City of Jerusalem. At the time, the matriarch of the family was in the hospital. The family arrived back home to find their house taken over by settlers. They were told to file a complaint in order to prove their ownership of the house.

The settlers were guarded by the Israeli security forces while they removed the families furniture, changed the doors and locks on the home and installed metal bars on the windows and roof. PCHR also reports the settlers built a “steel staircase and a mobile room to be later attached to the house.”

The settlers were later removed from the house by the Israeli police.

Oslo & The Settlements

Peace Now has published a host of information looking at how the settlement enterprise has thrived since the signing of the Oslo Accords thirty years ago. Key facts are:

1993	2023
110,000 settlers living in the West Bank	465,000 settlers living in the West Bank
128 settlements in the West Bank	300 settlements and outposts in the West Bank
140,000 settlers living in East Jerusalem settlements	230,000 settlers living in East Jerusalem settlements
800 settlers living in enclaves inside of Palestinians East Jerusalem neighborhoods	3,000 settlers living in enclaves inside of Palestinians East Jerusalem neighborhoods

Peace Now concludes:

“The thirty years following the Oslo Accords were characterized by a significant expansion of the settler population in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, growing from approximately 250,000 in 1993 to nearly 700,000 by 2023. This population growth is a result of Israel’s ongoing expansion of settlements, the establishment of new settlements in the form of outposts, and the construction of hundreds of kilometers of bypass roads, making it easier for settlements to connect to Israel. Additionally, a significant reinforcement of the settler population comes from the Haredim (ultra-Orthodox), who have no ideological connection to the settlements and had not settled in the West Bank before the Oslo Accords, except for a few neighborhoods in East Jerusalem (Neve Yaakov, Ramat Shlomo, and Ramot).

The conclusions drawn from the data are clear. The settlement enterprise did not suffer from the Oslo Accords but rather thrived. Israel continued to expand, develop, and authorize settlements in the West Bank unabated. Even in years when few new settlements were established (1993–1997), infrastructure work continued. When factoring in agricultural land and pastures seized by settlers, it can be concluded that the settlement enterprise has never been in a better position, while the situation for Palestinians in the West Bank remains difficult and fraught with challenges.”

Bonus Reads

1. “The Palestinian Boy Whose Village Was Destroyed Turned Into a True Freedom Fighter” (Haaretz)
2. “Settlers Assault Palestinian and Left-wing Israeli Activists in Separate West Bank Attacks” (Haaretz)
3. “Israel to close West Bank, Gaza Strip crossings over Rosh Hashanah” (i24 News)
4. “Israel’s finance minister now governs the West Bank. Critics see steps toward permanent control” (AP)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Ir Amim writes:

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

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

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

The plan has several alarming components, including:

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

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

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

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

Emek Shaveh said in a statement:

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

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

 Peace Now said in a statement: 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Knesset Pushes Bill to Directly Fund Settlements

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

The Combatants for Peace told Haaretz: 

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

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

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

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

B’Tselem writes:

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

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

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

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

Smotrich Claims Credit for U.S.-Israeli Tensions

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

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

Bonus Reads

1. “How settlers justify their pogroms” (Shabtay Bendet in +972 Magazine)
2. “I was handcuffed and blindfolded for reporting on settler violence” (Basel Adra in +972 Magazine)
3. “‘The escalation is frightening’: Jerusalem Christians fear for their future“ (+972 Magazine)
4. “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.

April 20, 2023

1. Israel Introduces Second Plan to Expand Givat Hamatos Settlement in East Jerusalem
2. After 15 Yrs of Work, Jerusalem Govt Withdraws Support for Private Plan to Build First new Palestinian Neighborhood in East Jerusalem since 1967
3. Following Repeal of Disengagement Law, Israel Dismisses Cases Against Settlers Who Violated It
4. On the Potential for Mass Expulsion of Palestinians via West Bank Land Registration
5. Bonus Reads

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Israel Introduces Second Plan to Expand Givat Hamatos Settlement in East Jerusalem

Ir Amim reports the Jerusalem Municipality recently initiated a new plan – called “Tzmerot” – to massively expand the current construction outline for the Givat Hamatos settlement in East Jerusalem. The new plan would add an additional 1,200 units to the existing plan, bringing the total number of settlement units to be built in Givat Hamatos to 3,810 (assuming, conservatively, an average family size of 5, this means housing for an additional nearly 20,000 Israelis). Israel issued tenders for more than 2,000 units in Givat Hamatos in January 2021, just before Trump left the U.S. presidency, and preparations for construction have started (actual construction has not).

This is the second plan the Israeli government has initiated so far this year to significantly expand the plan for Givat Hamatos. The first – known as the “East Talpiyot Hill” plan – was introduced in January 2023 and provides for the construction of 3500 units and 1300 hotel rooms on a strip of land adjacent to the land alloted to Givat Hamatos. 

Collectively, the East Talpiyot Hill plan would increase the size of Givat Hamatos by 40%, expanding it eastward and connecting it with another new settlement plan – the “Lower Aqueduct Plan.” 

Taken together — this latest Givat Hamatos expansion plan (Tzmerot), combined with the the East Talpiyot Hill plan, the Lower Aqueduct Plan, and the plan for a new settlement known as “Givat HaShaked” to the north of Givat Hamatos — these plans ultimately would create an unbroken string of settlements spanning from Gilo to Har Homa, in the process completely encircling the East Jerusalem Palestinian neighborhood of Beit Safafa with Israeli settlement construction. For this reason, Givat Hamatos has long been regarded as a doomsday settlement for parties interested in a negotiated two-state solution.

Ir Amim explains:

“The Tzmerot plan calls for four high-rise apartment buildings – two of which will include 12 floors, while the other two will include 42 and 35 floors. This stands in stark contrast to the surrounding Palestinian neighborhoods which face strict building restrictions, including those that preclude the construction of residential buildings beyond four-six levels. The municipality’s willingness to expand building rights for residential development when it is Israeli construction further exemplifies the extent of planning and housing discrimination in Jerusalem.  

The initiative for the new plan came as part of an agreement between the Jerusalem municipality and Shikun & Binui against the backdrop of a conflict concerning the company’s construction rights in a West Jerusalem neighborhood known as Kiryat HaYovel. Residents of the neighborhood strongly opposed the planned construction, compelling the municipality to intervene. According to the agreement, Shikun & Binui will give up construction in Kiryat HaYovel in exchange for receiving increased construction rights for residential development beyond the Green Line in Givat Hamatos.”

After 15 Yrs of Work, Jerusalem Govt Withdraws Support for Private Plan to Build First New Palestinian Neighborhood in East Jerusalem since 1967

Haaretz reports that the Jerusalem Municipality has retracted its support for a private, Palestinian-led project to build a new neighborhood in East Jerusalem, after signaling its support for the plan for the past 15 years. The project would have been the first new neighborhood developed specifically for Palestinians since Israel annexed East Jerusalem in 1967 (reminder: during the nearly 56 years since it gained control over East Jerusalem, Israel has undertaken massive, government-backed construction of new neighborhoods, aka settlements, throughout East Jerusalem).  Sources told Haaretz that Jerusalem Mayor Moshe Leon withdrew his support out of concern that approval of the project could become a political liability for him in local elections to be held later this year.

Ir Amim comments:

“While the Israeli authorities continue to deplete all vacant land in East Jerusalem to promote new Israeli settlements, they refrain from initiating residential projects for Palestinian areas and effectively obstruct the advancement of Palestinian-initiated plans. One recent example is the municipality’s withdrawal of support for the first planned new Palestinian neighborhood since 1967 in an area known as Tel Adsa, adjacent to Beit Hanina along the northern perimeter of East Jerusalem. Initiated by private Palestinian landowners from Beit Hanina, the plan had originally received support from the municipality. After enormous funds had been invested in the plan’s preparation, when the time came for discussion of the plan’s approval, the municipality withdrew their backing, citing claims that the plan did not comply with new planning policy for open spaces.

Yet, such claims contradict the fact that a myriad of similar plans are being promoted for Israeli settlements in such spaces. Not only does this reveal the baseless nature of the claims, but also underscores the rampant planning and housing discrimination leveled against Palestinians in Jerusalem. 

Despite Palestinians constituting nearly 40% of the city’s population, not one new neighborhood has been approved or constructed for Palestinians since 1967, while existing Palestinian neighborhoods face major building restrictions. Such a reality serves as a major impediment for Palestinians to remain in the city, which ultimately becomes a mechanism of forced displacement. These policies and practices enable Israel to seize more land in East Jerusalem while also acting as form of population control in service to Israel’s longstanding territorial and demographic goals. Such measures deprive Palestinians of basic rights to housing and shelter and constitute a severe violation of International Law while undermining any potential for an agreed political future.   

The Israeli government must be held accountable to afford equal rights to all populations in Jerusalem.”

Following Repeal of Disengagement Law, Israel Dismisses Cases Against Settlers Who Violated It

The Petah Tikva Magistrates Court has tossed out several indictments of settlers who illegally entered the site of the former Homesh settlement and illegally established a yeshiva there. The settlers were banned from entering the area as part of the 2005 Disengagement Law, which among other things legislated the evacuation of four settlements in the northern West Bank and banned Israelis from entering the area. The Israeli Knesset recently repealed the clauses in the Disengagement Law relating to those four settlements, effectively ending the ban on Israeli entry to the area, and providing a pretext for the Court to drop the cases (notwithstanding the fact that the settlers’ actions brazenly violated the law at the time). 

Yesh Din – an Israeli organizations which has fought for years to have the illegal outpost known to settlers as the Homesh yeshiva removed and for the land to be returned to its Palestinian owners – responded that the dismissal of these criminal cases:

“[sends] a clear message that the State of Israel encourages stealing from and banishing Palestinians.”

As a reminder, the Homesh settlement was built almost entirely on land that belongs to (and is recognized by Israel as registered as belonging to) Palestinian owners. Yet, 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. As Yesh Din has noted, repealing the West Bank-related clauses in the Disengagement Law does not change the legal status of the land, which Israel has recognized as privately owned by Palestinians. This means, according to Yesh Din, that Israel still has “no legal option for legalizing the [Homesh] outpost.” Based on the commitments made by this new government, it seems probable that this legal “problem” will be just one more challenge to be overcome.

Shmuel Wendy, a settler who participated in establishing the illegal yeshiva at Homesh, told the Times of Israel:

“Along with our happiness over the cancellation of the Disengagement Law, we still expect the yeshiva to soon be approved.”

On the Potential for Mass Expulsion of Palestinians via West Bank Land Registration

Writing in Jewish Currents, FMEP non-resident fellow Peter Beinart argues (agreeing with decades of Palestinian warnings) that the mass expulsion of Palestinians by Israel – a second Nakba – is not a far-fetched worry but an idea with deep roots and currency amongst Israeli lawmakers. Beinart posits that, “It’s impossible to know how mass expulsion might occur. But one clue lies in the coalition agreements that lay out the current government’s agenda. The agreements call on the government to launch a process of land registration in the West Bank.”

In the West Bank, successive Israeli governments have already laid the groundwork for re-starting the process of land registration with the urging and fervent backing of settlers who see the process as a massive opportunity for the state to declare more land to be “state land” and take control over it. Only one-third of West Bank land was registered and titled (under the British Mandatory government and then continued by Jordan) when Israel seized control of the West Bank and froze land registration proceedings. 

Some key pieces of that groundwork that have already been laid – not only to restart the land registration process but to utilize it as a means for the seizure of massive amounts of West Bank land – include:

• In September 2021, the Jewish National Fund (JNF) announced that it had approved funds for an effort to systematically register West Bank lands that it claims to have purchased from the Israeli Custodian General. Ir Amim warned that the JNF’s land registration effort could result in land takeover of an “alarming magnitude.” As a reminder, the JNF, established in 1901, devoted itself to buying land for Jews. Today, the JNF owns about 15% of all the land inside the Green Line (a figure which stands to increase if the review process leads to more properties being registered to the JNF). In addition, the JNF has used two subsidiary companies – both called Himanuta – to purchase land in the West Bank, even though the stated JNF policy did not support such purchases. Peace Now reports that the JNF, via Himanuta, has already purchased over 16,000 acres (65,000 dunams) across the West Bank.
• In December 2020, the Israeli High Court of Justice issued a ruling in favor of the Kochav Yaakov settlement, signaling the Court’s willingness to sidestep Ottoman and Jordanian land registration practices when deciding land ownership claims (which since 1967 Israel has recognized as applicable in the West Bank and East Jerusalem). The Court appeared to accept the settlers’ argument that the Court should care about what has happened on the land since the Jordanian land registration process was frozen, not about what existed at the moment the law was frozen. This argument, by design, favors the settlements and the settlers, who since 1967 have been able – with the backing of the state and the permission of the Courts – to illegally establish settlements and outposts while also preventing Palestinians from accessing their land.
• In November 2020, the Israeli Attorney General offered support to a recommendation by COGAT to re-start land registration across the West Bank, a recommendation which was the result of a campaign by the far right-wing Israeli NGO known as Regavim (which today has deep ties in the current government) to push the government to seize more land in the West Bank via declarations of state land.
• In August 2020 the Israeli State Comptroller issued a report that criticized the Defense Ministry for having an incomplete land registry of the West Bank.

By contrast, in East Jerusalem (which Israel annexed in 1967) the Israeli government announced its intention to start land registration in 2018 and to complete the process by 2025 (which the government framed as an effort to “Reduce Socio-Economic Gaps and Advance Economic Development in East Jerusalem”). Since then, the government has carried out land registration mostly in secret and for the exclusive benefit of settlers, including in Abu Dis, Sheikh Jarrah, near Al-Aqsa, and possibly with regard to the Sharafat neighborhood and the Givat HaShaked settlement.

The Israel-run process of registering ownership of land in East Jerusalem land will have far-reaching consequences for Palestinians, who have not had a formal legal avenue for registering land ownership since East Jerusalem was annexed by Israel in 1967. Palestinians who wanted/needed to prove their land ownership were forced to rely on the “mukhtar protocol” — a procedure in which Palestinians in East Jerusalem document/prove ownership by collecting signatures from local Palestinian leaders acknowledging that the land in question does, indeed, belong to them. This policy was developed by the Israeli government as an alternative to the formal land-registration process.

In 2019, a mini-saga over the “mukhtar protocol” revealed the uphill battle facing Palestinians if formal registration proceeds. In March 2019, the Jerusalem Planning & Building Committee, at the urging of the Regavim settler group (acting with the clear goal of preventing Palestinian development and undermining Palestinian land ownership claims to land in the city), annulled the mukhtar protocol as a legally acceptable basis for establishing land ownership in the eyes of the Israeli government, putting Palestinian land ownership in East Jerusalem in limbo. The result: having no recognized means to prove their land ownership, Palestinians were prevented from building in East Jerusalem. One month later, the Israeli authorities reversed the decision and again recognized the mukhtar protocol, reportedly following appeals to Jerusalem Mayor Moshe Leon by a city council member. The incident highlights how precarious Palestinian land ownership in East Jerusalem is.

Key resources on land registration (aka “Settlement of Title”) are:

• “Settlement of Land Title in East Jerusalem: A Means of Dispossessing Palestinians from their Lands and Homes” (Ir Amim, March 2022)
• “Ill Gotten Gains: Theft of Palestinian land – declaring “state land” where settlement of title was halted when Israel occupied the West Bank” (Yesh Din, March 2021)
• “A Settler Tool & A Catch-22 for Palestinians: Land Registration in East JerusalemA Settler Tool & A Catch-22 for Palestinians: Land Registration in East Jerusalem” (Podcast w/ Amy Cohen/Ir Amim and Kristin McCarthy/FMEP, September 2022)
• “The registration of Palestinian properties is aimed at transferring them to Israeli authorities” (Miftah, October 2021)

Bonus Reads

1. “How the ‘Poor People of Galicia’ Defeated an Elderly Palestinian Couple” (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.

January 13, 2023

1. New Givat Hamatos Expansion Plan 
2. The IDF Has Prepped & Presented its Plan to Expel Palestinians from Masafer Yatta
3. Israel Carries Out Demolitions in Area B
4. MK Danon Unveils Jordan Valley Annexation Bill
5. Settlers Demand Fast-Tracked “Regularization” of Outposts
6. Biden Administration Commits to Doing Nothing More Than Issue Empty Statements in Response to Israel Expanding Settlements/Legalizing Outposts
7. Peace Now Releases 2023 Settlement Map
8. Adalah Publishes Detailed Analysis of New Israeli Coalition Deal

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New Givat Hamatos Expansion Plan

Ir Amim reports that on March 2nd the Jerusalem Planning Committee will consider a brand new plan to expand the area of theGivat Hamatos settlement in East Jerusalem by 40% and to more than double the number of housing units slated to be built there. The new plan – called the “East Talpiyot Hill” plan – involves the construction of 3500 units and 1300 hotel rooms, to be built on a plot of land adjacent to the site where the Givat Hamatos settlement (planned for 2610 units) is slated to be built. As a reminder: tenders for the construction of those units were issued in January 2021 (just hours after PResident Biden was inaugurated), and the construction of the infrastructure for that project is already underway.

The “East Talpiyot Hill” plan involves construction on a strategic strip of land that will expand the area of Givat Hamatos eastward, connecting it with another new settlement plan – the “Lower Aqueduct Plan.” These plans ultimately create a string of settlements — spanning from Gilo to Givat Hamatos to Har Homa — that, together with the planned “Givat HaShaked” settlement to its north, completely encircle the East Jerusalem Palestinian neighborhood of Beit Safafa with Israeli settlement construction. Ir Amim further warns that the inclusion of hotels in this new plan “will likely serve as a major source of competition with the tourism industry in Bethlehem, potentially diverting vital business from the Palestinian economy.” 

This land on which the “East Talpiyot Hill”project will be built was owned by the Greek Orthodox Church until 2009 – when the church sold many of its most prized properties to settler entities. The Church has contested these sales, alleging fraud – but Israeli courts have rejected the Church’s objections and allowed the contested sales to stand. This particular tract of land was sold to an Israeli businessman and the New Talpiyot Hill company, which together initiated this new plan.

Importantly, Ir Amim notes that there are indications that Israel is carrying out land registration for plots located in the tract of land on which the “East Talpiyot Hill” project would be built. This is highly significant, as the registration appears to be happening in secret and – as revealed by Bimkom’s and Ir Amim’s ongoing monitoring and research, “settlement of land title proceedings are largely being used to dispossess Palestinians of their properties and seize more territory in East Jerusalem for Israeli settlement. “

The IDF Has Prepped & Presented its Plan to Expel Palestinians from Masafer Yatta

Haaretz reports that the Israeli Central Command has presented to the Israeli government its plan to expel some X,000 Palestinians from eight villages in Masafer Yatta in the South Hebron Hills – plans it had reportedly  been working on for two months (i.e., even before the new government took power). Sources told Haaretz that the new government has not given the IDF the order to carry out the expulsions yet, but nonetheless the IDF saw fit to design a plan, using vans, to carry out the evictions. Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant has reportedly told the IDF that he “needs to study” the matter.

Israel Carries Out Demolitions in Area B

Haaretz has revealed that on November 24, 2022, the Israeli Civil Administration demolished two Palestinian structures in Area B of the West Bank — the area in which, under the Oslo Accords,  Israel enjoys no jurisdiction over civil matters (such as building enforcement). The Civil Administration denies that the demolition violated the Oslo Accords, arguing that it was within its rights because it was acting to address alleged major damage caused to a nearby archaeological site, called Khirbet Tarfin. Israeli political figures were reportedly involved in the decision to carry out the demolitions.

In a statement to Haaretz regarding the demolitions, the Civil Administration stood proudly by its demolition, and committed to defending archaeological sites across the whole West Bank. The statement reads:

“The Civil Administration will continue to expend major efforts and resources in researching and preserving the archaeological sites in Judea and Samaria [the West Bank] in addition to pursuing enforcement activity against antiquities thieves and the building of illegal structures in the heart of archaeological sites.”

The Civil Administration’s statement – and Israel’s move to raze these two Palestinian structures – should be understood against the backdrop of the years-long campaign by settlers pushing the government to unilaterally take control over archaeological sites (defined expansively) throughout the West Bank. In this way settlers and their supporters are- with great success – weaponizing archaeology as a tool for the dispossession of Palestinians. 

This effort should also be understood as an expansion of the settlers’ enormously successful tactics in getting the Israeli government to annex Area C – with Israeli policy now treating Area C as sovereign Israeli territory in virtually all ways (other than a public declaration of annexation). Now that the new governing coalition has announced a total freeze on Palestinian construction in Area C and has increased demolition of Palestinian “illegal” construction (i.e., Palestinian construction on their own private land, but lacking Israeli permits, due to the fact that Israel refuses to issue Palestinians permits to build) — and now that Netanyahu has declared Israel’s “exclusive and inalienable right to all parts of the Land of Israel” — it is not surprising, but is still alarming, to see the same land grab tactics that worked so well in Area C applied in Area B. Indeed, more Israeli actions/policies that further the erasure of any meaningful Oslo-era boundaries between West Bank areas should be anticipated.

MK Danon Unveils Jordan Valley Annexation Bill

MK Danny Danon (Likud) – who previously served as Israel’s Ambassador to the UN – has unveiled a bill that would have Israel unilaterally annex the Jordan Valley.

Jordan Valley annexation bills have been introduced into the Knesset for years, but have rarely if ever received real consideration, though support for such a measure is likely high. In September 2019, Netanyahu committed to annexing the Jordan Valley.

Settlers Demand Fast-Tracked “Regularization” of Outposts

The Forum for Young Settlements, an advocacy group by and for settlers, is pushing the new Israeli government to act swiftly to suspend the rule of law to “legalize” settlement outposts across the West Bank that were built in violation of Israeli law, and many of which are located on privately-owned Palestinian land. As part of the coalition agreements, the parties agreed to “legalize” the outposts within the first 60 days of the new government tenure- – but settlers apparently think this is too long, and are demanding that the government act immediately.

The Forum said in a statement:

“[The Forum] congratulate[s] the Prime Minister and the ministers for establishing a stable national right-wing government for the first time in years, and for introducing ‘Young Settlement Regulation’ into the coalition agreements….this is the time to approve the proposal of the decision-makers for regulation. The government’s decision is already prepared, and over 25,000 residents of the young settlements in the winter months cry out for a resolution to their humanitarian needs and immediately enable the connection of all the young settlements to electricity, water, and other infrastructures.”

Biden Administration Commits to Doing Nothing More Than Issue Empty Statements in Response to Israel Expanding Settlements/Legalizing Outposts

U.S. Ambassador to Israel Thomas Nides told the Israeli Kan news outlet that the U.S. opposes “massive settlement growth” — seeming to signal the Biden Administration’s acceptance of settlement construction on a less-than-massive scale (FMEP president Lara Friedman notes that this reminds her of an old joke: a couple celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary was asked, what made this marriage last so long? Partner 1 responded – “when we got married, we agreed that I get to make all the big decisions, and my partner gets to make all the small decisions; as it turns out, there has never been a big decision, so peace has reigned between us!”). Nides further said that the U.S. continues to oppose outpost legalization but does not have any “red lines” for the Israeli government.

Peace Now Releases 2023 Settlement Map

Peace Now has released an updated map of the West Bank, showing settlements, outposts and more. You can view and download the map here: https://peacenow.org.il/en/%d9%8dsettlements-map-2023

Adalah Publishes Detailed Analysis of New Israeli Coalition Deal

Adalah released a new report on the details contained within the new Israeli coalition deal. The paper examines the following 11 items:

1. Deepened political control over law enforcement and policing;
2. Accelerating the Judaization of the Naqab, Galilee, and beyond;
3. Curbing the prohibition of discrimination in services and products;
4. A new basic law on immigration;
5. Discrimination in education;
6. Impunity for the armed forces;
7. Silencing criticism against Israel;
8. Allowing candidates running for the Knesset to incite racism while undermining Palestinian political participation;
9. Separate and unequal funding for Palestinian localities in Israel; (10) Limiting the Supreme Court’s authority; and
10. De facto annexation of the West Bank.

On de facto annexation of the West Bank, Adalah writes:

“These appointments effectively give the RZP control over all settlement construction projects in the West Bank; authority over nearly all issues relating to the settlements: the building of homes, demolition of homes and other buildings, and all other aspects of daily life. This ministerial position will also no longer require the Prime Minister’s approval at various stages of West Bank settlement construction projects; instead, it will only be required once, during the initial stages. Smotrich has made clear that he intends to use this authority to de facto annex the West Bank by, in particular, dismantling the Israeli military’s Civil Administration over the Israeli Jewish settlers illegally residing there and instead putting their governance under Israeli civil domestic law, while continuing to keep Palestinians under military rule. This move will more deeply entrench the two separate systems of governance that already exist based on racial identity, an unquestionable hallmark of a system of apartheid.”

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.

November 19, 2021

1. Israeli Government Advances A New Settlement Under Guise of Ariel “Expansion”
2. In Order to Advance Construction of Givat Hamatos, Israel Court Rules For the First Time that Palestinians Can Apply to Live There Too
3. IDF Evacuates Two Illegal Settler Outposts in the Shiloh Valley
4. As Settler Terrorism Continues, Gantz Takes a Look at the Data
5. Settler Participation in Israel’s Mass Surveillance of Palestinians
6. Terrestrial Jerusalem Warnings & Predictions on Key East Jerusalem Settlement Crises
7. New B’Tselem Report: Settler Violence Accomplishes State’s Goals
8. Ir Amim: Israel’s 2040 Plan for Jerusalem Will Displace More Palestinians
9. Bonus Reads

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Israeli Government Advances A New Settlement Under Guise of Ariel “Expansion” 

On November 15, Peace Now reported details on the Israeli Ministry of Construction’s issuance of tenders for a new settlement, called “Ariel West,” in the heart of the West Bank — under the guise of a plan to “expand” the Ariel settlement. Under the plan, 731 new settlement units 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. These tenders were issued on October 24th by the Construction Ministry, without public debate.

The scope and impact of the new project is only now coming into focus, and is just the latest illustration of how Israel systematically rewards unauthorized/illegal construction undertaken by settlers. In this case, settlers established an unauthorized outpost (i.e., illegal even under Israeli law) called “Nof Avi”on the hilltop where the new settlement is slated for construction. The Israeli government has allowed that outpost to remain, and restrict Palestinians’ access to agricultural lands they rightfully own, for the past year.

The hilltop and the Nof Avi outpost is located on land declared by Israel to be “state land” inside of the jurisdictional boundaries of the Ariel settlement, as authorized by the Israeli government. The jurisdictional boundaries of Ariel include several non-contiguous land areas — due to the fact that the area is dotted with land that even Israel recognizes to be legally owned by Palestinians (leaving Palestinian land in some places nearly completely surrounded by land given to the settlement).

The new settlement will further exacerbate the limitations that the settlements inflict on Palestinian agricultural workers in addition to the future development of the nearby Palestinian town of Salfit, as illustrated in this video by Peace Now.  Even before the “expansion” plan, Ariel’s jurisdictional area was identified as a direct hindrance on the future development of Salfit. 

With news of the new settlement, the Mayor of Salfit – Abdullah Kamil – explained to Haaretz:

​​“Salfit is slated for expansion. It has a university and there are plans to add 10,000 students over the next few years. The city’s master plan will have to be enlarged, and the site where the new settlement is planned is exactly the direction toward which we wanted to expand. This situation will explode. We also told the Israelis this; it will open a new front and it will harm Israeli security. It’s clear that part of the plan’s purpose is to eliminate any chance of a political solution.”

Peace Now said in a statement: 

“It is hard to believe that this tender would have been published if it had been brought for government approval or to any public discussion. The Ministry of Housing took advantage of a plan approved 30 years ago to dramatically change the heart of the West Bank. The “Ariel West” plan is not just a plan for thousands of housing units, but it is a new settlement designed to block the town of Salfit and prevent the development of Palestinian space in the area. This is not only a severe damage to the lives of thousands of Palestinians in the area, but also to the chance of reaching peace and two states in the future.”

In Order to Advance Construction of Givat Hamatos, Israel Court Rules For the First Time that Palestinians Can Apply to Live There Too

In response to a petition filed by the Israel anti-settlement watchdog Ir Amim, the Israeli government updated key eligibility requirements related to future residents of the Givat Hamatos settlement in East Jerusalem. With this petition threatening to slow the project, the government elected to eliminate a discriminatory requirement and thereby make Palestinian permanent residents of East Jerusalem eligible, for the first time ever, to participate in a lottery for government subsidized housing in the new settlement, slated for imminent construction on the southern perimeter of East Jerusalem. 

Until this point, all such housing lotteries were open only to Israeli citizens, in effect prevent the 90+% of Palestinian Jerusalemites – who Israel classifies as “permanent residents” – from eligibility. Some 40% of the 1,257+ settlement units awaiting construction in Givat Hamatos are designated as part of the relevant government-subsidized housing program.

Following the government’s offer to change the eligibility criteria for the subsidized housing program, the Jerusalem District Court dismissed Ir Amim’s petition. In dismissing the petition, the judge failed to require the government to acquiesce to two key demands of the Ir Amim petition: that the government reserve some of the new housing units in Givat Hamatos specifically for Paelstinian residents of Beit Safafa (a neighborhood which the new settlement will complete the encirclement of), and that the government be required to publish an Arabic language announcement regarding the change in policy. The judge on the case did, however, require the Jerusalem municipality to pay Ir Amim $1,600 in expenses.

IDF Evacuates Two Illegal Settler Outposts in the Shiloh Valley

On November 17th, the Israeli army removed two settler families from the illegal (even under Israeli law) outpost called “Guelat Zion,” located in the Shiloh Valley, demolishing the four structures standing there. Predictably, settlers reacted violently, resulting in the arrest of three settlers. This is not the first time the IDF demolished Geulat Zion, the last time being in 2018. Established in 2011, the outpost is adjacent to the new “Amichai” settlement, which Israel built as a pay-off to settlers it was forced by the courts to remove from the illegal Amona outpost.

Following the evacuation of the Geulat Zion outpost on November 17th, the IDF also razed the nearby Ramat Migron outpost. Five additional settlers were arrested for throwing stones and assaulting Israel troops.

As Settler Terrorism Continues, Gantz Takes a Look at the Data

On November 18th, Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz – the man who recently designated six Palesitnian human rights groups to be “terrorist organizations” – held a meeting at the Defense Ministry to hear data on the rise of settler violence against Palestinians. Gantz – who referred to settler violence as “hate crimes” and “a grave phenomenon” – appointed Deputy Defense Minister Alon Schuster as the point person in a new Israeli effort to “address locations in the West Bank that are flash points of friction or that have been in the past” which can include the deployment of “special units to address the issue.” Haaretz reports that Gantz also called for the “forces on the ground to be provided with the necessary legal resources,” though it is unclear what that entails.

As a reminder, settler violence against Palestinians has been well documented for years, and continues on a weekly or even daily basis. Gantz’s plan to reduce friction does not address the core mechanism by which settlers are permitted to terrorize Palestinians – as detailed by the recent B’Tselem report entitled  “State Business: Israel’s misappropriation of land in the West Bank through settler violence,” which is summarized below.

Incidents of settler terrorism in the past week alone include: 

• On November 15th, Palestinians were attacked by settlers while attempting to access their land near the dismantled settlement of Homesh in the northern West Bank. Though the vacant site of the Homesh settlement is a closed military zone, settlers have continued to visit the site and maintain an outpost with a yeshiva there (though the IDF has intermittently intervened to clear them out). A group of 15 masked settlers launched a brutal attack on the Palestinians. As a reminder: Homesh is one of four settlements in the northern West Bank that Israel dismantled in 2005 under the Disengagement Law, which primarily removed all Israeli settlers from the Gaza Strip. After Israel removed settlers from these four sites, the IDF issued military orders barring Palestinians from entering the areas, let alone building in them. At the same time, settlers have regularly entered the areas and even repeatedly built a yeshiva at the Homesh site. Settlers have been openly obsessed with the desire to re-establish Homesh, hosting religious events and protests at the site of Homesh, some of which have been attended by Israeli MKs and politicians. 
• On November 12th, a group of 12 settlers launched an attack on Palestinian olive harvesters and Israeli activitists near the settlement of Bat Ayn, located south west of Bethlehem. According to one of the Israeli solidarity activists, Gil Marshall, the Israeli IDF was present on the scene earlier in the day, but suddenly left which allowed the settlers an opportunity to attack. Afterwards, the IDF declared the area — a Palestinian olive farm — to be a closed military zone for one months time, which will require Palestinians (and, theoretically, the settlers) to request permission from the IDF in order to access the land – resulting in more land loss for Palestinian olive farmers. The attack resulted in injuries to three Israeli activists – including the prominent solidarity activists Rabbi Arik Ascherman, who wrote about the experience here. The Israeli military reportedly arrested three settlers in connection to the attack.

Basil al-Adraa, a Palestinian journalist for +972 Magazine and community youth organizer in the South Hebron Hills, wrote a new account of the settler terrorism he experienced on November 10th. In a piece entitled, “The soldiers got into their jeeps — and left us with a settler militia,” al-Adraa writes:

“Until that moment there were no casualties, and the army was still present in the area. In the darkness of the desert, I could count dozens of settlers. They were holding rifles, batons, and slingshots. They waved their rifles from behind the soldiers’ backs, as if to scare the Palestinians.

Then, suddenly, the soldiers got into their jeeps and left — leaving behind a militia of armed settlers. With the soldiers gone, the settlers advanced in our direction.

From that moment on, everything became blurry. I heard screaming and saw young people trying to block the settlers from advancing to the village with their bodies. Then the gunshots started. It took me several seconds to even realize they were directly firing live rounds in our direction…On the phone, Quamar Mashraqi-Assad, a Palestinian Jerusalem-based lawyer who helps the residents of the area, told me that she was in contact with the army, who were telling her that the soldiers were at Khallet a-Daba’. But it was a lie. A minute later, another young man was hit by settler gunfire. We were completely alone. Only after about 40 minutes of carnage did the army return to the scene. The settlers retreated and continued throwing stones, while the soldiers pushed and cursed the Palestinians…

The attack on Khallet a-Daba’ is only the tip of the iceberg. Residents, activists, and human rights groups have witnessed an alarming increase in settler violence in the West Bank in recent months. Most of these events are either not documented or filmed from a distance for safety reasons. In contrast to the settler pogrom that took place in the village of Mufagara in broad daylight in late September, this time in Khallet a-Daba’, the darkness prevented Palestinians from filming what took place. In the South Hebron Hills, the backing these attacks receive from the army is part of a concerted effort to create a sense of friction in the run-up to the High Court’s decision on the legality of the firing zone, in order to create a “justification” for military presence in the area.”

Settler Participation in Israel’s Mass Surveillance of Palestinians

According to new reporting by the Washington Post, based on testimonies compiled by Breaking the Silence, settlers have been helping the IDF build a facial photo database of West Bank Palestinians. The database serves to buttress the facial recognition capabilities of the Israeli army, as part of its pervasive surveillance arsenal, including a growing network of cameras and smartphones.

As reported by the Washington Post, settlers use a smartphone app called “White Wolf” to scan the identification cards of Palestinians, and the data is then uploaded to the army’s surveillance system. The photos and information gleaned by White Wolf are then added to the IDF’s larger system, called “Blue Wolf,” which “captures photos of Palestinians’ faces and matches them to a database of images so extensive that one former soldier described it as the army’s secret ‘Facebook for Palestinians.’ The phone app flashes in different colors to alert soldiers if a person is to be detained, arrested or left alone.” 

The “Blue Wolf” system is itself a mobile-friendly version of Israel’s even larger database of Palestinian faces and identities, called “Wolf Pack.” Former soliders told The Post that “Wolf Pack…contains profiles of virtually every Palestinian in the West Bank, including photographs of the individuals, their family histories, education and a security rating for each person.”

Breaking the Silence Executive Director Avner Gvaryahu said:

“Whilst surveillance and privacy are at the forefront of the global public discourse, we see here another disgraceful assumption by the Israeli government and military that when it comes to Palestinians, basic human rights are simply irrelevant.”

Roni Pelli of ACRI told The Post:

“While developed countries around the world impose restrictions on photography, facial recognition and surveillance, the situation described [in Hebron] constitutes a severe violation of basic rights, such as the right to privacy, as soldiers are incentivized to collect as many photos of Palestinian men, women and children as possible in a sort of competition… [the Israeli] military must immediately desist.”

Terrestrial Jerusalem Warnings & Predictions on Key East Jerusalem Settlement Crises

In a new report, Terrestrial Jerusalem (TJ)  reviews and analyzes the state-of-play regarding four key settlement issues that are quickly approaching decision points. Those issues and relevant insights from Terrestrial Jerusalem (TJ) are:

1. Evictions in Batan al-Hawa, Silwan: Though not able to predict the outcome of the Court’s final judgement regarding the Dweik family case, TJ says the judgment can be handed down at any time.
2. Construction of the Atarot Settlement: In anticipation of a key hearing on December 6th to discuss depositing the plan for public review, Terrestrial Jerusalem warns: “The deposit of the plan for public review marks the beginning of the serious stages of the planning process, turning what has been until now a distant concept into a an operational plan being seriously pursued. There is no room for complacency, and the earlier the Israeli authorities are engaged on this the greater the chances that such a dangerous plan can be stopped.”
3. Construction of the E-1 Settlement: Ahead of the last and final hearing on E-1 scheduled for December 13th, TJ cautions: “After the hearings, we will be only one decision away from the final approval of the plan, which will basically rest on the Defense Minister’s decision to convene the Higher Planning Council.”
4. Evictions in Sheikh Jarrah: Following the Palestinians’ choice to reject a Court-authored “compromise,” TJ writes: “Given the court’s pace in hearing the case until now, we believe a verdict is likely to be handed down before year’s end. While anticipating the content of future court rulings is fraught with dangers and uncertainty, it appears more rather than less likely that the Supreme Court will not overrule the rulings of the lower courts, and the eviction orders will stand. There is no further appeal.” 

In conclusion, Terrestrial Jerusalem warns:

“If our analysis and projections are correct, by year’s end or shortly thereafter there will likely be a Supreme Court verdict against the Palestinian families in Silwan, and the sub-Committee of the Higher Planning Board will approve E-1. Thereafter, the evictions can take place at any time, and the only step required for the final statutory approval of E-1 is its ratification by means of the signatures of the Minister of Defense, both technicalities which can be performed within a matter of hours. In the weeks to come, we will likely hear from the senior members of the Bennett government: “don’t worry, we will not evict anyone in Sheikh Jarrah, nor will we build in E-1”. They will be very convincing, because they will likely be sincere. Yet, all it will take is a coalition crisis, a new election, or a terror attack with numerous casualties and the evictions will happen, and E-1 will be approved. The evictions in Sheikh Jarrah can be greenlighted at any time, and all it will take is one or two strokes of the pen – signatures on a dotted line by Defense Minister Benny Gantz – and E-1 will be approved. There will be no trip wire, no advanced warning.”

In a separate – and equally excellent – article dealing with these developments, in addition to several other key political elements (including the pending fate of reopening a U.S. Consulate in Jerusalem), Terrestrial Jerusalem founder Daniel Seidemann writes:

“In the weeks to come, we will likely hear senior members of the Bennett-Lapid government deliver lines such as: “Fear not, we will not evict anyone in Sheikh Jarrah, nor will we build in E-1.” They will be very convincing, but dead wrong. It is enough to have a coalition crisis, a new election, or a terror attack for the government to move forward with its plans. All it will take is two strokes of the pen — signatures on a dotted line by Defense Minister Benny Gantz — and E-1 would be approved, and the expulsions in Sheikh Jarrah can commence. There will be no trip wire, no advanced warning.”

New B’Tselem Report: Settler Violence Accomplishes State’s Goals

In a new report entitled “State Business: Israel’s misappropriation of land in the West Bank through settler violence”, B’Tselem details how systematic and ongoing settler violence is in effect a policy of the State of Israel, and a tool that the State uses to take over more and more land in the West Bank. The report presents five cases of settler violence – of lands in/near the Jordan Valley, the South Hebron Hills, Ramallah, and Nablus –  and land takeover, drawing an alarming picture of how the State of Israel aids and abets settlers in their targeted violence, and then rewards those settlers with control over more land.

In a striking passage, B’Tselem writes:

“From the beginning of 2020 to the end of September 2021, B’Tselem documented 451 settler attacks on Palestinians and on their property – 245 were directed at Palestinian farmers. This figure excludes the Jordan Valley, where violence takes place on a daily basis. Of the 451 attacks recorded, in 27 cases settlers fired live ammunition, 180 included physical assault, 145 included damage to private property, 77 included attacks on homes, and 35 attacks on passing vehicles. 123 cases included damage to trees and crops, and in 59 settlers damaged farming equipment. The presence of Israeli security forces was recorded in 183 of these incidents: In 66 forces were present and did nothing, in 104 they participated in the attack, usually using rubber-coated metal bullets, tear gas, and stun grenades. In 22 incidents, security forces arrested Palestinians who had been attacked by settlers. In addition, five Palestinians were killed during joint attacks by settlers and soldiers.19 Rather than preventing violent actions against Palestinian farmers, the military has developed a “coordination” system that treats settler violence as a given. This system ostensibly enables Palestinian farmers to access their land, but in fact denies them almost any possibility to do so by limiting their access to a handful of days a year. Even on these days, if settlers violently prevent the farmers from cultivating their land, the military will remove the latter. Settlers, meanwhile, have unfettered access to Palestinian land all year round. Under this system, Palestinian farmers are consigned to partial cultivation of their land that keeps them from maximizing its potential, if they are able to extract anything from the land at all.”

And in conclusion, B’Tselem writes:

“Settler attacks against Palestinians are a strategy employed by the Israeli apartheid regime, which seeks to advance and complete its misappropriation of more and more Palestinian land. As such, settler violence is a form of government policy, permitted and aided by official state authorities with their active participation. The state legitimizes this reality in two complementary ways. It allows settlers to live, farm and graze livestock on land from which Palestinians have been violently ejected, and to that end pays for security, paves roads, provides infrastructure and supports financial enterprises in these outposts through various government ministries. At the same time, it gives settlers free rein to commit violent acts against Palestinians. The military does not confront violent settlers. It does not prevent the attacks, and in some cases, soldiers even participate in them. The Israeli law enforcement system does not take action against settlers who harm Palestinians after the fact and whitewashes the few cases it is called upon to address. “

Ir Amim: Israel’s 2040 Plan for Jerusalem Will Displace More Palestinians

In a new report, entitled “Planned Negligence: How Palestinian Neighborhoods Disappeared from Jerusalem’s Current and Future Urban Planning Policies,” Ir Amim  analyzes how Israel’s “Jerusalem 2040 Strategic Plan” projects the continuation of decades-old policies of deliberate under-development and suppression of urban planning in Palestinian neighborhoods, in favor of the expansion and prosperity of Jewish Israeli neighborhoods. The report looks in detail at three planning policies adopted by Israel – for the benefit of Israeli Jews – in Jerusalem:

1. The framework agreement between the Jerusalem Municipality and the Israel Land Authority, which provides funding for 23,000 housing units in Israeli neighborhoods, yet does not include construction in a single Palestinian neighborhood;
2. The plan’s urban renewal project that outlines a potential for 30,000 more housing units, designated exclusively for Jewish Israeli neighborhoods; and
3. The light rail densification project, which is estimated to provide an additional 25,000 housing units which by definition will be limited almost entirely to Jewish Israeli neighborhoods (because the current and planned routes of the light rail are either located in or pass almost exclusively through Israeli neighborhoods).

The report concludes that the implementation of the “Jerusalem 2040 Strategic Plan” will result in further displacement of Palestinians from the homes in East Jerusalem. In Ir Amim’s words, Israel’s plan has 

“…essentially sentenced hundreds of thousands of Palestinian residents of Jerusalem to the ever-worsening planning chokehold. The Israel 2040 Strategic Plan will drastically exacerbate the crisis beyond the already-astronomical cost that planning discrimination currently exacts from East Jerusalem’s residents.”

In conclusion, Ir Amim writes:

“Ongoing planning discrimination is creating a crippling housing crisis that is violating East Jerusalem residents’ basic right to a home, and is displacing them from the city. Those who are forced to relocate away from Jerusalem will face growing environmental problems, remain plagued by housing shortages and issues of inadequate infrastructure that continue to worsen. The government’s new planning policy is transforming the existing planning discrimination against East Jerusalem residents into a pre-determined, quasi-professional policy quagmire which will shape the planning landscape for decades to come. There is an essential and urgent need to act imminently to amend these government decisions to include tailored solutions for Palestinian neighborhoods and to provide for the housing needs of East Jerusalem residents.”

Bonus Reads

1. “Israeli Defense Minister’s New Settlement Aide Isn’t a Settler, in First Since 2015” (Haaretz)
2. “Sheikh Jarrah families ‘determined’ despite lingering uncertainty” (Al Jazeera)
3. “EU-funded Palestinian school faces Israeli demolition” (Al Jazeera)
4. “We don’t just live through one home demolition — we live through them all” (+972 Magazine)

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 22, 2021

1. Israel to Advance Plans for Nearly 3,000 Settlement Units & 1,300 Palestinian Homes in Area C
2. Israeli Supreme Court to Hold Hearing on Batan al-Hawa, Silwan Dispossession Cases Next Week; AG Declines Intervention
3. Israel Begins Construction on New Settlement in Downtown Hebron
4. Israel Advances “Silicon Wadi” Project in East Jerusalem
5. Recap: Israel Advances Settlement Plans Across Greater Jerusalem Area
6. Recap: Court Pushes for Palestinians to “Compromise” with Settlers in Sheikh Jarrah
7. New Report: State-Backed Settler “Tourism” Projects in East Jerusalem
8. Bonus Reads

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Israel to Advance Plans for Nearly 3,000 Settlement Units & 1,300 Palestinian Homes in Area C

The Israeli Civil Administration’s High Planning Council will convene next week — for the first time since Bennett and Biden took over leadership in Israel and the U.S., respectively —  to advance the construction of 2,862 new settlement units (of which 1,231 will be eligible to receive final approval). These plans include the retroactive legalization of two unauthorized outposts (Mitzpe Danny and Haroeh Haivri), which should be properly understood as the creation of two new settlements.

In addition, reports suggest that Israel will also advance plans for 1,303 Palestinian homes in Area C – about half of which, importantly, are already built. A majority of these units have been awaiting Israeli approval for many, many years. If approved, the permits under consideration next week for Palestinians will be the first of any significant quantity issued by Israel since, at least, 2009 (data from before this period has not been released by the Israeli government). Between 2009 and 2018, Israel issued a total of 98 building permits to Palestinians according to data released by the Israeli government in response to a freedom of information request submitted by Bimkom.

As a reminder, Area C is the 60% of the West Bank over which Israel enjoys absolute authority. For years Israel has systematically denied Palestinians the right to build on land in Area C that even Israel recognizes is privately owned by them, At the same time, it has continuously promoted the expansion of settlements and unauthorized outposts, while systematically demolishing Palestinian private construction. In terms of numbers: between 2016 to 2018, Israel issued only 21 building permits to Palestinians in Area C, while issuing 2,147 demolition orders against Palestinians during.

Commenting on the Planning Council agenda’s Peace Now observed:

“The approval of a handful of plans for the Palestinians is only  a fig leaf intended to try to reduce criticism of the government. For years, Israel has pursued a policy of blatant discrimination that does not allow almost any construction for Palestinians in Area C, while in the settlements it encourages and promotes the construction of thousands of housing units each year for Israelis. The approval of a few hundred housing units for Palestinians can not cover up discrimination and does not change the fact that Israel maintains an illegal regime of occupation and discrimination in the territories.”

It is worth noting that many of the settlement units and Palestinian permits on next week’s agenda were expected to have been advanced earlier this year, in August 2021, but the High Planning Council never convened to do so. 

Below are lists of settlement plans expected to be given final approval and plans expected to be advanced next week (italicized plans represent those which appear to have been added to the slate of plans that were expected to be advanced in August 2021).

Settlement plans expected to be granted final approval include:

• 629 units, including the retroactive legalization of 61 units, in the Eli settlement  – located south of Nablus and 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;
• 286 units in the Har Bracha settlement, located south of Nablus. If implemented, these new units will double the size of Har Bracha;
• 224 units in the Talmon settlement, located west of Ramallah;
• 146 units in the Kfar Etzion settlement, located between Bethlehem and Hebron and on the Israeli side of the planned route of the barrier (which is not yet built in this area);
• 110 units in the Alon Shvut settlement, located just north of the Kfar Etzion settlement and between Bethlehem and Hebron;
• 82 units in the Karnei Shomron settlement, located in the northern West Bank, east of the Palestinian village of Qalqilya. Israel has openly declared its intention to continue expanding settlements in this area with the stated goal of bringing 1 million settlers to live in the area.;
• 52 units in the Beit El settlement, located in the heart of the northern West Bank [as a reminder, former US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman has deep ties to the Beit El settlement]; Construction on 350 new units in Beit El began earlier this year;
• 42 units in the Givat Zeev settlement, located south of Ramallah in an area that is on the Israeli side of the barrier;
• 24 units in the Haroeh Haivri outpost, a plan that will effectively grant retroactive legalization to this outpost. The Haroeh Haivri outpost is located just east of Jerusalem, within eyesight of the Khan al-Ahmar community, which Israel is threatening to demolish (forcibly relocating the Palestinian bedouin community that has lived there since the 1950s) — ostensibly because the structures in Khan al Ahmar were built without necessary Israeli approvals. The Haroah Haivri outpost was also built without the necessary Israeli approvals, but instead of demolishing the construction, Israel is moving to retroactively legalize it — demonstrating once again that, when it comes to administering the occupation, Israel prefers “rule by law” – where law is turned into a tool to elevate the rights/interests of one party over another, over the democratic rule of law.;
• 14 units in the Ma’aleh Mikhmash settlement, a plan that will effectively grant retroactive legalization to one of Ma’aleh Mikhmash’s outposts – – Mitzpe Danny;
• 10 units in the Barkan settlement, located about half way between the Ariel settlement and the cluster of settlements slated to be united into a “super settlement” area (Oranit, Elkana, Shiva Tikva, and others);
• 5 units in the Shima’a settlement, located in the southern tip of the West Bank;
• 7 units in the Peduel settlement, located in the northern West Bank and part of a string of settlements and unauthorized outposts – most notably Ariel – extending from the Green Line into the very heart of the West Bank and on towards the Jordan Valley.

Settlement plans expected to be approved for deposit (an earlier stage in the planning process) include:

• 399 units in the Revava settlement, located just east of the Barkan settlement and west of the Ariel settlement, in a string of settlements and unauthorized outposts – most notably Ariel – extending from the Green Line into the very heart of the West Bank and on towards the Jordan Valley.
• 380 units in the Kedumim settlement, located just east of Nablus. Israeli MK Bezalel Smotrich lives in the Kedumim settlement on a section of land in the settlement that has been found to be privately owned by Palestinians.;
• 100 units in the Elon Moreh settlement, located east of Nablus (for background on the significance of the Elon Moreh settlement, please see here);
• 100 units in the Sansana settlement, located on the southern tip of the West Bank on the Israeli side of the separation barrier;
• 73 units in the Givat Zeev settlement, which is also expected to receive final approval for 42 units. Givat Zeev is located south of Ramallah in an area that is on the Israeli side of the barrier;
• 68 units in the Tene settlement, located on the southern tip of the West Bank;
• 45 units in the Vered Yericho settlement, located just west of the Palestinian city of Jericho in the Jordan Valley;
• 27 units in the Karnei Shomron settlement, which is also expected to receive final approval for 82 units. Karnei Shomron is located in the northern West Bank, east of the Palestinian village of Qalqilya. Israel has openly declared its intention to continue expanding settlements in this area with the stated goal of bringing 1 million settlers to live in the area.;
• 18 units in the Alon Shvut settlement, which is also expected to receive final approval for 110 units. Alon Shvut is located just north of the Kfar Etzion settlement and between Bethlehem and Hebron;
• 10 units in the Tal Menashe settlement, located located on the tip of the northern West Bank, inside the “seam zone” between the 1967 Green Line and the Israel separation barrier, which was constructed along a route designed to keep as many settlements and as much adjacent land as possible on the Israeli side of the wall/fence.
• 7 units in the Hermesh settlement, located in the northern West Bank; 
• 4 units in the Efrat settlement, located south of Bethlehem, inside a settlement block that cuts deep into the West Bank. Efrat’s location and the route of the barrier wall around it, have literally severed the route of Highway 60 south of Bethlehem, cutting off Bethlehem and Jerusalem from the southern West Bank. The economic, political, and social impacts of the closure of Highway 60 at the Efrat settlement (there is literally a wall built across the highway) have been severe for the Palestinian population.

Peace Now reports that the Planning Council will also consider advancing the following plans for Palestinian homes:

• 270 houses in the Bir al-Bash village, located south of Jenin in the northern West Bank;
• 270 houses in the Al-Ma’asara village, located south of Bethlehem; 
• 233 houses in the the Almasqufa village, located near Tulkarem in the northern West Bank;
• 200 houses in the Dkeika village in the South Hebron Hills;
• 170 houses in the Khirbet Abdallah Younas village, located in the Jenin area;
• 160 houses in the Abba a-Sharqiya village, also located south of Jenin in the northern West Bank; 

Israeli Supreme Court to Hold Hearing on Batan al-Hawa, Silwan Dispossession Cases Next Week; AG Declines Intervention

On October 25th, the Israeli Supreme Court is scheduled to hold an important hearing on the case of the Palestinian Duweik family which  is under threat of being dispossessed of their longtime home in the Batan al-Hawa section of the Silwan neighborhood in East Jerusalem by the Ateret Cohanim settler organization. 

In advance of that hearing – and after repeated extensions on a Court-ordered deadline – the Israeli Attorney General finally submitted his position on the case to the Court. The document submitted by the Attorney General was only 1 page, and simply stated that the case does not merit intervention either on the specific case of the Duweik family or regarding the wider legal principle at stake, which threatens an additional  85 families living under threat of eviction in Batan al-Hawa.

Ir Amim writes:

“Among the 85 families facing eviction, the Duweik family case is the first to reach the Supreme Court level, and its outcome will inevitably set a precedent, significantly impacting the rest of the cases in the neighborhood…As in the eviction cases in Sheikh Jarrah, the Attorney General and by extension, the government, was given a rare opportunity to take a moral stand by providing a legal opinion and policy position to help prevent the mass displacement of these families. Yet, at this point, the Attorney General’s response appears to imply that he has declined to intervene. Now, the decision concerning the fate of these families seems to lie solely in the hands of the Supreme Court. The rights of Palestinians to housing and shelter and the right to family and community life are fundamental and must be upheld. The same discriminatory legal system, which led to the confiscation of these families’ original homes in 1948, is now being exploited 73 years later to displace them for a second time from their current homes in which they have lived for decades. The Supreme Court has the power to make a principled and just decision to uphold the rights of these families to remain safely in their homes, free from the constant threat of being forcibly uprooted and driven from their homes and communities.”

Peace Now said in response to the AG’s decision to not intervene:

“The Attorney General’s response actually says that for the Israeli government, there is no problem to kick hundreds of residents out from their homes, on the basis of a discriminatory law, in favor of a settlement. The government was given an opportunity here to try to prevent moral injustice and political folly, but instead of taking a stand, it chose to remain on the sidelines, as if Silwan’s story, like that of Sheikh Jarrah, was a legal matter and not a political one.”

In July 2021, Peace Now assembled a coalition of Israeli lawyers to submit an amicus brief to the Court regarding the Duweik case. Peace Now summarizes:

“The brief addresses an approach that has emerged in international jurisprudence on human rights law which puts an emphasis on group vulnerability of occupants facing eviction and institutional, systemic discrimination against them. Where these are present, in certain circumstances, the occupants’ rights, stemming from the human right to housing and specifically, to live in their home and their family’s home – trump the right of the original owner or their substitute to regain possession of the property.

The brief reaches the conclusion that in the Duweik case, the occupants’ property rights and their right to housing supersede the right of the settlers acting on behalf of the pre-1948 original owners to receive possession of the property, based on the following:

1 – The fact that Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem are underprivileged, vulnerable and subjected to discrimination in every aspect of life, and particularly the fact that Israeli law on the restitution of property that changed hands due to wars, openly and deliberately discriminates against them;

2 – The fact that the family entered the property in good faith and/or in accordance with the law applicable at the time, and has developed a legitimate expectation to continue residing in it permanently and without interruption;

3 – The imbalance between the devastating harm the family would suffer and the minor damage the Benvenisti charitable endowment (represented by the settlers), which claims ownership of the property, would sustain, which clearly tips the scales in favor of the family.

In other words, according to the brief, even if the court finds the settlers do, in fact, have ownership, they are not necessarily entitled to remedy in the form of the families’ eviction from their homes, but rather to compensation from the state.”

Israel Begins Construction on New Settlement in Downtown Hebron

Peace Now reports that construction has begun on 31 new settlement units at the site of an old bus station previously repurposed as an IDF base, located  in the heart of the Old City of Hebron on the infamous Shuhada street. This is a new settler enclave in the city and is, in effect, a new urban settlement, disconnected from already existing settlements in the city. It will be the first new settlement construction approved in downtown Hebron – where Palestinians already live under apartheid conditions – since 2002.

Peace Now said in a statement:

“The government is acting like an annexation government, not as a change government. Since the 1980s, no government has dared to build a new settlement in the heart of the largest Palestinian city in the West Bank, with the exception of one building built under the auspices of the second intifada in 2001. The Defense Minister has to stop construction, even if the plan was approved by the previous government. The settlement in Hebron is the ugly face of Israeli control of the territories. The moral and political price of having a settlement in Hebron is unbearable.”

As a reminder: in October 2017, the Israeli Civil Administration approved a building permit for the 31 units, on the condition that the Palestinian municipality of Hebron and others would have the opportunity to file objections to the plan. Soon after, two appeals were filed with the Defense Ministry: one by the Palestinian municipality of Hebron and one by the Israeli settlement watchdog Peace Now. The legal objections were based on the legally questionable process by which Israel made land in downtown Hebron available for settlement construction. Located in the Israeli-controlled H-2 area of Hebron (where 500 Israeli settlers live amongst 40,000 Palestinians), Israel seized the land in the 1980s from the Hebron Municipality, for military purposes. In 2007, the Civil Administration’s Legal Advisor issued an opinion stating that once Israel is done using the land for military purposes, it must be returned to the Hebron Municipality, which has protected tenancy rights to the land. Nonetheless, in 2015, the Israeli Civil Administration, with the consent of the Minister of Defense, quietly authorized the Housing Ministry to plan the area for Israeli settlement use, paving the way for that same ministry to subsequently present the plan for the 31 units.

In October 2018, with the legal challenges still pending, the Israeli Cabinet voted to expedite the planning of the new settlement and allocated approximately $6.1 million (NIS 22 million) for the project, which will require Israel to significantly renovate the bus station/military base in order to build the 31 new settlement housing units, as well as a kindergarten, and “public areas” for the new settler residents.  Peace Now explains: 

“The approval of the building permit in the heart of Hebron is an extraordinary move not only because it is a new settlement in Hebron for the first time since 2001, but because it indicates a significant change in Israeli legal interpretation of what is allowed and forbidden in occupied territory. The area in question was owned by Jews before 1948, and it was leased by the Jordanian government in protected tenancy to the Hebron municipality for the purpose of establishing the central bus station. Since 1967, the Israeli authorities managed the land and continued the lease to the Hebron municipality, until in the 1980s when the area was seized for military purposes, the bus station was closed and a military base was established there. A legal opinion of the Judea and Samaria Attorney General on the issue in 2007 emphatically stated that by law the municipality’s protected lease must not be revoked.”

Israel Advances “Silicon Wadi” Project in East Jerusalem

On October 13th, the Jerusalem Local Planning Committee met to initiate the planning process for the “Silicon Wadi” project, which was initiated by the Jerusalem Municipality and outlines plans to build a large industrial zone for hi-tech, commercial, and hospitality businesses in the heart of East Jerusalem’s Wadi Joz neighborhood. The project requires the demolition of some 200 Palestinian-owned businesses that currently operate in the area; dozens of demolition notices for which were issued in November 2020.

Ir Amim writes:

“Beyond the devastating impact of widespread demolitions of existing businesses and structures, the plan also raises concerns that the Israeli authorities will exploit the planning procedures to locate alleged Palestinian absentee properties and transfer lands into the hands of the State. It should also be noted that while Israel focuses on bolstering employment and economic activity in East Jerusalem, it simultaneously continues to suppress residential development in Palestinian neighborhoods. As with nearly all outline plans advanced in East Jerusalem in recent years, the Wadi Joz business park plan only allocates a marginal amount for residential use, which hardly meets the acute housing needs of the Palestinian population. Rather than undertaking measures to rectify the housing crisis, these plans only exacerbate the current situation and perpetuate the residential planning stranglehold, which ultimately serves to push Palestinians out of the city.”

Recap: Israel Advances Settlement Plans Across Greater Jerusalem Area

Over the past two weeks, the government of Israel has advanced four highly controversial and politically consequential settlement plans in the Greater Jerusalem area:

1. The Givat Hamatos Settlement: On October 13th, the Jerusalem Local Planning Committee approved the expropriation of lands designated for public use in the Givat Hamatos area for the construction of roads, public buildings and the development of open space for the planned new settlement/neighborhood. For more on the Givat Hamatos settlement plan, please see here.
   

   Map by Haaretz

2. The E-1 Settlement: The Israel Civil Administration moved forward with advancing plans for the construction of the E-1 settlement, setting a date for a third hearing to discuss public objections to the plan (now set for November 8th). The first hearing was held on October 4th, but Palestinians were denied the ability to participate in that hearing (which was held virtually, making it inaccessible to the many Palestinians affected by the plan who do not have internet access). As a result, the Court scheduled this 3rd hearing (to allow the participation of Palestinians). The second hearing was held on October 18th; at that hearing three objections were presented (one by the Palestinian village of Anata, a second by the Palestinian village of Al-Azariya, and a third joint submission filed by Ir Amim and Peace Now). Ir Amim reports that there was no substantive discussion of these objections, with the Civil Administration panel offering no questions or comments on them. For more on the E-1 settlement plan, please see Terrestrial Jeruaslem’s excellent and thorough reporting.
3. The Atarot Settlement: The Jerusalem District Planning Committee formally signaled that it will proceed with a hearing on the Atarot settlement plan – scheduled for December 6th – to build a huge new settlement on the site of the former Qalandiya airport (located at the northern tip of East Jerusalem). In its current form, the plan provides for up to 9,000 residential units for ultra-Orthodox Jews (assuming, conservatively, an average family size of 6, this means housing for 54,000 people), as well as synagogues, ritual baths (mikvehs), commercial properties, offices and work spaces, a hotel, and a water reservoir. If built, the Atarot settlement will effectively be a small Israeli city surrounded by Palestinian East Jerusalem neighborhoods on three sides and Ramallah to its north. Geopolitically, it will have a similar impact to E-1 in terms of dismembering the West Bank and cutting it off from Jerusalem. For more on the Atarot settlement plan, please see here.
4. The Pisgat Ze’ev Settlement: The Israeli government advanced plans for 470 new settlement units in Pisgat Ze’ev, the largest settlement located in East Jerusalem.

Recap: Court Pushes for Palestinians to “Compromise” with Settlers in Sheikh Jarrah

The Israeli Supreme Court has set November 2nd as the deadline for Palestinian families living at risk of forced displacement in Shiekh Jarrah to decide wether or not to accept a Court-authored deal which would help them – at least temporarily – avoid eviction from their homes, in part by requiring them to recognize settler ownership over the properties.

Under the terms of the Court’s deal, which it is pressuring both parties to accept, the following would take place:

• The settler group Nahalat Shimon will be recognized as the owners of the site.
• The Palestinians will be recognized as protected tenants and be required to pay an nominal annual rental fee to the attorney of the settlers (in effect recognizing the settlers as the owners) but 
  • The Palestinians will be able to continue pursuing legal challenges to the underlying ownership of the land
  • The Palestinians are permitted to renovate the properties without interference
• Settlers will be able to instigate eviction proceedings against Palestinians if they are in violation of the Court’s compromise agreement or in violation of Israel’s tenancy laws.

Terrestrial Jerusalem writes:

“The most problematic element of the settlement relates to the settlers’ ability to institute evictions even if the residents are not in violation of the agreement or of the tenancy laws. The settlers will be entitled to institute such proceedings in the event that the ownership rights are conclusively awarded to them, or after 15 years, the earlier of the two. This can be done if the settlers either wish to personally use the property or to demolish and rebuild. Under these circumstances, the settlers will need to offer the residents alternative equivalent quarters. Palestinian residents might hope settlers reject the deal to avoid having to make an ‘excruciatingly painful decision.’”

According to Terrestrial Jerusalem, the Court has signaled that further negotiations are acceptable, but that if either party rejects the agreement a decision on the eviction cases will be handed down swiftly.

New Report: State-Backed Settler “Tourism” Projects in East Jerusalem

In a new report entitled, “The Valley of Hinnom: Trees and Flowerbeds in the Political Struggle over East Jerusalem,” the Israeli NGO Emek Shaveh surveys the multitude of recent “tourism” projects jointly undertaken by the Elad settler organization and the Israeli government in the Ben Hinnom Valley — a strategic area between East and West Jerusalem (stretching past the 1967 Green Line), and located within the area designated by Israel as the Jerusalem “Walls National Park”.

Emek Shaveh writes:

“The nature of the tourism-settlement activity in the Valley of Hinnom conducted jointly by Elad and government authorities is familiar to us from the City of David/Silwan.  The series of joint ventures such as the café, the Center for Ancient Agriculture and the cable car in effect hand over large expanses of land to the settlers of the Elad Foundation under the guise of tourism.  Although unlike Silwan, the valley is sparsely populated, the activity there must be viewed as an integral part of the struggle for the Old City Basin of Jerusalem and as a means to clear this highly strategic area from the presence of Palestinians.”

In conclusion, we wish to emphasize the following points:

1 – Development in East Jerusalem is almost always driven by political objectives.  Recent developments in the Valley of Hinnom are part of the grand plan to change the character and the landscape of the Old City Basin and ought to be considered an integral component of the settlement enterprise in the Palestinian neighborhoods surrounding the Old City.

2 – Halting the destructive development schemes in the areas surrounding the Old City is vital in order to preserve Jerusalem as a multicultural historic city and is indirectly essential for safeguarding the status quo at the holy places.

3 – The Palestinian protests against the expansion of the settlers’ grip over the open spaces such as the Hinnom Valley is part of the struggle by the residents of Silwan and the surrounding neighborhoods to preserve the character of their neighborhoods.  In our view, one ought to view the various activities by the settlers and the authorities in the Historic Basin such as the expulsion of residents from their homes, taking over land and the shaping of a historic narrative as part of the same general bid to cement their control over the Historic Basin.”

Bonus Reads

1. “[PODCAST] The Occupation & the Biden Administration” (FMEP ft. Danny Seidemann and Yehuda Shaul with Lara Friedman and Khaled Elgindy)
2. “How offshore accounts turned the British Virgin Islands into an east Jerusalem landlord” (JTA)
3. “Beita residents reach lands for first time since settler takeover” (Al Jazeera)
4. “After Years of Neighborly Relations, Settlers Try to Foil Recognition of Palestinian Hamlet” (Haaretz)
5. “Palestinian protests turn deadly as Israel considers the future of a new settlement” (NPR)
6. “These Palestinian Families Face Eviction From Their East Jerusalem Homes” (Haaretz)
7. “When Settler Becomes Native” (Jewish Currents)

 

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.

**The settlement report will be taking a two-week break, and is planned to return the week of October 18th**

September 24, 2021

1. New Givat Hamatos Settlement Plan – to Replace Existing, Approved, & Tendered Plan –  Advances in Jerusalem
2. Settlers, IDF Continue to Impose Control Over Sebastia Archaeological Site As Settlers Amp Up Campaign to Takeover Sites in Palestinian Areas
3. Bonus Reads

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New Givat Hamatos Settlement Plan – to Replace Existing, Approved, & Tendered Plan –  Advances in Jerusalem

Ir Amim reports that, on September 12th, the Jerusalem Local Planning Committee approved for public deposit a new outline plan for the Givat Hamatos settlement in East Jerusalem. This new plan would replace the existing outline plan for Givat Hamatos, under which  tenders for the construction of 1,257 settlement units were awarded in January 2021. 

Ir Amim explains:

“According to the information currently available, the new plan neither expands the territorial area of the future settlement nor does it explicitly call for an increase in the number of housing units. However, it does cite a 30% increase in the total scope of construction, which appears contradictory. Additional information is still needed to definitively confirm the details of this apparent 30% increase; however, it could be allocated, for example, towards the enlargement of individual housing units. The Jerusalem Municipality has long sought to expand the number of housing units in Givat Hamatos as demonstrated by a master plan it attempted to advance last year, which included an additional 3,900 units. The plan, however, did not move forward. 

It should be noted that the approval process for the new outline plan (TPS 979336) will be fast-tracked since it is under the jurisdiction of the Local Planning Committee and will therefore not need to go before the District Planning Committee. While submission of new outline plans after completion of a tender process does occasionally occur, it is typically initiated by contractors in order to maximize future profits. In this instance, it is the municipality who has submitted the new outline plan.

The new plan’s potential impact on the tendered units is still unclear; however, it will certainly not terminate the contracts with the tenders’ winning bidders. Moreover, the ongoing construction of infrastructure works on Givat Hamatos indicates that the process is advancing at full speed. These measures underscore that the current government is continuing to accelerate further settlement and steps towards de facto annexation regardless of promoting the notion of change and reform to Israel’s policies and actions.”

The existing outline plan for Givat Hamatos, under which the tenders were issued, continues to face a legal challenge initiated by Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem (with the assistance of Ir Amim). That petition – which alleges that the planned construction of government-subsidized housing has discriminatory eligibility guidelines – is still pending.  A hearing was scheduled on May 27th, but was delayed at the request of the State. The hearing has been rescheduled for October 20th, and Ir Amim secured the Court’s condition that applications for Givat Hamatos housing will not be accepted in the intervening period.

Givat Hamatos has long been regarded as a doomsday settlement by parties interested in preserving the possibility of a two-state solution, in that it will prevent the division of Jerusalem into an Israeli capital and a Palestinian capital (if the Givat Hamatos settlement is built, the Palestinian neighborhood of Beit Safafa in East Jerusalem will be completely surrounded by Israeli construction, severing its connection to the West Bank). Indeed, regardless of the implications of Givat Hamatos on a two-state solution, the impact of the new settlement on the Beit Safafa neighborhood are severe.

Settlers, IDF Continue to Impose Control Over Sebastia Archaeological Site As Settlers Amp Up Campaign to Takeover Sites in Palestinian Areas

In what has become routine, on September 22nd the Israeli army sealed off the archaeological site in the Palestinian city of Sebastia, in order to allow a settler tourist group to visit the site. In addition to securing the site itself, the Palestinian Mayor of Sebastia, Mohammad Azem, told Palestinian media that Israeli troops were also stationed at the town’s entrances as well as all the roads leading to the site, and prevented Palestinains from opening their stores and businesses.

As FMEP has chronicled, settlers and their allies are intent upon taking control of archaeological sites in the West Bank, including Sebastia, and and seizing artifacts that are currently under Palestinian control. Settlers claim the sites are neglected and/or damaged. To that end, the settler groups known as “the Shilo Forum” and the “Shomrim al HaNetzach” (“Preservers of the Eternal”) — see background on these groups here — recently issued a report surveying 365 sites in the West Bank and arguing that the Palestinian Authority is moving to “erase all traces of Israel’s ancient Jewish heritage.” The accusations were in addition to allegations of neglect, mismanagement, and intentional damage. The report is part of the organizations’ campaign to push the Israeli government to assert control over these sites.

An advocate for this strategy – – Michael Freund, who served as a deputy communications director in the Netanyahu government – – wrote in the Jerusalem Post:

“Ever since the signing of the 1993 Oslo Accords, and the establishment of the Palestinian Authority, the Palestinians have been serially abusing our heritage, from digging up the Temple Mount in Jerusalem to attacking and burning Joseph’s Tomb in Shechem (Nablus). It should be clear to all that the Palestinians cannot be entrusted with safeguarding or administering Jewish historical sites under any circumstances whatsoever. The State of Israel needs to assume and assert responsibility for the national and historical heritage of the Jewish people in Judea and Samaria.”

Bonus Reads

1. “Palestinians aim to prove right of return with ancestral land titles” (Middle East Eye)
2. “The Illegal Settler Outpost Has Running Water. Its Palestinian Neighbors Don’t. This Is Apartheid at Its Starkest” (Haaretz)
3. “Why the climate movement must support the Palestinian cause” (Middle East Eye)
4. “Opinion | Israel Is Crushing My Right to Protest Its Occupation” (Haaretz // Galia Golan)