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 19, 2022
1. Welcoming Biden with More Settlements & Land Grab
2. Settler Terrorism Continues, Enabled by IDF Tolerance/Support
3. Escalating Battle Over Key Illegal Outpost
4. America’s Settler Advocates Go on the Offensive
5. Bonus Read
Welcoming Biden with More Settlements, Land Grab, Apartheid
The Minister of Defense approved the declaration of the largest “Nature Reserve” in 25 years in the West Bank [5,445 acres south of Jericho] (Peace Now 5/25/22)
Israel legalises settlement outpost in Hebron (Middle East Monitor 5/25/22) Also see: Israel legalizes colonial settlement outpost south of Hebron (WAFA 5/25/22)
Ahead of Biden visit, Israel launches biggest eviction of Palestinians in decades (Washington Post 5/22/22) Also see: In the firing zone: evictions begin in West Bank villages after court ruling (The Guardian 5/22/22), Israel says this book justifies Masafer Yatta expulsions. Its author begs to differ (+972 Magazine 5/25/22)
Settler Terrorism Continues, Enabled by IDF Tolerance/Support
Israeli settlers assault and injure three Palestinians near Nablus (WAFA 5/26/22)
60 Palestinians injured by Israeli violence in Nablus region [“Israeli settlers stormed the village of Burqa and the town of Huwarah, near Nablus, escorted by the Israeli army, and were confronted by Palestinians.”] (The New Arab 5/26/22)
Israeli settlers set Palestinian-owned vehicle on fire near Nablus (WAFA 5/25/22)
Infant seriously hurt when Israeli settlers spray pepper into his parent’s car in north of West Bank (WAFA 5/24/22)
Israeli forces erect watchtowers at entrances of Hebron-district neighborhood (WAFA 5/24/22)
Army filmed protecting settlers taking down Palestinian flag in West Bank town (Times of Israel 5/20/22)
Israeli settlers continue to raze Palestinian land in northern Jordan Valley (WAFA 5/20/22)
Israeli settler runs over a child south of Nablus (WAFA 5/20/22)
Escalating Battle Over Key Illegal Outpost
Homesh to be evacuated – again [“The Bennett-led government appears to have caved to leftist demands and the fledgling community of Homesh will face another evacuation.”] (Arutz Sheva 5/26/22)
‘Evacuation of Homesh settlement may be final nail in government’s coffin’ (YNet 5/25/22)
Illegal Outpost Must Go, Israeli Minister Says, as Colleague Promises the Exact Opposite (Haaretz 5/25/22)
Right-wing Israel MKs threaten to bring down gov’t if illegal settler outpost is dismantled (Middle East Monitor 5/25/22)
Knesset to vote on repealing Disengagement Law that makes Homesh illegal (Jerusalem Post 5/25/22)
Shaked to do ‘everything’ to prevent evacuation of illegal West Bank outpost Homesh (Times of Israel 5/25/22)
Next coalition crisis? Ahead of High Court debate, Gantz says Homesh to be evacuated (Times of Israel 5/24/22)
Right-wing MKs visit Homesh ahead of Knesset vote to repeal disengagement (Jerusalem Post 5/22/22)
America’s Settler Advocates Go on the Offensive
Blasting Israeli Settlement Construction Will Get Biden Nowhere – Settlement growth in the West Bank is a product of population pressure, not policy. (Elliot Abrams/Foreign Policy, 5/23/22)Jewish Settlements in Judea & Samaria, a.k.a. the “West Bank”: A Legal Defense (American Center for Law and Justice, 5/19/22)
Bonus Read
The New Battle in the Israeli Right’s Relentless War on Palestinians (Haaretz 5/24/25)
“…Between being squeezed off their land, the constant threat of demolition or expulsion, starved of water, vulnerable to rising, brazen settler violence and tired of fighting just to survive, many leave for Palestinian cities or towns – Areas A or B – serving the overarching Israeli political aim: the fewest possible number of Palestinians in Area C.
“But proof of Area C’s towering importance to Israel is the psychological warfare, in recent years, over the truth itself. The most bitterly fought aspects of the Israeli Palestinian conflict have always been subject to manipulation of ‘narrative.’ Lately, Israel’s narrative is that Area C is threatened by – wait for it – a Palestinian takeover.”