Welcome to FMEP’s Weekly Settlement Report, covering major news on Israeli settlement and annexation activity this week.
To subscribe to this report, please click here.
February 7, 2025
- East Jerusalem Settlement Plans to Watch
- Israel Pushing Raze Palestinian Homes in Sheikh Jarrah, Build New Settlement Enclave
- High Court Orders Zanuta Return, Again
- High Court Orders Investigation Into Settler Municipal Councils
- Settler Population Grew 2.3% in 2024
- Trump to Decide on West Bank Annexation In Four Weeks
- Bonus Reads
East Jerusalem Settlement Plans to Watch
Haaretz reports that, with Trump installed in office, the Israeli government is pushing forward at least three settlement plans in the greater Jerusalem area:
- Atarot Settlement – see background here.
- Givat Hamatos settlement expansion towards Beit Safafa – see background here.
- The Glassman Yeshiva plan for Sheikh Jarrah – see background here.
- A settlement enclave plan in Sheikh Jarrah (See below)
Israel Pushing Raze Palestinian Homes in Sheikh Jarrah, Build New Settlement Enclave
Haaretz reports the Jerusalem Municipality is advancing plans for the construction of a new settlement enclave – composed of 312 residential units in 15 buildings – in the heart of the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of East Jerusalem. If enacted, the plan will displace dozens of Palestinian families in the Um Haroun section of the community, destroying approximately 40 buildings, in favor of Israeli Jews.
East Jerusalem expert Danny Seideman writes:
“For the first time since 1967, the Government of Israel intends to raze a Palestinian [neighborhood] in East Jerusalem, displace its residents and build an Israeli settlement in its stead. This is without precedent.”
The land in question was secretly brought under the management of the Israeli General Custodian, a clandestine effort that was discovered in May 2021 by Ir Amim and Bimkom. The land registration procedures were carried out without notifying Palestinian residents or providing an opportunity to defend ownership claims. Legal efforts to halt Israel’s registration of the lands were denied.
Ir Amim researcher Aviv Tatarsky told Haaretz:
“The plan is part of a racist policy aimed at establishing Jewish supremacy in the city and pushing out its Palestinian residents. The new plan being promoted by the government is nothing but a calculated assault on Palestinian presence in Jerusalem. It aims to erase an entire neighborhood and turn it into a settler outpost.”
High Court Orders Zanuta Return, Again
For the second time, the Israeli High Court of Justice ordered the State of Israel to facilitate the safe return of residents to their homes in Zanuta, located in the South Hebron Hills, by February 16th. Residents of Zanuta have been forced to flee from their homes twice now, both times due to the persistent violent harassment and attacks perpetrated by nearby settlers. In the most recent ruling, the Court ordered that Israeli police and the army must provide ongoing and sustained protection to the residents, and the Court ruled the State must allow residents to repair homes and infrastructure that were damaged/demolished by settlers when the residents were absent. In the past, the State tried to coerce residents into permanently abandoning Zanuta by refusing to issue new permits and to carry out demolitions against the remaining buildings that did not already have permits.
The villagers first left in November 2023 after violence escalated dramatically following the events of October 7th. In July 2024 the Israeli High Court of Justice ruled that the State of Israel must facilitate their safe return to the land. Villagers started returning to the area in August 2024 to discover that in the intervening months, settlers have been allowed to enter the area and destroy nearly all of the houses, the small school, and the village’s health clinic. The village appeared ransacked. Only days after their initial return, the village was attacked by Yinon Levy (a settler under international sanctions for his involvement in violence) while the Israeli police and army watched.
High Court Orders Investigation Into Settler Municipal Councils
On February 4th, the Israeli High Court of Justice ordered Israeli police to open a criminal investigation into the involvement of two settlement regional councils in the illegal construction of outposts. The Court made this ruling in response to petitions filed by Peace Now, which documented the alleged involvement of the settlement councils in constructing three outposts: Shvut Rachel, Haroeh, and Alonei Shiloh. Since the petition was filed in 2018 the Shvut Rachel outpost has been granted retroactive legalization by the Israeli government; and, the Alonei Shiloh outpost is in the process of receiving retroactive legalization.
Settler Population Grew 2.3% in 2024
According to data compiled by the pro-settlement advocacy group “West Bank Stats”, the population of settlers in the West Bank (not including East Jerusalem) rose by 2.3% in 2024 – 12,000 individuals. The 2023 growth rate was 2.9%.
The group’s founder, Baruch Gordon, told ABC News that he expects “an explosion in [settlement] construction” during the Trump Administration.
Trump to Decide on West Bank Annexation In Four Weeks
At a press conference on February 4th alongside Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, President Trump said he will announce whether or not his administration will support Israel’s de jure annexation of the West Bank in four weeks. When asked a question by a reporter who stated their support for annexation, President Trump said:
“We’re discussing that with many of your representatives. You’re represented very well… [but] we haven’t been taking a position on it yet…People do like the idea, but we haven’t taken a position on it yet. We’ll be making an announcement probably on that very specific topic over the next four weeks.”
Trump has appointed many officials in his administration who strongly support Israeli sovereignty over the West Bank, including his nomination for U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, and the newly appointed Ambassador to the UN, Elise Stefanik.
During Trump’s election campaign, Miriam Adelson – who donated $100 million to Trump’s effort – reportedly conditioned her funding on Trump’s pledge to support West Bank annexation, though a spokesperson for Adelson denied the report.
Bonus Reads
- “NGOs, Trade Unions, Call on EU to Ban Trade with Israel’s Illegal Settlements” (Human Rights Watch)
- “As part of West Bank offensive, Israel conducts largest demolition in years” (Mondoweiss)
- “Curfews, demolitions and airstrikes: Israel expands West Bank offensive to Tulkarem, Jordan Valley” (Mondoweiss)
- “Israeli Settler Indicted After Opening Fire on Palestinian Family Harvesting Olives in the West Bank” (Haaretz)
- “West Bank? No, Judea and Samaria, Some Republicans Say.” (New York Times)
- “What Just Happened: Trump’s Termination of West Bank Settler Sanctions” (Just Security)
- “Trump’s Gaza plan suggests his pro-settler advisers are in the ascendant” (The Guardian)
Welcome to FMEP’s Weekly Settlement Report, covering everything you need to know about Israeli settlement activity this week.
To subscribe to this report, please click here.
September 27, 2024
- High Court Denies Request to Allow Zanuta to be Even Minimally Rehabilitate Village After Settler Destruction
- Bimkom Report on Outpost Retroactive Authorization
- Israeli Groups Release Report on Annexation
- U.S. Congress Votes to Advance Bill that Labels Settlements As Israel, Greenlighting Annexation
- Bonus Reads
High Court Denies Request to Allow Zanuta to be Even Minimally Rehabilitate Village After Settler Destruction
On September 18th, the human rights group Haqel filed an urgent appeal to the Israel High Court of Justice on behalf of the residents of Zanuta seeking permission to undertake minor construction in order to make the village inhabitable again. Settlers damaged, destroyed, and ransacked every building in the village after residents fled the village on October 28, 2023 under rampant and unmitigated settler terrorism.
In response, the Court said the residents are not allowed to undertake any building in their village because the entire area is an Israeli-designated archaeological site. When Haqel submitted its appeal it had included an expert legal opinion, including an archaeological expert who informed the Court that there is no archaeological obstacle to allowing the residents to rebuild structures to status quo ante. The opinion – which is signed by five renowned Israeli international law experts – goes on to conclude “we are of the opinion that the actions taken by the authorities towards the residents of the village of Zenuta constitute a forcible transfer of the residents from their village.”
In past hearings, the Court has suggested to the residents of Zanuta that in light of their plight and the prohibition on building in their village, they have the option to move to a new area of land approximately 2.5km north, a patch of land that abuts the borders of Areas A and B – – a convenient location for the State of Israel and its settlers who have moved to annex Area C and clear it of Palestinians.
Breaking the Silence said in a statement:
“The case of Khirbet Zanuta holds enormous symbolic importance in that the success or failure of the residents’ return will set an important precedent for many of the other villages that have been forcibly expelled. We urge stakeholders and people in positions of influence in the international community to act decisively, to apply pressure to the Israeli authorities with regards to allowing for reconstruction of the village (with the pre-October status quo as the relevant reference point for ‘new’ construction) without fear of the authorities demolishing homes or confiscating equipment, as well as law enforcement against the violent settlers who are intent on making it impossible for residents to live there.”
Bimkom Report on Outpost Retroactive Authorization
Bimkom: Planners for Human Rights released a report this past February entitled, “Connection to infrastructure and establishment of public buildings in outposts included in legalization processes.” The report dismantles any notion of legality behind the Israeli governments stated plan to retroactively authorize 70 outposts, as announced in February 2024. Bimkom also surveys its legal, planning, and economic consequences. Bimkom writes:
“It [the report] shows that the planning procedure is nothing more than a cover for de facto regularization of the outposts, since in the vast majority of cases the most basic conditions for advancing regularization are not met.”
Israeli Groups Release Report on Annexation
The Association for Civil Rights in Israel, Breaking the Silence, Ofek, and Yesh Din’ just published an English translation of its July 2024 report, “A Silent Takeover: Changing the Nature of Israeli Control of the West Bank.” It’s summary reads:
“The Government of Israel is methodically implementing a strategy designed to achieve the political vision of applying full Israeli sovereignty to the West Bank, while establishing a reality of Jewish supremacy and forcing the Palestinians living in the Area into to the smallest possible geographical space.
Many of the government’s steps alter the face of the West Bank and the structure of Israeli control there, including:
> Appointing MK Smotrich as the Additional Minister in the Ministry of Defense and transferring broad powers from the Military Commander to MK Smotrich
> Approving immense budgets for expanding the Israeli settlements in the West Bank and improving infrastructure and quality of life there
> Retroactively authorizing Israeli outposts
> Declaring state land and nature preserves
> Denying settler violence and not enforcing the law
> Abusing Palestinian communities, leading to their forced expulsion from their homes.
This current government is stripping off the mask that Israeli governments have insofar worn. For years, it presented Israel as a regime in the Occupied Palestinian Territories that upholds the legal obligations incumbent upon it in the West Bank, and whose administration’s decisions are subject to judicial review by the Israeli Supreme Court. The government’s policy now openly seeks to apply Israeli sovereignty and reinforce Jewish supremacy in the West Bank.”
U.S. Congress Votes to Advance Bill that Labels Settlements As Israel, Greenlighting Annexation
FMEP’s Lara Friedman reports that the U.S. House of Representatives has voted to pass a bill that calls for the U.S. to label any/all products from coming from Israeli settlement as “Made in Israel.” Called the “Anti-BDS Labeling Act” (HR 5179) the bill gives a greenlight to Israel’s de facto annexation of the settlements. It passed by a vote of 231-189, with all Republicans plus 16 Democrats voting in favor.
HR 5179 was introduced by Rep. Claudia Tenney (R-NY), who was visited by a delegation of Israeli advocates headed by Yossi Dagan, the head of a settler regional council and longtime pro-settlement advocate. In press coverage of the meeting, Israel Hayom reports that Tenney and Dagan agreed to collaborate on advancing another bill, which Tenney introduced in March 2024, that would mandate the U.S. government to adopt “Judea and Samaria” as official terminology instead of “West Bank.” That bill, according to Friedman, has seen no action since it was introduced.
Opposing HR5179, Rep. Nadler (D-NY) – posted a video on X saying:
“This bill isn’t about combatting BDS—it’s about attempting to green light Israeli annexation of Area C of the West Bank and undermining the Biden-Harris’ Administration’s delicate negotiations to end the Israel-Hamas war.”
Friedman explains:
“As has always been the case in this battle over how to label the place-of-origin of settlement products, the argument behind HR 5179 boils down to: (1) if people know that a product was produced in a settlement, some will likely choose NOT to buy the product, in a decision that reflects their personal opposition to Israeli occupation/settlements; (2) such an action by an individual consumer, as an expression of their own deeply-held values, is a form of BDS and as such is antisemitic, anti-Israel; (3) the U.S. government, as part of its support for its ally Israel, must implement policies that in effect establish special place-of-origin rules for Israel [i.e., hold Israel to a different standard than the rest of the world] that protect Israel/settlements; (4) These Israel-specific rules-of-origin must ensure that U.S. consumers who might want to make an informed decision with respect to purchasing or not purchasing settlement products are prevented from doing so — in this case, by depriving them of accurate place-of-origin data; and (5) Failure to implement/enact policies that in effect prevent US consumers making informed decisions with respect to whether or not they wish to purchase settlements products is antisemitic, anti-Israel, and a form of BDS.”
Bonus Reads
- “The U.S. Must Sanction Israel’s Messianic Ministers – and American Jews Should Welcome It” (Haaretz)
- “Movement and Access in the West Bank | September 2024” (OCHA)
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 20, 2024
- Israeli Supreme Court Orders Immediate Eviction in East Jerusalem, Fears of Mass Expulsion Grow
- Residents of Zanuta Return to Land to Find Destruction, Israel “Offers” Permanent Displacement as Solution
- UN Adopts on Resolution Calling for Israel to End Illegal Occupation of Palestinian Territory
- Blinken Calls on Israel to Changes Rules of Engagement in the West Bank
- Bonus Reads
Israeli Supreme Court Orders Immediate Eviction in East Jerusalem, Fears of Mass Expulsion Grow
On September 10th, the Israeli Supreme Court unanimously rejected a final appeal submitted by the Ghaith family (15 people), affirming the District Court’s ruling to evict the family from their longtime home in favor of the Ateret Cohanim settler organization. The Ghaith family was ordered by the Court to immediately leave their home located in the Batan al-Hawa section of the Silwan neighborhood of East Jerusalem, where 85 families face dispossession (details). Underscoring the struggle Palestinians face in Silwan to remain in their homes and on their land, in addition to the eviction cases threatening mass displacement, Israel is also carrying out an accelerated demolition campaign targeting Palestinians in Silwan over the past year.
Ir Amim reports that since October 7th there has been a dramatic spike in court decisions to evict Palestinians at the behest of settlers, with 14 families having been dispossessed in the past six months – including the Shehadeh family who were dispossessed of their home just one month ago. More – this is the second major case in the past two months that has seen a Palestinian family thrown out of their homes in Silwan – – setting an increasingly entrenched precedent for the cases that are still pending. All of these cases hinge on the settlers’ use of the discriminatory law (the 1970 Legal and Administrative Matters law) and the Court’s continued acceptance of that law as a weapon by which to replace Palestinians with Jews. The law provides a right for Jews to reclaim property that was owned prior to 1948, but abandoned during war. Palestinians are provided no such right and further, as Ir Amim explains, “to the contrary, the 1950 Absentee Property Law enshrines that Palestinians who were forced to abandon their homes and lands in what became Israel after the war of 1948 can never retrieve them.”
Ir Amim writes:
“Although the Israeli government often characterize these cases as private real estate disputes, they are rather part and parcel of a systematic campaign aimed to cement Israeli control over the Old City Basin, the most religiously and politically sensitive part of Jerusalem. These measures are reinforced by a constellation of settler-operated tourist sites, which together, serve to alter the character of the space and forge a ring of Israeli control around the Old City. This creates an irreversible reality on the ground that deliberately erodes conditions for an agreed political resolution on Jerusalem and the rest of the territory. Such actions severely violate the individual and collective rights of Palestinians in the city, while carrying an acute humanitarian impact on the affected families.”
Noting that both the Ghaith family case and the Shehadeh family case (which one month ago concluded wit the dispossession of the family in favor of settlers) have been ruled on by conservative Israeli Justice Sohlberg, Peace Now says in a statement:
“If this eviction is carried out, God forbid, it will be an injustice and a crime against a vulnerable population under occupation in East Jerusalem, leaving an indelible stain on the State of Israel. The government can and must stop the forced displacement of an entire community and the responsibility lies on its shoulders. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) specifically referred in its opinion to the system of discriminatory laws and the Israeli settlement policy in East Jerusalem and determined that it is a violation of international law. Although the matter is political and the legal process is only the tool for its realization, it is important to emphasize that Judge Solberg’s decision stands in contrast to the decisions of other judges in the Supreme Court who have granted permission to appeal in similar cases. It seems that Judge Solberg is using his powers to prevent the discussion from reaching judges whose position is different from his own, precisely two days before the state’s position on the issue is supposed to be given to the court.”
Residents of Zanuta Return to Land to Find Destruction, Israel “Offers” Permanent Displacement as Solution
It has been nearly a year since the residents of Zanuta – a remote herding community in the South Hebron Hills – has been forcibly displaced from the lands under the shadow of continuous settler violence and lack of any action by the IDF to stop the terrorism, which only escalated in the wake of October 7th. In July 2024 the Israeli High Court of Justice ruled that the State of Israel must facilitate their safe return to the land. Villagers started returning to the area in August to discover that in the intervening months, settlers have been allowed to enter the area and destroy nearly all of the houses, the small school, and the village’s health clinic. The village appeared ransacked. Only days after their initial return, the village was attacked by Yinon Levy (a settler under international sanctions for his involvement in violence) while the Israeli police and army watched.
With the legal assistance of Haqel, the villagers submitted a request with COGAT to restore and protect the village’s buildings. Instead of offering that small measure of justice, the Civil Administration responded by “offering” the villagers a chance to relocate their lives to land 2.5km away – land that Israel has declared to be “state land” but land that is adjacent to Areas A and B (not situated solidly in Area C, as the current village is). The letter also stated that the Civil Administration will not permit any new construction in the current village and intends to carry out enforcement against buildings that lack Israeli permits in 30 days.
Haqel issued the following statement in response to the absurd proposal:
“the state is threatening the residents with destruction of the remainder of the demolished building in the village if the residents accept the offer to evacuate the village and move to the area adjacent to areas A and B. There is no doubt that the state’s proposal at the present time, precisely with the return of the residents to their village by order of the High Court after the previous violent expulsion, is intended to formalize and complete the deportation of the residents of the village of Zanuta where the settlers began their efforts to ethnically cleanse Area C of its Palestinian residents. The state ignores any historical and proprietary connection of the residents to the village who have in their possession documents proving their rights to hundreds of dunams of private land in the village and forcing them to be displaced to an area in which they have no property rights and where there are other Palestinian landowners present.”
UN Adopts on Resolution Calling for Israel to End Illegal Occupation of Palestinian Territory
On September 18th, the United Nations General Assembly voted to adopt a resolution demanding that Israel end “its unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory” within 12 months. The resolution further calls for member states to cease transferring arms to Israel that may be used in the occupied lands. Only 14 countries voted against the measure, including Israel and the United States. Kenneth Roth, founder and former director of Human Rights Watch, suggests that:
“The US government’s response suggests a refusal to recognize the new legal reality in which Israel now finds itself….The US government’s response to the general assembly resolution reflected (at least feigned) ignorance of the legal paradigm shift that has occurred. The Biden administration accused the general assembly of “ignoring Israel’s very real security concerns”, but that misses the point of the ICJ ruling. Those security concerns must be met from within Israel, not through occupation.”
While the resolution is non-binding, it provides decisive clarity that the majority of the world (124 out of 198) holds Israel’s occupation is illegal and should end. The resolution’s language is largely informed by the advisory opinion issued by the International Court of Justice some two months ago.
Blinken Calls on Israel to Changes Rules of Engagement in the West Bank
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken called upon Israel to change its rules of engagement in the West Bank after an American citizen, Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, was shot in the head and killed by an IDF soldier while participating in a protest against the Evyatar outpost in the Palestinian village of Beita.
Eygi’s family said in a statement:
“Aysenur, an activist and volunteer, was peacefully standing for justice as an international observer and witness to Palestinian suffering. She was taking shelter in an olive grove when she was shot in the head and killed by a bullet from an Israeli soldier. This cannot be misconstrued as anything except a deliberate, targeted and precise attack by the military against an unarmed civilian.”
The family’s statement helps put the spotlight on the ongoing struggle of Palestinians from the area of Beita to stop the retroactive legalization of a violent outpost, which was established illegally by settlers on a strategic hilltop named Mount Sabih, located just south of Nablus on land historically belonging to nearby Palestinian villages Beita, Yatma, and Qablan. Palestinians have held weekly protests against the government’s plans and the continued presence of settlers in the area ever since – protests which have resulted in no fewer than seven Palestinian protesters dying as a result of the harsh and violent actions by the IDF to quash the protests. Then, on July 8, 2024, the Israeli government declared 16 acres (66 dunams) of land as Israeli “state land” in order to pave the way for the legalization of the Evyatar outpost. The declaration is the result of three years of “work” by Smotrich’s Settlements Administration to examine the status of the land in order to find a way for the state to take control of the land in order to legalize the outpost. The declaration was made one week after the Israeli Security of Cabinet decided in favor of legalizing the Evyatar outpost along with four other outposts.
Blinken said:
“We’ve long seen reports of the security forces looking the other way when extremist settlers use violence against Palestinians. We’ve seen reports of excessive force by Israeli security forces against Palestinians. It’s not acceptable. It has to change. And we’ll be making that clear to the senior-most members of the Israeli government.”
Bonus Reads
- “IDF expands Judea and Samaria security guards authority” (JNS)
- “A plan to liquidate northern Gaza is gaining steam” (+972 Magazine)
- “Annexation, Expulsion and Israeli Settlements: Netanyahu Gears Up for Next Phase of Gaza War” (Haaretz)
- “What Settler Violence Is Doing to Israel’ (The Atlantic)
- “How extremist settlers in the West Bank became the law” (Financial Times)
- “How the Israeli settlers movement shaped modern Israel” (The Conversation)
- “Israel’s Existential Threat from Within” (NYT The Daily Podcast)