Welcome to FMEP’s Weekly Settlement Report, covering everything you need to know about Israeli settlement activity this week.
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November 8, 2024
- Givat Hamatos Expansion Plan to Advance
- MK Sukkot Introduces Bill to Legalize All Outposts
- Settlers Lead Pogrom in al-Bireh
- Mapping the Settler-Led Expulsions of 50+ Palestinian Communities Since 2022
- Settlers Rejoice Over U.S. Election Results
- Netanyahu Appoints Kahanist Settler as New Ambassador to the U.S.
- Bonus Reads
Givat Hamatos Expansion Plan to Advance
Ir Amim reports the Jerusalem District Court was scheduled to meet on November 5th (coinciding with the U.S. presidential election) to advance a highly controversial plan to expand the Givat Hamatos settlement in East Jerusalem (called the “Hebron Road”). The outcome of hte meeting has not been reported at the time of publication, though Ir Amim expected the Committee to discuss and dismiss objections to the plan, advancing it to the final approval stage.
The plan to expand Givat Hamatos calls for 3,500 new settlement housing units in addition to 1,300 hotel rooms to be built on the eastern slopes of the settlement. This plan will double the number of housing units in the Givat Hamatos settlement and increase its land mass by 40%. Further, the new settlement will be built on a strategic strip of land that will expand the area of Givat Hamatos eastward, connecting it with another new settlement plan – the “Lower Aqueduct Plan.” These plans ultimately create a string of settlements — spanning from Gilo to Givat Hamatos to Har Homa — that, together with the planned “Givat HaShaked” settlement to its north, completely encircle the East Jerusalem Palestinian neighborhood of Beit Safafa with Israeli settlement construction.
Ir Amim comments:
“Currently under construction, Givat Hamatos is the first new settlement to be built in East Jerusalem in over 20 years. These two plans along with concurrent settlement advancements in the area are cumulatively sealing-off East Jerusalem’s southern border from Bethlehem and the southern West Bank, while creating more contiguity with the Gush Etzion settlements. Rather than utilizing these plans to address the acute housing needs of the local Palestinian population, they are instead intended for Jewish Israelis despite the land’s proximity to Palestinian neighborhoods, including Beit Safafa, which is being encircled and choked-off by Israel settlements.”
MK Sukkot Introduces Bill to Legalize All Outposts
MK Zvi Sukkot has tabled a draft bill that would grant legal status (under Israeli law) to ~140 outposts across the West Bank. The bill would transform illegal outposts – regardless of the status of land on which settlers built on – into government-recognized settlements within two years, connecting the outposts to all Israeli infrastructure and services – entrenching the presence of radical (and often violent) Israeli settlers on Palestinian land near Palestinian population centers.
Settlers and their allies in the Knesset have been pushing for years for the government to grant formal recognition to outposts. The coalition agreements which brought the current Israeli government into power included a commitment to the full recognition and integration of outposts. The government has done a lot to fulfill this pledge, as seen in the actions taken to legalize the Homesh outpost, the Evyatar outpost, and the Israeli Cabinet’s February 2023 decision to legalize ten of the most isolated, legally complicated outposts. That decision also included approval of a clause that makes the remaining outposts eligible – right away, even as they remain illegal – to receive Israeli municipal services like water and electricity.
Settlers Lead Pogrom in al-Bireh
At 3am on November 4th, a group of masked settlers violently attacked the Palestinian town of El-Bireh (near downtown Hebron) – leaving at least 17 cars on fire and buildings defaced with the slogan, “For Judea and Samaria – War.” The armed settlers shot at Palestinians attempting to stop the pogrom and put out the fires and they shot at an ambulance arriving at the scene. Reuters described the settler’s attach as “one of their boldest raids yet in the area that serves as the Palestinians’ seat of government in the occupied West Bank.”
The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights said in a statement:
“The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) strongly condemns Israeli armed settlers’ attack on two towns in Ramallah, central West Bank, and burning 19 vehicles. This incident follows a month during which settlers carried out more than 180 attacks, primarily against olive harvesters, in an alarming escalation of state-backed violence across the West Bank.
These crimes are part of a broader systematic violence by settlers under the protection of IOF. This violence persists amid an atmosphere of impunity and protection settlers receive within Israel, perpetuating a broader policy of demographic change and entrenching Israel’s sovereignty and grip on the West Bank, as well as furthering the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians…
PCHR condemns settler violence, pointing out that most of it occurs under the protection of IOF, which intervene to secure settlers during their attacks and their subsequent withdrawal while suppressing Palestinians attempting self-defense. Often, no serious complaints or investigations are pursued.”
Mapping the Settler-Led Expulsions of 50+ Palestinian Communities Since 2022
The Israeli settlement watchdog group Kerem Navot has published a new map with aerial photography documenting the expulsion of 50+ Palestinian communities which have been targeted by settler terrorism. The map contains two aerial photos (one before and one after the expulsion) for each community.
The need for such a map came into focus after the Palestinian residents of Ras al-Tin left their land under constant threat of violence by the nearby agricultural outpost called Micha’s Farm. Kerem Navot explains:
“After the expulsion of the residents of Ras Al Tin, we [Kerem Navot] described the event here as unprecedented at that time. What we didn’t know was that this would become a pattern, one that would repeat itself in dozens of other Palestinian communities and settlement clusters in the coming years, reshaping the map of the West Bank.
The “success” of the settlers in Ras Al Tin inspired settlers in other areas of the West Bank to adopt similar methods. During the 15 months between the expulsion of the residents of Ras al-Tin and the massacre on October 7, 2023, five more Palestinian shepherd communities were forcibly removed.
…Even though this violence is primarily carried out by settler gangs, it proceeds without fear or concern for law enforcement authorities. This impunity reflects a clear and consistent policy advanced by successive Israeli governments. Especially the current one, which is more corrupt and racist than its predecessors, aiming to effectively annex increasing parts of the West Bank, devoid of its Palestinian population.”
Settlers Rejoice Over U.S. Election Results
Settlers have been celebrating the election of Donald Trump as the next U.S. President, and Netanyahu was amongst the first foreign leaders to congratulate Trump on his victory. Ben Gvir said in the Knesset that “this is the time for sovereignty, the time for total victory, ” and Israel Ganz (head of the Yesha Council) called for the government to annex the West Bank, posting on X:
“Time for sovereignty! One strong Trump, One Jewish state.”
Mayor of the Beit El settlement, said that Trump’s election heralded “a golden age for settlement” continuing:
“This is an unparalleled opportunity to act with great resolve in the Judea and Samaria region, to put an end to the murderous terrorism here, and to continue Israeli construction widely and extensively in all our territory…This is the time to apply sovereignty to Judea and Samaria and to recognize the region is part of the complete Israel…there will not be two states here between the sea and Jordan.”
Settlers widely hope (and expect) Trump to repeal the Biden Administration’s sanctions against Israeli settlers and settler identities. So far, Biden has sanctioned 14 settlers and 13 settler entities.
Al-Monitor reports that settler leader Yossi Dagan (head of the Samaria Regional Council) has close ties to the Trump inner circle after making several visits to the U.S. over the past few months – rallying Jewish communities in swing states to vote for Trump. Dagan also campaigned in Israel to get U.S. citizens living there to vote. Dagan told Haaretz:
“A great burden has been lifted, a great weight. The American pressure affected everything regarding security and the settlements. I believe that this pressure will stop or weaken. It’s still too early to know what will change, but it’s clear that the Israeli government won’t be able to come and say that there is American pressure.”
Netanyahu Appoints Kahanist Settler as New Ambassador to the U.S.
Prime Minister Netanyahu has appointed Yechiel Lieter as Israel’s new Ambassador to the United States. Born in the U.S., Lieter is has extreme far-right roots in Israel. He has been active in the settlement movement and lives in the Eli settlement. The Times of Israel reports Lieter was one of the first residents of the Admot Yishai settlement enclave in the city Hebron, and two years later he founded an organization to support more settlement growth there. In his youth, he was active in the Jewish Defense League – a designated terrorist group founded by extremist rabbi Meir Kahane.
More recently, Lieter served as a senior fellow at the Kohelet Policy Forum (which has played a hugely significant role in shaping Israel’s far-right legislative agenda) and has published articles calling for Israel to annex the West Bank and dismantle the Palestinian Authority. He campaigned against hte Oslo Accords in the 90s.
Haaretz reports that Lieter is close to David Friedman, who served as the U.S. Ambassador to Israel during Trump’s first term.
In a statement on Leiter’s appointment, Hadar Susskind (CEO of Americans for Peace Now) said:
“Netanyahu has never been subtle, and this appointment is no different. Sending a Kahanist settler to Washington is a clear sign that Netanyahu and his government are moving toward their goal of annexation and doing so openly.”
Bonus Reads
- “DAWN: Sanction Amana Settlement Organization and Its Leadership for Promoting Settler Violence, Seizing Private Palestinian Land” (DAWN)
- “In Masafer Yatta, our very right to education is under fire” (+972 Magazine)