Settlement & Annexation Report: June 7, 2024

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

To subscribe to this report, please click here.

June 7, 2024

Jerusalem Flag Parade Terrorizes Jerusalem, Ben Gvir Tests Temple Mount Status Quo
IDF Demolishes Outpost, Ben Gvir Calls (Again) for Gallant to Be Dismissed
Settlers & Knesset Call for Israel to Create “Special Regime” With Open Fire Directives to Fortify Settlement Safety
Israeli Govt is Working with “Friends in the U.S.” To Cancel/Reduce Sanctions on Settlers
Bonus Reads

Jerusalem Flag Parade Terrorizes Jerusalem, Ben Gvir Tests Temple Mount Status Quo

On June 5th, tens of thousands of Israelis – including ministers and Knesset members – took part in the annual Jerusalem Flag parade [of terror] through the Old City of Jerusalem, going from the Damascus Gate, through the Muslim Quarter, and culminating with a rally at the Western Wall Plaza. Demonstrating how inflammatory the march and many of its participants are each year, and how particularly frenzied and emboldened the participants were expected to be this year, 3,000 police officers were deployed along the parade route and throughout the city. In addition to the chants common for years (including “May your village burn,” “Death to Arabs” “Muhammad is dead,” and “May their name be erased”) marchers physically assaulted Palestinians, activists, and Israeli and Palestinian journalists – flaunting their incendiary, criminal behavior while police and military officers largely stood by (thirteen people were arrested, and five detained, including a Palestinian journalist who was attacked).

In addition, Haaretz reports that hundreds of Israelis were permitted entry to the Temple Mount on June 5th as part of the parade day, which posed a serious test of Netanyahu’s control over his National Security Minister Ben Gvir as well as Netanyahu’s commitment to upholding the delicate and ever-eroding Status Quo on the Temple Mount, which has been succinctly articulated by Bibi Netanyahu himself as: “Muslims pray on the Temple Mount, non-Muslims visit the Temple Mount”.

Ben Gvir, in his role as the Israeli National Security Minister, is ostensibly in charge of ensuring the security of Jerusalem and on the Temple Mount. True to his ideology and political commitments, Ben Gvir caused a serious panic as the parade began by saying that he had revoked the status quo and that Jews can freely pray on the Temple Mount (an incendiary demand by the Temple Mount Movement to which Ben Gvir subscribes). Netanyahu’s office countered by quickly issuing a statement that the Status Quo has not and will not change.

While the political drama swirled, Haaretz reported that some of the Jewish Israeli parade-goers who were permitted to go to the Temple Mount started to sing and pray, and then were stopped and removed by Israeli police. An activists who went to the Temple Mount told Arutz Sheva that dozens were removed.

After being overruled by Netanyahu, Ben Gvir did not back down, telling Army Radio after the march that “My policy is very clear on this matter: Jews can be anywhere in Jerusalem, pray anywhere.”

The Temple Mount issue is not the only headline Ben Gvir made that day. While arriving at the Damascus Gate to join the festivities (along with Smotrich), Ben Gvir he told reporters:

“I came here for one thing, to send a message to Hamas and every house in Gaza and also in the north. Jerusalem is ours. The Damascus Gate, Temple Mount is ours. Today, according to my policy, Jews entered the Old City freely. And also the Temple Mount where they prayed freely. We say in the simplest way, it’s ours. This is the message to Hamas. I pray for the wounded, pray for the release of the hostages. But I say Hamas and Hezbollah must be defeated in war, only in war! And this is ours, our Temple Mount, our Damascus Gate. Let the whole world know it.”

One of the journalists who was assaulted that day, Nir Hasson of Haaretz, later wrote:

“The Flag March on Jerusalem Day is an accurate thermometer of the condition of Israeli society. It measures the levels of hatred, racism and violence in the religious Zionist society and the tolerance of the police and the rest of society to these traits. This year’s diagnosis is terminal. Wednesday’s march was one of the most violent and ugliest I have seen – and I have witnessed every single one over the past 16 years.”

Ir Amim said in a statement calling for the parade to be re-routed away from the Muslim Quarter:

“Against the backdrop of the ongoing devastating war in Gaza and growing international criticism over Israel’s conduct, the Israeli authorities are preparing to mark Jerusalem Day on June 5, which commemorates the “liberation” of East Jerusalem and “re-unification” of the city. This year, the date on which Jerusalem Day is celebrated according to the Hebrew calendar falls on the exact date of the start of the 1967 War and marks 57 years of Israeli occupation and illegal annexation of East Jerusalem. Over the past nearly six decades, consecutive Israeli governments have continued to create irreversible facts on the ground to entrench Israeli control over Jerusalem in its entirety and foil any prospect of an agreed political resolution with two capitals in the city. As a result, it continues to cement a one-state reality of permanent occupation and systematic oppression of Palestinians.”

IDF Demolishes Outpost, Ben Gvir Calls (Again) for Gallant to Be Dismissed

On June 4th the IDF demolished an illegal outpost in the northern West Bank, which was built by settlers without permission on privately owned Palestinian land southwest of Nablus near the settlement called Yair’s Farm. The Israeli Civil Administration reports that a total of six structures were demolished.

The Civil Administration’s action against the outpost elicited the latest repudiation of Gallant by his fellow Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, who called on Netanyahu to fire Gallant over the outpost demolition. As a reminder, as a result of a power struggle between Gallant and Smotrich in forming the current government (circa February 2023), Defense Minister Gallant ceded most all authority over civilian matters in the West Bank to Smotrich – – except for the authority over building enforcement laws. However, the compromise was the Gallant had to notify Smotrich of any plans to demolish settlement/outpost construction. In March 2024, news leaked that Smotrich is actively trying to wrest demolition powers from Gallant, though the demolition this week makes clear that Gallant remains in control (because Smotrich is opposed to enforcing Israeli law if it means holding settlers accountable).

Settlers and their leaders are also furious over the demolition of the outpost, which they say was built in memory of Moti Shamir, who was killed during the Hamas attack on Israeli towns on October 7, 2023. Settlers also say that the land is not privately owned by Palestinians, instead they feel justified in building there because they expect the government to declare the land as “state land” soon.

Settlers & Knesset Call for Israel to Create “Special Regime” With Open Fire Directives to Fortify Settlement Safety

This week saw several media hits and a Knesset hearing pushing a call along similar lines for the Israeli government to drastically step up its military operations in the West Bank to protect settlements and outposts.

At a Knesset subcommittee hearing on June 2nd, settlers called for the military to undertake more proactive military operations against Palestinian population centers.

In an op-ed published in Israel Hayom on June 2nd, former national security advisor Meir Ben Shabbat urged the government to establish a “special regime” with “unique open-fire instructions for the Seam Zone”

Yigal Dilmoni had an op-ed published in The Jewish Press on May 28th, in which he warned that the IDF needs to increase its operations in the West Bank and for settlements to expand in order to prevent another October 7th.

Israeli Govt is Working with “Friends in the U.S.” To Cancel/Reduce Sanctions on Settlers

The Associated Press reports that Bezalel Smotrich said the Israeli government is working with “our friends in the U.S.” to cancel or reduce the Bedien Administrations sanctions on settlers and settler entities believed to be perpetrating violent attacks on Palestinians and activists in the West Bank. The AP’s reporting also demonstrates just how ineffectual those sanctions are, with one of the sanctioned individuals saying that it has only further emboldened him to continue his activities in the West Bank, and that he only experienced financial punishment for two months before the Israeli government and banking sector reopened his accounts, and crowd-funding campaigns raised tens of thousands on his behalf.

Bonus Reads

“Worshipers who arrived at Mount Ebal detained by the IDF” (Arutz Sheva)
“UN rights office criticises Israel over deaths of 500 Palestinians in West Bank” (Reuters)
“In the West Bank, Guns and a Locked Gate Signal a Town’s New Residents” (The New York Times)
“Rising violence strikes fear into West Bank school” (Al-Monitor)
“Trump Is Desperate for Miriam Adelson’s Cash. Her Condition: West Bank Annexation” (Haaretz)
“US sanctions Palestinian group under decree used to target Israeli settlers” (Al Jazeera)

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 4, 2023

High Court Dismisses Petition Against Homesh Outpost
Israel to Advance More East Jerusalem Settlement Construction
Israeli Government Funding “Red Heifer” Project that Will Obliterate Temple Mount Status Quo
Yesh Din Makes Legal Case That Israel’s Occupation Has Lost Any Veneer of Temporality
Bonus Reads

High Court Dismisses Petition Against Homesh Outpost

On August 2nd, the Israeli High Court dismissed a petition seeking the removal of the Homesh outpost and the return of the land to its Palestinian owners. The Court decided that the settlers’ relocation of the illegal outpost to a small sliver of nearby land that Israel considers to be “state land” has negated the basis for the petition to remove the outpost’s buildings from privately owned Palestinian land. This decision ignores the fact that the access road to the relocated outpost goes through privately owned Palestinian land, and the IDF protection of the Homesh outpost continues to deny Palestinian land owners access to their land.

Nasser Hijja, a village council member of Burqa – the Palestinian village which has historically owned the land on which Homesh settlement was built – told Reuters:

“This settlement is a nightmare for the residents of Burqa…[Israel] does not want any Palestinian presence on this land,” said Hijja.

Yesh Din, the Israeli human rights group which assisted Palestinian landowners in filing the petition, said in response:

“While Israelis everywhere are fighting to protect our High Court as a symbol of democracy, the justices yesterday have clearly reaffirmed what we already know: Palestinians in the West Bank are undeserving of protection under the law. This disgraceful ruling is yet another testament to the apartheid regime in the West Bank, which is being further entrenched every day and which the High Court has grown comfortable with normalizing.”

The Court’s rejection of the petition is yet another step towards granting retroactive legalization to the Homesh yeshiva, which settlers established in contravention of Israeli law on land that Israel had previously recognized as privately owned Palestinian land. The current Israeli government agreed to re-establish the Homesh settlement (which the government dismantled in 2005) as a matter of its founding coalition deals. Earlier this year, the Knesset repealed parts of the 2005 Disengagement Law in order to advance the Homesh project, and after the settlers moved the Homesh yeshiva’s buildings to a small sliver of “state land,” the government connected the outpost to water service.

Israel to Advance More East Jerusalem Settlement Construction

Peace Now reports that the Jerusalem District Planning Committee is scheduled to convene on August 7th and is expected to advance a number of East Jerusalem settlement plans, including:

Nof Zion/”Nof Zahav” settlement enclave – a plan for 100 settlement units and two hotels (550 rooms total), located in the heart of the Palestinian neighborhood Jabal al-Mukaber. The construction projects are slated for the north eastern slope of the enclave in an area referred to by settlers as Nof Zahav. For more information, see FMEP’s previous reporting. At the upcoming meeting, the committee can decide to deposit this plan for public review.
Ramat Alon settlement – two plans for a total of 1,918 new settlement units will be discussed for deposit. The Ramat Alon settlement is located northern Jerusalem

Israeli Government Funding “Red Heifer” Project that Will Obliterate Temple Mount Status Quo

The Israeli NGO Ir Amim has uncovered documentation showing that the Israeli government has been involved in securing special breed of cow (“red heifers”) from the United States that are intended to be used in a ritual sacrifice, a ceremony which Jewish law requires to be performed prior to entering and/or rebuilding the Jewish temple on the Haram Al-Sharif/Temple Mount. Ir Amim explains, “The quest to find a ‘red heifer’ has been long considered a fringe endeavor, yet the discovery of government involvement in such an initiative requires serious attention.”

Five cows believed to fit the criteria for the ritual sacrifice were imported from the U.S. to Israel in 2022, an endeavor which required special permission from the Bennett/Lapid government because it is illegal under Israeli law to import livestock from the U.S.. If there was any doubt that the government of Israel is aware of and supports the religious agenda behind the importation of these special cows, those doubts should be dismissed when considering that the government allowed the cows to be imported without inserting a tracking chip into their ears, which under Jewish law would defile the bovine.

Ir Amim further reports that the Director General of the Ministry of Jerusalem Affairs and Heritage attended and delivered a speech at the ceremony to welcome the cows’ arrival to Ben Gurion airport in September 2022. In the speech, it was revealed that the government funds the development of the ceremonial site intended to host the “red heifer ceremony.” The current government continues to support a scheme to build facilities for housing the cows at the Tel Shiloh archaeological site in the West Bank.

The project is being lead by the Temple Mount Movement and a U.S. Evangelical Christian group. The Temple Mount Movement used to be considered a radical, fringe interest group – which advocates for Jewish domination over the Holy Esplanade, the demolition of the Dome of the Rock, and for the Third Temple to be built. The U.S. evangelical group, Boneh Israel, was involved in sending the cows to Israel. Some evangelical Christians believe that the Messiah will return only after the “red heifer” ceremony kicks off the apocalypse.

The government’s involvement in such a scheme shows how flagrantly it disregards the status quo of the Temple Mount (for a more detailed explanation see here and listen here), and once again how what was once fringe is now official Israeli government policy. Case in point, a vocal supporter of the Temple Mount Movement, Amichai Eliyahu, serves as the Minister of Heritage and is active in advancing the Tel Shiloh project to house the cows. This week Eliyahu drew headlines for calling for the government to annex the entire West Bank, calling the “Green Line” fictitious.

For all the wild details of this story, see Ir Amim’s reporting.

Yesh Din Makes Legal Case That Israel’s Occupation Has Lost Any Veneer of Temporality

The Israeli NGO Yesh Din issued a new legal opinion arguing that the policies and practices of the Israeli government over the past 56 has transformed the legal status of its occupation, making it an illegal occupation that must be ended immediately. The paper analyzes key policies which demonstrate that Israel seeks to make its control of occupied Palestinian land permanent, most significantly through demographic engineering (the settlement enterprise), the creation of a nationality-based separation, both physically and legally, of individuals living in the occupied lands, and via the application of Israeli sovereignty.

The report’s summary reads:

“Throughout the 56 years of occupation, Israel pursued a policy aimed at demographically altering the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) and physically and legally separating between the protected Palestinian civilians and Jewish-Israeli settlers, all of this while belligerently and unilaterally asserting Israeli sovereignty over the territory. The cumulative effect of these policies is the perpetuation of Israeli control and the subversion of its temporary nature.

Additionally, the nature of the regime in the West Bank as described above, which is a “regime of systematic oppression and domination by one racial group over any other racial group,” and many actions taken by the Israeli authorities constituting “inhumane acts,” according to its meaning in international criminal law and taken with the aim of maintaining the aforementioned regime, lead to the conclusion that the crime of apartheid is being committed in the West Bank.

The opinion asserts that the fact that successive Israeli governments and authorities have abused the powers granted to them by the laws of occupation in order to violate the rights of the protected persons and exploit the occupied territory, attaching it to sovereign Israel with the tentacles of annexation renders the Israeli occupation of the West Bank an illegal occupation, i.e., control the occupier has an obligation to end immediately, and which the international community must take steps to immediately terminate.”

Bonus Reads

“Annexation in the name of archeology” (+972 Magazine)
“Israeli Soldiers Remove Palestinians, Permit Settlers at West Bank Well” (Haaretz)
“Kafkaesque Rules Keep East Jerusalem Residents Away From Work” (Haaretz)
“Israeli Settlers Break Into Palestinian Homes Accompanied by Soldiers” (Haaretz)
“While Israelis were in the streets, Smotrich unveiled his annexation plans” (+972 Magazine)
“Settlers and Protesters Have an Unusual Encounter in Illegal Outpost in Northern Israel” (Haaretz)
“UN agency reports nearly 600 settler attacks over past six months” (The Times of Israel)

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 23, 2022

Booking.com To Post Warning on Settlement Listings (Like Other “Conflict Affected” Areas)
Things to Watch During Jewish High Holidays
Bonus Reads

Booking.com To Post Warning on Settlement Listings (Like Other “Conflict Affected” Areas)

The online travel planning giant Booking.com announced this week that it will begin including a safety warning on listings located in “disputed, conflict-affected or high-risk” areas, including on properties located in the West Bank but owned by Israelis (i.e., in settlements). The language has not been finalized, but Booking.com expects the warning will look (in substance and style) like similar warnings for Cyprus and Ukraine, emphasizing for customers that “visiting the area may be accompanied by an increased risk to safety and human rights, or other risks to the local community and visitors.” Other reports suggest that Booking.com will add the word “occupied” to listings located in West Bank settlements (but not on listings located in East Jerusalem settlements).

For years, Palestinian rights advocates have pushed companies like Booking.com and AirBnB to remove from listings for properties located in settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem – settlements which are illegal under international law. AirBnB was the first to attempt to follow international law, when it announced a plan to remove settlement listings from its site in 2018. AirBnB ultimately reversed that decision amid intense backlash from Israel and in U.S. courts.

The Israeli PR machine has already begun to push back on Booking.com, with Israeli Tourism Minister Yoel Razvozov releasing a statement threatening a “diplomatic war” against Booking.com, saying:

“A business will not dictate to us what area is Israel and what area isn’t…We intend to act with all the means at our disposal to reverse this decision.”

At the same time, prominent promoter of Israeli settlements, law professor Eugene Kontorovich, framed the planned move by Booking.com as a victory for Greater Israel (in that Booking.com apparently isn’t even considering removing settlement listing), telling the Associated Press:

“It shows Booking.com has paid attention to the massive damage Airbnb and Ben & Jerrys did to themselves when they adopted a boycott of Israeli controlled territories.”

Things to Watch During Jewish High Holidays

The Jewish High Holidays are approaching just as deadly clashes between Palestinians and Israeli forces across the West Bank are becoming a daily reality, in most part due to the almost nightly raids by Israeli forces into Palestinian cities over the past several months, including the densely populated cities including Nablus and Jenin. At the same time, there are growing fears in the Israeli security sector that Mahmoud Abbas’s Palestinian Authority is losing control over the West Bank, as discontent and opposition to the PA has grown – most recently (and notably) resulting in armed opposition to PA forces carrying out an arrest in Nablus.

As is standard every year, Israel will impose three days of extensive closures while Israeli settlers (and Israeli forces who protect them) celebrate Rosh Hashanah (the Jewish New Year) — sharply limiting Palestinian freedom of movement across the West Bank and sealing off Palestinian access into Israel. These closures are the first in a series of multi-day closures over the next month of Jewish holidays.

Adding to concerns about a new intifada, the status quo on the Temple Mount/Haram Al-Sharif continues to be challenged and eroded, highlighted by the record number of Jewish worshippers permitted by Israel to ascend to the Temple Mount and perform religious ceremonies over the past year. This increase in visits combined with the ascendancy of the Israel’s Temple Mount Movement – an extremist messianic Jewish movement working to build a new Jewish temple on the site of the Temple Mount/Haram Al-Sharif, one of the most sensitive holy sites in the world – is the cause of great concern for leading Jerusalem experts, including Terrestrial Jerusalem and Ir Amim. Heading into the Jewish High Holidays, during which Israeli forces will escort thousands of Jewish worshippers and tourists to the Temple Mount, Hamas has issued a warning that “The continuation of the Zionist aggression and their brutality against Jerusalem and the holy shrines will be the cause of a major battle,” and that Israel’s “blatant attack on the religious and Islamic status of the city and the mosque…[has] the possibility of dragging the entire region into an open religious war.”

Bonus Reads

“Will Israel finally stop Walaje home demolitions?” (The Times of Israel)
“Palestinian hurt in alleged settler attack still in prison, settlers not questioned” (The Times of Israel)
“Life in an IDF Firing Zone: For These Palestinians, It’s a Daily Nightmare” (Haaretz)
“50,000 visits a year: Jews increasingly flock to Temple Mount amid escalation fears” (The Times of Israel)
“Arab East Jerusalem schools go on strike to protest edits to ‘inciting’ textbooks” (The Times of Israel)
“Ben & Jerry’s founders say Unilever ‘usurped’ its authority with Israel spin off” (The Times of Israel)

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

September 11, 2020

Gantz Pushes for Quick Approval of 5,000 New Settlement Units
Givat Hamatos Tender Postponed (Again), But Government Says Construction is Imminent
One More Step Towards Mass Eviction, Jerusalem Court Orders Eviction of Additional Four Families in Silwan in Favor of Radical Settler Group
Jerusalem Committee Delays Decision on the Cable Car Project, & Defers Decision on Silwan Land Expropriation to the High Court
Handing Another Victory to New Settler Strategy, Civil Admin Issues Expropriation Orders for West Bank Antiquities Sites
State Attempting to Circumvent High Court Order Against Mitzpe Kramim Outpost
Israeli Using Normalization as a “Cover” to Change Status Quo on Temple Mount
BonusReads

Comments/questions? Contact Kristin McCarthy (kmccarthy@fmep.org)

Gantz Pushes for Quick Approval of 5,000 New Settlement Units

On September 7th, Israel’s Channel 12 reported that Defense Minister Benny Gantz is seeking approval from Prime Minister Netanyahu to advance 5,000 new settlement units, to be located in settlements across the West Bank. Gantz is said to have sent a letter to Netanyahu calling on him to end what Gantz called a “de facto freeze” on settlement construction by granting permission to immediately convene the High Planning Council in order to grant approval for the settlement plans. The High Planning Council – the body within the Israeli Civil Administration (which itself is a body within the Defense Ministry) responsible for regulating all planning and construction in the West Bank – has advanced plans for a total of 4,385 settler units so far this year in two meetings, but has not been convened since late February 2020.

Channel 12 and the Jerusalem Post report that of the 5,000 units under discussion, 2,000 are ready for final approval and 3,000 are ready to be deposited for public review (a late stage in the planning process). The units are slated to be built in settlements including Beit El, Shiloh, Nokdim, Har Bracha and even some far flung settlements located in the south Hebron hills.

Gantz’s maneuver has served to intensify the discontent and impatience with Netanyahu amongst the settler leadership, which has criticized Netanyahu both for suspending annexation plans and for freezing settlement construction projects.

A Knesset grouping called the “Israel Land Caucus” — which reportedly intends to file a bill in the Knesset mandating a regular schedule of High Planning Council meetings — convened an emergency meeting following the reports of Gantz’s letter. At the meeting, the co-chair of the caucus, Bezalel Smotrich, said:

“I congratulate the Alternate Prime Minister and Defense Minister for approving all the plans and calling on the Prime Minister to convene the planning council. Hopefully the Prime Minister will not leave Gantz to the Right of him”

Smotrich’s co-chair, Likud MK Haim Katz, attempted to defend Netanyahu but also urged immediate action, saying:

“I believe the Prime Minister wants the development of settlement and therefore the Supreme Planning Council must be convened. It’s inconceivable that they don’t convene the planning council. We issued a letter to the Prime Minister, we must try and influence through convening the Lobby. I strongly believe the Prime Minister wants development of settlement and through the Lobby the tools need to be examined to prove to Netanyahu that the Council must convene. Localities are growing and there are basic needs that must be promoted.”

The head of the settler Yesha Council, David Elhayani, was less generous in his assessment of Netanyahu’s motivations, saying:

“I’m unwilling to accept an equation where we’re going to be held hostage by this or that situation. We didn’t come as thieves in the night. The Israeli governments sent us to settle the area. I can’t see how a Rightist prime minister can’t justify why the committee doesn’t convene. It’s not just residential construction, it’s also freezing a day center for people with special needs. The freeze today is not like the freeze in the days of Obama. No matter what the political reasons – the Prime Minister must be real and determined. There’s no reason for us to become 7th-class citizens. There is no difference between a resident of Karnei Shomron, Har Bracha, Eli, or Beit She’an, Beit Shemesh or somewhere else. I expect the Prime Minister to conduct himself in Hebrew and not in English.”

Givat Hamatos Tender Postponed (Again), But Government Says Construction is Imminent

Ir Amim reports that the publication of the tender for construction of the Givat Hamatos settlement in East Jerusalem – which has been fully approved since 2014 – has been delayed once again, marking the third time the government has delayed the opening of the tender. According to an announcement by the Israel Lands Authority, the tender is now scheduled to be opened for bidding on November 2nd.

Following the announcement of delay, Israel’s Housing Ministry issued a statement defending Prime Minister Netanyahu from accusations by settlers and their allies that he has bowed to international pressure to abandon the Givat Hamatos settlement plan. The Ministry released a statement saying that the delays are due to technical issues, not political ones, and that the Ministry is currently discussing routine budgetary and development considerations with the Jerusalem Municipality in preparation for the eventual construction of the settlement.

Ir Amim notes:

“Such recurring postponement of a tender is unprecedented. On the one hand, the delays are a sign that Israel is under strong pressure not to open the tender – which is seen as a red line by the international community; it may be that negotiations currently underway with Arab states under the auspices of the Trump administration are also a cause for the delay. On the other hand, the fact that Israel refuses to withdraw the tender and has repeatedly set new dates for its opening shows how determined the government is to begin construction in Givat Hamatos and therefore it is leaving the door open so that it can seize an opportunity once it feels able to do so.”

Givat Hamatos has long been regarded as a doomsday settlement by parties interested in preserving the possibility of a two-state solution. 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.

One More Step Towards Mass Eviction, Jerusalem Court Orders Eviction of Additional Four Families in Silwan in Favor of Radical Settler Group

Peace Now reports that in the case of a longstanding property dispute in Silwan, the Jerusalem Magistrates Court ruled in favor of the radical settler group Ateret Cohanim, ordering the eviction of the Rajabi family, consisting of 26 individuals, from their longtime homes in Silwan. The court ordered the family to vacate the three properties by April 2021.

Map by Peace Now

This case is one of nearly a dozen lawsuits brought by Ateret Cohanim seeking the eviction of approximately 700 Palestinians from the Batan al-Hawa section of Silwan. Ateret Cohanim has maneuvered to have the Court order these evictions by gaining control of an pre-1948 land trust – called the Benvenisti Trust – and then asserting their ownership of land in Silwan where Palestinians have lived for generations. This is now the fourth instance in which the Court has ruled in Ateret Cohanim’s favor, strongly suggesting that the dozens of pending cases will also be decided in the settlers favor.

Peace Now said in a statement:

“This is an attempt to displace a Palestinian community and to replace it with an Israeli one, in the heart of a Palestinian neighborhood in East Jerusalem. The settlers could not have succeeded without the Israeli authorities’ close support and assistance. In addition to the hard blow to the prospects for a two-state solution by preventing a Palestinian capital in East Jerusalem, this is an injustice and an act of cruelty to throw out families who have lived lawfully in their homes for decades. For every dunam in East Jerusalem that was owned by Jews and had been lost in the 1948 war, there are tens of thousands of dunams in Israel that were owned by Palestinians who lost them in the 1948 war. The settlers’ demand to disposes the Palestinians based on pre-1948 ownership is a strategic threat on the moral justification of hundreds of thousands of Israelis living on lands that were owned by Palestinians.”

As FMEP has detailed, Ateret Cohanim is a settler organization which works to establish Jewish enclaves inside densely populated Palestinian neighborhoods of East Jerusalem, for the explicit purpose of “reclaiming” Palestinian parts of Jerusalem for Jews. In Silwan, its tactics depend largely on identifying land that belonged to Jews before 1948 and, with the support of Israeli laws and courts, acting to “reclaim” it. Notably, under Israeli law, Palestinians enjoy no similar right to reclaim land that belonged to them before 1948 (to the contrary – Israeli law is engineered to erase Palestinian properties rights based, largely based on the absentee property law). The current and pending evictions are based on the fact that in 2001, Ateret Cohanim gained control of the Benvenisti Trust, which owned land in Silwan in the 19th century. In 2002, the Israeli Custodian General agreed to transfer land in Batan al-Hawa to the Trust/Ateret Cohanim. Since then, Ateret Cohanim has accelerated its multifaceted campaign to remove Palestinians from their homes, claiming that the Palestinians are illegally squatting on sacred land owned by the Trust.

Haaretz columnist Nir Hasson tells the story:

“The neighborhood of Batan al-Hawa is an extreme example stressing the difference between how Arab property was dealt with as opposed to Jewish property. A Jewish neighborhood that had been built for immigrants from Yemen with funds raised by the philanthropic organization Ezrat Nidahim lay in the Batan al-Hawa area until 1938. The homes in the neighborhood were owned by an Ottoman-era land trust that was registered in the name of Rabbi Moshe Benvenisti. In 2001, more than a century after the land trust had been established, the Jerusalem District Court approved the request by three members of Ateret Cohanim to become trustees of the land. With this brief decision that takes up half a page, and a subsequent decision by the Custodian General, the state placed 700 Palestinians, along with their property, under the control of Ateret Cohanim, which seeks to increase Jewish presence in Jerusalem’s Old City.”

Jerusalem Committee Delays Decision on the Cable Car Project, & Defers Decision on Silwan Land Expropriation to the High Court

At a meeting on September 9th, the Jerusalem Municipality’s Planning & Building Committee decided to delay its final approval of plans to build a cable car line in East Jerusalem until the High Court of Justice issues a ruling on whether or not the state is permitted to expropriate the privately owned Palestinian land that is needed to carry out its construction. The High Court is actively considering the cable car case, recently ordering the state to offer a factual explanation for how the cable car line will boost tourism in the city – an explanation that the state has struggled to articulate convincingly. The state was ordered to submit that explanation on September 7th, but requested and received an extension of that deadline to October 1st.

Despite the ongoing court case, the Times of Israel reports that the Jerusalem Development Authority is actively planning for implementation of the project, even issuing public notices in newspapers over the past few weeks in preparation for accepting bids for the construction of the project. The notices announced two conferences slated to be held in October for interested bidders to learn more about the plans.

Some of the land slated for expropriation in connection with the cable car plan is located in Silwan, a densely populated Palestinian neighborhood in East Jerusalem that is the focus of intense settler activity. Ir Amim reports on the details of the expropriation the plan requires:

“The expropriation is intended for the construction of infrastructure poles and stations for the cable car. Some of the expropriation is permanent and some is for an eight-year period. The land targeted for expropriation lies on both sides of the Green Line. On the East of the Green Line, eight parcels of land in Silwan with a total area of 1,357 square meters are targeted for expropriation. The significance of the expropriation is much more than its size may suggest. The lands marked for expropriation are located in the densely built up area of Wadi Hilwe, Silwan. At worst they can lead to the demolition of nearby homes if they were built without a permit. Even if homes are not demolished, the construction of the cable car infrastructure and the subsequent operation of the cable car above their rooftops will greatly harm the community of Wadi Hilwe.

Most significant is the purpose and the impact that the operation of the Cable Car will have on Wadi Hilwe and the whole of Silwan. This huge transportation project is funded by the Israeli Ministry of Tourism at a budget of hundreds of millions of shekels. It will connect between West Jerusalem (“The First Station” complex) and the Kedem Compound in Wadi Hilwe, Silwan. The Kedem Compound is a planned visitor center that the settler organization ELAD is planning to construct on the main road of Silwan across from the City of David National Park which it operates. Although the Cable Car is presented as a means of public transportation for those wishing to visit the Old City, its station is planned to be constructed on the roof of the ELAD controlled Kedem Compound whereby it will lead all those who use it to ELAD’s Activity Center.”

In response to the Committee’s decision this week to delay approval of the plan, Emek Shaveh said:

“We are pleased that the municipality and members of the committee have shown responsibility and stopped the deplorable attempt by the promoters of the cable car to advance the expropriation of private property before the High Court even rules on the matter. We thank the promoters for disclosing how the cable car will look and who will pay the price for its construction: the cable car pillars will be constructed inside the yards of the residents of Silwan and the cars will sail directly over their heads.”

Handing Another Victory to New Settler Strategy, Civil Admin Issues Expropriation Orders for West Bank Antiquities Sites

On August 31st, the Israeli Civil Administration issued expropriation orders for two archaeological sites in the West Bank located on privately owned Palestinian property northwest of Ramallah. The expropriations – the first of their kind in 35 years – come amidst a new campaign by settlers lobbying the government to take control of such sites, based on the settlers’ claims that antiquities are being stolen and the sites are being mis-managed by Palestinians. 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.

The two antiquity sites expropriated on August 21st are both located next to settlements. The site of Deir Sam’an is owned by Palestinians from the village of a-Dik, which is adjacent to the settlement of Leshem. The Deir Kala’ archeological site is owned by residents of Deir Balut, and is adjacent to the Peduel settlement. For a background on both of these antiquity sites – see Emek Shaveh’s analysis.

Emek Shaveh said in a statement:

“In the past two years we have witnessed increasing pressure by settler organizations on the Civil Administration and the Staff Officer for Archaeology to increase the use of archaeological sites to remove Palestinians from Area C. While in Susya, the pretext for the expropriation was the existence of an ancient synagogue and therefore logical from the point of view of the authorities, the decision to expropriate two Byzantine era sites is unusual and attests to the growing trend of using archaeological sites as a pretext for barring Palestinians from sites in Area C.”

FMEP has covered the recent surge of settler pressure on the government to take control of archeological sites which are owned and/or controlled by Palestinians. A new settler group calling itself “Shomrim Al Hanetzach” (“Guardians of Eternity”) recently began surveying areas in the West Bank that Israel has designated as archeaological sites in order to call in Israeli authorities to demolish Palestinian construction in these areas. The group communicates its findings to the Archaeology Unit in 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. As a reminder, in 2017, Israel declared 1,000 new archaeological sites in Area C of the West Bank. The new group is, not coincidentally, an offshoot of the radical Regavim organization, which among other things works to push Israeli authorities to demolish Palestinian construction that lacks Israeli permits (permits that Israel virtually never grants).

The new group has also raised public alarm about the Trump Plan, alleging that hundreds of biblical sites in the West Bank are slated to become Palestinian territory. The group’s leaders accuse the Palestinian Authority of mismanaging the sites and they accuse Palestinians of looting them. The group is demanding that Israel annex all the sites.

State Attempting to Circumvent High Court Order Against Mitzpe Kramim Outpost

The Israeli government is reportedly working to find a way to circumvent the recent High Court order requiring the evacuation of 12 structures built on privately owned Palestinian land in the Mitzpe Kramim outpost from evacuation. Of the 16 structures in the Mitzpe Kramim outpost, 12 were built on land that Israel has (very reluctantly) acknowledged to be owned by Palestinians. Settlers say that evacuation of the 12 homes will spell the end for the entire outpost community.

Israel’s Reshet Bet radio reported that Israeli Settlement Affairs Minister Tzachi Hanegbi, Binyamin Regional Council mayor Yisrael Gantz, and senior Netanyahu aid Ronen Peretz are working together on a plan to get around the Court ruling. There is reportedly a sense of optimism that the team will succeed because the Israeli Attorney General supports the settlers’ claim to stay in their homes, and because Israeli Justice Minister Avi Nissenkorn criticized the ruling, which was issued on August 27th.

In its ruling, the High Court held that construction of the Mitzpe Kramim outpost was not undertaken in “good faith” because there were “multiple warning signs” that the land was privately owned.

The “good faith” condition for retroactive legalization of illegal settler construction on privately-owned Palestinian land is a central element of the “market regulation” legal principle which was issued by Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit in December 2018 as an alternative to the (now overturned) Settlement Regulation Law. The principle offers a path to grant retroactive legalization to the settlers for what this principle treats as “unintentional” land theft – throwing the principles of both rule of law and the private property rights out the window. Peace Now has a comprehensive breakdown of the legal opinion, including the specific criteria outlining which outposts can qualify under the new scheme. Attorney General Mandelblit estimated that 2,000 illegal settlement structures qualify for retroactive legalization using this principle.

Israeli Using Normalization as a “Cover” to Change Status Quo on Temple Mount

In a special report, Terrestrial Jerusalem, the Israeli NGO led by Jerusalem expert Danny Seidemann, warns that the new UAE-Israel normalization deal echoes a controversial provision in the Trump Plan which significantly erodes the status quo on the Haram al-Sharif/Temple Mount.

Under the current understanding – most recently agreed to by Prime Minister Netanyahu and Jordan’s King Abdullah in 2015 – members of all religions are allowed to visit the Haram al-Sharif/Temple Mount, but only Muslims are allowed to pray there. This policy is consistent with the status quo that has reigned on the Temple Mount/Haram al-Sharif dating back to before 1967, and that has been upheld by every Israeli government since it took control of the area in the 1967 War.

In a little-noted but highly consequential shift in approach, the Trump Plan specifically called for people of all faiths to be allowed to pray at the Temple Mount/Haram al-Sharif. The inclusion of this language in the Trump Plan suggested that the current U.S. administration has embraced and is now formally promoting the agenda of Israel’s “Temple Mount-ers” – hardline religious nationalists who seek to expand Israeli/Jewish control of the site and open it to Jewish prayer.

Subsequently, this shift to embracing a change in the Haram al Sharif/Temple Mount status quo showed up again in the Joint Statement released by Israel, the UAE, and the United States, albeit in language that is somewhere more artful. The statement specifies that only Muslims may pray at the al-Aqsa Mosque, while all faiths are allowed to pray at “other holy sites” in Jerusalem. This formula – which is brand new – clearly suggests that Jewish prayer is to be allowed on the Temple Mount/Haram al Sharif, just not in the Aqsa Mosque (meaning, for example, that if Jews want to enter the Dome of the Rock and pray there, they would be permitted to do so).

Terrestrial Jerusalem writes:

“The cumulative message of the new policies and recent events is clear: if, in the past, the Temple Mount/Haram al Sharif was a Muslim place of worship open to the visits of non-Muslim guests, it is rapidly becoming a shared Muslim-Jewish site, like the Ibrahamiya Mosque/Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron. This is the declared goal of the Temple Mount Movement and the deepest fears of the Muslim worshipers. And it’s already happening. For centuries, a spark on the Mount has been the likeliest cause of an eruption of violence in the Holy Land, and the current trends on the Mount are making just such an event more likely. Events at Al Aqsa invariably send shock waves throughout the region. Should an incendiary incident on Haram al Sharif/the Temple Mount indeed take place and intersect with the sense that Palestinian/Arab/Muslim interests and equities on the Mount are being bartered away, the results might be dire indeed. And now, what is happening on the ground has been enshrined in the founding statement upon which Israel-Emirati agreement is based.”

The report ends with a warning:

“Jerusalem is a very wise and kind city to those treating her complexities with the reverence they deserve. It is a cruel and vindictive town to those who treat those complexities cavalierly, or ignore them. Jerusalem’s millennia old history is littered with the bodies, literal and figurative, of conquerors, prophets and emperors who acting as though Jerusalem a is a private or collective asset to be exploited at whim, or a commodity which can be bartered. One tinkers with Jerusalem at grave peril to all involved, and the provisions of the Joint Statement recklessly tinker with the status quo. As currently crafted, normalization is being used as a cover to allow one of its stakeholders to remold the most sensitive place in Jerusalem in its own ideological image. One need only recall the aftermath of the opening of the Western Wall Tunnel in 1996 (by the very same Netanyahu) and the Sharon visit to Haram al Sharif/the Temple Mount in 2000 in order to realize just how irresponsible and dangerous this can be.”

Bonus Reads

“Stop or suspend West Bank annexation? Devil in the detail for Israel-UAE Deal” (Reuters)
“Israel’s Message to Troops Placing Explosives at Village: Don’t Worry, It’s Combat” (Haaretz)
“Tourist Attractions in ‘Yesha-stan’: A Display of Israel’s Apartheid Mindset” (Haaretz)
“Despite COVID-19 Travel Ban, Israel Lets in 70 Evangelicals to Volunteer in Settlements” (Haaretz)
“Palestinian leaders: Disabled access to Tomb of Patriarchs is ‘war crime’” (Jerusalem Post)
“Researchers: Israel is going ahead with annexation” (MEMO)

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, 2019

Israel Is Playing A Dangerous Game of Politics With the “Status Quo” on the Temple Mount
Report: Netanyahu Predicts Trump’s Will Endorse Annexation Ahead of September Elections
Ministry of Housing Pumping Millions Into Student-Led Settlement Organization in the Jordan Valley
Israeli Govt Welcomes FTA with South Korea, Despite Korean Insistence on Respecting the Green Line
Pro-Settlement Legal Attack Dog Sends Letter to ICC Attempting to Show Why Settlements Are Legal
Bonus Reads

Questions or comments? Contact Kristin McCarthy at kmccarthy@fmep.org.

Israel Is Playing A Dangerous Game of Politics With the “Status Quo” on the Temple Mount

Several recent events and statements suggest that Israeli officials – facing another round of elections next month – are increasingly willing to directly violate the status quo that has, for the most part, reigned on the Haram al-Sharif/Temple Mount since even before 1967.

First – in a shocking and dangerous decision, last week Netanyahu reversed decades of Israeli policy by announcing that Israel would not only allow Jews to ascend the Temple Mount/Haram al-Sharif during one of the most important Muslim holidays, Eid al Adha, but that he would allow Jewish prayer at the holy site (see this Ir Amim brief explaining restrictions on non-Muslim prayer on the Temple Mount) – decisions which fundamentally alter the status quo. These policy shifts – and the resulting presence Jewish religious extremists, many active with the Temple Mount movement – predictably led to clashes between Israeli policemen and Palestinians, who arrived in force after being urged to defend Al Aqsa Mosque by the Muslim Waqf and the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem.

Subsequent to the clashes, rather than tamping down incendiary rhetoric, many senior Israeli ratcheted up the tension by calling for Israel to change to the status quo. Israeli Minister of Strategic Affairs Gilad Erdan said:

“I think there is an injustice in the status quo that has existed since 1967. We need to work to change it so in the future Jews, with the help of God, can pray at the Temple Mount..This needs to be achieved by diplomatic agreements and not by force.”

Erdan’s caveat, that the change must come through diplomacy, was quickly batted down by Jordan, which is Israel’s cooperating partner in maintaining the status quo. In addition to sending a private letter of protest to Isareli officials, the Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi tweeted:

“We completely condemn Israel’s violations of the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque. The occupation authorities’ absurd actions and attempts to change the status quo in occupied Jerusalem will only lead to the conflict being exacerbated and the situation blowing up, threatening international peace and security. We call on the international community to assume its responsibilities and pressure Israel to stop its violations.”

Israeli Foreign Minister Yisrael Katz supported Erdan’s comments, and went further to suggest that Israel can act unilaterally. Katz said:

“It is Minister Erdan’s right to put a suggestion on the table for discussion. He didn’t force it but rather set it down. But the sovereignty is the State of Israel’s.”

Yonathan Mizrahi, the Executive Director of Emek Shaveh, an Israeli NGO focused on combating the politicization of archaeology, wrote:

“The responses by Israeli politicians to the events at the Temple Mount/Haram al-Sharif this week reveal that the Temple Movement has succeeded in both getting the attention of the media as well as receiving newfound support from the right. Smotrich’s backing, of course, is nothing new; in 2015 he submitted a bill to the Knesset that would allow Jews to pray freely at the Temple Mount. Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan, who reiterated his support for changing the status quo, has also repeatedly backed the movement…The presence of Jewish worshippers entering the Temple Mount/Haram al-Sharif during Eid al-Adha signals not only a change in the status quo between Israel and the Jerusalem Islamic Waqf, the custodian of Haram al-Sharif, but also in the way right-wing voters themselves view the Temple Movement, which just a few years ago was considered fringe, even among the settlers. If the right manages to stay in power after these elections, there is no doubt that the status quo will continue to come undone.”

Ir Amim said in a report on the events last weekend:

“Not only does this underscore an acute disregard by the Israeli authorities for the sanctity of Muslim holy days and exclusive Muslim worship rights to Al Aqsa, but it further signals capitulation to Temple Movement demands and constitutes a flagrant breach of the status quo, which affirms only Muslims hold worship rights and Jews are visitors. According to what is implied by the status quo, in such a coalescence of events, the exclusive worship rights of Muslims to the TempleMount/Haram al-Sharif take precedence over the visiting arrangements afforded to non-Muslims.”

Earlier this year, on Jerusalem Day in July 2019, the Temple Mount activists and politicians pushing to change the status quo struck another significant victory – providing an even earlier signal that the Israeli government was no longer strictly respecting the status quo. Terrestrial Jerusalem reported at the time:

“[Israeli] Police initially announced that, as in the past, they would not allow entrance of non-Muslims to the Mount in the final days of Ramadan, Jerusalem Day notwithstanding. They conveyed their decision to the High Court, in response to a suit filed by the Temple Mount movements to grant them access to the site on that day. However, on the morning of Jerusalem day, the police reversed their position, and to everyone’s surprise (including the Temple Mount activists themselves), they allowed 120 settlers Temple Mount activists to enter the Temple Mount/Haram Al Sharif, in spite of the customary practice whereby only Muslims are allowed to ascend the Mount in the closing days of Ramadan. As expected, violent disturbances erupted and the police closed the gates of the Al Aqsa mosque, triggering additional clashes.”

In March 2019, tensions again flared – this time over the move by the Islamic Waqf to re-open Bab al Rahme. Ir Amim explained at the time:

“Seizing on the current unrest, Temple Movement activists are ratcheting up pressure on the government, raising highly contentious demands that have not been publicly aired for years. Framing the reopening of Bab al-Rahma as a breach of the status quo, they have demanded a lifting of the ban on Jewish prayer on the Temple Mount/Haram al-Sharif as well as the opening of a synagogue at the holy site. In fact, Bab al-Rahma was an active site within the Holy Esplanade that was closed by the Israeli government sixteen years ago for reasons that are no longer germane, not because its use constitutes a violation of the status quo. The prime minister himself, following violence at the holy site in 2015, averred that ‘Israel will continue to enforce its longstanding policy: Muslims pray on the Temple Mount; non-Muslims visit the Temple Mount.’ Despite Temple Movements’ misrepresentation of events as a breach of the status quo, the framing has proven effective in garnering support within the right wing media and political establishment. Various members of Knesset are now demanding a tough stance from the government, including re-closure of the Bab al-Rahma site. In a television interview this morning, Likud member Avi Dichter declared that Israel will not allow another mosque on the Temple Mount (in reference to Muslim prayers being conducted inside Bab al-Rahma).”

Reports on August 15th provided yet another suggestion that the Israeli government is no longer committed to respecting the Temple Mount status quo. At the time of reports, Israel was still expecting to allow a congressional delegation led by Rep. Rashida Tlaib into the country, and was apprehensive about the delegation’s plan to visit the Haram al-Sharif/Temple Mount. According to an anonymous Israeli official, the government was planning to:

“make sure there’s apparent Israeli sovereignty over the site, they’ll demand Israeli police go in with them, and not just the Waqf officials.”

Report: Netanyahu Predicts Trump’s Will Endorse Annexation Ahead of September Elections

The Hebrew-language outlet Zman Yisrael (a sister outlet of The Times of Israel) reports that Netanyahu is predicting confidently that the Trump Administration will come out publicly in support of Israeli annexation of West Bank settlements ahead of the upcoming Israel elections. An anonymous source inside the Prime Minister’s office told the outlet:

“Ahead of the elections, something will happen. President Trump will repeat the statements by Friedman and Greenblatt in his own words. It will likely be dramatic.”

The White House declined to comment on the story [not confirming but also not denying] and an official from the Prime Minister’s office called the report “incorrect.” However – as the Times of Israel article notes – two of the three American officials crafting the so-called “Deal of the Century” have already gone on record supporting Israel’s future annexation of areas in the West Bank, and both are prominent, unapologetic supporters of the settlement movement.

Ministry of Housing Pumping Millions Into Student-Led Settlement Organization in the Jordan Valley

The Jewish News Syndicate reports that the Israeli government has granted nearly $3 million (5 million NIS) to the Kedma organization, which pays for young Israelis to live in “student villages” located inside of Israeli settlements in the Jordan Valley.

Kedma founder Tirael Cohen told JNS:

“In the Zionist story, the decision was made to protect borders not through tanks or checkpoints only, but through activist communities living on the border. They are the real security of Israel…borders define who we are spiritually…We are still fighting for our physical and spiritual existence, and now we have the opportunity to create the identity of the state for the future.”

With government funding, Kedma provides highly subsidized housing and a yearly stipend of 10,000 shekels ($2,900) to students participating in its program. The program requires student residents to volunteer 300 hours per year on projects around the settlement, helping establish and grow an Israeli presence there. Kedma has already built 5 “student villages” (housing 30-50 students each) located in the Jordan Valley. Cohen reports that an estimated 70% percent of Israelis who live in the “student villages” choose to live in settlements after completing the program.

Israeli Govt Welcomes FTA with South Korea, Despite Korean Insistence on Respecting the Green Line

According to Ynet news, next week Israel will sign a massive, historic free trade agreement with South Korea that excludes the Golan Heights and West Bank settlements from the deal’s economic benefits.

If signed, this will be the first time Israel signs a free trade agreement explicitly excluding settlements, though the government has signed on to various other bilateral agreements – including 2012 cooperation program with the European Union and a 2017 labor deal with China – which draw a hard distinction between Israel and its settlements.

In drawing that line, South Korea is defying Israel’s ever-escalating campaign to erase the Green Line, normalize annexation, and in so doing eschew any consequences of violating international law.

As context, Israel’s anti-boycott law rejects any distinction between Israel and settlements, and Israel vehemently rejected Europe’s policy calling for differentiation between Israel and settlements. Consist with the Israeli campaign, under President Obama, Congress passed into law two separate bills that intentionally conflate Israel and settlements and make it a priority for U.S. trade negotiators to challenge the policies of U.S. trade partners if they fail to do the same.

Pro-Settlement Legal Attack Dog Sends Letter to ICC Attempting to Show Why Settlements Are Legal

The American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) European counterpart, the European Center for Law and Justice, sent a letter to the International Criminal Court – which has been conducting a preliminary investigation into the possibility of opening a war crimes probe into Israel’s settlement for the past four years – arguing not only that Israeli settlements are perfectly legal under international law, but that Israel is the victim of Palestinian Apartheid policies in the West Bank. The ACLJ is a pro-settlement legal attack group headed by Jay Sekulow, a personal lawyer of President Trump.

The letter, makes three claims:

The land is, in fact, Israel’s.
For the sake of argument, even if you do not believe the land is Israel’s, then it is disputed land – which Israel is allowed to settle.
Israel cannot be said to be occupying the land because the State of Palestine does not exist.

The ACLJ/ECLJ is not the first pro-settlement legal organization to attempt to convince the ICC of Israel’s blamelessness. In March 2019, UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI) and the New York-based Lawfare Project submitted a brief to the ICC outlining their claim that the court has no jurisdiction over Israeli actions vis a vis the settlements.

Unsurprisingly, the policies of the Trump Administration and Israel have aligned neatly the ACLJ and its like-minded allies in their campaign to stop the ICC from opening an investigation into Israeli settlement crimes. On March 17, 2019, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo threatened ICC staff with travel restrictions and financial sanctions if the court opens a probe into Israel. In September 2018, U.S. National Security Advisor John Bolton threatened to sanction the ICC, citing the court’s consideration of the settlement issue as a primary justification for those sanctions. In November 2018, the Israeli Attorney General threatened to launch, according to the Jerusalem Post, a “public legal campaign, aggressively contesting [the ICC’s] jurisdiction” over the issue.

Bonus Reads

“Liberal Zionists, Face the Facts: There’s Already Only One State From the River to the Sea” (Haaretz)
“Engineering a Jewish majority’: Palestinian villagers driven out by Israel’s ‘green’ policies” (Middle East Eye)
“Settlers Defiant After Canadian Court Rules Their Vineyards Aren’t in Israel” (Times of Israel)