Settlement & Annexation Report: July 23, 2021

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

July 23, 2021

  1. Ben & Jerry’s Announces End of Ice Cream Sales in Settlements
  2. Report: Bennett Agreed to Delay Settlement Approvals at U.S. Request
  3. Israeli Lawyers Prepare Amicus Brief Opposing Sheikh Jarrah Displacement
  4. State Delays “Relocation” of Khan Al-Ahmar Community Until September 5th
  5. High Court Green-lights State Sponsorship of Illicit Settlement Activities via Amana Settler Org
  6. New Docs Show the Israeli Government Uses the JNF to Take Control of West Bank Land for Settlements, & How the JNF Uses a Subsidiary to Hide Deals
  7. Israeli Consumer Authority Refuses Request for Proper Labelling of Settlement Products
  8. Coalition of Palestinian Orgs Launches Campaign for Revocation of U.S. Charitable Designation for Settlement Groups
  9. Senior Israeli Government Official Lives in Settlement Under Demolition Order
  10. Testimonies Show Israeli IDF Complicity in Settler Violence
  11. Bonus Reads

Comments or questions? Email Kristin McCarthy – kmccarthy@fmep.org.

Ben & Jerry’s Announces End of Ice Cream Sales in Settlements

Ben & Jerry’s ice cream company has announced that it will not renew the license of its Israeli franchisee because that franchisee refuses to stop operating in settlements. Ben & Jerry’s linked this decision to the illegality of settlements, saying in a statement:

“We believe it is inconsistent with our values for Ben & Jerry’s ice cream to be sold in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT). We also hear and recognize the concerns shared with us by our fans and trusted partners. We have a longstanding partnership with our licensee, who manufactures Ben & Jerry’s ice cream in Israel and distributes it in the region. We have been working to change this, and so we have informed our licensee that we will not renew the license agreement when it expires at the end of next year. Although Ben & Jerry’s will no longer be sold in the OPT, we will stay in Israel through a different arrangement. We will share an update on this as soon as we’re ready.”

Ben & Jerry’s decision to stop selling ice cream in the settlements – which are illegal under international law and have been shown by human rights organizations like Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International to be at the core of violations of Palestinian rights – has received an inordinate amount of attention from the media and from the Israeli government.

Quickly following the announcement that Ben and Jerry’s was exiting the settlements, pro-Israel allies in the U.S. expressed outrage and threatened legal repercussions under state anti-BDS laws. The U.S. State Department also expressed its disagreement with Ben & Jerry’s policy decision – and its outright opposition to, and commitment to combating, BDS targeting Israel and/or Israeli settlements. During a briefing, Spokesman Ned Price said:

“Our position on BDS has been clear. This is not something that we need to review. Again, the BDS movement unfairly singles out Israel… [the U.S.] will be a strong partner in fighting efforts around the world that potentially seek to delegitimize Israel [in a way that is] consistent with the First Amendment rights of the American people.”

Report: Bennett Agreed to Delay Settlement Approvals at U.S. Request

Israel Hayom reports that Prime Minister Naftali Bennett has agreed – at the request of the Biden Administration – to for the time being freeze construction approvals for new settlement units. The outlet reports that over the past month Bennett has prevented the Civil Administration’s High Planning Council from scheduling a meeting in which it could advance settlement construction plans. 

The report has drawn criticism from within Naftali Bennet’s inner circle, with Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked threatening to leave the governing coalition – which cannot survive without her – if Bennett in fact agreed to a settlement freeze. Shaked told the press:

“If the government does something that is ideologically serious in my view, we will not be a part of it. For example, if the US administration demands a freeze in Judea and Samaria — there will be no government.”

In response to a question at a State Department press briefing about reports that the U.S. is pressuring the Bennett government to curb settlements, U.S. Department of State Spokesperson Ned Price did not confirm or deny the reports. Instead he merely reiterated the Biden Administration’s standard response to questions related to Israeli settlements, saying: 

“When it comes to settlement activity, we have also been clear and consistent on that. We believe it’s critical to refrain from unilateral steps that increase tensions and make it more difficult to advance a negotiated two-state solution. This is a message we have conveyed in public, as I have just now, but also in private. And it has been the longstanding position, certainly the position of this administration and had been a longstanding position of prior administrations.”

Israeli Lawyers Prepare Amicus Brief Opposing Sheikh Jarrah Displacement

Peace Now has assembled a group of prominent Israeli legal authorities to prepare and submit an amicus brief arguing to the Israeli High Court that Palestinians living under the threat of forced displacement in Sheikh Jarrah should not be evicted by the state in favor of settlers. The brief – which deals with the spefic case of the Duweik family but can be applied broadly to other pending displacement cases in Sheikh Jarrah and Silwan – asserts that the Palestinian residents as long-term tenants the Palestinians have accumulated property rights to their homes and should not be evicted. 

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.”

Peace Now said in a statement about the amicus brief:

“There’s an elephant in the room, and the lofty legal debate in the Sheikh Jarrah and Batan al-Hawa eviction cases ignores it, producing a legal distortion and an egregious injustice. This is not just another real estate dispute between equal parties. This is an organized, programmatic effort, with ample governmental support, to dispossess hundreds of Palestinians from their homes and replace them with settlers. This amicus curiae brief can help the court see the bigger picture, deliver justice and avert the iniquity.”

Michael Sfard, one of the authors of the brief, said:

“For years, judges have been considering the eviction cases in East Jerusalem under the assumption that they involve a dispute between a landlord and a tenant and therefore, proof of ownership on the part of the settlers necessarily triggers a countdown to eviction. The brief reintroduces the context of the legal proceeding – dispossession by the stronger, dominant group against a vulnerable, discriminated community whose members, in some cases, entered the properties for lack of choice and always according to the applicable laws and with a legitimate expectation that the property will be their permanent home. I hope the court takes the opportunity provided by the brief to bolster and defend the occupants’ right to continue living in their homes – a right acknowledged by international human rights law.”

State Delays “Relocation” of Khan Al-Ahmar Community Until September 5th

According to reports, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett will soon decide whether to move forward with a deal negotiated by his predecessor for the “relocation” of the Khan Al-Ahmar bedouin community. Reportedly, the terms of the deal would see the Khan Al-Ahmar community agree to their relocation in exchange for Israeli residency.  Under the reported terms of the agreement, the community would be allowed to re-establish their community several miles east of their current homes – at an empty site near Abu Dis. In expectation of that transfer, the government of Israel has already connected the area to water, electricity, and sewage.

Though the High Court had previously set July 2021 for the demolition and forcible relocation of Khan al-Ahmar, alternate Prime Minister and current Foreign Minister Yair Lapid requested an extension in order to give the new government time to review the deal which was negotiated under the Netanyahu government, and decide whether to move forward with it. Calling the decision a “sensitive issue,” Lapid asked the Court for additional time “to examine the necessary conditions for the evacuation of the outpost and to conduct a significant and in-depth inquiry of all the legal and international consequences of the move.” The Court subsequently gave the government an additional six weeks – until September 5th – to make up its mind.  

It must be noted that, if reports are correct, Khan al-Ahmar leaders signed the deal to be removed from their longtime lands after prolonged coercive circumstances. Previous allegations regarding the nature of the Khan al-Ahmar relocation – specifically B’Tselem’s accusation that it is tantamount to a war crime – have not necessarily been assuaged by the community’s agreement. Since the 1950s – when the community was forced to leave their land in the Negev during the 1948 war – the Khan al-Ahmar bedouin community has lived and worked the lands located just east of Jerusalem, in the shadow of the land marked for the construction of the E-1 settlement (which is once again in the headlines).

The settler group Regavim – which petitioned the Court to force the government to demolish Khan al-Ahmar last year, in the midst of a global pandemic – is upset that the demolition has once again been delayed. In response, the organization issued a statement saying:

“Lapid’s announcement is a political move intended to signal to Bennett and his partners that none of their election promises can be fulfilled. Not in the Negev, not in the Galilee, and not in Khan al-Ahmar.” [Regavim called on Bennett] “to show who’s in charge. We call on you to evacuate Khan al-Ahmar immediately!”

Jerusalem expert Danny Seidemann has previously written:

“the story of Khan Al-Ahmar is not only about the tragedy for the village and its inhabitants, or about Israel’s readiness to carry out an ostensible war crime in the face of the world. It is also about Israel’s determination to clear the entire area of the West Bank east of Jerusalem, and located within the line of the built and planned barrier, of any Palestinian presence. This clearing will prepare the ground for the future construction of E1 and de facto annexation of this so-called bloc, which extends well beyond the built-up area of Maale Adumim.”

High Court Green-lights State Sponsorship of Illicit Settlement Activities via Amana Settler Org

On July 18th, the Israeli High Court of Justice dismissed a petition filed in 2019 by Peace Now that sought to stop the transfer of state funds to the Amana settler group, which regularly drives unauthorized (i.e. illegal even under Israeli domestic law) settlement activity. In its ruling, the Court did not reckon with the fundamental problem of allowing state funds to finance illegal activities, but instead ruled on a procedural point that the State (specifically settler municipal councils) is only permitted to fund public institutions – and the Court determined that Amana meets the criteria to be deemed a public institution.

One High Court justice, Menahem Mazuz, issued a minority opinion dissenting from the Court’s ruling. Mazuz said that in his opinion Amana should not be eligible to receive state funds because Amana, though it voluntarily operates on a non-profit basis, is not actually a registered non-profit (it is a cooperative association) and is therefore not subject to the same legal requirements of transparency and supervision.

At the time of filing the underlying petition against state funding for Amana, Peace Now wrote:

“Amana and the regional councils in the territories have established a sophisticated mechanism to exploit the public coffers for illegal activity and to create facts on the ground. There is no limit to the chutzpah of the settlement heads. On one hand, they build outposts, with far-reaching diplomatic consequences, with public funds, and on the other hand, they cry to the government and ask for their criminality ==to be retroactively legalized. What a responsible and fair government needs to do is shut the spigot to Amana and immediately evacuate the illegal outposts.” And, “the regional councils and Amana go to great efforts to hide the information about their financial sources and illegal activities. Even with the legal process in Peace Now’s petition against granting support money to Amana, the councils have refused to provide basic information on the amount of funds transferred to Amana and their use. Amana received tens of millions of shekels from the regional councils every year, and the information received about the activities in Gush Etzion in 2018 and 2019 is just the tip of the iceberg. Peace Now uncovered the mechanism behind the illegal outposts in its “Unraveling the Mechanism behind Illegal Outposts” report which describes the operation by local authorities in the West Bank, together with Amana and the Settlement Division, to support illegal outposts and construction in the settlements, but not all financial sources have been clarified. The support by the Gush Etzion Regional Council is only a small part of Amana’s multi-million shekels operation in this illegal activity, with far-reaching ramifications for Israel’s future.”

New Docs Show the Israeli Government Uses the JNF to Take Control of West Bank Land for Settlements, & How the JNF Uses a Subsidiary to Hide Deals

Haaretz has revealed new documents that show the Israeli Defense Ministry directed the Jewish National Fund (JNF) to purchase privately owned Palestinian land in the West Bank in order to expand settlements and retroactively legalize outposts. In some of the cases, certain JNF staff and the JNF’s subsidiary called Himunata acted to conceal the land purchases from the JNF’s Board of Directors. What’s more, with respect to a series of deals between 2018-2019, various irregularities call into question the validity of the land acquisitions.

According to Haaretz, the JNF’s board of directors has not yet reviewed or discussed the two reports, One report – the Yahav Report (written in 2020) – covers the land purchases in question. The second report – the Lamberger Report – details the lengths to which Himunata and its co-conspirators went to in order to hide the transactions from the JNF staff and Board of Directors. 

The JNF’s active involvement in the settlement enterprise is not new, but the direct line between the government and the JNF in conspiring to find means by which to take possession of privately owned land that the government has not found other means by which to seize (and reminder: the Israeli government is very inventive and persistent in finding means by which to seize privately owned Palestinian land) is shocking, and new – showing the extent to which the government is supportive of settlement and outpost growth. 

Israeli Consumer Authority Refuses Request for Proper Labelling of Settlement Products

In response to a request made by the nonprofit organization Combatants for Peace, Israel’s consumer protection agency has said it cannot mandate that manufacturers based in the settlements label their products as settlement products instead of using the misleading “Made in Israel” label. The reason given by the agency’s lawyer: the agency does not have the authority to declare that the locations in settlements are “not in the country of ‘Israel’.” 

Eitay Mack, the lawyer representing Combatant for Peace, said:

“Not consuming products from the Israeli settlements and outposts in the West Bank is no different from not consuming animal products, or consuming only organic products and free-range eggs, or consuming kosher or non-kosher products, all of which can result from reasons of conscience, religion, ideology or the politics of a citizen of the State of Israel. The misleading labeling of products from the Israeli settlements and outposts as Made in Israel creates unfair competition toward those same Israelis who genuinely (despite the difficulties involved in it) devote their lives to manufacturing within [the borders] of the State of Israel.”

The consumer protection agency has now waded into an ongoing legal effort led by activists across the world to insist upon a product labelling regime that accurately labels settlement products. This effort is pushing against the ongoing campaign by the Israeli government and its allies to erase the Green Line and assert sovereignty – de facto and increasingly, for all intents and purpose, de jure annexation – over the settlements. 

A centerpiece of this battle is the case of the Psagot Winery, which has been a willing legal test case for the Israeli government’s efforts. In the waning months of the Trump Administration, the Psagot case was delivered a major victory when then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced new U.S. guidelines that require products made in all areas under Israeli control to be labelled as “Made in Israel” (or iterations thereof) when being exported to the U.S. 

This massive and highly consequential shift in U.S. policy, which offers recognition of Israeli sovereignty not only over settlements (as the Trump Administration has previously done) but over all of Area C – some 60% of the West Bank,  was – remains U.S. policy today, as the Biden Administration has not publicly reversed it. Notably, this policy, if focused on territory rather than on people, would in principle require even Palestinian-made goods originating from villages in Area C to be labelled as “Made in Israel”. Roughly 150,000 Palestinians live in Area C, where they are subjected to an escalating Israeli campaign to make life untenable for them via discriminatory planning policies and demolitions. 

Coalition of Palestinian Orgs Launches Campaign for Revocation of U.S. Charitable Designation for Settlement Groups

A group of 150 Palestinian organizations, village councils, and activists have launched a campaign urging Americans to press the U.S. government to revoke the charitable designations of U.S.-based groups that finance Israeli settlement organizations. Since many of these organizations – including Elad, Israel Land Fund, and Ateret Cohanim – have fundraising arms based in New York, the campaign asks supporters to appeal to New York Attorney General Letitia James to revoke the licenses.

Sami Huraini, a Palestinian activist with Youth of Sumud, told WAFA:

“Israeli settler organizations have funneled US charitable money into a political campaign of displacement. Right now, over 100 homes and some 1,500 Palestinians in Silwan are facing displacement in favor of a theme park run on Palestinian lands by the settler organization Elad. Clearly, this is not the intended outcome of US charitable tax law.”

Hisham Sharabati of the Hebron Defense Committee told WAFA:

“Other campaigns seeking to challenge the flow of US charitable money have targeted the IRS and their complaints have been left unanswered by bureaucrats. This campaign is fundamentally different. Since US charities must maintain a 501(c)(3) status at the state level, the campaign targets one elected official who can be held accountable by her constituents – in this case, New York Attorney General Letitia James.”

 Lara Kilani, Advocacy Officer of the Good Shepherd Collective, told WAFA: 

“We can see the interest in joint struggle growing. The mobilization we saw in May to speak out against the eviction of families in Sheikh Jarrah and Israel’s bombing of Gazans illustrates that people want to be in solidarity with Palestinians. We’re offering a campaign that can advance liberation in real ways across movements. White supremacist groups like New Century Foundation exploit US charitable laws to finance violence against Black and Brown communities. If the New York Attorney General enforces the existing laws, it can help us cut the funding for these racist organizations.”

Senior Israeli Government Official Lives in Settlement Under Demolition Order

Newly published documents confirm that the Director-General of the Israeli Interior Ministry, Yair Hirsch, lives in an outpost (Kida) that is currently under demolition order because it was built without building permits. The documents were released thanks to a freedom of information request submitted by the anti-settlement watchdog Kerem Navot. The documents further show that the Israeli Civil Administration issued a stop-work order against Hirsch’s house in 2008.

Kerem Navot reports the story behind the Kida outpost and Yair Hirsch:

“Yair Hirsh lives in the illegal outpost of Kida, which was established in 2003 on a hill located about three kilometers east of the settlement of Shiloh. The outpost was founded on part of the historical lands of the village of Jalud, in an area where a team led by the attorney Plia Albeck implemented a large declaration of state land in 1991.

In 2000, about three years before the outpost was established, the Blue Line Team of the Civil Administration remapped Ableck’s declaration. The goal of the mapping was ostensibly to include as state land only the areas that had been “uncultivated” in the past, and to exclude from the declaration area lands that had been cultivated. But the inspection that we carried out revealed that this mapping was extremely negligently done (link to the aerial photos from 1980 and from 2020, in which the cultivated areas in the area can be seen, in the first comment).

Since 2000, the Blue Line Team has returned to map the state land that was declared for those outposts that the state wants to legalize, but for some reason, of all places, the outpost of the appointed Director General of the Ministry of the Interior was overlooked. The reason for this simple: if serious mapping were done in this place, it would become clear that most of the outposts’ houses were built on land that had been cultivated in the past, and therefore there is no way to legalize them.

This secret is well known in the Kida outpost. Therefore, its residents chose to up the ante, with the not-unreasonable assumption, unfortunately, that no one would dare to evict them. And so in recent years, what was once an outpost of modest caravans has become a neighborhood of luxurious villas, for which over each structure hangs a demolition order issued by the Civil Administration. This is how it is when one builds on looted land–a lot of money remains left over for building beautiful villas.

Yes, you got that right: the individual whom the Minister of the Interior selected to run the office that is responsible, among other things, for all of the local authorities in Israel and in the West Bank is someone who, along with all of his neighbors, built his home illegally on land that does not belong to him, and continues to live on it in spite of the demolition orders pending against him. Makes sense.”

Testimonies Show Israeli IDF Complicity in Settler Violence

Breaking the Silence has published a new collection of testimonies from former Israeli soldiers specifically highlighting how active duty soldiers are systematically complicit in settler violence. In 36 testimonies, you can read how the IDF teaches, positions, and incentivizes its soldiers to protect the settlers at all times and in all circumstances – even when the settlers are violent towards Palestinians and their property, and even when settlers are violent towards the Israeli army itself. 

In releasing the report, Break the Silence writes:

“The testimony collection is titled ‘On Duty,’ which conveys a double meaning: firstly, that the soldiers are “on duty” to protect the settlers and to advance their political ideology on the ground, constantly remaining at the settler’s beck and call. At the same time, the settlers are “on duty” to advance and entrench the occupation and shape the reality on the ground, much of the time through the use of violence, none of which would be possible without the soldiers’ presence, protection, and even active help. ‘On Duty’ conveys the idea that both forces are constantly there, working to advance each other’s interests, and immediately available to each other. Video footage of this phenomenon is frequently documented by B’Tselem and other human rights groups, including this settler attack on Palestinain homes in the Nablus area, in which IDF soldiers were present and did not stop the attack, and this violent settler raid on ‘Asirah al-Qibliyah, in which an IDF soldier killed 19-year-old  Husam ‘Asayrah. 

Beyond providing testimony to the occurrence of settler attacks on Palestinians and their lands, ‘On Duty’ offers an explanation of the system that allows them to happen, described from the point of view and in the words of the soldiers who took part in the enforcement of this system. Testifiers to Breaking the Silence describe settlers’ attempts to ingratiate themselves with soldiers through the  provision of gifts, food, and hospitality, and when soldiers act against the settlers’ desires, testimonies describe violent attacks by settlers against IDF soldiers. In addition, soldiers describe receiving instruction that their mission is to protect the Jewish settlers, but many are unaware of any clear orders as to how they are to enforce the law on violent settlers. These conditions make it near impossible for soldiers to carry out their task impartially when they are required to prevent or halt the violent attacks against Palestinians.

‘On Duty’ presents testimonies from soldiers who served in different units and across the West Bankwhich unequivocally show that the phenomenon of settler violence is an inevitable consequence of Israel’s occupation and policy of settling the West Bank. Were it not for the IDF’s continuous control over and presence in the occupied territories, this violence would not be a possibility.”

Bonus Reads

  1. “Bedouin Shepherds Used Palestinian Land With Permission. Israel Seized Their Tents Anyway” (Haaretz)
  2. “New Israeli government’s land seizure – where’s the EU?” (EU Observer // Sarit Michaeli)
  3. “Israel imposed tight restrictions on Palestinians in Hebron to secure settler raids” (MEMO)
  4. “Jenin becomes flashpoint for Israel-Palestinian confrontations” (Al-Monitor)
  5. “What Israeli soldiers don’t demolish by day, settlers burn by night” (+972 Magazine)
  6. “Israel turns Silwan into closed military site” (Al-Monitor)
  7. “Palestinians Fear Eviction From Their Jerusalem Neighborhood To Make Way For A Park” (NPR)
  8. “Palestinian-Jordanian crisis erupts ahead of Abdullah-Biden meeting” (Jerusalem Post)
  9. “No one told this young soldier to protect Palestinians from settlers” (Ynet)

 

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

May 13, 2021

  1. Knesset Advances Three Key Annexation Bills
  2. Israel’s Official Maps of Jerusalem Land Expropriations — Discrepancies and Room for Interpretation
  3. Israel Advances Plan to Build On the Ruins of Lifta, a Historic Palestinian Neighborhood in West Jerusalem
  4. In Victory for Settlement Companies, Canadian Appeals Court Reverses Settlement Product Labelling Ruling
  5. <New Campaign in Norway Pushes for State Pension Fund to Divest from Occupation
  6. Bonus Reads

Comments or questions? Email Kristin McCarthy – kmccarthy@fmep.org.

Knesset Advances Three Key Annexation Bills

Notwithstanding surging protests and violence across Israel and the territories it belligerently occupies, the Israeli Knesset voted on May 10th to give preliminary approval to three incendiary bills: one would grant retroactive legalization to 70 unauthorized outposts; a second would rescind the 2005 Disengagement Law, thereby allowing Israel and its settlers to re-establish four settlements in the northern West Bank which were dismantled under that law; and a third bill would empower the Knesset to override decisions by the Israeli Supreme Court and reinstate laws the Court ruled to be unconstitutional (like the Settlement Regulation Law, which is the key target of this legislative effort). FMEP has previously explained these bills here. Ahead of the vote, Defense Minister Benny Gantz asked Prime Minister Netanyahu to intervene to delay the bills, citing the rising violence and unrest.

With the vote to advance the bills on May 10th, the Knesset will need to pass the bills through three more readings. The three bills have long been high on the wish list of many Israeli politicians who support Israel’s annexation of West Bank land.  

Israel’s Official Maps of Jerusalem Land Expropriations — Discrepancies and Room for Interpretation

Following years of advocacy by the Israeli group Bimkom: Planners for Planning Rights, the official maps drawn by the Israeli government when it annexed (illegally) lands around Jerusalem have been released in their entirety for the first time. Though bits and pieces of the maps had been released in the past by the Israel Lands Authority in response to specific inquiries related to land expropriations, the state had kept the maps hidden from the public until now. 

With the maps in hand, Bimkom has launched a website where the maps can be analysed. On the significance of the maps and the ability of the public to access them, Bimkom writes:

“The original expropriation maps were drawn by hand, as was customary at the time. The manual drawing and the passage of years however, have led to defects and distortions in the original paper documents. In many places there is a discrepancy between the hand-drawn maps and contemporary mappings made with the latest technology, and their reading leaves room for interpretation. Hiding the expropriation maps from the public allowed the state authorities to be the sole interpreters of the maps. But now, with the help of the interactive on-line tools offered on Bimkom’s new site, interpretation of the maps will be in the public domain.”

Israel Advances Plan to Build On the Ruins of Lifta, a Historic Palestinian Neighborhood in West Jerusalem

On May 10th (Jerusalem Day), the Israel Lands Authority announced that on July 4, 2021 it will open bidding on construction plans to build a new neighborhood on the ruins of the Palestinian neighborhood of Lifta, located in West Jerusalem. While FMEP’s settlement and annexation report focuses on settlement building in areas located over the 1967 Green Line, the story of Lifta – and of other Palestinian villages forcibly depopulated by Israeli forces in the 1948 – is another facet of the Israeli government’s policy of erasure of Palestinians via the establishment of Jewish Israeli communities. You can read one Palestinian’s account of forced her forced displacement from Lifta, here.

Lifta is the last Palestinian village in Jerusalem to remain partially intact. Israel has prevented Palestinian refugees and landowners from returning to it, but has not yet demolished all the original structures (55 out of the original 400 structures still remain), or opened up the area for Israeli re-development. In 2017 the ruins of Lifta were named by the World Monuments Fund as one of 25 at-risk sites around the world.

The plans being advanced call for the construction of 259 apartment units, a luxury hotel, and other commercial buildings. Former-Jerusalem Municipality council member Yair Gabbai told the Jerusalem Post that a synagogue will be added to the development plan – leaving no doubt about for whom the housing is intended.

In Victory for Settlement Companies, Canadian Appeals Court Reverses Settlement Product Labelling Ruling

On May 6th, a Canadian federal appeals court reversed a 2019 ruling that had prevented Israeli companies based in settlements from labelling their products as “Made in Israel.” The new ruling by the appeals court found that the 2019 decision had been made “improperly,” and sent the case (which was initiated by the Psagot settlement winery) to Canada’s Food Inspection Agency – which had previously allowed the products (wine) from settlements to be labelled as “Made in Israel.”

Psagot Winery is a willing legal test case, as part of an ongoing international campaign led by Israel and its defenders to erase any/all distinction that foreign countries might want to make between the territory recognized by the world as the sovereign state of Israel, and Israeli settlements built in the occupied territories, which are illegal under international law. By convincing countries to treat settlements products as products of the state of Israel, this campaign seeks to secure de facto recognition of Israeli sovereignty over its settlements.

For a deep dive in the history of the Psagot settlement and the significance of former Sec. of State Mike Pompeo’s visit there in the waning days of the Trump Administration – check out this FMEP podcast with Dror Etkes, Fadi Quran, and Lara Friedman. 

New Campaign in Norway Pushes for State Pension Fund to Divest from Occupation

This week two well-respected organizing groups in Norway –  the Norwegian Union of Municipal and General Employees and Norwegian People’s Aid – have launched a campaign calling on the Government Pension Fund (the largest sovereign wealth fund in the world) to exclude from its investment portfolio 64 companies that are “involved in activities that support and profit from illegal Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, as well as the occupation economy, in general.”

The campaign website explains:

“The campaign aims to shed light on how investments made by the Government Pension Fund Global (GPFG), popularly known as the Norwegian oil fund, can contribute to the occupation…Businesses play a key role in supporting the construction, maintenance and expansion of the illegal settlements. International and Israeli companies are found in many business sectors, including banking, tourism, security, technology, construction, real estate, extractive industries, telecommunications, agriculture, transport and industry. Various UN bodies have stated that the close link between settlements and violations of human rights and international law make it practically impossible for a company to do business with the settlements and be compliant with international law and international standards for business and human rights. For this reason, some of these companies have already been excluded by other Norwegian and international financial institutions. We believe that the oil fund should do the same. The oil fund has recently taken steps to look more closely into portfolio companies that operate in high-risk conflict areas. Despite this, investments in companies with activities in occupied Palestinian territory have increased.”

Bonus Reads

  1. “EU Court Backs Group Opposed to Imports From Israeli Settlements” (Reuters)
  2. “Co-existence in Jaffa Could Cost Arab Residents Their Homes” (Haaretz)

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

November 20, 2020

  1. Final Days of Trump Admin, Part 1: Historic Shifts in US Settlements Policy
  2. Final Days of Trump Admin, Part 2: Full Steam Ahead on Givat Hamatos Settlement
  3. Final Days of Trump Admin, Part 3: Israel Expected to Advance Har Homa E Settlement Plan
  4. Final Days of Trump Admin, Part 4: Israel Set to Start Process of Land Registration in East Jerusalem
  5. Final Days of Trump Admin, Part 5: Settlers Push to Re-Establish Abandoned Settlements in Northern West Bank
  6. Final Days of Trump Admin, Part 6: Bibi Seeks U.S. OK for More Settlement Projects, Settlers Push for Outpost Authorization
  7. Israeli Education Minister Celebrates New Settlement Yeshiva
  8. IDF Pays for Use of Yeshiva After Settlers Destroy Army Base
  9. Impending Sheikh Jarrah Evictions
  10. Bonus Reads

Questions/Comments? Email Kristin McCarthy (kmccarthy@fmep.org).

Final Days of Trump Admin, Part 1: Historic Shifts in US Settlements Policy 

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo landed in Israel on November 19th for a two-day visit in which he made history with respect to U.S. support for settlements, delivering a series of extraordinary (though entirely predictable) victories to Israeli settlements and Israel’s Greater Israel pro-annexation movement. 

First, Pompeo became the first U.S. Secretary of State to visit the Israel-occupied Golan Heights since the Trump Administration recognized Israeli sovereignty there in March 2019, . 

Second, Pompeo became the first U.S. Secretary of State to visit a West Bank Israeli settlement, in a visit publicly framed as establishing the legitimacy of settlements. Pompeo’s visit to the Psagot Winery – located near Ramallah – flouted international law and international consensus, which views Israel’s settlement enterprise as illegal [for a deep dive in the history of the Psagot settlement and the significance of Pompeo’s visit – check out this FMEP podcast with Dror Etkes, Fadi Quran, and Lara Friedman]. 

Third, in conjunction with his visit to the Psagot Winery settlement, Pompeo announced new U.S. guidelines that require products made in all areas under Israeli control to be labelled as “Made in Israel” (or iterations thereof) when being exported to the U.S. This is a massive and highly consequential shift in U.S. policy that offers recognition of Israeli sovereignty not only over settlements (as the Trump Administration has previously done) but over all of Area C – some 60% of the West Bank. The announcement was urged on by a group of four Republican Senators ahead of Pompeo’s trip. The policy, which if focused on territory, not people, would require even Palestinian-made goods originating from villages in Area C to be labelled as “Made in Israel”. Roughly 150,000 Palestinians live in Area C, where they are subjected to an escalating Israeli campaign to make life untenable for them via discriminatory planning policies and demolitions. 

Laying out the new policy, the State Department issued a statement saying:

“Today, the Department of State is initiating new guidelines to ensure that country of origin markings for Israeli and Palestinian goods are consistent with our reality-based foreign policy approach.  In accordance with this announcement, all producers within areas where Israel exercises the relevant authorities – most notably Area C under the Oslo Accords - will be required to mark goods as ’Israel’, ’Product of Israel’, or ‘Made in Israel’ when exporting to the United States.  This approach recognizes that Area C producers operate within the economic and administrative framework of Israel and their goods should be treated accordingly.  This update will also eliminate confusion by recognizing that producers in other parts of the West Bank are for all practical purposes administratively separate and that their goods should be marked accordingly.”

Pompeo made this announcement following his visit to the Psagot winery – which not only named a vintage after Pompeo but has also been at the center of Israel’s global effort to push nations to treat Israeli settlements as indistinguishable from sovereign Israeli territory, with the winery involved in international legal battles over how Israeli businesses located in the settlements are required to label their products. U.S. labelling requirements will now stand at odds with European policy on the matter, which requires differentiation between products made in Israel and products made in settlements. 

As part of the major change in U.S. labelling policy, Pompeo also changed how Palestinian-made products (produced in Areas A & B, and in the Gaza Strip) must be labelled, replacing the “West Bank/Gaza” label with separate “West Bank” and “Gaza” labels – another symbolic move laced with antagonism towards Palestinian rights and national aspirations. The change also contradicts the Oslo Accords, under which the Gaza Strip and West Bank are to be treated as a single territorial entity. The U.S. State Department statement on the labelling policy reads:

“We will no longer accept ’West Bank/Gaza’ or similar markings, in recognition that Gaza and the West Bank are politically and administratively separate and should be treated accordingly.”

Fourth, in a press conference alongside PM Netanyahy, Pompeo announced that the U.S. holds the “global BDS campaign” to be anti-Semitic, and said that the U.S. will “immediately take steps to identify the organizations that engage in hateful BDS conduct and withdraw US government support from such groups.” Pompeo called BDS a “cancer.” This is particularly relevant to settlement and annexation watchers because the new U.S. designation makes no distinction between boycotts aimed at Israel and boycotts limited to Israeli settlements – yet another legal step towards offering official U.S. recognition of Israel’s annexation of the settlements. It had previously been reported that the U.S. State Department were preparing to label Human Rights Watch, Oxfam, and Amnesty International as anti-Semitic organizations, based on the IHRA definition of anti-Semitism.

Fifth, under the protection of a large Israeli security escort, Pompeo visited the Elad settler organization’s archeological projects in the City of David, an Israeli national park which was declared on top of the Palestinian neighborhood of Silwan, located right outside of the walls of the Old City of Jerusalem. Under Elad’s direction, and with the support of the Israeli government and the Trump Administration, archeology is being weaponized to erase the historic memory and the modern presence of Palestinians, while emphasizing the Jewish heritage at that site. At the same time, settler organizations including Elad and Ateret Cohanim are battling to implement the mass eviction of Paelstinians from their longtime homes in Silwan.

Israeli NGO Emek Shaveh – a group of expert archaeologists – previously explained:

“The use of archaeology by Israel and the settlers as a political tool is a part of a strategy to shape the historic city and unilaterally entrench Israeli sovereignty over ancient Jerusalem. It is a process which is likely to produce devastating results for both Israel and the Palestinians.  It is inexcusable to ignore the Palestinian residents of Silwan, carrying out extensive excavations of an underground city and to use such excavations as part of an effort to tell a historic story that is exclusively Jewish in a 4,000 year-old city with a rich and diverse cultural and religious past.”

And in a piece entitled “Israel Is Using Archeology To Erase Non-Jewish History,” Emek Shaveh further explained:

“The exploitation of archaeology in Jerusalem has been spearheaded by the Elad Foundation, a group of settlers turned archaeology entrepreneurs, who are using ancient sites to take over land and shape the historical narrative. Elad, which emerged 30 years ago with a mission to settle Jews in Palestinian homes in the neighborhood of Silwan, manages the popular archaeological park, the City of David. Visitors to the site are treated to a heavily biblical narrative where discoveries that resonate with the story of King David or the Kingdom of Judea are highlighted. The fact the archaeologists dispute the evidence of a kingdom in the 10th century BCE often goes unmentioned. Furthermore, not many of the half a million people who visit the park annually know about life in the Palestinian neighborhood since Elad arrived on the scene. They will probably never hear about how Elad took over 75 homes in the neighborhood, or closed off virtually the last of the public areas used by the residents and annexed it to the archaeological park. With an annual budget of approximately 100 million shekels, the Elad Foundation now commands several excavation projects in the City of David, including tunnels along an ancient Roman street, which it is marketing as a Second Temple era pilgrims’ route to the Temple. It has recently branched out to establish new projects within the Old City and in other areas throughout the Historic Basin. But Elad couldn’t have done it on their own. If at first they were greeted with mistrust by the authorities in the 1990s, today they have an open door to many government agencies and ministries. From the Israel Antiquities Authority, which is in charge of most of the excavations at the City of David, and the Nature and Parks Authority, which subcontracted Elad to run the site, to the minister of tourism, who is aggressively advancing a cable car to link West Jerusalem to the City of David, to the mayor of Jerusalem, the government and all the relevant agencies are committed to the project of shaping a large tourist zone dedicated to the First and Second Temple periods.”

Final Days of Trump Admin, Part 2: Full Steam Ahead on Givat Hamatos Settlement

On November 15th, the Israel Land Authority published the long-feared/long-awaited (depending who you are) tender for the construction of the Givat Hamatos settlement in East Jerusalem. The tenders provide for the construction of 1,257 settlement units, which is about 200 units more than expected. The tender is set to close for bids on January 18, 2021 – exactly two days before the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden. In a carefully worded statement to the press, Netanyahu acknowledged that the publication of the Givat Hamatos tender had been coordinated with the Trump Administration (but not the Biden transition team).

Terrestrial Jerusalem writes:

“The decision to proceed with the construction of Givat Hamatos is the most defiant and inflammatory settlement move in recent memory, and should be treated as such. The construction of Givat Hamatos will create a buffer, contributing to an effective seal between East Jerusalem and Bethlehem. In addition, Givat Hamatos will, for the first time, completely surround an East Jerusalem neighborhood, Beit Safafa, with Israel construction, making the implementation of the Clinton parameters in East Jerusalem impossible.  Givat Hamatos will have a devastating impact on the very possibility of a future two-state outcome.”

Ir Amim writes:

“The opening of the tender significantly decreases the potentiality to effectively block Israeli building in the area. Concerted opposition and pressure to freeze the tender is therefore vital in this limited window of time. If carried through, Givat Hamatos would become the first new settlement in East Jerusalem in 20 years. Located in a particularly strategic area, Givat Hamatos (along with Har Homa E and E1) has constituted a longstanding international red line due its impact on the prospects of a viable two-state framework with two capitals in Jerusalem. By creating a contiguous Israeli built-up area between the existing settlements of Gilo and Har Homa, construction in Givat Hamatos will serve to seal off the southern perimeter of East Jerusalem from Bethlehem and the southern part of the West Bank, while isolating the Palestinian neighborhood of Beit Safafa. The next two months in lead-up to the change in the US Presidential Administration will be a critical period. We believe that Israel will attempt to exploit this time to advance moves that the incoming administration will potentially oppose. It is crucial that the international community remain vigilant.”

Peace Now writes:

“Construction in Givat Hamatos will severely hamper the prospect of a two-state solution because it will ultimately block the possibility of territorial contiguity between East Jerusalem and Bethlehem–the main Palestinian metropolitan area–and will prevent Palestinian Beit Safafa from connecting with a future Palestinian state…The meaning of the publication of the Tender Booklet is that now the tender is open for bids and contractors may submit their proposals to win the right to build the units in Givat Hamatos. The final day for submitting the proposals is January 18th, 2021, three days before the change in the US administration…This is a major blow to the prospects for peace and the possibility of a two-state solution. This Netanyahu-Gantz government was established to fight the coronavirus but instead it is taking advantage of the final weeks of the Trump administration in order to set facts on the ground that will be exceedingly hard to undo in order to achieve peace. This tender can still be stopped. We hope that those in this government who still have some sense of responsibility for our future will do what they can to cancel the tender before bids are submitted.”

Nabil Abu Rudeineh, the spokesman for President Mahmoud Abbas, said: 

“Israel is trying to benefit from the unlimited support of the current U.S. administration, which has provided it with all possible support for the sake of settlement expansion and the takeover of more Palestinian lands.”

PA Prime Minister Muhammed Shtayyeh said in a statement:

“There appears to be an escalating and intensive assault plan for the next 10 weeks in a race against time to create a new fait accompli before Donald Trump leaves the White House on January 21. We look with concern at the frequent reports about new colonial settlement projects in Arab Jerusalem and the West Bank, which aim to encircle and stifle the Palestinian Arab neighborhoods and prevent interaction between them and the rest of the West Bank and to completely isolate the city of Jerusalem.”

International reaction to Israel’s decision to publish the tender for the construction of the Givat Hamatos settlement — long treated as a red line by the international community — was predictably tempered. Several foreign governments issued statements of “concern,” including Saudi Arabia, Germany, France, the UK, Russia, and Italy, in addition to statements from UN Envoy Nikolay Mladenov and European Union High Commissioner Josep Borrell. The United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution – by an overwhelming majority — calling on all governments to refrain from treating Israel’s settlements in the West Bank or East Jerusalem as part of sovereign Israeli territory. B’Tselem Director Hagai El-Ad urged European governments to move from words to action.

Meanwhile, a delegation of European Union representatives received a hostile greeting from right-wing settlement supporters organized by hardline Israeli NGO Im Tirzu when the delegation attempted to visit the site of the future Givat Hamatos settlement on November 16th. The diplomats’ caravan was actually chased off by the right-wing protestors, which included Jerusalem city councilman and settlement empresario Ariyehh King, who shouted “Go home, anti-Semites!” at the visiting EU diplomats.

Though many settlers celebrated the publication of the Givat Hamatos tender, settlers who are currently living in the area of Givat Hamatos remain skeptical that the government will actually follow through. It’s worth noting that the government has provided mobile homes to about 30 families who live in the Givate Hamatos hillside as squatters, having waited 30 years since the Givat Hamatos plan was given final approval for construction to happen. Wall-to-wall international opposition to the settlement plan deterred the Israeli government from publishing them.

MK Miki Zohar (Likud) celebrated the new tender in a tweet saying:

 “Now we can talk about it. Before the last elections, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised me that he would publicize the building tender in Jerusalem’s Givat Hamatos; this neighborhood is in a strategic location between Beit Safafa and Hebron road. It important to build there in order to maintain a Jewish land continuum … We have a one-time opportunity these days to strengthen our hold in the land of Israel. I am sure that our friend, President [Donald] Trump, and Prime Minister Netanyahu will be wise enough to take full advantage of this opportunity.”

Final Days of Trump Admin, Part 3: Israel Expected to Advance Har Homa E Settlement Plan 

As anticipated in last week’s Settlement Report, the Israeli government has decided to press forward with a highly controversial and consequential plan to expand the East Jerusalem settlement of Har Homa westward, toward the site of the future Givat Hamatos settlement (discussed above). Ir Amim reports that on November 23rd, the Jerusalem District Planning Committee is scheduled to take up the plan for 570 new units – called Har Homa E – for the second time this year, and is expected to approve the plan for deposit for public review, one of the final steps before implementation.

Ir Amim warns: 

“The rapid advancement of this plan is indicative of the Israeli government’s intent to accelerate as many settlement construction projects as possible in East Jerusalem and its vicinity in the waning days of the Trump administration.”

The construction in Har Homa E will solidify a continuum of Israeli settlement construction within the southern perimeter of East Jerusalem – from Har Homa, to Givat Hamatos, to Gilo – detaching East Jerusalem from Bethlehem and completing the encirclement of the Palestinian East Jerusalem neighborhood of Beit Safafa.

The plan for Har Homa E was last discussed in September 2020, when the District Planning Committee signaled its support for approving the plan for deposit, but requested several amendments prior granting that approval. With the modifications made, the expectation is that the committee will now give its formal approval, setting off a period of 60 days during which the public can submit objections to the plan.

The plan for 570 units currently set for approval represents the first detailed plan under a much larger Master Plan for Har Homa E, which involves a total of 2,200 units. Plans to build the remaining units permitted under the Master Plan are not yet being advanced.

Ir Amim writes:

“Construction in Har Homa E will serve as another step in connecting the existing Gilo and Har Homa neighborhoods/settlements and create a contiguous Israeli built-up area along the southern perimeter of East Jerusalem. This will likewise detach Bethlehem and the southern West Bank from East Jerusalem while isolating the Palestinian neighborhood of Beit Safafa. In line with the new reality created by the Trump Plan and its unilateral recognition of Israeli sovereignty of East Jerusalem, these developments will constitute a major obstacle towards the future establishment of a Palestinian capital in the city and the prospect of a viable two-state framework.”

Final Days of Trump Admin, Part 4: Israel Set to Start Process of Land Registration in East Jerusalem

In an interview celebrating the publication of a tender for Givat Hamatos settlement project, Jerusalem Affairs & Heritage Minister Rafi Peretz connected the project to a larger Israeli effort to begin registering all East Jerusalem land in Israeli records, an effort which Peretz is spearheading. Al-Monitor reports that, as part of the Givat Hamatos project, the Israeli Finance and Justice Ministry’s acted swiftly to approve a budget, remove legal impediments, and finalize “financial compensation packages with the Palestinian land-owners” so that the land can be properly registered in Israeli government books.

Perez stated:

“The fact that almost all of the land in the eastern part of Jerusalem is not registered properly is something that should have been addressed a long time ago already. The plans that I have developed for registering land plots and properties have now been adopted by the various government ministries concerned, and once they are implemented, they will go a long way to improving the situation for the residents of these areas. A united Jerusalem is not a slogan – it’s a vision, and one that needs to apply to the eastern part of the city just as it applies to the west.”

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 with the Israeli government 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 Jerusalemites 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, which was frozen in East Jerusalem since 1967. 

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.

This news about starting the land registration process in East Jerusalem comes only a few weeks after Israel was reported to be advancing plans to begin a process of land registration for Area C of the West Bank — a process that opens another door for Israel to seize more Palestinian land. The registration process in East Jerusalem is expected to have similar results.

Final Days of Trump Admin, Part 5: Settlers Push to Re-Establish Abandoned Settlements in Northern West Bank

A group of 100 settlers, including children, invaded and set up camp at the abandoned site of the Sa-Nur settlement in the northern West Bank in an attempt to pressure the government to allow them to re-establish the settlement, which the state dismantled as part its 2005 disengagement from Gaza. After the Israeli army arrived at the site to evict the trespassers, MK Miki Zohar (Likud) persuaded the settlers to abandon their illegal campsite and leave the area, with the promise of raising the issue of Sa-Nur’s re establishment directly with Netanyahu.

MK Zohar is a staunch supporter of reestablishing Sa-Nur, along with three other settlements in the area that were likewise dismantled by the Israeli government in 2005 (Homesh, Ganim, and Kadim). Zohar has participated in previous visits to the site to support the settlers’ bid, frequently accompanied by his Likud colleagues, including former Speaker of the Knesset Yuli Edelstein. In July 2018, the Israeli Cabinet had the opportunity to lend government backing to a bill that would have cancelled the 2005 disengagement and allowed the settlers to rebuild those settlements – but the Cabinet blocked the bill. The settlers and their allies are no doubt raising this issue now, at a time when it seems like the wildest wishes of the settler enterprise are being fulfilled one after another.

As a reminder, even though Israel evacuated the four settlements in the West Bank, the IDF issued military orders barring Palestinians from entering the areas, preventing Palestinians from taking control over the area and building there. At the same time, settlers have regularly entered the areas and even repeatedly built a yeshiva at the Homesh site.  

Final Days of Trump Admin, Part 6: Bibi Seeks U.S. OK for More Settlement Projects, Settlers Push for Outpost Authorization

In addition to the extraordinary settlement plans unleashed over the past two weeks, Israeli media reports that Prime Minister Netanyahu is seeking the blessing of the Trump Administration to push forward additional East Jerusalem settlement projects in the immediate future. Israel’s Kan News Radio reported that Netanyahu planned to raise the settlement projects with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo during his trip to Israel this week. With developments related to Givat Hamatos and Har Homa E making the news this week, we can speculate that Netanyahu might be asking specifically about the Atarot settlement plan (northern tip of Jerusalem) and/or the E-1 settlement plan (just east of Jerusalem) – as FMEP laid out last week.

Another possibility is, of course, outpost legalizations. Settlers and their allies in the Israeli government are continuing their campaign to pressure Netanyahu to grant retroactive authorization to all of Israel’s outposts and illegal settler construction across the West Bank before Trump leaves office. Since FMEP’s last reporting two weeks ago, the Israel Land Caucus has begun collecting signatures on a petition calling on Netanyahu to act immediately on this matter. According to the Times of Israel the petition states that the Knesset committee, which includes senior members of Netanyahu’s own Likud Party, is “united in the position that the regulation of young settlements must be done now…it is not fair, reasonable or responsible to leave the settlements without status and the tens of thousands of their residents deprived of their rights.”

Just this week Defense Ministry legal advisor Moshe Frucht stated that a government declaration authorizing the outposts is required prior to any actions that treat the outposts as legal communities – specifically rebuffing the request by settlers for the Defense Ministry to connect unauthorized outposts to Israeli state utilities. Frucht’s statement, combined with Netanyahu’s lack of action, enraged MK Bezalel Smotrich (Yamina) who sharply scolded Netanyahu’s top settlements advisor in a Knesset hearing this week.

Israeli Education Minister Celebrates New Settlement Yeshiva

Israeli Minister of Education Yoav Galant (Likud) attended the opening of a new religious school (yeshiva) in the Bruchin settlement, located in a finger of continuous settlements that extends from the 1967 Green Line to the Ariel settlement in the very center of the northern West Bank.

Making it clear that opening yeshivas is part of Israel’s entrenchment and expansion of settlements across the West Bank, Galant said at the event:

“I am delighted to be here in order to celebrate the inauguration of this new building for a yeshiva high school in Bruchin, together with my good friend Yossi Dagan, who has done so much to develop Jewish settlement in the Samaria region and specifically to advance the educational network here. This new building will serve all the students of the local communities and neighborhoods that have been established in the area in the last few years. I am deeply committed to promoting Jewish settlement in Judea and Samaria. As Education Minister, I will continue to do all I can to further settlement here, just as I did when I was Housing & Construction Minister – and, indeed, as I have done throughout my life. It’s time that we settled the entire Land, from the Jordan River to the sea. I hope that the students who come to learn here will be able to commence their studies this winter.”

IDF Pays for Use of Yeshiva After Settlers Destroy Army Base

The Times of Israel reports that Israel has agreed to pay the operators of a violent yeshiva associated with the Yitzhar settlement a sum of $118,750 (400,000 NIS) to cover the cost of the building’s use by security forces over the past six years.

In 2014, a mob of violent settlers stormed an army base near the Yitzhar settlement, leaving several officers wounded and destroying all military equipment at the site. After the attack, the IDF seized the yeshiva to use as a temporary base (since theirs was destroyed). It has continued to use the yeshiva since that time, and will now pay the settlers for the inconvenience.

Impending Sheikh Jarrah Evictions

Earlier this month, the Jerusalem Magistrate’s court notified four Palestinian families living in Sheikh Jarrah that they must vacate their longtime homes by November 24th, or else be forcibly evicted. One of those families is the Sabbagh family, whose legal struggle against Israeli settler groups has previously caught international attention and sparked weekly protests in Sheikh Jarrah to stop their eviction. 

The Sabbagh family has lived in their home for over 64 years, and have been battling the settler organization Nahalat Shimon for their right to remain in their home. Nahalat Shimon was awarded ownership rights of the Sabbagh’s house through the use of the “Legal and Administration Matters Law,” which allows Israeli Jews (but not Palestinians) to reclaim property lost/abandoned during the 1948 war. Nahalat Shimon managed to find the Jewish Israeli family who owned the home prior to the 1948 War and convinced that family to hand over their ownership rights.

Muhammed al-Sabbagh told the Middle East Eye recently:

“I know that the Israeli court will not do justice to me. They will not be on my side against Israeli settlers. But I will fight until the very end to protect my home where I grew up, the only safe haven for me and my family.”

Sami Ershid, the family’s lawyer, told Middle East Eye: 

“For years, these [families] wake up thinking what the court will rule against them. They live a life completely devoid of stability, thinking when they will be forcibly expelled from their homes. The [Israeli] goal is clear: to create a new settler neighbourhood on the rubble of their homes.”

Just Vision – who shared one Sheikh Jarrah family’s story in the docuseries “My Neighborhood,” said in an email drawing attention to these evictions:

“While the cases in Sheikh Jarrah are thinly veiled as a legal matter, the political motivations are clear. This latest round of evictions is part of a broader attempt by the Israeli state to forcibly displace Palestinians from their homes in East Jerusalem and the West Bank. The process is methodical and impacts thousands of lives on a daily basis. In the past month alone, Israel hid under the US election media frenzy to undertake the largest demolition of Palestinian homes and structures in a decade, and just yesterday, announced a new settlement, Givat Hamatos, that would effectively cut East Jerusalem off from Bethlehem. This all happens under the United States’ watch – subsequent US administrations have done little to hold the Israeli government to account, and the latest administration has given a carte-blanche for unjust activity like this.”

Bonus Reads

  1. “Occupied Thoughts: “Pompeo in Psagot” ft. Fadi Quran, Dror Etkes, & Lara Friedman” (FMEP)
  2. “Israel Impounds Palestinian’s Cows Grazing on Nature Reserve, Ignores Settlers’ Cows” (Haaretz)
  3. “Israeli settlers in the West Bank confront the Biden reality and dig in for a fight” (Washington Post)