Welcome to FMEP’s Weekly Settlement Report, covering everything you need to know about Israeli settlement activity this week.
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**The regular FMEP Settlement & Annexation report is on break, and is planned to return around the first week of August. In the meantime, we are pleased to offer you links to the main settlement-related stories of the past week**
May 12, 2022
1. Massive Expansion of West Bank Settlements
- Israel Advances Massive Settlement Expansion
- Biden Admin Pro Forma Objection Highlights US Impotence/Complicity/Hypocrisy
- Israeli Govt to US: Your Concerns Don’t Concern Us
- Related Stories
2. Jerusalem
5. Bonus read
Massive Expansion of West Bank Settlements
–>Israel Advances Massive Settlement Expansion
Israel advances plans for over 4,000 new West Bank settler homes (Jerusalem Post 5/12/22) [“Israel advanced and approved plans for 4,427 West Bank settler homes on Thursday, ignoring a US request that it refrain from such activity. One outpost, Mitzpe Dani was given final approval as a new neighborhood of the Ma’aleh Mikhmas settlement, at the meeting of the Higher Planning Council for Judea and Samaria when it convened for the first time this year. The council allowed for plans to be deposited that transform the Mizpe Lachish outpost into a new neighborhood of the Negahot settlement and would authorize conservation land in Gush Etzion in an area known as Oz V’Gaon. A 180-room hotel is attached to that project.”] Also see: Israel approves 2,700 housing units in illegal West Bank settlements (The Guardian 5/12/22); Israel authorizes plans for 4,427 West Bank settlement homes – More than half of units got final approval for construction; interior minister hails retroactive legalization of two outposts as a ‘celebration for the settlement movement’ (Times of Israel 5/12/22)
The government is promoting 4,500 housing units in the settlements (Peace Now 5/9/22 – full details, incl: “Among the plans submitted for approval: Retroactive approval of three illegal outposts; a fivefold expansion of the Shvut Rachel settlement south of Nablus with 534 new housing units; doubling the size of the Dolev Settlement west of Ramallah with 454 housing units; 120 housing units in Kiryat Arba next to Hebron; Adding 332 dunams to the Ariel Industrial Zone; and 1061 housing units in Beitar Illit west of Bethlehem.”)
Israel’s new settlement plan is a ‘blatant challenge’ to US, says Palestinian Authority (Middle East Eye 5/7/22)
Israel to approve 4,000 housing units for Jewish settlers in occupied West Bank (Axios 5/6/22)
Israel set to advance 4,000 settlement homes, testing US opposition (Times of Israel 5/6/22)
Israel to approve some 4,000 West Bank housing units next week – A majority of the allotted housing units will be in ultra-Orthodox settlements (i24 News 5/6/22)
Danny Seidemann (Terrestrial Jerusalem) on Twitter 5/6/22: “In 2010, Netanyahu greeted VP Biden in Jerusalem by announcing 1600 settlement units in E Jrslm. ‘It’s only a plan’ we said. 12 years on & the kids living in these ‘only a plan’ homes are real cute. Not to be outdone, we’re getting started early this time” Linked to Haaretz 5/6/22 article – Israel to Advance Some 4,000 West Bank Housing Units for Jews Next Week
–>Biden Admin Pro Forma Objection Highlights US Impotence/Complicity/Hypocrisy
US slams slated settlement approvals: ‘Deeply damages prospect for 2 state solution’ [“Pressed whether there would be repercussions for Jerusalem if it moves forward with the expansion beyond the Green Line, Porter declined to offer any, instead referring to a long-used US talking point calling on the sides ‘to avoid unilateral steps that exacerbate tensions.’”] (Times of Israel 5/7/22)
While welcoming the US State Department’s position on Israeli settlements, Foreign Ministry says it is not enough (WAFA 5/7/22)
US ‘strongly opposes’ Israel’s plan to expand settlements, but Biden’s visit still scheduled (JTA 5/6/22)
US asks Israel to stop settlement construction pending Biden visit (Jerusalem Post 5/6/22)
–>Israeli Govt to US: Your Concerns Don’t Concern Us
Lapid: Israel doesn’t need permission from the US to build in settlements (Jerusalem Post, 5/10/22) [also see: Why is Joe Biden so obsessed with Israeli settlements? (Jerusalem Post 5/9/22)]
Israel should be smarter about settlement announcements [“If the government believes that it should build, then by all means it should build. But do it in a way that won’t embarrass Washington. Especially when it comes to Biden.”] (Jerusalem Post 5/10/22) [also see Tweet response from Danny Seidemann: “No. Israel should not be smarter about settlement announcements. We should be smarter about settlements. By not building any more of them.”]
Israeli officials say cancelation of settlement building would bring down government (i24 News 5/8/22) Also see response from journalist/analyst Dalia Hatuqa on Twitter 5/8/22: “If we don’t commit war crimes, then our coalition will fail is a very convincing and righteous argument”]
Coalition would fall if settlement homes plan not okayed, officials said to tell US (Times of Israel 5/7/22)
Barak Ravid (Axios) on Twitter 5/6/22: “Israeli officials told Biden administration officials that if no new building was approved in the settlements, the government could collapse due to the fragile state of the coalition”. Also see response from the Arab Center’s Yousef Munayyer on Twitter 5/6/22: “We must commit war crimes to keep our coalition together is not really the excuse you think it is”
–>Related Stories
***For first time in 24 years, another local council established in Samaria*** (Israel Hayom 5/10/22) [settler leader Yossi Dagan: “The path to one million Jews [living] in Samaria is more large communities, which will become urban centers and attract masses of people. History has shown that unifying councils under one local council in Judea and Samaria contributes to growth and prosperity.”]
Ombudsman decries lack of funds to protect border towns, settlements from attacks (Times of Israel)
Ra’am pressured to exit coalition over Israel’s settlement expansion plan (Israel Hayom 5/8/22)
From the Settlers to Biden, Israel’s West Bank Plans Try to Appease Almost All (Haaretz 5/7/22)
Jerusalem
Israel demolition in East Jerusalem leaves 35 homeless (AFP 5/11/22)
Israel approves 1600 settlement units in Jerusalem as Bennett says ‘no foreign intervention’ on Al-Aqsa (The New Arab 5/11/22) [Also see: Over 3,000 new homes approved for Jerusalem (5/9/22)
West Jerusalem Israeli municipality demolishes Palestinian-owned building in occupied East Jerusalem (WAFA 5/10/22)
Israel notifies for demolition of two-storey apartment building in Silwan (WAFA 5/8/22)
South Hebron Hills
Israeli forces deliver stop-construction notices against 19 structures in southern Hebron (WAFA 5/11/22)
Israel levels Palestinian homes ahead of settlement approval (AP 5/12/22)
Israel’s High Court Rules in Favor of Forced Population Transfer (+972 Magazine 5/10/22)
EU blasts Israeli plan to evict Palestinian families in occupied West Bank (Al Anadolu 5/10/22)
PA calls for ICC probe into Israeli plan to expel Palestinians from Hebron (Middle East Monitor 5/10/22)
WATCH: Soldiers assault +972 writer Basil al-Adraa [Al-Adraa, who regularly reports on army and settler violence, was beaten while documenting Israeli soldiers near his West Bank village.] (+972 Magazine 5/8/22)
Israeli settlers chop off olive trees south of Hebron (WAFA 5/8/22)
Another Phase of the Palestinian Nakba, With Israeli Court Approval (Haaretz/Hagai El-Ad, 5/9/22)
Across the West Bank
Israel Police lack resources to probe land fraud in West Bank’s Area C (Jerusalem Post 5/10/22)
Settlers uproot olive trees, damage room in a West Bank town (WAFA 5/10/22)
Israel opens ‘settler-only’ road covered in barbed wire in Bethlehem (The New Arab 5/10/22)
Months after 4G service okayed, plodding talks keep Palestinian networks throttled – Officials slam Israeli ‘delaying tactics’ and say Jerusalem is offering barely any cellular bandwidth for Palestinians — even as it expands Israeli networks in settlements (Times of Israel 5/10/22)
Palestinians Wounded by Israeli Soldiers’ Rubber-coated Bullets After Reporting Settler Attack [“Three Palestinian family members say Israeli settlers hurled stones at their house and beat them. Soldiers called to the scene used riot control gear, leaving the three hospitalized”] (Haaretz 5/9/22)
Settlers attack vehicles east of Hebron (WAFA 5/8/22)Settlers torch a junk car business north of Hebron (WAFA 5/8/22)
Palestinian shepherd assaulted, wounded by settlers south of Hebron (WAFA 5/6/22)
Israeli settlers attack Palestinian vehicles with stones near Bethlehem (WAFA 5/6/22)
Israeli settlers torch vehicles, vandalize property in West Bank (WAFA 5/6/22)
Israeli settlers chop off trees, embark on a new outpost in West Bank (WAFA 5/5/22)
Israeli authorities expropriate 22,000 dunums of land near Jericho (WAFA 5/5/22)
Bonus Read
A Palestinian Family Is Brutally Attacked by Settlers, Then Interrogated by Police (Haaretz 5/6/22)
“Dozens of settlers swooped down on a Palestinian family tending its olive grove, throwing stones and beating them. Three Palestinians were wounded; the eldest remains hospitalized. When the family filed a complaint, they were interrogated for allegedly throwing rocks.”