Settlement & Annexation Report: December 13, 2025

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December 13, 2025

Israeli Cabinet Approves Smotrich’s Five-Year, $843 Million De-Facto Annexation Plan

The Israeli newspaper Yediot Aharonot reports that Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has earmarked $843million (NIS 2.7billion) over the next five years to expand settlements and outposts across the West Bank, describing it as de facto annexation. The earmark was added to the state budget, which was passed by the Israeli cabinet last week. The budget needs to pass three votes in the Knesset before becoming law.

Among the projects to be funded are:

$70 million to create a land-registration unit, a team of 41 staff which will takeover responsibility from the Israeli Civil Administration and initiate a systematic mapping of West Bank land registrations, transferring those records to a new dedicated West Bank registry.
Establish 17 new settlements;
$300M for new settlement construction and reinforcement;
$93M for outposts being legalized;
Mobile “absorption clusters” of 20 caravans each thatcan rapidly move in settlers to establish new settlements;
3 Israeli army bases to be relocated into northern West Bank Palestinian areas, including the relocation of the “Menashe” brigade, which is a “dramatic” move “intended to strengthen the military and colonial grip on the region.”;
New army roads, armored settler buses, synagogues, and utilities.

IDF Whistleblower: IDF Is Actively Facilitating New Farming Outposts

An IDF officers told a popular Israeli news program that the IDF is fully aware of and helping to facilitate the establishment of new illegal outposts, reporting that the head of the IDF Central Command Maj. Gen. Avi Bluth issued an order that allocates IDF resources for establishing new farming outposts. As a reminder, farming outposts have become a preferred model of outpost growth because they require only minimal settlers with livestock that can take over huge amounts of land, dispossessing huge numbers of Palestinians.

The hand-in-hand partnership with the outposts was formalized by Maj. Gen. Bluth, who was appointed head of the IDF Central Command in July 2024. Previously, the whistleblower claims the army did not know about new outposts until they were set up by the settlers on their own accord. Marking a huge change in policy, Bluth appointed Elitzur Trabelsi as the key coordinator for new outposts, an arrangement described by the whistleblower:

“Trabelsi spares the Central Command chief from having to get his hands dirty. He goes, handles the matter, and gets involved in all of the plans to establish the farms. He tours the farm with the owner, interviews him. After the tour, he involves the regional brigade commander, updates him, sends out maps, and then goes to the command chief for approval – and thus the farm is established with full coordination…

It’s not just tacit coordination. In the division and regional brigade, there is actually an order for ‘establishing farms on the ground.’ It details the forces allocated to secure the farm, how they are deployed and how many caravans are on the farm. He runs a completely organized process…

You can no longer control it, and there’s this cycle: A farm is established, it creates friction, that friction generates more friction, which leads to an attack, the attack leads to the expansion of the farm, and the desire to turn it into a settlement. It’s an event that never ends,” the officer said. “The IDF is knowingly involved in an illegal activity that is not part of its role.”

Following the news program, Peace Now has called for an investigation and dismissal of Maj. Gen. Avi Bluth over this criminality, saying:

“Bluth has turned the IDF into an auxiliary force serving the Hilltop Youth terrorists. He cannot remain in uniform.”

B’Tselem spokesperson Sarit Michaeli said:

“The “Zman Emet” expose provides the smoking gun – in the form of an officer whistleblower – for what we have been saying all along – that the Israeli Army, under the OC Central Command Maj Gen Avi Bluth, is instrumental in establishing settler terror farms. The success of the settler farm model in ethnically cleansing large swaths of land in the West Bank is the direct result of this state support, which takes the form of funding, political backing, military protection and orchestration, & police-granted impunity.”

Israel Announces Plans to Legalize Another 19 Outposts

Andalou Agency reports that on December 11th, the Israeli Security Cabinet approved plans to legalize 19 outposts, including the reestablishment of the Ganim and Kadim settlements in the northern West Bank (which were dismantled by the Israeli government in 2005 along with Homesh and Sa-Nur, both of which have already received government approval to be reestablished). The other 16 outposts to be legalized are not named in current news reports.

According to Ynet, the decision and announcement was coordinated in advance with the United States.

As a reminder, the Israeli Knesset passed legislation repealing the 2005 Disengagement Law in order to clear the way for settlers to reestablish four settlements in the northern West Bank – Homesh, Sa-Nur, Kadim, and Ganim. The IDF then issued a military closure order against three of the settlements, allowing settlers to enter the Homesh area (where settlers had illegally built and continue to run a yeshiva).

Eight Outposts Receive Final Authorization

The Israeli Interior Ministry publicly revealed municipal emblems to eight outposts that the government approved to be legalized, marking the end of the legalization process. In announcing the emblems, Smotrich said:

“We are advancing de facto sovereignty [of the West Bank] on the ground to prevent any possibility of establishing an Arab state in Judea and Samaria.”

Since returning to office in late 2022 (at which time Netanyahu agreed to granting full authorization and state services to all outposts), the Netanyahu-Smotrich government has been advancing the expansion of settlements and the legalization of outposts at an astronomical rate. The Times of Israel reports that: “in total, some 49 new settlements or illegal outposts have been approved for construction or retroactive legalization under the current government. Prior to the tenure of the current administration, which began in late 2022, virtually no new settlements had been approved or outposts legalized since the late 1990s.” In addition to the government’s actions to legalize existing outposts, the government has also fully enabled the establishment of at least 174 new illegal settlements over the past three years according to Peace Now.

The outposts which are now fully legal settlements are:

Sa-Nur: The establishment of a boundary for the Sa-Nur settlement is the culmination of years of agitation by settlers and eager support from Israeli officials to re-establish settlements which the government dismantled in 2005.
Ahiya: The Ahiya outpost received initial government approval in March 2024, when it was included in the expanded borders of the nearby Shilo settlement in the central West Bank. Ahiya is located in an string of settlements that are designed to form an uninterrupted corridor of Israeli control connecting sovereign Israel to the Ariel settlement, through the isolated Shiloh Valley settlements, all the way to the Jordan Valley. In so doing, it will completely bisect the northern part of the West Bank.
Haresha: Located east of Ramallah and surrounded by privately owned Palestinian land, the Israeli government has successfully used the Haresha outpost as a test case for new legal tools to justify the expropriation of privately owned Palestinian land in order to retroactively legalize outposts.
Adei Ad: Located in the Shiloh Valley, the Israeli government announced its plan to retroactively legalize the Adei Ad outpost in August 2018 by expanding the borders of the nearby Amichai settlement (a settlement which was established as a reward to settler law-breakers who evacuated from the unauthorized Amona outpost). The Adei Ad outpost has been a source of violent settlers launching attacks on nearby Palestinian communities, including Turmus Ayya.
Shvut Rachel: Located in the Shiloh Valley, the Israeli government expanded the boarders of the nearby Shilo settlement in order to legalize the Shvut Rachel outpost.
Tel Menashe: located located on the tip of the northern West Bank, inside the “seam zone” between the 1967 Green Line and the Israel separation barrier.
Migron: located south east of Ramallah.
Nofei Prat: located east of Jerusalem.

Netanyahu Denies Report He Ordered 14 Outposts to be Dismantled

On December 6th, Israeli Channel 12 news reported that at a recent security meeting Prime Minister Netanyahu ordered the removal of 14 illegal outposts defined as “centers of Jewish extremism and national crime”, a report that Netanyahu quickly denied. The order was reportedly aimed at responding to international criticism of and attention to settler terrorism, and U.S. In addition to evacuating outposts, the report also suggested the security cabinet decided to detain ~70 settlers known to participate in violence against Palestinians and Israeli forces, and issue orders banning 30 of them from the West Bank.

Settlers Removed from Four Outposts, Buildings Remain

On December 7th, Israeli Border Police removed settlers from four illegal outposts that were located in closed military zones across the West Bank. Though the settlers were removed, the outposts – which are not named in reports – have not been dismantled and no buildings were demolished – the IDF even denied that any outposts were “evacuated”, insisting that the army was just enforcing closed military zone orders.

Israel Approves 764 New Settlement Units

On December 10th the Israeli Higher Planning Council gave final approval for the construction of 764 in three settlements across the West Bank, in addition to depositing a plan for public review for 1 additional unit in the Eli settlement.

The final approvals were granted for:

Beitar Illit: 230 new settlement units
Hashmonaim: 478 new settlement units. Hashmonaim located in the northern West Bank just over the Green Line near the Israeli town Mod’in. Over half of the residents of the Hashmonaim settlement are American settlers from New York.
Givat Zeev: 56 new settlement units

Smotrich touted the fact that 51,370 new settlement units have been approved by the Higher Planning Council since his takeover of most municipal powers in the West Bank Area C.

Construction to Begin on Oz Station, Making Way for Expansion of Nof Zion Enclave

Peace Now reports the Israeli Knesset has approved financing for the construction of the new Oz Station, moving the station from its current location on the border of Jabal Mukaber to a site across the street (where it will become a massive Israeli security headquarters). Moving the police station will allow Israel to significantly expand the Nof Zion settlement enclave, located in the heart of the Palestinian East Jerusalem neighborhood of Jabal Mukaber.

With the approval of a budget for construction, work on the new station is expected to begin soon.

At the time the plan to move the Oz was introduced Ir Amim filed a petition against it, saying that it is an affront to the planning needs of the local community and continues Israel’s systematic, city-wide discrimination against the housing, educational, and service-based needs of Palestinian neighborhoods. Ir Amim further explained how the interconnected plans in Jabal Mukaber will impact Palestinian residents:

“Expanding the settlement towards the main entrance of Jabal Mukabber will infringe on the residents’ freedom of movement and further disrupt the fabric of life in the neighborhood. Prior experience show that during clashes and periods of tension and instability, Israel rushes to impose collective restrictions under the pretext of protecting Israeli settlers.”

The plan to expand the Nof Zion enclave outlines 100 new residential units and 275 hotel rooms in the settlement enclave, and is part of a larger scheme to connect the enclave to the built-up area of East Talpiot – a scheme which would cut deeply into the Jabal Mukaber neighborhood and entrench the expanding continuum of Israeli settlements surrounding Jerusalem.

IDF Uproots Olives Trees in Qaryut to Make Way for Settlement Road

On December 7th the IDF began destroying agricultural land and uprooting more than 500 olive trees belonging to the Palestinian village of Qaryut, located south of Nablus in the central West Bank and surrounded to the south, east, and west by settlements and outposts.

According to Kerem Navot, the IDF is confiscating privately owned Palestinian land and destroying the groves in order to facilitate the construction of a new ring road for the nearby Eli settlement and its satellite outposts. Residents of Qaryut report to Haaretz that the IDF failed to carry out the required procedure in advance of the destruction, and in so doing did not provide an opportunity for the village to submit an appeal against the confiscation.

In addition, residents of Qaryut say that the destruction has exceeded the boundaries of the land Israel recently confiscated via military order, and the IDF has not only uprooted centuries old olive trees but also destroyed the village’s water wells. Residents also say that the military order provides that the IDF remove the trees and replant them elsewhere, but video footage shows the trees have been severely damaged and are not able to be replanted.

Qaryut is surrounded by six settlements and has been the target of frequent violent attacks, which have continued to escalate in the wake of a new illegal outpost that settlers installed nearby in January 2025. Dror Etkes, founder of the anti-settlement watchdog group Kerem Navot, has documented the explained the terrible situation facing Qaryut saying, “What has been happening in the past few days in the Krayot is yet another example from which we can learn how the monster of settlement and land plunder operates in the West Bank.”

Settlers Enter Gaza & Ministers Press for Gaza Hanukkah Ceremony

Dozens of settlers crossed into Gaza on December 10th in an effort to advance their campaign to build Israeli settlements there. The group, which documented their activities, attempted to plant trees, declaring in a video “all of the Land of Israel is ours.” The IDF detained the group and transferred them back to Israeli police.

Meanwhile, a group of 11 Israeli Ministers and 21 MKs signed a letter to Defense Minister Katz urging him to allow settlers to raise the Israeli flag at the site of a former Gaza settlement Nisanit to mark the upcoming Hanukkah holiday. An anonymous source told The Times of Israel that Minister Katz is unlikely to approve the event. The letter read:

“It is time to proudly affirm that Gaza is part of the Land of Israel, belongs exclusively to the Jewish people, and must therefore immediately become part of the State of Israel….We request an authorization for this event, which is essentially intended to hoist the Israeli flag over the ruins of the town of Nisanit.”

Massive Delegation of U.S. Evangelicals Call for Israeli Annexation of the West Bank

Israel paid for a group of nearly 1,000 American Evangelicals to come to Israel, where the group appears to have been asked and trained to advocate for Israel’s annexation of the West Bank vis a vis Trump and U.S. Congress. The group is being touted as the larges delegation of Christian leaders to visit Israel.

The leaders of the trip was Mike Evans, who is the founder of Jerusalem’s Friends of Zion Museum, and who served on President Donald Trump’s evangelical advisory committee in his first term. Speaking the the group at the Shilo settlement, Evans addressed President Trump and VP Vance, referring to a Bible in his hand Evans said:

“This is more important than you. This is more important than me. This is the word of God, and it’s the reason the president is the president because we mobilized behind him, and we love him. But you said something that is not accurate. You said that the policy of the administration is that the West Bank will not be annexed by Israel. Mr. Vice President, we love you, and we love America, but the policy of the God who birthed America and the policy of the God who gave these people this land is in fact that Judea and Samaria is Bible land. Eighty percent of Bible stories come out of Judea and Samaria. So don’t pressure Israel to give illegal, radical Islam Jew-haters Judea and Samaria.”

Briefing the group, the head of a Benaymin settler regional council Yisrael Gantz names the delegation as “ambassadors of Judea and Samaria,” asking them:

“Guys, please help us with your representatives in D.C.. Applying Israeli law here is the justice of God. We didn’t take anyone else’s land. We came here because God sent us here, and we have to complete his mission. We will do it together.”

On December 10th, the Foriegn Affairs Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives held a hearing entitled, “Understanding Judea and Samaria: Historical, Strategic, and Political Dynamics in U.S.–Israel Relations” (video). As reported by FMEP’s Lara Friedman in her weekly Legislative Round Up (subscribe):

“Witnesses were: Eugene Kontorovich, Heritage Foundation/Kohelet Forum (statement); Morton Klein, Zionist Organization of America (statement); and Jon Alterman, CSIS (statement) [Center for International Policy’s Matt Duss trenchantly observed on X: “A great demonstration of what “diversity” means in hearings on Israel-Palestine: Zionist, batshit right wing Zionist, and an actual Israeli settler. Imagine a hearing on the history and political dynamics of eastern Ukraine featuring only Russian or pro-Russian witnesses.“]

For details of this hearing — which offered a window into just how deep into Greater Israel, anti-Palestinian, fact-challenged crazy-land some people in this Congress and on this Committee are — watch it for yourself. One note: at around 1:25:30 in the hearing, Rep. Fine (R-FL) launches into a speech alleging the existence of apartheid in the West Bank, based on the fact that when he was traveling there he encountered a sign reading “Jews May Not Enter.” Fine goes on to suggest that these signs represent a Palestinian Authority policy of preventing Jews from accessing certain areas. Of course, Fine knows – or should know, since he presents himself as an expert on all things related to Israel and the West Bank, as does (or should, Mort Klein, who does not correct Fine’s mistake) – that this sign (and the many others like it, placed at the entrance to Palestinian cities and villages across the West Bank), was produced and placed there BY THE GOVERNMENT OF ISRAEL, reflecting an ISRAELI policy that makes it illegal for Israeli citizens to enter Area A of the West Bank [note that Fine is also incorrect in alleging the signs say anything about “Jews.” The signs refer in Hebrew to “Israelis” and in Arabic and English to “citizens of Israel”; Jews who are not citizens of Israel can and do travel into these areas; Israeli citizens who choose to enter these areas are breaking Israeli law, which in the case of settlers goes unpunished, and in the case of Israelis human rights activists, can be one of the many pretexts for Israeli authorities use to detain and/or ban them from the areas]. If Fine has an issue with these signs, it should be with the government of Israel, not with Palestinians. Some receipts: here, here, here.”

Adalah: Israel Has Passed 30 New Apartheid Laws Since October 7th

Adalah published a new report entitled, “Post-7 October: A New Wave of Anti-Palestinian Israeli Laws.” The report analyzes a wave of Israeli laws passed after October 7, 2023 that, collectively and by design, entrench segregation and discrimination against Palestinians living under Israeli control (in Israel, East Jerusalem and the West Bank).

The report details thirty laws that have been enacted, including:

laws that restrict the freedom of movement, thought, expression, and protest;
Laws that infringe on family reunification and change residency and citizenship access;
Laws that undermine due process and prisoners’ rights; and more.

Adalah writes in conclusion:

“A legal system organized along ethnic lines that denies fundamental rights to a racial group constitutes a crime under the 1973 Apartheid Convention. The laws analyzed in this report demonstrate the entrenchment of a dual legal regime which privileges Jewish Israelis by design, while systematically violating the rights of Palestinians. However, unlike regimes of segregation and racial or ethnic supremacy known throughout history, such as apartheid in South Africa, Jim Crow in the United States, or the Protestant Ascendancy regime in Ireland from the 17th to the early 19th century, where identity-based criteria (ethnic, racial, religious, etc.) were explicitly enshrined in law, most of the legislation examined in this report uses neutral language that, in practice, operates as proxies for ethno-national identity, systematically targeting Palestinians…

Taken together, the body of laws passed over the past two years indicate that the Israeli legislature is acting without restraint to impose far-reaching restrictions on Palestinians while further entrenching infringements of their rights. In doing so, the Knesset has and continues to ingrain recognition of Jewish citizens as the sole collective entitled to the full spectrum of individual and collective rights, and to further codify in Israeli law a regime of Jewish ethno-national supremacy, as explicitly and constitutionally enshrined in the 2018 Jewish Nation-State Law.”

Israel Human Rights Groups Issue “State of the Occupation” Report

In it’s third report, a coalition of twelve Israeli human rights organizations have published a sweeping and comprehensive report on human rights violations resulting from Israel’s 58-year occupation of East Jerusalem and the West Bank as well as its current war on Gaza.

The authors urge:

“Public discourse surrounding the injustices of the occupation and the grave crimes associated with it is at best absent, and often violent and inflammatory. Crimes are rarely investigated by military or civilian law enforcement. In the absence of a resolute systemic response, there is little to prevent these wrongs from escalating, as evidenced by the continued destruction of infrastructure and buildings in Gaza even during the ceasefire, and the rampant violence in the West Bank.

The information presented in this report was rigorously gathered, verified, and cross-checked through sustained efforts. It is difficult to read and absorb. Still, we hope you will engage with it and join us in calling for action and for redressing the injustices it exposes.”

Bonus Reads

More on Sebastia:
- “Israel preparing largest ever act of ‘archeological cleansing’ in West Bank” (+972 Magazine, 12/11/2025)
- “An ancient Palestinian town in the West Bank may soon no longer exist – because Israel plans on stealing it” (Mondoweiss, 12/12/2025)
“New Israeli settlement in West Bank town near Bethlehem threatens the Christian presence in Palestine” (Mondoweiss, 12/11/2025)
“Knesset to Debate New NGO Bill, Seen as Targeting Israeli Human Rights Organizations” (Haaretz, 12/11/25)
“I used to report from the West Bank. Twenty years after my last visit, I was shocked by how much worse it is today” (The Guardian, 12/11/25)

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

November 21, 2025

Israel Announces Seizure of Sebastia Archaeological Site
Settlers Establish New Outpost Near Bethlehem
IDF Raids Bedouin Village in Advance of Settlement Expansion
Settlers Terrorize Palestinians After IDF Dismantles Illegal Outpost
State-Backed Settler Terrorism This Week
Human Rights Watch: Not Just Gaza – Israel Committing War Crimes in the West Bank
Bonus Reads

Israel Announces Seizure of Sebastia Archaeological Site

On November 19th the Israeli government announced it will expropriate a large amount of privately owned Palestinian land (445 acres, 1,800 dunams) surrounding and including the Sebastia archaeological site, located in the northern West Bank, in order to bring it under Israeli control and to develop the site into a major tourist attraction. The Israeli government has already allocated 30 million shekels ($9.24 million) to the development of the Sebastia site.

Emek Shaveh said in a statement:

“Under the guise of concern for heritage, the government is investing tens of millions of shekels in turning heritage sites into weapons of dispossession and annexation. The intention to expropriate private land is anything but preservation; its purpose is to establish a tourism settlement that will detach Sebastia’s heritage from the town and Judaize the area through the tourists who visit the site.”

The government’s plan will unilaterally seize land from the villages of Burqa and Sebastia, land in Area C which the Israeli government recognizes as lawfully owned by Palestinians, some of which is cultivated olive groves. The government is nonetheless carrying out the expropriation on the basis of an administrative order for antiquities. Emek Shaveh says Sebastia will be the fifth and most significant archaeological site expropriated by Israel since 1967, and Peace Now provides the receipts.

Along with dispossessing Palestinian landowners, Israel’s plans for the area will devastate the Palestinian tourism industry built around the site, which under Israeli control will be developed not for the benefit of Palestinians but for the Israeli tourism industry and settlers. Tellingly, the Israeli government has already begun renovating a nearby railway station – the Masoudia station – into a tourist site (a settlement) and planning a new access road to the site that bypasses the Palestinian village of Sebastia.

Emek Shaveh explains:

“The intention is clear – to sever the ancient site of Sebastia from the Palestinian historic town of Sebastia, connect the site to Road 60 and turn the site into a settler-led tourist attraction (similar to the City of David in Silwan, East Jerusalem). This development follows government decision 491 (May 2023), which allocates 32 million NIS to develop what Israeli authorities call the “Shomron (Samaria) National Park” in a plan that entails massive development of the site, including a visitors’ centre, a parking lot, and a fence which will separate the acropolis from the rest of the town.”

Peace Now explains:

“The Sebastia case is especially unusual because the expropriation targets an archaeological site that has long served as an economic, cultural, and tourism anchor for residents of Sebastia and the surrounding area, and that has been open to the public. Around the site are souvenir shops and restaurants, and in Sebastia itself, many residents earn their living from guiding visitors and renting rooms to tourists. The Sebastia site lies inside the village, among residents’ homes. The expropriation concerns the western part of the site, an area with fewer homes and surrounded by olive groves.” And on the railway station settlement site, Peace Now says: “Turning the Masoudia train station into a tourist site is, in fact, the establishment of a new settlement. This is not a heritage site—it’s part of a deliberate government plan to plant settlements deep inside a densely populated Palestinian area between Nablus and Jenin. These projects will increase the security burden, deepen the occupation, and advance annexation. The only ‘heritage’ being promoted here is the legacy of lawlessness and brute force championed by the Gush Emunim settler movement, which, then as now, acted illegally, clashed with security forces, and imposed facts on the ground for which the State of Israel continues to pay a heavy price to this day.”

Peace Now said in a statement:

“The Israeli government’s drive for dispossession and annexation knows no limits, and it is prepared to violate international law openly to pursue it. This is part of a broader effort to take control and expand settlements in areas northwest of Nablus that Israel evacuated during the disengagement. Sebastia is a heritage site located inside a Palestinian village, part of its history and part of a future Palestinian state. Under the Oslo Accords, signed by Israel, it should have been transferred to Palestinian administration long ago. Israeli greed harms not only the landowners, but also the prospect of a peaceful solution that upholds the rights and heritage of both peoples.”

Settlers Establish New Outpost Near Bethlehem

The chairman of the local Etzion settler council, Yaron Rosenthal, proudly and publicly announced the establishment of a new outpost, called “Shdema”, on a hilltop near the Palestinian town of Beit Sahour east of Bethlehem. This new outpost is not a wild and haphazard effort by fringe radical settlers to build an outpost, but the organized and intentional work of settler leadership to establish a permanent new settlement. Tractors appeared overnight to clear and level the land, and several caravans were precipitously moved onto the site with three settler families reported to have moved in.

In his announcement, Rosenthal made it clear that the outposts came in response to the IDF’s evacuation of another outpost in Gush Etzion. The outpost was also built days after a Palestinian attack targeting Israelis at the nearby Gush Etzion junction, where one person was killed and three were injured by masked, knife-wielding assailants.

Peace Now has filed a complaint demanding an investigation into the Gush Etzion Regional Council’s involvement in the illegal construction of the outpost, and said in a statement:

“The new outpost is intended to choke the Palestinian town of Beit Sahour and block its development. There is no limit to the settlers’ audacity in establishing outposts and creating facts on the ground, while using public funds and denying Israel the chance for a future of peace and two states.”

Settlers have spent almost two decades trying to build a settlement at this exact site, an area called Ush Ghurab. The site was an Israeli military base but was vacated in the early 2000s. The U.S. then initiated a plan to fund and build a children’s hospital (with services aimed at Palestinians), but the plan was ultimately scuttled under settler pressure and the Israeli government build a new military post at the site.

IDF Raids Bedouin Village in Advance of Settlement Expansion

Ir Amim reports the Israeli police and soldiers raided the bedouin village of Kasarat living near the site of the future E-1 settlement. A group of 150 soldiers reportedly invaded the village in the early morning hours, forcing residents out of their homes while they proceeded to ransack each residence and beat several men. Residents reported extensive damage and stolen cash after the soldiers left.

Israeli Police have said the raid was aimed at finding weapons, though there were no arrests or seizures. Attorney Roni Pelli, who works for Yesh Din, told The Times of Israel that holding an entire village hostage is a form of collective punishment, and illegal under international law.

Ir Amim warns:

“The scale and violent nature of this unprovoked military action against an entire village is unprecedented in this area and could further indicate Israel’s intent to uproot the Palestinian communities living on lands marked within the E1 corridor….

Ir Amim has long stressed the danger of expulsion for vulnerable Palestinian communities in and around E1, whose land is directly threatened by the plan’s reemergence and approval. We have likewise warned that expulsions could be the first step taken by Israeli authorities following the plan’s approval. In addition to the severe geopolitical ramifications of the E1 settlement plans for the prospects of a viable Palestinian state, the most immediate repercussions are already unfolding on the ground for Palestinian communities.

This military action comes as the District Court reviews several petitions filed against the approval of the E1 settlement plans, including a petition initiated by Ir Amim together with partner organizations, Bimkom and Peace Now. It also follows the court’s recent rejection of a request for an injunction. The raid on the Kasarat community suggests that the authorities intend to continue pushing forward with the E1 plans at full speed, despite the petitions still under review.”

Settlers Terrorize Palestinians After IDF Dismantles Illegal Outpost

On November 17th, Israeli security forces dismantled the violent illegal outpost of Zur Misgavi (aka Givat Hatilim), located near Hebron. Attempting to thwart the evacuation, Israeli settlers barricaded themselves in the outpost and proceeded to throw rocks and metal rods, and burn vehicles and tires as the military and police attempted to remove them. Six settlers were arrested. Smotrich explained his support for the outpost demolition by saying he plans to build thousands of new settlement units on the same plot of land and the outpost was in his way.

The demolition of the outpost was apparently carried out at the request of the Gush Etzion Regional Council which raised concern about anarchy in the area and complained about the unauthorized construction.

The outpost evacuation enraged parts of the settler movement and in retaliation, settlers proceeded to terrorize nearby Palestinians communities, conducting violent raids on two towns.

First, settlers attack Umm al-Butm (located at the foot of the Zur Misgavi outpost), setting buildings and vehicles on fire and assaulting at least one women.

Second, settlers attacked Jab’a, setting fire to three homes, three vehicles, and a caravan. Video from the scene is terrifying. Settlers graffitied several buildings, writing “A Jew doesn’t evict a Jew.”

Following the fiery attack on Jab’a, the IDF announced a manhunt to find the attacks, and several high ranking Israeli officials made public statements condemning settler violence.

State-Backed Settler Terrorism This Week

Over the course of the last two weeks more and more criticism has fallen at the feet of the Israeli government, which has long sought to characterize settler violence as a small problem of a few bad apples, absolving the state of its systematic involvement, financing, and encouragement of settler violence. Following the settler attacks on Jab’a and Umm al-Batun and under mounting international pressure to address the problem, Prime Minister Netanyahu made public comments promising “forceful action” against settler violence, but continuing to assert the problem is one of the minority.

Bibi later convened his cabinet and top security officials to discuss how to address settler violence, reportedly to include getting violent settlers to attend educational programs (i.e. no real legal consequences or accountability). Later, Israeli security officials reportedly drafted a new plan to reportedly entails several recommendations including to: to create a special investigative team to handle severe cases; increase military and police deployment in the West Bank; establish 14 security hubs in violent hotspots; expand surveillance networks with new cameras; and increase punishment of offenders to include property seizures, fines and gun license revocations.

In an editorial, the Jerusalem Post Editorial Board wrote that the Israeli government is complicit in the violence, writing: ”The public silence of Netanyahu and Katz and the encouragement of Ben-Gvir point to the only plausible conclusion that the government is part of the problem, not the solution.”

While the Israeli government formulates a response, settler terrorism in the West Bank continues on a daily basis – and no arrests have been reported. Key attacks this week include:

Attacks on Jab’a and Umm al-Bum, as detailed above.
Huwara – On November 20th, settlers conducted a pogrom on the village of Huwara. First throwing stones and molotov cocktails, settlers further escalated to setting vehicles, homes and a scrapyard on fire, resulting in a massive blaze. IDF are reported to have arrested at least one Palestinian journalist who was documenting the attack, but no arrests of Israeli settlers have been reported.
Al-Mirkez – On November 21st settlers used clubs to violently assault Palestinians in the village of al-Mirkez, located in the Masafer Yatta area of the South Hebron Hills.
Luban a-Sharqiya – Settlers torched several buildings.
Abu Falah – Settlers burned an agricultural building and set a home on fire while residents were still inside.
Deir Sharif – Settlers vandalized a plant nursery, destroyed a bathroom fixture showroom, and burned over a dozen cars.
Beit Furik – Settlers raided Beit Furik.
Susya – Settlers attacked an elderly Palestinian man, knocking him off his donkey and requiring hospitalization.

Human Rights Watch: Not Just Gaza – Israel Committing War Crimes in the West Bank

Human Rights Watched published a new report entitled, “‘All My Dreams Have Been Erased’: Israel’s Forced Displacement of Palestinians in the West Bank.” An excerpt reads:

“This report examines the Israeli government’s conduct of Operation Iron Wall from its start in January 2025 through July 2025, and the resulting mass displacement of Palestinians from three refugee camps in the northern West Bank. Human Rights Watch found that Israeli forces committed forcible displacement in violation of the law of occupation under international humanitarian law that amount to war crimes. Human Rights Watch also found that Israeli forces committed the forcible transfer of population and other inhumane acts as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against a civilian population, which are crimes against humanity under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. Israel’s actions also violated international human rights law, which remains in effect in the West Bank…

When forced displacement is committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack on a civilian population, thus reflecting state or organizational policy, it can constitute a crime against humanity. These actions may also be considered “ethnic cleansing,” a non-legal term used to describe a policy to remove an ethnic or religious group from particular areas “by violent and terror-inspiring means.”…

This forced displacement reflects the broader pattern of ongoing rights violations by Israeli authorities against the Palestinian population, including the crimes against humanity of apartheid and persecution.”

Read the full report here.

Bonus Reads

“IDF Blocks Activists From Aiding Palestinian Olive Harvest, Declares West Bank Village Closed Military Zone” (Haaretz, 11/14/25)
“Averting West Bank collapse: How to revive Palestinian politics” (ECFR, November 2025)
“Editorial | In the West Bank, the IDF Only Arrests Those Who Come to Protect Palestinians” (Haaretz, 11/16/25)
“‘Palestinian Farmers Are Fighting to Survive’ Drought and Settler Violence Make 2025 West Bank Olive Harvest Worst in Living Memory” (Haaretz, 11/14/25)

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

November 13, 2025

Mass Displacement & Forcible Transfer in Silwan: Three Families Dispossessed, New Eviction Order Delivered
Boundaries set for 13 West Bank settlements, Including Sa-Nur in Northern West Bank
Israel Delivers Eviction Notices in Qalandiya in Order to Build New Waste Treatment Plant
Israel Grants Tax Benefit to Settlements in “Threatened Areas”
Settler Terrorism This Week
Bonus Reads

Mass Displacement & Forcible Transfer in Silwan: Three Families Forcibly Dispossessed, New Eviction Order Delivered

In the early morning of November 9th, a large contingent of Israeli police forcibly displaced three Palestinian households (14 people from the Odeh and Shweiki families) from their longtime apartment building in the Batan Al-Hawa section of Silwan, paving the way for settlers to immediately enter and take over the properties under police escort. In addition, Israel police also raided the Rajabi family home and delivered a court order rejecting the families’ latest petition and ordered their eviction in 21 days. Peace Now reports the dispossession of the Odeh and Shweiki families is an important, precedent setting event because many other eviction cases were awaiting the outcome and will likely clear the way for many more evictions.

In the past 15 months, at the behest of settlers and the cooperation of the courts, Israel has evicted 9 Palestinian households in Silwan under a systematically unequal legal framework that affords Jews, but not Palestinians, the ability to “reclaim” properties that were abandoned before 1948. A total of 19 Palestinian families have been evicted at the behest of the Ateret Cohanim settler organization, which has waged a widespread campaign to dispossess and replace Palestinians in Batan al-Hawa. Ir Amim writes:

“Although couched in the language of legality, these measures are in fact anchored in a discriminatory legal regime that deprives Palestinians of equal rights and any genuine path to justice. Such actions amount to a form of forcible transfer and a grave violation of international law. With today’s evictions, the threat facing the community of Batan al-Hawa has grown ever more acute. Without urgent intervention, many more stand to lose their homes in the coming weeks and months ahead.”

Further – Ir Amim reports the eviction of the Shweiki and Odeh families happened days before the eviction order was set to take effect, which according to the watchdog “rais[es] serious questions concerning its legal pretext and procedural legitimacy. While the legal basis for carrying out the eviction early remains unclear, it appears to have been intended to mislead and catch residents off guard.”

Peace Now said in a statement:

“This is an injustice and a crime against a vulnerable population living under occupation in East Jerusalem. The dispossession of Palestinians from their homes in Silwan, enabled by the application of the Jewish ‘right of return,’ represents an indelible stain on the State of Israel. The Israeli judicial system has failed to protect the fundamental rights of Palestinians to their homes, effectively endorsing the racist and messianic policies of the current Israeli government. A responsible government would halt the forced expulsions of this community. Tragically, our government demonstrates anything but responsibility in any regard.”

An article covering the totality of struggle over Batan al-Hawa published in +972 Magazine writes:

“Each layer of Israel’s bureaucracy approved the evictions before they were sanctioned by the Supreme Court — often seen as a final check against Israel’s full-blown descent into authoritarianism. ‘The settlers have a presence in every ministry: education, interior, the municipality, they’re all working together from inside the system,’ explained Zuheir Rajabi, who heads the Batan Al-Hawa neighborhood committee and faces eviction orders himself. ‘These institutions serve the settlers because, in part, the settlers run them.’”

Boundaries set for 13 West Bank settlements, Including Sa-Nur in Northern West Bank

Israeli occupation authorities have formally approved boundaries for 13 new settlements across the West Bank Area C, including the re-establishment of the Sa-Nur settlement in the northern West Bank which the Israeli government dismantled in 2005. This announcement paves the way for outposts to be legally transformed into fully authorized settlements and expanded.

The new settlements are:

Sa-Nur: The establishment of a boundary for the Sa-Nur settlement is the culmination of years of agitation by settlers and eager support from Israeli officials to re-establish settlements which the government dismantled in 2005.
Ahiya: The Ahiya outpost received initial government approval in March 2024, when it was included in the expanded borders of the nearby Shilo settlement in the central West Bank. Ahiya is located in an string of settlements that are designed to form an uninterrupted corridor of Israeli control connecting sovereign Israel to the Ariel settlement, through the isolated Shiloh Valley settlements, all the way to the Jordan Valley. In so doing, it will completely bisect the northern part of the West Bank.
Haresha: Located east of Ramallah and surrounded by privately owned Palestinian land, the Israeli government has successfully used the Haresha outpost as a test case for new legal tools to justify the expropriation of privately owned Palestinian land in order to retroactively legalize outposts.
Adei Ad: Located in the Shiloh Valley, the Israeli government announced its plan to retroactively legalize the Adei Ad outpost in August 2018 by expanding the borders of the nearby Amichai settlement (a settlement which was established as a reward to settler law-breakers who evacuated from the unauthorized Amona outpost). The Adei Ad outpost has been a source of violent settlers launching attacks on nearby Palestinian communities, including Turmus Ayya.
Shvut Rachel: Located in the Shiloh Valley, the Israeli government expanded the boarders of the nearby Shilo settlement in order to legalize the Shvut Rachel outpost.
Yair’s Farm: located southwest of Nablus.
Tel Menashe: located located on the tip of the northern West Bank, inside the “seam zone” between the 1967 Green Line and the Israel separation barrier.
Maoz Tzvi: located in the northern West Bank.
Migron: located south east of Ramallah.
Nofei Prat: located east of Jerusalem.
Givonit
Ir Hatamarim: located near Jericho.
Gadi: located in the Jordan Valley.

Celebrating the news, Smotrich said:

“The decision on the new boundaries provides stability, enables planning and development, and establishes the settlement blocs in the heart of the country. This is Zionism at its best, this is national responsibility, and this is the historical justice of the generation of children who are returning to build their country.”

Israel Delivers Eviction Notices in Qalandiya in Order to Build New Waste Treatment Plant

Peace Now reports the Israel Land Authority has ordered the eviction of dozens of Palestinians and demolition of two apartment buildings surrounded by cultivated agricultural land belonging to residents in the village of Qalandiya. The dispossession of these families is required by Israel in order to build a waste incineration facility in the area, a facility which would serve . Qalandiya is located just north of Jerusalem, technically within Israel’s expanded borders of Jerusalem but partially on the West Bank side of the Separation Barrier. When the Barrier was constructed it divided the town of Qalandiya and a gate was installed to allow Palestinians to access agricultural land that was on the Israeli side, a gate that was opened by Israeli officials only twice per year.

Earlier this year, Bezalel Smotrich signed a notice re-establishing two expired expropriation orders from 1970 and 1982 that covered the area. The government then approved a plan initiated by an Israeli company to build the waste treatment facility on the land and re-route the Separation Barrier, confiscating even more land, so that the new facility would be on the Israeli side.

Peace Now said in a statement:

“The government’s appetite for annexation and dispossession knows no bounds. As if there were no other place in the Jerusalem area to build a waste facility besides the few remaining dunams left to Qalandiya’s residents after decades of expropriations and fences. This would constitute a blatant violation of international law and basic moral principles to expel residents living under occupation for the sake of a plant serving the occupying power.”

The Israeli human rights group B’Tselem published a 2017 report on Israel’s exploitation of West Bank land to serve as Israel’s garbage dump, surveying several of the 15 Israeli waste treatment facilities (at the time) in the occupied West Bank. The report says:

“The findings presented in this report reveal another facet of the Israeli policy of using Palestinian space and Palestinian residents for the state’s own benefit. As an integral part of its waste management apparatus, Israel – abusing its status as an occupying power – transfers to the West Bank large amounts of waste (including hazardous waste) generated inside its territory. This report presented but a few examples of this practice…Israel has created sacrifice zones beyond its sovereign borders, in the West Bank. At least fifteen waste treatment facilities have been built there to process waste (including hazardous waste) most of which was generated in Israel. Relying on the immense power disparity between the occupying power and the occupied population, Israel has set up a bureaucratic mechanism that allows it to transfer a broad range of industrial, medical and urban by-products from its own territory to the West Bank.”

Israel Grants Tax Benefit to Settlements in “Threatened Areas”

The Israeli Knesset has advanced a bill through its preliminary hearing that, if passed into law, would grant certain settlements a 25% increase in how tax benefits are scored, allowing settlers living in areas classified as “under security threat” a massive tax break.

Settler Terrorism This Week

Settler terrorism continues to reach alarming new heights, as the rate and severity of settler attacks over the past week shows. Not only are settlers targeting the olive harvest and particularly vulnerable communities, like Umm al-Khair, but settlers this week organized a large-scale attack targeted at a significant Palestinian industrial zone. With videos of each attack published to social media on a near daily basis, parts of international media has begun to pay attention to the crisis and lawlessness unfolding in the West Bank. Israeli officials have subsequently made several statements promising to crack down on settler violence, most trying to insist that settler violence is a result of a small number of fringe settlers.

Summing up reality, Israeli news reporter Barak Ravid said plainly:

“In one word: conspiracy. As long as the IDF continues to treat it as a phenomenon of ‘troubled boys,’ Jewish terror attacks in the West Bank will only intensify. This is a terrorist organization. It has political and religious leadership, it has funding (part of it from the state), it has infrastructure and bases, and it has commanders and activists.”

Haaretz Editorial Board writes:

“Such incidents are made possible because the Israel Defense Forces stand by and do nothing to crack down on the violence and protect those under attack. Among the rioters are soldiers in uniform, members of the settlements’ emergency security squads, who exploit the uniforms and weapons given to them for self-defense to attack Palestinians, who only want to harvest their crops.”

With a pointed amount of heat focused on the IDF’s response (and Israeli government data showing the increase in settler attacks in 2025) the IDF has accused the Israeli Police and Shin Bet of failing to act due to pressure from government ministers and lawmakers. The IDF Chief then said he would work towards cracking down on settler violence. Notably, on November 9th the IDF arrested Ariel Dahari for beating an elderly woman (horrifyingly caught on video) during a settler attack on Turmus Ayya two weeks ago. Dahari has a history of violence in the West Bank, was arrested in 2019.

A few of the highest profile settler terror attacks over the last week include:

1. Beit Lid Industrial Zone and Dayr Sharaf: On November 11th a large gang of masked settlers launched a coordinated attack on a Palestinian industrial zone in Beit Lid, seeming to signal an alarming new phase of settler terrorism targeting the infrastructure of Palestinian society in the West Bank. Settlers set fire to and destroyed a factory owned by the Al Juneidi plant, a dairy factory that a major employer and supplier across the West Bank. The attack also destroyed a plastics factory, a large warehouse, the homes of five families, and 10 vehicles (including a large shipping truck). Settlers beat and threw stones at Palestinians on the scene, injuring four.The IDF was called to the scene and, while attempting to disperse the settlers, were also attacked. Out of the approximately 100 attackers, only four settlers were arrested – three of which were quickly released. Later that day, horrifying video shows chaos in the bedouin community of Dary Sharaf, located close to the Beit Lid industrial zone, after settlers set several tent homes on fire.The pogrom on Beit Lid sparked many international condemnations and even the denunciations of a few Israeli officials.
2. Beita: Dozens of settlers launched an incredibly violent attack on Palestinians and journalists on October 8th. The attack seriously injured 11 people including Oded Yedaya, the principal of a nearby art school, who had his jaw and cheekbone broken by settlers wielding clubs and throwing stones. Two employees for Reuters were also injured. Haaretz reports that prior to the attack settlers had pitched a tent in the olive groves belonging to Beita residents.
3. Umm Al-Khair: On November 11th, settlers attempted to enter olive groves belonging to the residents of Umm Al-Khair, a village in the South Hebron Hills that is facing mass displacement efforts by the Israeli state and by settlers. Palestinians attempted to stop the settlers from entering the groves, and when a Palestinian resident called the Israeli police to report the illegal incursion, Israeli police arrived only to arrest the Palestinian man who called in to report the issue, and guard the settlers as they entered the grove and grazed their sheep. Later, several activists were also arrested.
4. Deir Istiya: On November 12th, settlers attacked and set fire to a mosque in the town of Deir Istiya.

Bonus Reads

“Palestinian Teenager Dies in West Bank After Month-long Coma From IDF Tear Gas Inhalation” (Haaretz, 11/12/25)
“Dozens of Dems Urge Netanyahu Not to Raze West Bank Homes, Community Center” (Haaretz, 11/7/25)
“There Is No Cease-Fire in the West Bank” (New York Times, 11/11/25)
“Hundreds of Palestinians in Three Villages Haven’t Received a Permit to Stay in Their Homes” (Haaretz, 11/10/2025)
“This Palestinian Photojournalist Has Long Documented Israeli Violence. This Time, It Nearly Killed Him” (Haaretz, 11/8/25)
“IDF holds wide-scale drill in West Bank” (The Times of Israel, 11/10/2025)

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

November 7, 2025

Tenders Issued for New Neighborhood in Geva Benaymin Settlement
Israel Advances Plans for 1,985 New Settlement Units
Israel Delivers Demolition Notices to Entire Village of Umm Al Kheir in South Hebron Hills
Israel Allocates $12 Million to Deepen Control Over West Bank Archaeology Sites
Settler Violence & The Olive Harvest
Bonus Reads

Tenders Issued for New Neighborhood in Geva Benaymin Settlement

Peace Now reports that on November 4th the Israeli Housing Ministry published tenders for the construction of 342 new settlement units – establishing a new neighborhood in the Geva Benyamin (aka Adam) settlement. The new construction will expand the settlement northward towards the Jaba’ bedouin community, and connect the settlement to an outpost established by settlers in February 2025. Since the outpost was established, settlers have routinely and violently attacked the Jaba’ community.

Peace Now warned:

“Since the beginning of 2025, tenders have been published for a total of 5,667 housing units in settlements – an all-time record and about 50% more than the previous peak year, 2018, when tenders were published for 3,808 units. If the tenders published this year are built, these homes would add roughly 25,000 settlers to the West Bank.”

Israel Advances Plans for 1,985 New Settlement Units

Peace Now reports that on November 5th, the High Planning Council advanced plans for the construction of 1,985 new settlement units across the West Bank.

Since the beginning of 2025, including the plans slated for approval this week, Israel has advanced a total of 28,195 settlement units — setting a record for annual numbers. See Peace Now’s records here.

The plans that received final approval this week include:

133 new units in the Kfar Tapuach settlement, located south of Nablus.
80 units in the Etz Efraim settlement, located south of Qalqilya and on the Israel-annexed side of the Separation Barrier.
178 units in the Ganei Modi’in settlement, located on the Israel-annexed side of the Separation Barrier in the northern West Bank.

The plans which were deposited for public review this week include:

720 units in the Avnei Hefetz settlement, located just east of Tulkarem;
568 units in the Einav settlement, located east of Tulkarem and east of the Avnei Hefetz settlement.
48 units in the Etz Efraim settlement (in addition to the plans which received final approval).
258 units in the Rosh Tzurim settlement, located south of Bethlehem in the Etzion settlement bloc.

Israel Delivers Demolition Notices to Entire Village of Umm Al Kheir in South Hebron Hills

On October 28th, the Israeli Civil Administration delivered demolition notices to 13 structures (including 11 homes) in the village of Umm al-Khair in the South Hebron Hills – a village that is almost entirely surrounded by Israeli settlements and violent outposts. The residents were given four days to appeal the demolition notices, which were issued due to lack of Israeli-issued building permits (the buildings are over a decade old).

These notices come only a few weeks after the Jerusalem District Court attempted to temporarily stop settlers from establishing another new outpost literally next to homes in the Umm Al-Khair.

For an in-depth background of Umm al-Khair is its struggle to stay on its land despite settler and state violence, see Peace Now’s reporting and 972 Magazine’s repository of stories on the village – including several written by Awdah Hathaleen, a native of Umm Al-Khair who was murdered by an internationally sanctioned settler earlier this year (a settler who is facing no legal repercussions for the murder).

Israel Allocates $12 Million to Deepen Control Over West Bank Archaeology Sites

Emek Shaveh reports that on October 26th the Israeli government allocated an additional $12million (NIS 33.6 million)to renovate and strengthen Israeli control over archaeological sites in the West Bank. The government had previously allocated $33 million (NIS 120 million) in 2023 to the same project as well as a special budget of NIS 32 million for the Sebastia site alone.

Israeli Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu said: ““will not wait for the formal imposition of sovereignty over the West Bank.” As a reminder, in July 2024 the Israeli government gave the Civil Administrative sweeping powers over archaeological sites in Area B of the West Bank.

Emek Shaveh said in a statement:

“The government decision to redirect funds from other offices to sites in the West Bank reflects the ministers’ true priorities. At a time when health, welfare, and education systems have been severely impacted by two years of war and soaring defence spending, the government is diverting critical resources to advance the settlers’ long-standing agenda: expanding control over territory through archaeology.

By declaring more areas as archaeological sites “off limits” to Palestinians and developing them as tourist attractions to draw mainstream Israeli visitors into the settlements, the government is instrumentalising antiquities both as a bureaucratic tool for displacement and annexation, and as a means of shaping a biblical-nationalist narrative that excludes other histories and denies Palestinian connection to the land.”

Settler Violence & The Olive Harvest

Settlers have continued to terrorize Palestinians harvesting olives during the 2025 harvest season, with virtually no recourse or accountability. Over the course of October, OCHA recorded the highest monthly number of Israeli settler attacks since OCHA began documenting such incidents in 2006, documented 260 attacks – an average of 8 per day. In addition Palestinians continue to suffer from increasingly restrictive Israeli policies that limit access to agricultural land located near settlements and/or the Separation Barrier. Adding to the heightened settler violence, the Israeli government has undertaken a deportation campaign against international solidarity activists who, for years, have accompanied Palestinians during harvest season as a protective presence.

Since October 21st, there have been at least 104 attacks, 20 of which were directly related to the olive harvest, including the following incidents of note over the past two weeks:

Mikhmas: On October 20th, settlers from a newly established outpost attacked a group of Palestinians and solidarity activists in the bedouin villages of Mikhmas and al-Ara’ara, located north of Jerusalem. The settlers threw stones at the Palestinians and set a house and olive trees on fire. Then, on October 23rd settlers cut the water pipelines which serviced Mikhmas. On October 25th, settlers violently attacked Mikhmas, burning six structures and injuring Palestinians and solidarity activists. Many residents of Mikhmas have left the village under the coercive displacement policies of the state and the escalating violence of the settlers – which goes unpunished. OCHA has documented
Al-Mughayyir: On October 24th dozens attacked al-Mughayyir during the night, setting cars on fire. This is the 43rd time this year that settlers have attacked Al-Mughayyir, a town that is surrounded by seven outposts.
Samu, South Hebron Hills: Settlers were filmed ransacking a farm and torturing livestock – including baby lamb – in a small village in the South Hebron. Six lambs were killed and four were severely injured.
Beit Ummar: Wafa News reports that on October 29th settlers cut down approximately 50 olive trees and stole construction equipment. Israeli settlers and soldiers have carried out more than 250 attacks on Palestinian olive farmers since the harvest began earlier this month, according to the Ramallah-based Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission
Qarawat Bani Hassan: On November 4th, settlers attacked Palestinians harvesting olives alongside a large group of volunteers (including American volunteers). As filmed by the harvesters, settlers flew a drone directly into the crowd of activists injuring one, and then proceeded to shoot live ammunition into the air, threatening to shoot the volunteers while they attempted to retrieve the drone. Haaretz reports the settlers were part of the security unit of the nearby Revava settlement.

The continued violence prompted the following statement by Tom Fletcher, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator:

“Reports of attacks by Israeli settlers on Palestinians and their property across the West Bank continue. Many are related to Palestinians’ attempts to harvest their olive crops. Palestinians have been killed and injured. Their homes and property damaged. Their livestock attacked. More trees have been damaged and more communities affected this year than in the previous six years. The failure to prevent or punish such attacks is inconsistent with international law. Palestinians must be protected. Impunity cannot prevail. Perpetrators must be held accountable.”

Bonus Reads

“The Business of Apartheid: What Companies and Investors Should Know” (AFSC, 10/30/25)
“How one road and an Israeli settlement could end dreams for this Palestinian city” (Los Angeles Times, 10/24/25)
“Israel’s Education Commissar Wants to Force Settler Indoctrination in Schools” (Haaretz, 10/29/25)
“Smotrich proposes weekly protest in ‘Sovereignty Square’ to push for Judea and Samaria annexation” (World Israel News, 10/26/25)

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

October 24, 2025

Knesset Votes to Advance Two West Bank Annexation Bill
Israel Advances 248 New Settlement Units
Settlers Take Over Cave in South Hebron Hills & Are Building New Outpost
Settler Terrorism Targets the Olive Harvest
Bonus Reads

Knesset Votes to Advance Two West Bank Annexation Bill

Two annexation bills got a preliminary nod from the Israeli Knesset this week.

The first, a bill calling for annexation of “settlement spaces”, passed its preliminary reading with the Knesset voting to advance the bill with a bare majority of 25-24. The bill will now proceed through three further rounds of voting. It is not totally clear how expansive the bill is as it calls to annex “settlement spaces in Judea and Samaria” but does not map out what that means (other than the fact it does not include Palestinians). Area C of the West Bank – where the majority of Israeli settlements are – is some 60% of the West Bank, but outside of Area C there is expansive amounts of Israeli infrastructure (roads, services, etc) serving the settlements in addition to settlement outposts.

Notably, Likud Minister Yuli Edelstein broke ranks with his Party to vote in favor of the bill despite opposition from Likud’s head of party, Prime Minister Netanyahu. Other members of the Likud party abstained from voting. Edelstein, who was Speaker of the Knesset from 2013-2020, was later removed from his role on the powerful Foreign Affairs & Defense Committee as a result of his vote and Prime Minister Netanyahu issued a statement calling Edelstein “disgruntled”. The Likud Party released a statement explaining why it opposed the bill, making it clear it supports annexation but wants to achieve it differently. The statement read:

“Real sovereignty will not be achieved through a showpiece law for the record, but through proper work on the ground and creating the political conditions for recognition of our sovereignty.”

A second bill calling for annexation of the Maale Adumim settlement also passed the preliminary reading vote with a large majority vote of 32-9.

The Knesset’s actions elicited a strong reaction from the Trump Administration, which has been engaged in near constant shuttle diplomacy to Israel over the past week in the hopes of preventing Israel from completely walking away from the Gaza ceasefire deal. The Knesset held its vote on the annexation bills while U.S. Vice President JD Vance was in Israel, leading Vance to tell reporters he was “insulted” by the decision to hold the vote, saying the “policy of the Trump administration is that the West Bank will not be annexed by Israel.” On his way to Israel, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio also confirmed the U.S. does not support Israel’s annexation of West Bank land “right now.” President Trump made his position on annexation clear to Time Magazine in a recent interview which was published this week, saying:

“It won’t happen. It won’t happen. It won’t happen because I gave my word to the Arab countries. And you can’t do that now. We’ve had great Arab support. It won’t happen because I gave my word to the Arab countries. It will not happen. Israel would lose all of its support from the United States if that happened.””

In addition to the White House’s opposition, 46 of 47 Democratic senators signed a letter opposing Israeli annexation of the West Bank, settlement expansion, and any measures that would block Palestinian statehood. Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman was the only Democrat who did not sign the letter.

Qatar also issued a statement condemning the vote.

Israel Advances 248 New Settlement Units

Peace Now reports the Israeli High Planning Council (a body within the Israeli Defense Ministry which currently oversees construction planning in Areas C of the West Bank) met on October 22nd to consider the following plans to expand settlements:

One plan for 102 new settlement units in the Rotem settlement, located in the northern Jordan Valley;
One plan for 4 new settlement units in the Shiloh settlement, located in the northern West Bank in a string of Israeli settlements reaching from the Green Line to the Ariel, Eli, and Amichai settlements that bisect the northern West Bank and reach through to the Jordan Valley;
Two plans for a total of 128 new settlement units in the Eli settlement, located between Nablus and Ramallah in the northern West Bank as part of a string of Israeli settlements reaching from the Green Line to the Ariel, Eli, and Amichai settlements that bisect the northern West Bank and reach through to the Jordan Valley;;
Two plans for a total of 14 new settlement units in the Givat Zeev settlement north of Jerusalem.

Peace Now reminds:

“Since November 2024, the Higher Planning Council has been holding weekly meetings to advance housing projects in the settlements. The shift to a weekly approval process not only normalizes construction in the territories but also accelerates it. Since the beginning of 2025, including the plans slated for approval this week, the council has advanced a total of 25,129 housing units. All time record.”

Settlers Take Over Cave in South Hebron Hills & Are Building New Outpost

On October 20th a group of settlers broke into a locked cave in the village of Sarura, located in the Masafer Yatta region of the South Hebron Hills. Settlers proceeded to move furnishings, belongings, and food into the cave clearly planning to stay. The settlers sprayed graffiti and erected a Start of David, showing their domination of the area. The settlers proceeded to violently threaten Palestinians and solidarity activists who approached the surrounding land.

The owner of the cave attempted to contact Israeli authorities but it took several days for the military to issue an order closing the area to settlers, though the order was not enforced and so the settlers remained. The military issued a second order affecting a larger area, and in response, the settlers left the cave only to return hours later with construction equipment. The settlers are now expanding their new outpost.

Caves are historic and cherished parts of the Palestinian community in Masafer Yatta. In fact, Palestinians started a concerted effort to preserve, restore, and defend the caves from settler takeover via an initiative called “Youth of Sumud.” Volunteers with Youth of Sumud have restored several caves, including many caves in Sarura one of which the group used as a community center to host education events and other programs for youth and women. The Israeli army issued a demolition order against the community center in 2022.

Settler Terrorism Targets the Olive Harvest

Over the second week of the olive harvest season, settler terrorism has continued to intensify with OCHA documenting 86 settler attacks across 50 villages and towns since early October. Those attacks have injured at least 112 Palestinians and damaged more than 3,000 trees and saplings. Haaretz published a harrowing, interactive expose on the reign of terror settlers have been allowed to carry out, showing just how effective settler violence is at coercing Palestinians into leaving their lands.

Some of the settler violence over the past week included:

October 19th: Settlers attacked Turmus Ayya, violently clubbing a defenseless elderly woman while she lay on the ground and injuring many others. Settlers set Palestinian cars aflame. Settlers scared off olive harvesters and then began picking olives themselves. After the video of the attack on the elderly woman went viral, it was reported that the Israeli police issued an arrest warrant for the settler filmed attacking the woman.
October 19th: Setters attacked the village of Taybeh, closing off the villages’ main entry/exit road.
October 20th: A group of female settlers calling themselves “Hill Girls” (perhaps referencing the notoriously violent Hilltop Youth settler terror group) filmed themselves harvesting olives in Palestinian groves located west of Bethlehem.

In Gaza, where the olive harvest will be devastated for the third year – Palestinians estimate that Israel has destroyed 1 million olive trees, leaving only 100,000 trees left. The head of the Palestinian Olive Council, Fayyad Fayyad, told Drop Site:

“There is no olive season this year. We estimate that nearly one million of Gaza’s 1.1 million olive trees have been destroyed.” In 2022, Gaza produced about 50,000 tons of olives. This year, Fayyad said, the total will be well under a thousand. “The destruction is deliberate,” he said. “Israel aims to eliminate the agricultural sector, including olives. What remains are scattered trees—not groves, not production.”

One olive grower told Drop Site through tears:

“The olive season was our happiest time of year. We would gather to pick, sing, and eat together. Now that joy is gone—like everything else this war has taken.”

Another Palestinian olive farmer said:

“We could hardly water the trees. The land was next to Israeli tank positions for months….For my father, it’s not just oil—it’s identity. We want to taste oil from our own trees, not from somewhere we don’t trust. The olive tree tells us we are still alive.”

Bonus Reads

“West Bank: Impunity deepens the occupation amid increasing restrictions on aid” (Norwegian Refugee Council, 10/23/25)
“Can Israel annex the West Bank if the US says no?” (Al Jazeera, 10/24/25)

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

October 17, 2025

Settlers Establish New Outpost to Encircle Umm Al Kheir, Court Pauses Move-In
Eviction Date Looms for Six Families Facing Displacement from Homes in Silwan
As The Olive Harvest Starts, Settler Terrorism Reaches New Heights
Israeli Commitment Against West Bank Annexation is Not in Final Ceasefire Deal
International Crisis Group Report: “Sovereignty in All but Name: Israel’s Quickening Annexation of the West Bank”
Bonus Reads

Settlers Establish New Outpost to Encircle Umm Al Kheir, Court Pauses Move-In

Two months ago, Israeli settlers began building yet another outpost surrounding the tiny Palestinian village of Umm al Khair in the South Hebron Hills, almost completing the encirclement of the 200 people who live in village by the Carmel settlement and its illegal outposts. The settlers cleared land and moved in caravans into the area, within spitting distance of Palestinian homes, as part of their years-long effort to expand their control of land in the area and compel/coerce the displacement of Umm al-Kheir. It was during the settlers illegal preparation of the land for this new outpost that Awdah Hathaleen, a prominent activist in the area and a protagonist in the critically acclaimed documentary No Other Land, was shot and killed by the internationally sanctioned settler Yinon Levy.

On October 12th, the Jerusalem District Court issued an order temporarily barred settlers’ from inhabiting the new outpost while the Court considers the underlying legal challenge which seeks to compel settlers to remove the caravans from the land. Settlers promptly violated the Court order, and moved more caravans into the area the very next day.

Peace Now said in a statement:

“For months, all enforcement authorities have known full well about the massive, blatantly illegal construction project taking place on the village’s land — and not only did they do nothing to stop it, they actually secured and assisted it in various ways. It is depressing and sad, though not surprising, that it takes a court order to make the army and the police do their duty. We hope the order will give the residents of Um al-Kheir, who are suffering under the settlers’ ongoing harassment, some space to breathe and live normal lives.”

Eviction Date Looms for Six Families Facing Displacement from Homes in Silwan

Six Palestinian families living in the Silwan neighborhood of East Jerusalem are facing an impending eviction date ordering them to vacate their longtime homes sometime between October 19 and November 4. If the families do not agree to their own displacement, Israeli police will remove them by force. At this point, all legal remedies have been exhausted and the Nasser, Rajabi, Shweiki, and Odeh families are set to be forcibly displaced under at the behest of Israeli settlers and the facilitation of Israeli legal courts, a system Ir Amim describes as: “proceedings [that] are underpinned by structural discrimination rooted in Jewish supremacy and a system rigged against Palestinians from the outset, which denies them equal access to justice.”

For more background on these cases, see Peace Now’s reporting.

Peace Now reports that 16 families have already been evicted from the Batan al-Hawa section of Silwan – 6 in this year alone – with settlers facilitating their displacement and taking up residence in the vacated homes. There are five additional cases affecting dozens of families that are at various stages in the Jerusalem Magistrate Court.

Peace Now said in a statement:

“This is a real emergency. If the government does not intervene, and if pressure is not brought to bear on it to act, we may witness in the coming weeks families literally thrown out into the street and settlers taking their place. This is a terrible injustice, based on discriminatory laws and on the ongoing exploitation and marginalization of East Jerusalem residents. The dispossession of Palestinians from their legally purchased homes in Silwan, under the guise of realizing a “right of return” for Jews, is an indelible stain on the State of Israel. The government can and must stop the forced expulsion of an entire community—the responsibility lies on its shoulders.”

As The Olive Harvest Starts, Settler Terrorism Reaches New Heights

The Palestinian olive harvest is now underway, and as in past years presents a massive target for violent settlers to terrorize Palestinians attempting to work their land – and in fact settler violence has rapidly increased from already high levels. Between 7 and 13 October, OCHA documented 71 Israeli settler attacks against Palestinians, 36 of which were directly connected to the olive harvest. As a result of the documented attacks, 99 Palestinians were injured and 1 killed. These attacks have included:

On October 8th settlers were throwing stones at Palestinian cars near the village of Deir Jarir, located near Ramallah. One Palestinian was shot and killed when settlers opened fire on a group of people who had gathered to chase off the stone-throwers. This is the 12th settler attack on Deir Jarir this year, according to OCHA.
On October 9th, settlers raided the village of Atara, near Ramallah, damaging homes and cars. Settlers established a new outpost near Atara in August 2025, and have since used the outpost as a launching point to routinely attack Atara. OCHA has counted at least 8 attacks so far.
On October 10th, settlers attacked the Palestinians harvesting olives near Beita, resulting in an injury to an AFP photographer. Settlers further seized harvesting equipment and burned 12 vehicles.
On October 12th, settlers staged a large-scale attack on the village of Burqa during which they cut down over 800 fruit trees (including olive trees, citrus trees, and grapevines).
On October 13th, settlers accompanied by Israeli forces attacked Beit Fajjar, near Bethlehem. Settlers assaulted a family of six which was attempting to harvest grapes, and later assaulted the emergency responders who came to assist the victims. Settlers used sticks, molotov cocktails and dogs to injure the family, and later burned their vehicle.
On October 13th, settlers attacked the village of Ein Yabrud, near Ramallah, and burned down a house.
On October 16th, the two different groups of Paelstinians harvesting olives near Burin were attacked by settlers from the Yitzhar settlement. The harvesters were chased off and their farming equipment was stolen.

Israeli Commitment Against West Bank Annexation is Not in Final Ceasefire Deal

According to leaked reports, an earlier version of the Trump ceasefire deal included a commitment that Israel would not annex the West Bank. Despite Trump’s press conference weeks before where he said publicly that he will not allow Israel to annex the West Bank, ultimately the commitment was not included in the final ceasefire deal.

Nonetheless, The Times of Israel reports that the Knesset is set to reconvene from its summer break and immediately take up a few bills that would affect the annexation of the West Bank. A Knesset insider told The Times of Israel:

“there is a majority in the Knesset to annex today…The reason it’s not on the agenda is because Netanyahu has made it very clear that he’s not going to support anything of the sort. You can say it’s because of Trump. You can say it’s because of his own fear of global isolation or a regional war or whoever knows what it is that he’s thinking. But if there was a secret ballot in the Knesset today, a majority would definitely annex.”

The source further told the outlet that Netanyahu will find a way to postpone voting on the annexation bills, without outright opposing them, until the next election in October 2026.

International Crisis Group Report: “Sovereignty in All but Name: Israel’s Quickening Annexation of the West Bank”

The International Crisis Group (ICG) published a new report entitled, “Sovereignty in All but Name: Israel’s Quickening Annexation of the West Bank.” The report responds to European states offering recognition to the State of Palestine, a recognition with ICG calls a “strategy that should also have teeth,” taking seriously that “annexation is not a future threat – it is already under way.” The report urges international actors to do what they can to “halt the further consolidation of Israel’s annexation and to begin the difficult work of persuading Israel to reverse course.”

The Executive summary of the report ends:

“The impediments to a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict are longstanding and immense, and a body of informed commentary argues that they are indeed insurmountable. Perhaps they are, but there is no world in which the further progress of annexation will produce a better result for the Palestinian people – or, for that matter, for Israelis. Israel may never alter its posture in the West Bank, but if outside actors play a long game and act concertedly, they will optimise their chances of changing its behaviour. Absent that, the status quo, which denies the Palestinian people not just a state, but also basic rights, will only become further entrenched.”

Bonus Reads

“Sweeping Israeli actions transform West Bank in shadow of Gaza war” (Washington Post, 9/28/25)
“Ben-Gvir’s Aide Suspected of Preventing Weapon Seizure of Settler Who Shot at Palestinians” (Haaretz, 9/29/25)
“Israel detains two Palestinian children in Hebron under claims of ‘espionage‘” (Middle East Eye, 10/1/25)
“The Trump-Netanyahu Peace Deal Promises Indefinite Occupation” (The Intercept, 10/1/25)
“Israeli bulldozers in West Bank carve up hopes for Palestinian state” (Reuters, 10/2/25)
“Bureaucratic Antics for Three West Bank Villages Show How an Israeli Annexation Began Long Ago” (Haaretz, 10/12/25)
“At This West Bank Checkpoint, ‘It’s Not Just Movement That’s Blocked. It’s Time Itself’” (Haaretz, 10/13/2025)
“Israeli settlements close in on West Bank herding community” (Al-Monitor, 10/10/25)
“Despite war’s end, Smotrich calls for renewed Jewish settlement in Gaza” (Ynet, 10/14/25)

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

September 26, 2025

Trump Says No to Israeli Annexation
United Nations Adds 68 New Companies to List of Businesses Supporting the Settlement Enterprise
Bonus Reads

Trump Says No to Israeli Annexation

President Trump told reporters in the Oval Office that he “will not allow” Israel to formally annex the West Bank, saying further “It’s been enough. It’s time to stop now.” Netanyahu has reportedly been preparing an de jure annexation plan to appease members of his cabinets, framed as a response to international recognition of a Palestinian state. However, a senior government official has told the press that Trump actually helped Netanyahu out of yet another jam, providing him cover with his coalition partners to defer formal annexation and preserve the Abraham Accords.

International pressure against annexation has continued to mount, including new warnings from Saudi Arabia and France and a lot of attention at the UN gathering this week in NY. Nonetheless, Israeli officials surrounding Netanyahu have taken to social media to react to Trump’s comments and urge Netanyahu to move forward with unilateral annexation. On the same day as Trump’s comments, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar told a reporter that Israel is considering areas of the West Bank that are not under PA control, saying Israel has no interest in annexing Palestinians. This plan hints at a plan introduced by Smotrich weeks before to annex 82% of the West Bank, leaving six discontiguous Palestinian population centers under Palestinian control, surrounded entirely by Israel.

United Nations Adds 68 New Companies to List of Businesses Supporting the Settlement Enterprise

The United Nations updated its database of businesses involved in building, maintaining, securing, and servicing Israeli settlements in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the Golan Heights.Sixty-eight new companies were added to the list, including German construction giant Heidelberg, while seven companies were removed from the list.

Ravina Shamdasani, spokesperson of the UN human rights office said in a statement:

“Businesses working in contexts of conflict have a due diligence responsibility to ensure their activities do not contribute to human rights abuses. We call on businesses to take appropriate action to address the adverse human rights impacts of their activities.”

As a reminder, on February 12, 2020, following nearly four years of delay, the UNHRC published a (non-comprehensive) database of businesses involved in building, maintaining, securing, and servicing Israeli settlements in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the Golan Heights. The database was requested by members of the Council in March 2016, in order to assist member states in complying with international legal obligations with regards to doing business with companies involved in activities which violate the human rights of people around the world. The publication of the database was repeatedly been delayed due to heavy pressure from Israel and the United States, neither of which are members of the Human Rights Council. Even before its publication, Israel and the U.S. argued that the database would by definition be anti-Israel and antisemitic. From the start they also labeled the database a “blacklist,” even though the database itself neither calls for nor imposes any punitive consequences on the listed businesses.

Bonus Reads

“Top Israeli Official Overseeing West Bank Land Removed After Disputes With Smotrich Allies” (Haaretz, 9/24/25)
“Settler Takeover or Hotel? Fate of One of Israel’s Most Beautiful Buildings Now in Doubt” (Haaretz, 9/21/25)
“Israeli Police Didn’t Actually Investigate the Settler Incident, but Still Made a Firm Conclusion” (Haaretz, 9/26/25)

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

September 19, 2025

Israel Advances Plans for 1,276 New Settlement Units
Israel Tells PA It Will Act Unilaterally on Al-Ibrahimi Mosque/Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron
Escalating Attacks, Violence, Dispossession and Takeover in Ramallah Area
U.S. Secretary of State Attends Settler Archaeology Event in Silwan
Bonus Reads

Israel Advances Plans for 1,276 New Settlement Units

The Israeli Civil Administration’s Higher Planning Council met on September 17th and advanced plans for the construction of 1,276 new settlement units in the West Bank.

The approved plans include:

Elaazar: 66 new settlement units
Ma’ale Amos: 371 new settlement units
Ariel: 280 new settlement units
Gitit: 281 new settlement units
Avigail – 278 new settlement units were approved for deposit. Avigail was an illegal outpost until 2023, when the Israeli government afforded it official recognition along with nine other outposts.
Plans for a new industrial zone in the Omerim settlement were authorized for deposit.

Israel Tells PA It Will Act Unilaterally on Al-Ibrahimi Mosque/Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron

Peace Now reports that on September 15th the Israeli Civil Administration finalized an order that seizes, for the first time, space inside the upper prayer floor in the Al-Ibrahimi Mosque/Cave of the Patriarchs in order to erect a new roof over the inner courtyard. This was all done over the objections of the Palestinian Authority, which violates agreements for managing the site set out in the 1997 Hebron Protocol, which assigns planning and construction authority at the site to the Palestinian Authority. According to the settler-run Arutz Sheva outlet, the Civil Administration informed the PA about the order and insisted that the status quo arrangement is still in affect.

Peace Now reports further detail:

“The expropriation order was made possible after the Defense Ministry’s legal advisory office, recently reshaped under Minister Bezalel Smotrich, approved it. While presented as a technical step regarding an open space, in reality it constitutes a major structural change to a historic religious site, and another stage in the erosion of the fragile arrangements that safeguard access and worship at holy places. This process began four years ago, when Israel constructed an elevator at the site, despite significant public opposition, including from Israelis, and after a prolonged legal battle.”

The upper prayer hall of the Tomb of the Patriarchs contains the tombs of six religious figures: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Sarah, Rebecca, and Leah, alongside a Muslim prayer area. The open courtyard at its center connects the tombs and worship spaces. The existing structure was built during the Mamluk period (13th–16th centuries), on foundations dating back to Herod’s time in the 1st century BCE.

The annexationist government is playing with fire and with the security of us all. The Cave of the Patriarchs is regarded as the fourth holiest site in Islam, following Al-Aqsa Mosque, and any unilateral change is perceived by millions of Muslims as a humiliation and an attack on a sacred place. Documents recently exposed by intelligence services revealed the central role that messianic provocations on the Temple Mount — backed by the government — played in Hamas’s preparations for October 7. The government is dragging us into a religious war in the name of a messianic fringe. Anyone who truly cares about the Cave of the Patriarchs should seek an agreement with the Palestinians that would allow for consensual changes to holy sites, with the consent of all parties involved.”

Escalating Attacks, Violence, Dispossession and Takeover in Ramallah Area

The areas surrounding Ramallah have been increasingly volatile as settlers terrorize villages on the outskirts of the Palestinians’ de facto capital city.

Settlers attacked the village of Jaba’ on September 13th, just the latest in a long line of attacks since the settlers established an illegal outpost nearby in February 2025. Palestinians report setting up a night watch because of the regularity of settler arson attacks on their homes, lands and livestocks. The IDF has demolished the outpost six times, but settlers are not prevented from reestablishing it – which they do.

Last week settlers clashed with Palestinians near Deir Jarir, located northeast of Ramallah, during which a 21-year old Palestinian was shot and killed (either by settlers or an IDF soldier, reports are disputed).

The week before, settlers attacked the village of Atara, setting vehicles on first and spraying hateful graffiti.

U.S. Secretary of State Attends Settler Archaeology Event in Silwan

On September 16th, U.S. Secretary of State participated in a private ceremony inaugurating a new section of the “Pilgrim’s Road,” the excavation of which is a settler-run project in the Silwan neighborhood of East Jerusalem, located in the shadow of the Old City. Rubio’s visit lends U.S. support for state-backed settler domination over the Silwan neighborhood, where settlers have conspired with the state to weaponize archaeology as a tool for mass displacement of Palestinians.

Indeed, the Pilgrim’s Road runs under the homes of residents in Silwan, and according to Emek Shaveh:

“The gradated street (no. 10 on the map) was dug as a tunnel by the Antiquities Authority and it is part of the Israeli governments’ Shalem Plan which is intended to strengthen Israeli presence in the Old City basin through extensive tourism development and archaeological excavations in Silwan and the Old City….The use of archaeology by Israel and the settlers as a political tool is a part of a strategy to shape the historic city and unilaterally entrench Israeli sovereignty over ancient Jerusalem. It is a process which is likely to produce devastating results for both Israel and the Palestinians. It is inexcusable to ignore the Palestinian residents of Silwan, carrying out extensive excavations of an underground city and to use such excavations as part of an effort to tell a historic story that is exclusively Jewish in a 4,000 year-old city with a rich and diverse cultural and religious past.”

Fakhri Abu Diab, an activist from Silwan, said told Al-Monitor:

“This act by the United States gives the green light for more settlement expansion, demolitions, ethnic cleansing, and all the practices carried out by Israel.”

Bonus Reads

“Israel Demolishes Palestinian Village Attacked by Settlers in West Bank” (Haaretz, 9/18/25)
“How Israel’s Education Minister Is Using School Trips to Push a Far-right Agenda” (Haaretz, 9/15/25)
“‘An Imposition of a Political Stance’ Israeli Principals Slam Plan to Give More Funding to West Bank School Trips Over Domestic Trips” (Haaretz, 9/17/25)
“Oscar-winning Palestinian director Basel Adra says his home in West Bank raided by Israeli soldiers” (AP, 9/14/25)
“EU Proposes Sanctions on Israel: Suspending Trade Benefits, Targeting Far-right Ministers” (Haaretz, 9/17/25)
“In the West Bank, Trump Is Not Standing in Israel’s Way” (New York Times, 9/19/25)
“Editorial: Israel’s ‘Real Estate Bonanza’ Involves Wiping Gaza Off the Face of the Earth” (Haaretz, 9/19/25)
“EU Proposes Sanctions on Israel: Suspending Trade Benefits, Targeting Far-right Ministers” (Haaretz, 9/17/25)
“Ambassador Huckabee receives honorary Samaria citizenship” (Arutz Sheva, 9/17/25)

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

September 12, 2025

Netanyahu Signs Final Approval of E-1, Celebrates End of Palestinian State
Netanyahu Delays Discussion of Plan to Annex the Jordan Valley
‘Formalizing Apartheid’: Smotrich Presents Plan to Annex 82% of the West Bank
State Land Declaration to Legalize Havat Gilad Outpost
Settlers Establish New Enclave on Key Hebron Street (Currently) Open to Palestinians
West Bank News & Analysis
East Jerusalem News & Analysis
Bonus Reads

Netanyahu Signs Final Approval of E-1, Celebrates End of Palestinian State

On September 11th, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu held a ceremony in the Ma’ale Adumim settlement to celebrate the signing of the E-1 settlement framework plan, the final approval for the construction of a settlement designed to foreclose any possibility of a Palestinian state. Netanyahu is happy to state the intention behind the settlement, saying at the ceremony that “We are going to fulfill our promise that there will be no Palestinian state, this place belongs to us.”

Bezalel Smotrich also attended the ceremony, where he told Bibi in front of the crowd:

“Mr. Prime Minister, all of us, soon, will thank you and congratulate and celebrate together the application of sovereignty throughout Judea and Samaria.”

The signing of the E-1 framework was done as part of a massive umbrella agreement worth billions of shekels to develop the wider Ma’ale Adumim and E-1 area. Peace Now reports that the framework includes a government commitment to invest 3 billion shekels in infrastructure for the construction of 7,600 housing units, of which about 3,400 are in E1. The plan seeks to double the population of the Ma’ale Adumim settlement and build new roads, public institutions, and other infrastructure – – furthering Israel’s de facto annexation of a huge area east of Jerusalem.

Ir Amim said in a statement:

“Today, the Israeli Government is expected to sign a government umbrella agreement with the West Bank settlement of Ma’ale Adumim, which will allocate 3 billion NIS to finance and accelerate the development of the E1 and Ma’ale Adumim area. The signing ceremony will be attended by the Israeli Prime Minister, underscoring the high-level political backing for this move.

In other words, annexation par excellence.

For perspective: an umbrella agreement was signed with the Jerusalem Municipality seven years ago for the city’s development that totaled just 1 billion NIS. Despite the fact that Jerusalem has 25 times more residents than Maaleh Adumim, the settlement will receive triple what was allocated to the Jerusalem municipality.

This comes on the heels of last month’s approval of the E1 settlement plans and publication of tenders for 3300 new housing units between Maaleh Adumim and the Mishor Adumim industrial zone. Following the recent intervention by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a percentage of these housing units will likely be sold at discounted rates as part of a government subsidized housing lottery.

Annexation and entrenchment of Israeli apartheid on full throttle.”

Netanyahu Delays Discussion of Plan to Annex the Jordan Valley

Last week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu postponed the Security Cabinet’s discussion of his plan to formally annex the Jordan Valley (some 30% of the West Bank). Israel Hayom reports that in preparing the plan for discussion in the Security Cabinet, Ron Dermer (Netanyahu’s Strategic Affairs Minister) worked with U.S. officials to OK the Jordan Valley plan and believes that, contrary to annexation of the full West Bank, the annexation of the Jordan Valley would receive bipartisan support in the United States. Netanyahu and Dermer reportedly framed the annexation push as a response to increasing diplomatic pressure on Israel vis a vis Gaza, particularly European promises to recognize a State of Palestine

Rumors of Netanyahu’s intent to advance the annexation of the Jordan Valley were followed quickly by two significant, headline-grabbing responses. First, Israeli Minister Bezalel Smotrich publicly debuted his own plan for annexation – a plan that would see Israel annex 82% of the West Bank (for more, see below), a plan that far overshadows the Netanyahu-Dermer plan. Second and in response to Smotrich’s plan, the UAE released a statement saying that annexation is a “red line” and “means there can be no lasting peace” and would “end the pursuit of regional integration” (hinting at ending the Abraham Accords, which the UAE signed in 2020). Only after the UAE statement was it reported that Netanyahu pulled Jordan Valley annexation off of the agenda for the Cabinet meeting scheduled for September 4th.

Netanyahu’s plan for a more limited annexation of the Jordan Valley is nothing new (and is of course being actively carried out in a de facto manner). Netanyahu has pushed for the de jure annexation of the Jordan Valley since at least 2019.

The Jordan Valley is home to around 65,000 Palestinians, though ~10,000 settlers have managed to exert their control over nearly 85% of the Valley. On a weekly basis, FMEP shares reporting from the ground of settler attacks on PAlestinians communities in the Jordan Valley, new outposts, more declarations of state land or closed military zones – – all of which have violently coerced many Palestinians into leaving while Israel silently annexes the Jordan Valley.

‘Formalizing Apartheid’: Smotrich Presents Plan to Annex 82% of the West Bank

On September 2nd, Israeli Finance Minister Smotrich held a press conference to unveil his proposal to annex 82% of the West Bank, a plan accompanied by a map (emblazoned with a government logo) leaving only six major Palestinian population centers as un-annexed land, entirely surrounded by the Israeli state. Smotrich publicly promoted his plan days after reporting that suggested Netanyahu was prepared to advance a plan to annex the Jordan Valley, which constitutes 30% of the West Bank – much less than Smotrich and his settlers allies are aiming for, and indeed working to achieve.

While showing off his proposed map, Smotrich said:

“We have no desire to apply our sovereignty over a population that seeks our destruction. Enemies must be fought, not allowed a comfortable life. Therefore, the overriding principle for applying sovereignty is: maximum land with minimum population.”

Smotrich estimated 80,000 Palestinians live on land that he proposes annexing to Israel, and those Palestinians will be offered the status currently held only by Palestinian East Jerusalemites — a status short of full citizenship and which denies Palestinians the right to vote for the government that rules their lives. However, as Haaretz notes, Smotrich’s assertion that 80,000 live in areas his map shows as future Israeli territory does not comport with known demographics. For example, Smotrich’s map shows all of Bethlehem and its surrounding lands as annexed to Israel, and it’s estimated that the population of this area is around 200,000 Palestinians.

Smotrich proposes the un-annexed Palestinian population centers will be islands of land administered by “regional civilian management alternatives,” calling for the Palestinian Authority to be dismantled. Knesset Member Aido Touma-Sliman said:

“Smotrich’s annexation map is the clearest expression yet of this government’s fascism. It seeks to erase an entire people by redrawing borders with brutality and arrogance, turning the West Bank into fragmented prisons with no geographic continuity under Israeli sovereignty. It exposes a regime no longer hiding behind false claims of democracy, but openly pursuing fascist control over millions of Palestinians. The international community must not look away. Every endorsement, every silence, every normalization in the face of this map is complicity in the crime of apartheid and in the erasure of the Palestinian people’s right to exist.”

Smotrich’s public pitch for annexing the majority of the West Bank (and formalizing apartheid) received harsh criticism from many corners of the international community – most notably from Israel’s Abraham Accords core partner the UAE. The Trump Administration, on the other hand, not only refrained from criticism of Smotrich but repeatedly clarified for Israeli news outlets that the U.S. has never expressed opposition to Israeli annexation plans.

To be clear, Smotrich’s plan proposes a large scale of annexation of the West Bank that he is already implementing in a de facto nature (he has admitted as much repeatedly). Since taking control over the Settlements Administration, a new division created within the Israeli Defense Ministry, Smotrich has acted as the reigning sovereign of the West Bank. With authority over all civilian matters in the West Bank and significant input on security matters, Smotrich has undertaken a mass-scale effort to annex land, increase the number of settlers, demolish/displace Palestinian communities, and hollow out the Palestinian Authority. Smotrich has fundamentally transformed Israel’s governance of the West Bank, bringing the West Bank under Israeli civilian authority and virtually eliminating the thin facade of separation between how Israel governs the occupied territories and how it governs its own sovereign territory

State Land Declaration to Legalize Havat Gilad Outpost

Peace Now reports the Israel Civil Administration has declared a huge area of land (112 acres) near Nablus to be “state land.” The land historically belonged to the Palestinian villages of Tell, Jit, and Far’ata, but in 2002 settlers illegally built the Havat Gilad outpost on privately owned land in the area and have since lobbied the Israeli government to legalize the outpost.

However – the land that has been seized does not include the land on which structures in the Havat Gilad outpost are currently built, and the seized land is, according to The Times of Israel, a “tortuously drawn and include islands of land within the state land zone that may be privately owned by Palestinians.”

Peace Now says this is an Israeli effort to establish a new settlement, not to legalize the Havat Gilad outpost. Peace Now explained:

“…the state has declared land about one kilometer south of the outpost as “state land” for the purpose of “legalizing” it. However, the declared lands show that the vast majority of the outpost’s houses are built on private land and therefore cannot be legalized. To make the outpost “legal” according to Israel’s own rules (all settlements are illegal under international law), the existing houses would have to be demolished and the outpost rebuilt elsewhere, about a kilometer away from its current location.

It is already clear, however, that in practice no buildings will be demolished; instead, new construction will simply be added on the declared land. For decades the government has allowed the outpost to continue to seize private land and has refrained from removing the settlers. It is hard to believe that now, as it promotes formal ‘regularization,’ it will suddenly demolish homes.”

As Kerem Navot has chronicled, the Havat Gilad outpost has been the subject of controversy since it was first established by settlers in 2002. Since then, the outpost has become a source of radical, serious, and frequent violence against Palestinians. In 2014, two Havat Gilad settlers were sentenced to prison for setting Palestinian vehicles on fire in a price-tag attack; its residents have also been documented harassing Palestinian farmers and denying them access to their own lands. The Israeli NGO Yesh Din – which has documented violence emanating from Havat Gilad, including against Yesh Din employees – has filed several petitions against the outpost, including a 2010 case that resulted in the demolition of some of the outpost’s structures that were built on land Israel recognized as privately-owned by Palestinians. Yesh Din’s investigation shows that Havat Gilad was built on lands that the Israeli Civil Administration has now declared to be “state land” have in fact been continuously cultivated and privately owned by Palestinians; most of the outpost’s structures have standing (but unenforced) demolition orders issued against them.

In 2018, the Israeli government came under intense pressure from the settler lobby to legalize Havat Gilad in response to a Palestinian terror attack that killed a Havat Gilad settler — and came very close to doing so. At the time, the government ran into difficulties in legalizing the outpost because some of the illegal buildings were located on land Israel recognized as privately-owned by Palestinians, and the government could not – at that time – find a legal means by which to expropriate it. Meanwhile, the settler killed in the attack was subsequently buried at the outpost, and as Al-Monitor explains, the presence of a cemetery in the outpost makes its future evacuation nearly impossible. Kerem Navot’s Dror Etkes spoke to Haaretz around this same time about the phenomenon of settlers being buried in the West Bank:

“Etkes tells Haaretz he believes the choice of where the cemeteries are situated – particularly when they lie on private land some distance from the nearest homes – is not a coincidence. ‘I work on the assumption that there are always deliberate intentions afoot,’ he says. The placement of a cemetery ‘is not chosen for no reason. It is a very long-term investment – and in Judaism, whoever buries people in a certain place does so on the understanding they will not be removed. Obviously, there is deliberate intent lurking behind the location of these cemeteries,’ Etkes continues, ‘and it may be assumed that whoever buries the dead on private Palestinian land knows exactly what he’s doing.’”

Settlers Establish New Enclave on Key Hebron Street (Currently) Open to Palestinians

Settlers have taken over a building on Shallala Street in Hebron, one of the main access streets available for Palestinians to reach the Old City of Hebron and the Ibrahimi Mosque. Shallala Street runs parallel to Shuhada Street, which is closed to Palestinians. Peace Now warns the new enclave raises concern that the Israeli government or army may move to close the street to Palestinians in order to provide security to the settlers.

Peace Now said in a statement:

“This settlement is a direct initiative of the government. The Custodian of Government Property allocated the building to the settlers, and the army opened a special passage for them to enter. The goal of establishing a settlement in the heart of Hebron’s casbah is to seize new areas of the city and displace Palestinians from them, similar to what was done in the city center around the existing settlements. The settlement in Hebron is the ugliest face of Israeli control in the territories. Nowhere else in the West Bank is apartheid so blatant. Establishing a new settlement in Hebron is a provocation that harms Israel’s political and security interests.”

On the same day as Smotrich’s presentation, Israeli forces arrested the mayor of Hebron, Tayseer Abu Sneineh. Hebron is the largest Palestinian city in the West Bank and is home to 800,000 Palestinians. Some 500 messianic Israeli settlers have been imposing their presence in the city’s old town since the 1980s, and Abu Sneineh is known for his role in a Fatah cell that planned and carried out the shooting of six Israeli and Jewish settlers in the city’s old town in 1980, locally known as the “Dabuya Operation.” After his initial arrest, Abu Sneineh was later released in a prisoner swap in 1983 alongside other members of the cell.

Abu Sneineh’s arrest came days after Israeli media outlets reported that Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, was considering the establishment of a tribal “emirate” in Hebron, separate from the Palestinian Authority, which first surfaced in the pages of the Wall Street Journal last July.

Local Palestinian media speculated as to whether Abu Sneineh’s arrest was possibly a prelude to removing potential sources of local opposition to annexation, especially given Abu Sneineh’s

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

August 29, 2025

Settlers Continue to Terrorize & Take Over South Hebron Hills Communities
Senior Israeli Officials Appear to be Making Rounds to Illegal Outposts
The IDF’s Collective Punishment of Al-Mughayyir Spurs Fears of West Bank Genocide
Bonus Reads

Settlers Continue to Terrorize & Take Over South Hebron Hills Communities

Over the past week there have been several reported settler attacks on Palestinian communities in the South Hebron Hills, including one brutal attack on Palestinians and Israeli activists in the village of Qawawis that left seven people wounded. Masked settlers were filmed assaulting people and damaging property with huge clubs.

In addition to perpetrating unabated violence, settlers have also established several new outposts in the South Hebron Hills area, furthering their de facto annexation and the violent, coerced displacement of Palestinians.

One of the new outposts was established just meters from Palestinian homes in the village of Umm Al-Khair, the site of the recent murder of Awdah Hathaleen by the internationally sanctioned settler Yinon Levy. The new outpost has been established on the area of land Yinon Levy was illegally clearing before he shot and killed Hathaleen. Peace Now reports settlers have brought in four pre-fab mobile homes on the land and it appears settlers intend to bring in at least two more caravans there.

The new outpost threatens to bisect the lands and neighborhoods of Um Al-Khair, pinching off the northern part of the village from the southern part. Tariq Hathaleen, a resident of Um Al-Khair and the brother of Awdah, told Haaretz:

“I think these trailers have been placed there mainly to pressure the community…It’s not as if they lack land. There are millions of dunams around, but they’re coming to this spot to pressure the community and the people to leave. That’s the aim of these trailers.”

Peace Now said in a statement:

“This is the peak of the Israeli government’s mistreatment of the residents of Um al-Kheir. After decades of home demolitions, the denial of permits and infrastructure, and escalating violence from settlers and the army, comes the harsh blow of establishing a permanent outpost in the middle of the village. The settlers who erected the illegal outpost overnight did so on behalf of the authorities, with direct support from the Har Hevron Regional Council, the army, the police and the government. Since the formation of the Smotrich-Ben Gvir government, about 90 Palestinian communities have been displaced by violent settlers who established nearby outposts. The aim of the new outpost in Um al-Kheir is clear: to drive the residents from their land.”

In addition – Palestinian news sources report three new outposts were established on lands belonging to the village of Birin in the South Hebron Hills. Settlers have spent the better part of two months preparing the land for establishing an outpost, by clearing roads, destroying crops and intimidating Palestinians out of the area.

Senior Israeli Officials Appear to be Making Rounds to Illegal Outposts

Senior Israeli security officials are helping advance the mission of Smotrich’s Settlement Administration to advance the de facto annexation of the West Bank by solidifying the presence of outposts across the West Bank.i

On August 13th the commander of Israel’s West Bank police district Moshe Pinchi and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, visited an illegal outpost called “Ma’aleh Tidhar” known to be associated with the violent Hilltop Youth movement. The men were photographed next to violent settler Elisha Yered – who was arrested under suspicion of murder in 2023 but released. Yered later tweeted:

“To reach Ma’aleh Tidhar, a strategic outpost established about a month and a half ago to link the eastern and central parts of the Gush Etzion settlement bloc, you have to climb a rough dirt track that barely a 4×4 can manage…But the national security minister, Itamar, did it today along with MK Limor Son Har-Melech, and even brought with him the West Bank district’s officers to show his firm stand with us.”

On August 24th, two high ranking Israeli IDF officers (Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir & Central Command Commander Avi Bluth) visited the illegal outpost called Maoz Shaul, located near the Avnei Hefetz settlement in the northern West Bank. It appears the visit was not meant to catch press attention, but nonetheless indicates the IDF’s knowledge of the new and illegal outpost, and its support for its continued presence in the area.

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who also is a Minister in the Defense Ministry, celebrated the occasion saying in a tweet that the visit shows the IDF’s ““excellent cooperation” with his work to legalize outpost, and that “The farms lead the way in pioneering settlement in Judea and Samaria, acting as a vital shield for many communities there, as well as for the Sharon region [on the coastal plain] and other parts of the country.”

The IDF’s Collective Punishment of Al-Mughayyir Spurs Fears of West Bank Genocide

The Israeli army uprooted over 10,000 olive trees during a three day siege on the Palestinian village of Al-Mughayyir northeast of Ramllah, in what is a forthright declaration of collective punishment of the entire village following an alleged terror attack near the Adei Ad settlement. During the IDF’s siege on the village, +972 Magazine reports residents lived under curfew while every home in the village was raided, businesses were closed and the village was sealed shut. The IDF caused significant destruction to the village streets, infrastructure, homes, and businesses.

IDF Central Command head Maj. Gen. Avi Bluth made it clear that Israel’s policy is that of collective punishment, saying at a press briefing:

“Every village and every enemy must know that if they carry out an attack against the residents [settlers], they will pay a heavy price…They will experience a curfew, they will experience a siege, and they will experience shaping operations…We are now getting a grip on this village…The first mission is to hunt [the assailant] … The second is to carry out shaping operations here, and to ensure that everyone is deterred — not only this village, but every village that tries to raise a hand against the residents [settlers].”

Following Bluth’s remarks, +972 Magazine reports Yesh Din and ACRI (two Israeli human rights groups) have filed a criminal complaint with the Military Advocate General, calling for an investigation into war crimes.

Kareem Jubran, director of the field research department of the Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem, told Haaretz:

“Our greatest fear – and we emphasized this when we [B’Tselem] presented our genocide report – is that every small incident will now immediately cause an insane Israeli response. We saw that last week in al-Mughayyir. Every trigger can produce genocide in the West Bank, too. What happened here is the proof of that.”.

Deputy Council Head of the village, Abu Na’im, told Haaretz:

“That is their goal, for us to leave. It is perhaps a different tactic from Gaza, but the goal is the same.”

Bonus Reads

“West Bank Monthly Snapshot – Casualties, Property Damage and Displacement | July 2025” (OCHA, 8/22/25)
“Chairman Lawler Introduces Bill to Repeal Inactive Restrictions on Building U.S. Facilities in Israel” (Press Release, 815/25)
“Fears Israeli forces turning Sebastia into garrison to ‘Judaize’ site” (The New Arab, 8/27/25)
“’Neglect and Apathy’ | Israel’s UNRWA Closures Leave Hundreds of Palestinian Students in East Jerusalem Without Schools as Summer Ends” (Haaretz, 8/28/25)
“As World Leaders Push for a Palestinian State, in the West Bank, ‘Annexation Is Reality’” (Haaretz, 8/27/25)
“Will Israel’s West Bank Settlement Plan Ignite the Third Intifada?” (Haaretz, 8/25/2025)
“Tiny Patch of West Bank Land Fuels Dreams of Greater Israel” (New York Times, 8/25/2025)
“How Israel Is Funding Settler Violence To Overrun Palestinian Villages in the West Bank” (New Lines Magazine, 8/27/2025)

Israeli Cabinet Approves Smotrich’s Five-Year, $843 Million De-Facto Annexation Plan

IDF Whistleblower: IDF Is Actively Facilitating New Farming Outposts

Israel Announces Plans to Legalize Another 19 Outposts

Eight Outposts Receive Final Authorization

Netanyahu Denies Report He Ordered 14 Outposts to be Dismantled

Settlers Removed from Four Outposts, Buildings Remain

Israel Approves 764 New Settlement Units

Construction to Begin on Oz Station, Making Way for Expansion of Nof Zion Enclave

IDF Uproots Olives Trees in Qaryut to Make Way for Settlement Road

Settlers Enter Gaza & Ministers Press for Gaza Hanukkah Ceremony

Massive Delegation of U.S. Evangelicals Call for Israeli Annexation of the West Bank

Adalah: Israel Has Passed 30 New Apartheid Laws Since October 7th

Israel Human Rights Groups Issue “State of the Occupation” Report

Bonus Reads

Israel Announces Seizure of Sebastia Archaeological Site

Settlers Establish New Outpost Near Bethlehem

IDF Raids Bedouin Village in Advance of Settlement Expansion

Settlers Terrorize Palestinians After IDF Dismantles Illegal Outpost

State-Backed Settler Terrorism This Week

Human Rights Watch: Not Just Gaza – Israel Committing War Crimes in the West Bank

Bonus Reads

Mass Displacement & Forcible Transfer in Silwan: Three Families Forcibly Dispossessed, New Eviction Order Delivered

Boundaries set for 13 West Bank settlements, Including Sa-Nur in Northern West Bank

Israel Delivers Eviction Notices in Qalandiya in Order to Build New Waste Treatment Plant

Israel Grants Tax Benefit to Settlements in “Threatened Areas”

Settler Terrorism This Week

Bonus Reads

Tenders Issued for New Neighborhood in Geva Benaymin Settlement

Israel Advances Plans for 1,985 New Settlement Units

Israel Delivers Demolition Notices to Entire Village of Umm Al Kheir in South Hebron Hills

Israel Allocates $12 Million to Deepen Control Over West Bank Archaeology Sites

Settler Violence & The Olive Harvest

Bonus Reads

Knesset Votes to Advance Two West Bank Annexation Bill

Israel Advances 248 New Settlement Units

Settlers Take Over Cave in South Hebron Hills & Are Building New Outpost

Settler Terrorism Targets the Olive Harvest

Bonus Reads

Settlers Establish New Outpost to Encircle Umm Al Kheir, Court Pauses Move-In

Eviction Date Looms for Six Families Facing Displacement from Homes in Silwan

As The Olive Harvest Starts, Settler Terrorism Reaches New Heights

Israeli Commitment Against West Bank Annexation is Not in Final Ceasefire Deal

International Crisis Group Report: “Sovereignty in All but Name: Israel’s Quickening Annexation of the West Bank”

Bonus Reads

Trump Says No to Israeli Annexation

United Nations Adds 68 New Companies to List of Businesses Supporting the Settlement Enterprise

Bonus Reads

Israel Advances Plans for 1,276 New Settlement Units

Israel Tells PA It Will Act Unilaterally on Al-Ibrahimi Mosque/Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron

Escalating Attacks, Violence, Dispossession and Takeover in Ramallah Area

U.S. Secretary of State Attends Settler Archaeology Event in Silwan

Bonus Reads

Netanyahu Signs Final Approval of E-1, Celebrates End of Palestinian State

Netanyahu Delays Discussion of Plan to Annex the Jordan Valley

‘Formalizing Apartheid’: Smotrich Presents Plan to Annex 82% of the West Bank

State Land Declaration to Legalize Havat Gilad Outpost

Settlers Establish New Enclave on Key Hebron Street (Currently) Open to Palestinians

West Bank News & Analysis

East Jerusalem News & Analysis

Bonus Reads

Settlers Continue to Terrorize & Take Over South Hebron Hills Communities

Senior Israeli Officials Appear to be Making Rounds to Illegal Outposts

The IDF’s Collective Punishment of Al-Mughayyir Spurs Fears of West Bank Genocide

Bonus Reads