Welcome to FMEP’s Weekly Settlement Report, covering everything you need to know about Israeli settlement activity this week.

To subscribe to this report, please click here.

October 27, 2022

1. Israel Advances Sheikh Jarrah Settlement Projects
2. While Settler Violence Surges, Israeli Government Appoints a Settler as Next IDF Chief of Staff
3. Exposed: Israel is Trying to Hide Water Allocation to the Settlements
4. Settlers (& IDF) Continue Violence Against Palestinian Olive Harvest
5. Bonus Reads

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Israel Advances Sheikh Jarrah Settlement Projects

On October 21st, the Israeli news outlet Israel Hayom reported that the Israel Land Fund – which is headed by Jerusalem Deputy Mayor (and longtime settler impresario) Aryeh King – is speeding toward the start of construction of three new settlement projects in the Um Haroun section of the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in East Jerusalem. According to Israel Hayom, the projects would provide for the construction of 20 settlement housing units and an office building, doubling the number of settlers in Sheikh Jarrah.

Although Israel Hayom’s reporting is imprecise with respect to the exact plans under discussion, Ir Amim reports that the projects in question are likely those that received final approval in 2019, after having been advanced swiftly through the planning process under the Trump-Netanyahu era. Building permits have not been issued for these projects, but requests for those permits have been submitted or are in process. Notably, Ir Amim reports that two of the three plans being advanced will require the demolition of existing Palestinian buildings that house six Palestinian families, likely leading to legal petitions.

The Palestinian Authority’s National Bureau for Defending Land and Resisting Settlements alleges that the plans have been advanced through forgery, writing:

“The settlement plans are driven behind the scenes by the so-called ‘Land of Israel Fund founded by Arieh King, who is the deputy mayor of the occupation in Jerusalem. Officials in the Fund are very active in seizing Palestinian lands by forging documents and title deeds, preparing fake sale and purchase contracts, and buying land through forged deals.”

While Settler Violence Surges, Israeli Government Appoints a Settler as Next IDF Chief of Staff

On October 23rd, Major General Herzi Halevi was appointed as the incoming Chief of Staff for the Israeli military, marking the first time that a settler has been appointed to this prominent post. Halevi will start a three-year term in January 2023. The appointment of Halevi comes amidst surging settler violence and increasing documentation of Israeli soldiers assisting, enabling, permitting, and joining settler violence against Palestinians. 

Diana Buttu, of the Institute for Middle East Understanding, told Al Jazeera:

“There’s this fiction that people in the international community seem to have that somehow there’s Israel and then there’s the settlements – as though they are separate and apart from one another. But really, in reality, we see that it’s all one.”

Major General Herzi Halevi lives in the Kfar HaOranim settlement in the northern West Bank, a settlement which is located in the “seam zone” (i.e. on the Israeli side of the separation barrier, in an area where the barrier’s route cuts into the West Bank). Kfar HaOranim was built on land historically belonging to the Paelstinian village of Saffa.

Exposed: Israel is Trying to Hide Water Allocation to the Settlements

The Israeli NGO Kerem Navot reports that, beginning in 2017, the Israeli Water Authority began hiding details of its service provision to settlements and outposts in the West Bank. The Israeli Water Authority is the Israeli government’s utility provider responsible for water and sewage management, and though it has long operated in the West Bank – which is outside of Israel’s sovereign borders – it suddenly stopped reporting how much water it allocates to settlers.

Kerem Navot explains the importance of this:

“These are agricultural water allocations, without which those same settlers would not be able to establish dozens of illegal outposts and pirated farms, and take over tens of thousands of dunams of land for cultivation or to be turned into pastures. This is a tactic that has been in use for years, in tandem with other channels through which the state supports the oftentimes violent lawbreakers in the West Bank…For some reason, in the water books that have been publicly available since 2018, the detailed information on water allocation to specific consumers in the settlements largely disappeared…A few years ago, someone within the Water Authority seemed to have suddenly woken up and realized that there was a problem with this. No, not a problem with supplying water to those settlers who violate the law, as that has continued without interruption. But rather with the fact that the Water Authority reports about that water supply every year, at the level of detail of cubic meters of water (1 cubic meter = 1000 litres).”

Kerem Navot provides further information on the settlements, outposts, and settlers that have in the past been specifically named in the annual water books – – the history of which shows how the Water Authority provides essential infrastructure enabling the continued dispossession of Palestinian land by violent settlers. Kerem Navot reports:

• “Take the Givat Olam outpost, which is located a few kilometers east of the settlement of Itamar, where Ms. Sharona Ran lives. In 2017, the Water Authority allocated almost 111,000 cubic meters of water to Ran! Sharona Ran also happens to be the wife of Avri Ran, who is behind the takeover of many hundreds of dunams of land owned by Palestinian residents of Awarta and Beit Furik, and who has been involved in many instances of extremely severe violence against Palestinians. “
• “The company “Eretz Zeyit Shemen,” better known as “Meshek Achiya,” is the main group involved in the takeover of agricultural lands east of the settlement of Shilo. Although no fewer than six eviction orders are pending against this company for its invasion of hundreds of dunams of land owned by Palestinians, the Water Authority allocated to it close to 100,000 cubic meters of water in 2017.”
• “In 2017, the Water Authority allocated close to 17,000 cubic meters of water to Meir Berg, who used to be a resident of the settlement of Psagot. Meir Berg is the father of Yaakov Berg, who is the founder and CEO of Psagot Winery, which is directly involved in the takeover of about 80 dunams of private land surrounding the settlement of Psagot.”
• “In 2017, the Water Authority allocated close to 12,000 cubic meters of water to Itamar Weiss, a resident of the settlement of Elon Moreh (who also works as an employee at the Meshek Achiya company). But the vineyards that Weiss waters, as well as his winery, are both located on privately owned land that he invaded.”
• “In 2017, Yehoshaphat Tor, the founder of “Havat Maon,” which is one of the most violent illegal outposted in the West Bank, received “only” over 9,000 cubic meters of water from the Water Authority, for a large flock of sheep that he raises there. “

Settlers (& IDF) Continue Violence Against Palestinian Olive Harvest

As the West Bank olive harvest continues, so does settler violence against Palestinians harvesting their crop. In this context, Haaretz reports that settlers are responsible for at least 100 crimes against Palestinians in the past 100 days.

The incident receiving the most attention this week involves what appears to be a uniformed soldier caught on film providing  smoke grenades to a settler who was participating in an attack on Palestinian harvesters in an olive grove near the village of Burin in the northern West Bank. The settler subsequently threw the grenade in the direction which the soldier was pointing –  towards the Palestinian harvesters. It was subsequently reported that the soldier was actually an Israeli civilian – the security coordinator for the nearby Har Bracha settlement – dressed in IDF fatigues. The individual has since been suspended from his post while the IDF conducts an inquiry into the event. The Israeli NGO Yesh Din, whose employee filmed the incident, reports that the attack caused thousands of dollars of damage and injured at least two Palestinians.

Yesh Din responded to reports of the settlement security officer being suspended, saying

“The head of the Har Bracha settlement must be removed from his position and prosecuted for his serious actions. It must also be investigated why he wore a uniform – being a civilian and not a soldier, and why he possessed any means of dispersing demonstrations in violation of the instructions and the law.”

Also receiving attention this week: settlers launched a violent attack on olive harvesters working their fields in Turmus Ayya in the northern West Bank. Photos from the incident document IDF soldiers standing by while the attack unfolded, intervening only later to violently chase Palestinians off of their own land. One Palestinian was injured by a stun grenade thrown at them. Settlers later set two Palestinian cars on fire while soldiers were looking on.

Meanwhile, there still have been no arrests in the case of settlers caught on film lynching longtime Israeli activist, Hagar Gefen (70 years old), last week. Indeed a new settler group calling itself “The Forum for the Struggle for Every Dunam” has since issued a statement claiming to have taken part in the incident and attempting to place blame on Palestinians.

Remarkably, both Gefen and Israeli activists from the Center for Jewish Non-Violence (who were also victims of settler attacks this week) are persisting in their solidarity work. From her hospital bed, Gefen told The Times of Israel that she “feels good” about continuing her solidarity work, and that:

“Cruelty [against Palestinians] is taking place in those hills, not only during the olive harvest…but all the time.”

The Center for Jewish Non-Violence wrote in a newsletter this week:

“We are only a few days into our mini Olive Harvest delegation and already we have witnessed the variety of obstacles that this season brings to Palestinian communities across the West Bank. On Tuesday, we didn’t pick a single olive before 30 masked settlers came down from the nearest outpost to attack us. Under the full protection of the army, the settlers threw stones at the farmers and activists, burnt multiple Palestinian cars, and successfully delayed our harvesting work.

Returning to and working on olive trees each year is an essential element of Palestinian resistance. In addition to the financial significance that it holds for many families, it often is used to show the Israeli courts that the land is still in use and can’t be handed over to the state. Today, we visited a farmer in Hebron who’s land now sits between the settlements of Kiryat Arba and Givat Avot, where far-right Member of Knesset Itamar Ben Gvir resides. As a result of lengthy legal battles, the farmer and his family won the right to harvest from their land once or twice a year. With the help of a big crew of activists today, we were able to support the family in harvesting all of their olives.

One thing has proven true across the communities we have visited so far — that the unique and powerful symbol of the olive tree is especially important in this time. The steadfastness and rootedness that the olive tree represents models the critical practice of ‘Sumud – existence as resistance’ inside Palestinian communities of Area C. 

As the delegation carries on, we will continue to show up where support is needed most, following the activists of Faz3a, Youth of Sumud, Masafer Yatta, and across the West Bank to wherever we can be helpful. Follow our social media to see what’s up!”

Bonus Reads

1. “Israeli Human Rights Violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory – Weekly Update: 20 – 26 October 2022” (Palestinian Centre for Human Rights)
2. “Israel’s occupation of West Bank unlawful under international law, UN report finds” (Middle East Eye)
3. “Labor Party calls for building freeze in isolated West Bank settlements” (Jerusalem Post)

Welcome to FMEP’s Weekly Settlement Report, covering everything you need to know about Israeli settlement activity this week.

To subscribe to this report, please click here.

October 13, 2022

1. Settlers Continue Attacks on Palestinians Around Nablus, also Target Israeli Soldiers
2. Ben Gvir Joins, Escalates Settler Attacks in Sheikh Jarrah
3. Settlers Attack Palestinian Olive Harvest, Seize Control of Silwan Grove
4. Hebron-Area Town Emptied for Israeli Military, Settler Event
5. Bonus Reads

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Settlers Continue Attacks on Palestinians Around Nablus, also Target Israeli Soldiers

It has been another week of settlers and their allies rampaging across the northern West Bank while Palestinians in Nablus continue to be held hostage by the Israeli army, which continues to severely restrict traffic into and out of the city. 

On October 19th, settlers once again attacked Palestinians in Huwara, but this time also turned their violent anger against IDF soldiers attempting to intervene. Two soldiers were injured by the settlers attack, resulting in condemnation from Israeli politicians (even Kahanist MK Ben Gvir), and the IDF arrested an IDF soldier who allegedly joined the settler attack. The Israeli army later released a statement that seemingly condemned the settler attacks on soldiers without actually condemning them (this is the distinction between someone saying “I condemn racism” and “everyone has an obligation to condemn racism” – the first is an actual condemnation; the second, not so much). Notably, that statement also avoids the harsh language routinely used by the IDF with respect to Palestinian stone-throwers, and also, notably, the statement doesn’t even mention settler attacks on Palestinians as something the army condemns or thinks even should be condemned:

“Harm against IDF soldiers by settlers, who are protected by them, is wrongful behavior which we have an obligation to denounce and to work against vociferously.”

IDF chief Aviv Kohavi echoed the same sentiments the following morning: 

“This is a very serious incident, embodying shameful and disgraceful criminal behavior, which requires swift and strict justice. I support the important activity of IDF soldiers, who work around the clock to protect the residents of Israel. It is unacceptable that IDF soldiers who defend diligently and devotedly will be violently attacked by settlers.

Ben Gvir Joins, Escalates Settler Attacks in Sheikh Jarrah

On October 13th settlers led a rampage through the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in East Jerusalem, during which settlers and their supporters threw stones at Palestinian houses and destroyed Palestinian property in a show of power and impunity. The settlers were joined by Kahanist MK Itamar Ben-Gvir, who pulled out a handgun while urging Israeli police to shoot any Palestinian seen throwing stones (caught on video).

The resulting clashes left more than two dozen Palestinians injured – including one seriously injured man who was struck on the head by a young settler wielding a metal bar. Two settlers were also injured.

Settlers Attack Palestinian Olive Harvest, Seize Control of Silwan Grove

The olive harvest season started this month, marking an annual period of intensive settler attacks against Palestinians olive trees and harvesters. Attacks this week took place across the West Bank, including in Nablus, Tulkarem, and in Bethlehem where settlers severely beat Israelis assisting in the harvest.

In Silwan, settlers and soldiers have colluded to seize control of a historic olive grove. The grove and surrounding area was registered as “absentee property” by the Israeli government in 2021, despite the fact that Palestinian farmers have long worked the land and have documents showing their ownership of the plots dating back decades. Once the land was seized by the government, Israeli authorities turned it over to the Israeli Nature and Parks Authority (NPA) to manage. 

In July 2022, +972 Magazine revealed that the NPA signed a contract with the Elad settler group to manage the olive grove —  a contract which was connected to the wishes of an American donor who promised to donate the grove to Elad. At the time, a staff member of Elad reportedly promised the Palestinian farmers who had tended to the olive grove for decades that they would be permitted to continue harvesting the trees. 

Lo and behold, a few months later Palestinian farmers are now being denied access to their trees. Adding insult to injury, soldiers and settlers were seen picking olives from the trees days before the Palestinians were turned away. +972 Magazine reports:

“The establishment of the “agricultural farm” was intended to “restore biblical agriculture with a modern approach,” the Elad farm manager told Local Call during a visit to the area about two months ago. The manager said that although the farm area is fenced off, the Palestinian landowners are still allowed to enter to take care of the trees and harvest them when the season comes. He also said that the organization does not bring visitors to the olive plots nor allow them to harvest there, and that they only carry out development work in these plots. A few weeks later, when the manager was asked by activists what changes had occurred that allowed the soldiers to enter and harvest the trees earlier this month, he replied that he had received new directives from the Nature and Parks Authority permitting them to pick the olives there. According to him, he did not have this permission a month and a half ago.”

Uri Ehrlich, the media coordinator of Emek Shaveh – an NGO that combats the exploitation of archeological and heritage sites as political tools for dispossession – told +972 Magazine: 

“For hundreds of years, the Palestinian residents of Wadi Rababa/ Ben Hinnom planted and tended to the olive trees. The attempt by the police to prevent the harvest is part of an effort to negate the Palestinian history of the valley — which itself is a part of the Judaization of East Jerusalem led by the state, the Nature and Parks Authority, and Elad. It is destined to fail. The olive trees and the traditional agriculture of the Palestinians will continue to exist.”

Hebron-Area Town Emptied for Israeli Military, Settler Event

Haaretz reports that the IDF and settlers held a celebratory conference in the heart of the Palestinian town of Khirbat al-Karmil in the South Hebron Hills, and ordered Palestinians to vacate the area – which includes a water reservoir that services the town.

The town, located in Area A where the Oslo Accords afforded Israel civil and security control, is the site of an ancient pool that settlers have frequently invaded an with army escort during Jewish holidays, in a blatant attempt to takeover the area. The military’s event this week undoubtedly encourages and aids the settlers in their efforts.

Bonus Reads

1. “Jaffa may become the next Sheikh Jarrah as Palestinians are pushed out” (Mondoweiss)
2. “Israeli Settler Violence Surges as Palestinians Turn to Armed Resistance” (Jewish Currents)
3. “How my family came face to face with settler violence on the road to Nablus” (+972 Magazine)
4. “Brutal settler attacks on Huwwara find allies in Israeli soldiers” (Middle East Eye)
5. “’24 hours of hell’: Israeli settler gangs terrorize Palestinian town under army protection” (Mondoweiss)

Welcome to FMEP’s Weekly Settlement Report, covering everything you need to know about Israeli settlement activity this week.

To subscribe to this report, please click here.

October 13, 2022

1. Nablus Region Broiling as Settlers Rampage
2. Senior Israel Officials Preside Over Cornerstone-Laying Ceremony for New Settler Tourist Project in East Jerusalem
3. Israel Antiquities Chief Releases Map of New Israeli National Park Near Jericho (in Area C)
4. Amidst Violent Surge, Settlers Demand Establishment of Evyatar Settlement & Yeshiva
5. Bonus Reads

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Nablus Region Broiling as Settlers Rampage

As violence continues to escalate across the West Bank and in East Jerusalem, this week settlers have continued, seemingly uninhibited, to instigate clashes with and terrorize Palestinians in the West Bank. Some key examples include the following (for an even more thorough listing, see the Palestine Center for Human Rights’ weekly report):

• On October 11th, Israeli settlers staged a massive march – explicitly designed to provoke Palestinians and demonstrate Israeli dominance/impunity – near the Palestinian town of Sebastia,  just north of Nablus. An Israeli soldier providing security to the settlers was shot and killed by a drive-by shooter as the march got underway. Following that shooting, the Palestinian militia group calling itself “Lion’s Den” claimed credit for the drive-by shooting, leading the Israeli army to completely shut down the city of Nablus – where the Lion’s Den is based – in response.
• Late in the evening on October 12th — while the Israeli army was keeping all the entrances and exits to Nablus closed in response to the October 11th shooting of an IDF soldier guarding a settler march — the IDF again provided security for settlers, this time enabling them to enter the city of Nablus (the IDF even transported settlers in military vehicles), ostensibly to visit Joseph’s Tomb and conduct religious prayer there (ostensibly because the timing/nature of the visit appeared to be largely if not entirely about provoking Palestinians). In the course of the operation, IDF soldiers exchanged gunfire with Palestinians; no injuries were reported on either side. 
• The following morning, October 13th, settlers marauded through and terrorized the Palestinian town of Huwara, located just south of the Nablus. Video footage documents IDF soldiers actively protecting (and therefore enabling) settlers who were brazenly committing crimes and assaulting Palestinians. The Palestinian Red Crescent reports 53 people were injured.

It’s worth recalling that settlers have staged several protests and marches over the past few weeks, ostensibly to pressure the Israeli government to intensify its ongoing military operation in the West Bank – which Israel has dubbed “Break the Wave” – a reference to recent attacks against Israeli civilians (and IDF soldiers, bearing in mind that when IDF personnel are injured/killed in any context by Palestinains, Israel in effect counts those IDF personnel as civilian victims of terrorism).  This operation involves Israel staging near daily raids into Palestinian cities in the West Bank — tactics that have led to numerous Palestinian deaths/injuries/detentions. 

Notably, the settler march held on October 11th attracted nearly 10,000 people  – including lawmakers Bezalel Smotrich and well-known Kahanist (who is likely to be a powerful plate in the next Israeli government) Itamar Ben-Gvir. The settlers paraded from the Shavei Shomron settlement to the nearby Palestinian town of Sebastia, where settlers have been engaged in an effort to take control over antiquity sites under Palestinian control in the city. At the conclusion of the march, settlers staged a festival in Sebastia with live music acts, speeches, and more.

Samaria Regional Council head Yossi Dagan stated:

 “We came here today to wave the Israeli flag, to state that we won’t surrender to those who wish to kick us out of our land. We will continue to settle, march, and hike through our entire country. To answer terror we build the land of Israel. We are excited to see the thousands that are marching with us.”

Senior Israel Officials Preside Over Cornerstone-Laying Ceremony for New Settler Tourist Project in East Jerusalem

Emek Shaveh reports that a ceremony was held on October 6th to lay the cornerstone of a new pedestrian footbridge over the Ben Hinnom Valley/Wadi Rababa in Jerusalem. The bridge is a project pushed by settler groups and will serve to connect two settler-operated tourist facilities located in two Palestinian neighborhoods on opposite sides of the valley – one in Abu Tor and the other in Silwan. The ceremony was held at one of those settler-run tourist facilities – known as the “House in the Valley”, operated by the Elad Foundation – and was presided over by Israeli Minister of Jerusalem Affairs Ze’ev Elkin, Israeli Transportation Minister Yoel Razvozov, Jerusalem Mayor Moshe Leon, and Israeli Antiquities Authority director general Eli Eskosido.

Emek Shaeh comments:

“The bridge is another project in a list of new projects which are transforming the valley, such as the cable car, and the Elad Foundation’s Farm in the Valley (also called Center for Ancient Agriculture). All of these are part of the larger strategy to establish a continuum of biblically themed tourism ventures and Jewish residential settlements in the Silwan-Hinnom Valley area using a variety of legal and administrative mechanisms to displace Palestinians from their homes, shrink their public spaces and downplay their heritage.”

At the cornerstone laying ceremony on October 6th, Minister Elkin confirmed the intent behind the bridge, saying: 

“the suspension bridge is an important strategic project led by the Ministry for Jerusalem Affairs and other partners. We are working to turn the Hinnom Valley into a developed tourism zone and in so doing achieve two additional goals: one is to strengthen the sense of security and sovereignty in the area, the other is to ease access to the Old City.” 

On the Abu Tor side of the bridge, the Elad settler organization runs and operates a cultural center and cafe named “House in the Valley,” which opened in 2019 after Elad evicted a Palestinian family and renovated the space. A week after Elad’s new cultural center was opened, the Jerusalem Municipality issued “gardening orders” to take control, for an initial period lasting 5 years (with the likelihood of extensions after that) of 12 nearby plots of privately-owned Palestinian land. “Gardening orders” allow Israel to “temporarily” take over privately owned land for what are ostensibly public purposes (like establishing a parking lot or public garden), based on the argument that the private owners are not presently using the land. In this case, Israel has in effect made rules that guarantee that the latter condition applies: as Emek Shaveh has noted, the 12 plots in question are located in an area declared by Israel to be a national park, meaning that private landowners are legally barred from using their own land.

On the Silwan side – a neighborhood where Elad (alongside other settler organizations, including Ateret Cohanim) is waging a house-by-house campaign to displace Palestinians in favor of settlers and settler-run tourist sites – the bridge will end near the Sambuski cemetery, which until recent years was a relatively unknown, neglected site that even Israel did not recognize as a holy site. Under the Trump “Peace to Prosperity” plan, the Sambuski cemetery was suddenly transformed into a place of prime historical and religious importance to Israel. The Emek Shaveh – which has a special expertise on archaeology and the weaponization of archaeology to serve the political agenda of the settlers and the state – wrote a report on exactly how the Trump “Vision” supports settler efforts to use Jerusalem’s history and antiquities to promote Israeli-Jewish hegemony and control over the city.

Israel Antiquities Chief Releases Map of New Israeli National Park Near Jericho (in Area C)

Emek Shaveh reports that Eli Eskosido, the Director General of the Israeli Antiquities Authority, has been sharing a map showing a new “Hasmonean Palaces National Park” on land located southwest of the Palestinian city of Jericho. Notably, the land in question is located in Area C of the West Bank – where the domestic Antiquities Authority does not, legally (under Israeli law and the Oslo Accords) have any jurisdiction. 

The Hasmonean Palaces archaeological site was identified in the Oslo Accords as a place of  “archaeological and historic importance to the Israeli side”,  granting the Israelis control over this enclave of land within a Palestinian population  center. However, the area has not been developed by the Israeli government. Emek Shaveh reports that while a National Park has been planned for the area, it does not currently exist. 

Bizarrely, the map promoted by Eskosido is emblazoned with the logos of domestic Israeli government bureaus, which – again – do not have any jurisdiction in the West Bank. A settler group focused on weaponizing archaeology to advance Israeli annexation in the West Bank, “Guardians of Eternity,” alleges that the site has been subject to damage by Palestinians over the years. Emek Shaveh reports that the Binyamin Regional Council – the municipal association in charge of settlements in the area – is reportedly interested in taking over direct management of the site. 

Emek Shaveh notes:

“The publication of the map by Mr. Eskosido is another manifestation of steps towards de facto annexation in the realm of antiquities which we wrote about earlier this year following the Knesset’s committee’s recommendation of expanding the Israel Antiquities Authority remit into Area C.

The investment in this site is an outcome of a persistent campaign by Guardians of Eternity (Regavim) and the Shiloh Forum which exploits historical, religious and cultural affinities of the Jewish people to sites in the West Bank with the aim of galvanizing the Israeli government to expand and deepen its control. This latest involvement by the IAA in the Hasmonean Palaces should be considered within this context. Although damage by Palestinians to the site is a problem, for the most part this takes the form of light construction. It is certainly not an expression of a Palestinian Authority led plan to destroy Jewish heritage in the West Bank as the settlers repeatedly claim.”

Amidst Violent Surge, Settlers Demand Establishment of Evyatar Settlement & Yeshiva

Over the Sukkot holiday, settlers in the northern West Bank staged a renewed push for the government, specifically Defense Minister Benny Gantz, to act in order to formally establish the Evyatar settlement and yeshiva, located on Palestinian lands just south of Nablus. In February 2022, the outgoing Israeli Attorney General issued an opinion that provides a basis for granting retroactive legalization to the Evyatar outpost (which would mean authorizing Evyatar as a fully-approved new settlement, “legal” under Israeli law). Since February 2022, Defense Minister Gantz has had the authority to declare the area as “state land” as the first (and most significant) step towards authorizing Evyatar. For reasons that remain unclear, Gantz has not (yet) made a move to do so.

The saga of the Evyatar outpost became a recurring headline news story over the past two years, mostly as a result of the determined effort by Palestinians from the nearby village of Beitar to protest the Evyatar outpost and to resist the Israeli government’s efforts to retroactively legalize it. Palestinians staged regular protests near the site of Evyatar outpost, which was built illegally by settlers on a hilltop that Palestinians have long known as Mt. Sabih, land which has historically belonged to the nearby Palestinian villages of Beita, Yatma, and Qablan. No fewer than seven Palestinian protestors died as a result of the harsh and violent attempt by the IDF to quash the protests.

Bonus Reads

1. “Drones terrorized Gaza for years. Now they’ll do the same in the West Bank” (+972 Magazine) → “the army is calling for the use of drones to surveil refugee camps and strike militants, for installing remote-controlled gun turrets to secure high-volume checkpoints, and for employing biometric cameras to track civilians across the West Bank.”
2. “The GOP’s Plan to Build the Third Temple” (Jewish Currents)

Welcome to FMEP’s Weekly Settlement Report, covering everything you need to know about Israeli settlement activity this week.

To subscribe to this report, please click here.

October 7, 2022

1. 1. High Court Grants Govt Another Delay of Forcible Relocation Khan al-Ahmar
   2. Booking.com Concedes to Israeli “Diplomatic War” Against Settlement Travel Warning
   3. Settlers Close Entrances to Nablus, Demand Another Round of Raids on Palestinian Resistance
   4. Settlers to get Armored Buses
   5. New Yesh Din Report on “Shepherding Outposts”
   6. Bonus Reads

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High Court Grants Govt Another Delay of Forcible Relocation Khan al-Ahmar

On October 4th, the Israeli High Court of Justice gave the government a delay on meeting the Court-imposed deadline for forcibly dispossessing the Khan Al-Ahmar bedouin community of their land just south of Jerusalem. The Court – ultimately agreeing with the government’s argument that such a consequential move should not be handled by a transition government with elections on the immediate horizon – set the next deadline for February 1, 2023. This is the 8th such delay granted by the High Court.

A spokesperson for Regavim – the settler group whose appeal to the High Court led to the ruling requiring the government to destroy Khan Al-Ahmar (on the grounds that the entire community is illegal, as it lacks Israeli-issued building permits) – lamented the decision: 

“A transitional government is allowed to sign a historic natural gas agreement,” said Yael Cinnamon, the attorney representing the right-wing NGO Regavim in an objection to the ruling. “But it can’t answer a simple question: Why is an illegal outpost that the court has decided time after time is to be demolished, still standing.”

Reports earlier this year suggested that the government was preparing to finalize a plan that would see the demolition of the Khan Al-Ahmar only to rebuild the community some 300 meters from where it currently stands. 

Booking.com Concedes to Israeli “Diplomatic War” Against Settlement Travel Warning

A few weeks after announcing its plan to display travel warnings on properties located in Israeli settlements, the online vacation planning giant Booking.com changed its approach – reportedly in response to Israeli pressure (as a reminder: when the plan was announced, Israeli officials promised to wage a “diplomatic war” against it). As it has now been implemented, the new approach waters down the warning, de-contextualizes it, and for the purposes of travel advice and facilitation, effectively elides/erases any distinction between Israeli settlements and Palestinian villages/cities.

Specifically, instead of posting a travel warning that identifies each settlement listing as located in occupied territory and warning of “an increased risk to safety and human rights” (as was reportedly the origin plan), the warning instead (a) now appears at the top of any search results for locations anywhere in the West Bank (Israeli and Palestinian), and (b) rather than referencing the occupation and human rights (language that would have directly reflected the specific context of the West Bank and the power/security dynamics impacting travel there), the language, as implemented, merely warns travelers to “Review any travel advisories provided by your government to make an informed decision about your stay in this area, which may be considered conflict-affected.”

Ines Abdel Razek of the Palestine Institute for Public Diplomacy told Al Jazeera:

“By continuing to list accommodations in illegal settlements or trading with them, they are essentially continuing to give a free pass to colonisation, segregation and racism, making profit on the back of Palestinians land and resource theft, labour exploitation, and mass expulsions. Worse, by equating rentals in properties owned by Palestinians to that of illegal Israeli settlers, Booking is failing in its responsibility and own affirmed commitment to ‘protect local communities’…Booking and Airbnb are also adopting Israeli disinformation misportraying [the concrete reality] as ‘disputed’ and ‘complicated’ in order to whitewash Israel’s war crimes [from] what is without ambiguity a military occupation and illegal settler colonial enterprise condemned for decades by the UN and international tribunals…While these companies are affirming their commitment to ‘promoting human rights everywhere’, they are applying very clear double standards about their zero tolerance approach when it comes to Palestinians.”

It is difficult not to count this as a major victory for the Israeli government and its effort to force companies and governments to treat settlements as part and parcel of the state of Israel – even though settlements are illegal under international law. Indeed, it’s worth noting that this victory was in large part won in advance: Booking.com at no point was (publicly) considering de-listing settlement properties entirely – a move that AirBnB ventured to undertake in 2018, resulting in intense backlash from Israel and in U.S. courts. Ultimately, AirBnB reversed that decision.

Declaring victory over Booking.com, Israel Foreign Minister Yoel Razvozov (Yesh Atid) said:

“This is an important achievement for the State of Israel. From the moment this issue became known, under the instruction of Prime Minister Lapid, together with officials from the Foreign Ministry, we prevented the global company Booking from publishing false information against Israel and against Israeli tourism businesses located in Judea and Samaria. We proved that the State of Israel has the ability to act and be victorious in the field of diplomacy, and I am sure that we will act similarly in the future as well, against any attempt to harm us.”

Settlers Close Entrances to Nablus, Demand Another Round of Raids on Palestinian Resistance

Settlers staged two protests near Nablus – one on October 3rd and another on October 5th – closing down all of the roads leading into the city. In video of the event, Israeli military vehicles can be seen – apparently not only failing to remove the settlers from the road, but actually facilitating their sustained presence there. The stated goal of the rally was to demand the government launch a new and harsher campaign – which the settlers have dubbed Defensive Wall 2 – to counter rising Palestinian armed resistance in the West Bank. The rallies were also an immediate response to a shooting that took place earlier in the day on October 3rd, in which an Israeli bus and taxi were shot at near the Elon Moreh settlement. One person was lightly wounded.

As the October 5th rally was disbanding, the settlers were shot, with responsibility for the shooting subsequently claimed by a Palestinian armed group in Nablus calling themselves the “Lion’s Den.” The Lion’s Den also took responsibility on October 5th for capturing (and ultimately releasing unharmed) Israeli settlers who entered the Old City of Hebron by mistake.

A similar incident happened in Hebron only a few days later, when a group of three Israelis and eight tourists had driven into the Palestinian-controlled part of the city. Palestinian Authority forces helped escort the group safely out of the area. 

Settlers to get Armored Buses

The Israeli government has announced that it allocated $4 million (NIS 15 million) to purchase bulletproof, armored buses to serve the settler population in the West Bank. The announcement follows a report by the Israel Hayom outlet that a bus company – Electra Afikim – was close to canceling its service to the settlements because too many of its buses have been damaged by gunfire.

New Yesh Din Report on “Shepherding Outposts”

Yesh Din – an Israeli anti-settlement NGO – issued a new report on October 6th entitled, “Plundered Pastures: Israeli settler shepherding outposts in the West Bank and their infringement on Palestinians’ human rights”. Yesh Din reports that shepherding outposts have been wildly successful in “establishing, expanding, invading and perpetrating violence as means for driving Palestinian shepherds and farmers off of their land.”

The report further unpacks how shepherding outposts – where a small amount of settlers (sometimes one family) graze livestock over a vast expanse of land – have become a dominant form of land takeover used by settlers with the strategic facilitation of the Israeli government in the West Bank since 2017, resulting in the establishment of no less than 35 outposts in the four years that followed. What’s more, the report publishes for the first time documents showing the Israeli government has pursued the establishment of shepherding outposts as a means of land control since the early 1980s.

Yesh Din writes:

“The testimonies and data in this report describe the severe and routine harm that the settlers’ activities in shepherding outposts cause Palestinians in the West Bank – harm to their person, land and property. Analysis of the report’s findings exposes how establishing settler shepherding outposts is designed to create substantial and long-term change to the map of Israeli settlement in the oPt, which will lead to diminished living areas for Palestinians in the West Bank and result in severe and extensive infringement on their human rights.”

Bonus Reads

1. “Netanyahu pledges massive West Bank settlement building if elected” (Jerusalem Post)
2. “Jewish Home: No govt. without young settlements” (Arutz Sheva)

Welcome to FMEP’s Weekly Settlement Report, covering everything you need to know about Israeli settlement activity this week.

To subscribe to this report, please click here.

September 30, 2022

1. 150+ Palestinians (30 Families) Face Imminent Displacement Following Secret Land Registration in East Jerusalem
2. In Major Step Towards Authorization (Under Israeli Law), Israel to Provide Security to Outposts
3. Bonus Reads

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150+ Palestinians (30 Families) Face Imminent Displacement Following Secret Land Registration in East Jerusalem

Ir Amim reports that, as a result of Israel’s secret registration of land in East Jerusalem, 30 Palestinian families received eviction notices instructing them to leave their homes by September 1, 2022. Since the deadline has passed, the Israeli General Custodian can open a legal case to pursue their eviction at any moment. The eviction notices appear to be premised on Israel’s secret registration of land between near Abu Dis and Jabal al-Mukhaber, which was made public in August 2022.

There are two significant problems to this pretext. First, Ir Amim reports that only 3 of the 30 families which received eviction notices actually live on the parcel of land which State seized control of – the 27 other families live nearby but not within the borders of the parcel of land.

Secondly – and perhaps more significantly – Ir Amim has new evidence that forty years ago Israel examined the ownership of the same exact parcel of land and determined that it was privately owned by Palestinians, not Jews, prior to 1948. This new finding completely delegitimizes the premise on which the State seized control of the land this year.  Ir Amim writes:

“Beyond the fact that most of the families facing eviction do not even reside on the respective plot, according to Ir Amim’s examination, there is no evidence to corroborate claims of Jewish ownership of the land designated as bloc 31735. This calls into question the means in which the General Custodian registered the land under its management. Due to the fact that the procedure was carried out in a covert manner and authorized in a closed court proceeding—likely at the behest of the General Custodian—it is impossible to ascertain the basis of its claims. While the Israeli media reported that the Custodian registered the land under its management based on proof affirming Jewish land ownership from the early 20th century, the documents Ir Amim acquired refute those claims.”

To learn more about Israeli land registration – and how it is being used as another tool to dispossess Palestinians in East Jerusalem – listen to FMEP’s recent podcast episode on this topic featuring Amy Cohen of Ir Amim.

In Major Step Towards Authorization (Under Israeli Law), Israel to Provide Security to Outposts

On September 29th, the Israeli military announced that, for the first time, it will provide security for illegal/unauthorized outposts, which will include equipping these outposts with surveillance and warning systems, lighting, public address systems, and firefighting equipment. The army’s announcement touted this as a “major change in policy,” and further, “the army’s job is to protect any place where Israeli citizens and residents are found. This important and necessary change will enable us to bolster the region’s layers of defense.”

Underscoring the absurdity of the situation, the Israeli army plans to only provide outposts with portable equipment – – because permanent construction in the outposts is illegal under Israeli law. The State has tried for years to correct that fact, having commissioned several councils and task forces to examine the legal status of each outpost and plot legal paths towards authorization. That work is still ongoing. By providing military protection to the outposts, Israel is undertaking a significant step towards retroactively authorizing the outposts and in fact proceeding with the de facto annexation of the outposts. 

The Forum for Young Settlements (which is a euphemism for outposts) celebrated that military’s decision as a big step towards authorization, saying:

“[the IDF’s decision is] an important step towards full authorization…We are happy that two years after Defense Minister Benny Gantz toured ‘young settlements’ and after our hard work and repeated requests, he has finally decided that it is not possible to endanger our lives and the lives of our children any longer,” the forum said in response to the decision.”

The Israeli anti-settlement NGO Yesh Din said that, with this new decision:

“the army will provide protection to the lawbreakers, and has thereby turned itself and its soldiers into partners in crime. Granting protection to the outposts is a reward for the criminals who live in these illegal outposts and a continuation of the policy of creeping annexation of the West Bank that is being pushed by extremists under the auspices of the Israeli government.”

Peace Now said in response:

“Illegal outposts need to be dismantled, not secured.”

Bonus Reads

1. “Israel installs remote-controlled weapons system at Hebron checkpoint, alarming Palestinians” (The New Arab)
2. “Israel green lights use of drones to assassinate Palestinians in West Bank: Report” (Middle East Monitor)
3. “Regavim Field Coordinator comes under fire near Kiryat Arba” (Arutz Sheva)

Welcome to FMEP’s Weekly Settlement Report, covering everything you need to know about Israeli settlement activity this week.

To subscribe to this report, please click here.

September 23, 2022

1. Booking.com To Post Warning on Settlement Listings (Like Other “Conflict Affected” Areas)
2. Things to Watch During Jewish High Holidays
3. Bonus Reads

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Booking.com To Post Warning on Settlement Listings (Like Other “Conflict Affected” Areas)

The online travel planning giant Booking.com announced this week that it will begin including a safety warning on listings located in “disputed, conflict-affected or high-risk” areas, including on properties located in the West Bank but owned by Israelis (i.e., in settlements). The language has not been finalized, but Booking.com expects the warning will look (in substance and style) like similar warnings for Cyprus and Ukraine, emphasizing for customers that “visiting the area may be accompanied by an increased risk to safety and human rights, or other risks to the local community and visitors.” Other reports suggest that Booking.com will add the word “occupied” to listings located in West Bank settlements (but not on listings located in East Jerusalem settlements).

For years, Palestinian rights advocates have pushed companies like Booking.com and AirBnB to remove from listings for properties located in settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem – settlements which are illegal under international law. AirBnB was the first to attempt to follow international law, when it announced a plan to remove settlement listings from its site in 2018. AirBnB ultimately reversed that decision amid intense backlash from Israel and in U.S. courts.

The Israeli PR machine has already begun to push back on Booking.com, with Israeli Tourism Minister Yoel Razvozov releasing a statement threatening a “diplomatic war” against Booking.com, saying:

“A business will not dictate to us what area is Israel and what area isn’t…We intend to act with all the means at our disposal to reverse this decision.”

At the same time, prominent promoter of Israeli settlements, law professor Eugene Kontorovich, framed the planned move by Booking.com as a victory for Greater Israel (in that Booking.com apparently isn’t even considering removing settlement listing), telling the Associated Press:

“It shows Booking.com has paid attention to the massive damage Airbnb and Ben & Jerrys did to themselves when they adopted a boycott of Israeli controlled territories.”

Things to Watch During Jewish High Holidays

The Jewish High Holidays are approaching just as deadly clashes between Palestinians and Israeli forces across the West Bank are becoming a daily reality, in most part due to the almost nightly raids by Israeli forces into Palestinian cities over the past several months, including the densely populated cities including Nablus and Jenin. At the same time, there are growing fears in the Israeli security sector that Mahmoud Abbas’s Palestinian Authority is losing control over the West Bank, as discontent and opposition to the PA has grown – most recently (and notably) resulting in armed opposition to PA forces carrying out an arrest in Nablus. 

As is standard every year, Israel will impose three days of extensive closures while Israeli settlers (and Israeli forces who protect them) celebrate Rosh Hashanah (the Jewish New Year) — sharply limiting Palestinian freedom of movement across the West Bank and sealing off Palestinian access into Israel. These closures are the first in a series of multi-day closures over the next month of Jewish holidays.

Adding to concerns about a new intifada, the status quo on the Temple Mount/Haram Al-Sharif continues to be challenged and eroded, highlighted by the record number of Jewish worshippers permitted by Israel to ascend to the Temple Mount and perform religious ceremonies over the past year. This increase in visits combined with the ascendancy of the Israel’s Temple Mount Movement – an extremist messianic Jewish movement working to build a new Jewish temple on the site of the Temple Mount/Haram Al-Sharif, one of the most sensitive holy sites in the world – is the cause of great concern for leading Jerusalem experts, including Terrestrial Jerusalem and Ir Amim. Heading into the Jewish High Holidays, during which Israeli forces will escort thousands of Jewish worshippers and tourists to the Temple Mount, Hamas has issued a warning that “The continuation of the Zionist aggression and their brutality against Jerusalem and the holy shrines will be the cause of a major battle,” and that Israel’s “blatant attack on the religious and Islamic status of the city and the mosque…[has] the possibility of dragging the entire region into an open religious war.”

Bonus Reads

1. “Will Israel finally stop Walaje home demolitions?” (The Times of Israel)
2. “Palestinian hurt in alleged settler attack still in prison, settlers not questioned” (The Times of Israel)
3. “Life in an IDF Firing Zone: For These Palestinians, It’s a Daily Nightmare” (Haaretz)
4. “50,000 visits a year: Jews increasingly flock to Temple Mount amid escalation fears” (The Times of Israel)
5. “Arab East Jerusalem schools go on strike to protest edits to ‘inciting’ textbooks” (The Times of Israel)
6. “Ben & Jerry’s founders say Unilever ‘usurped’ its authority with Israel spin off” (The Times of Israel)

Welcome to FMEP’s Weekly Settlement Report, covering everything you need to know about Israeli settlement activity this week.

To subscribe to this report, please click here.

September 9, 2022

1. Israel Advances Givat HaShaked Settlement Plan in East Jerusalem
2. Israel Delays (for now) Consideration of E-1 Settlement
3. Israel Planning to “Legalize” 30+ Shepherding Outposts in Massive Land Grab
4. Israel to Request Another Delay in Demolition of Khan al-Ahmar
5. IDF Issues Orders to Keep Settlers Out of Ramat Migron Outpost Area
6. IDF Removes Amichai Settlement Tower
7. Yesha Council Elects New Leader
8. Settlement Schools are Flourishing
9. Bonus Reads

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Israel Advances Givat HaShaked Settlement Plan in East Jerusalem

On September 5th, the Jerusalem District Planning Committee advanced plans to build a new settlement in East Jerusalem, to be called “Givat HaShaked.” The plan provides for 700 housing units (in 4 highrise towers and several six-story buildings), a school, and commercial buildings –all to be built on a highly sensitive and geopolitically critical sliver of land located within the Palestinian neighborhood of Beit Safafa. The plan was approved for public deposit, an advanced stage in the Israeli planning process. The plan for Givat HaShaked is unprecedented, according to the Israeli NGO Terrestrial Jerusalem, in that it is the first settlement of this size that that Israeli government will establish within a Palestinian neighborhood.  Beit Safafa is already in the process of being completely surrounded by Israeli development (for Jewish Israelis) — most notably with final approval of the Givat Hamatos settlement plan, for which tenders were issued in January 2021.

The Israeli NGO Ir Amim also points out that, while the government goes to great lengths to find a way to squeeze in several high rise towers to house Israelis in East Jerusalem, there is no parallel effort to address the decades-long lack of planning and approvals  for Palestinian communities. Ir Amim writes:

“Givat HaShaked is also a flagrant example of the breadth and depth of housing and planning discrimination in the city. While Givat HaShaked is intended for land located along the built-up area of Sharafat, it is not designated for the community’s development needs, but rather a new housing project for Israelis over the Green Line in Jerusalem. Construction of this new settlement will likewise stand in stark contrast to the existing Palestinian neighborhood, dwarfing and engulfing Sharafat with high-rise apartment buildings – the likes of which Israeli authorities refuse to promote or approve for Palestinian areas. In a similar fashion, the remaining land reserves on the eastern side of Beit Safafa, which could have been used to address the neighborhood’s housing needs, were depleted to advance construction of the Israeli settlement of Givat Hamatos.”

Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked celebrated the advancement, telling Arutz Sheva: 

“As I promised, despite all the pressures from at home and abroad, the Givat Hashaked plan was approved today by the district committee. This plan is located in the heart of Jerusalem and is unthinkable to prevent development and construction in this area as well as all over the city. This is an important plan that will lead to an increase in the supply of housing units, employment areas and public buildings for the well-being of the residents.”

As a reminder, the Israeli government has been sitting on plans for Givat HaShaked for decades, but has refrained from implementing them because doing so would require the government to seize a sizeable amount of land in East Jerusalem, some of which is privately owned by Palestinian residents of Sharafat (a section of the Palestinian neighborhood of Beit Safafa). Other parts of the land proposed to be used for the Givat HaShaked settlement plan are managed by the Israeli General Custodian (but neither owned or claimed by the government of Israel) – a fact Ir Amim calls “highly unusual and seemingly marks a new phenomenon.” The Israeli General Custodian is empowered by the State to  act as a caretaker of land that has unknown ownership until the heirs are located. In an attempt to explain why the General Custodian has the authority to approve a plan for construction on land that the State does not own, the Israeli Justice Ministry told Haaretz that the plan for Givat HaShaked increased the value of the land and that “by law, the administrator general is obligated to care for the assets under his management in a way that will benefit their private owners.”  This answer implies, bizarrely, that if and when Palestinian heirs are located, they will be somehow better off with their land having been used to build a settlement.

Another important facet of how Givat HaShaked is being advanced now is the decision by the Israeli government in late 2020 to initiate a (typically secret) registration process for land in East Jerusalem, including in the Sharafat area. At this time, it is unknown whether the land managed by the General Custodian in Sharafat (and designated for the new settlement) has been – or is in the process of being – registered. On that uncertainty, Ir Amim writes:

“…in the event that it is the same location [where formal land registration has taken place], this move would constitute yet another brazen example of how the settlement of title procedures are repeatedly being used to aid state authorities and settler groups in taking over more land in East Jerusalem…Although portrayed as a measure to ostensibly benefit Palestinian residents, there has been grave alarm that these [land registration and settlement of title] procedures would in fact be exploited to confiscate Palestinian land for political purposes, leading to the expansion of Jewish settlement and widespread Palestinian dispossession in the city.”

For a deep dive into land registration in East Jerusalem, please listen to a new FMEP podcast featuring Kristin McCarthy (FMEP) in conversation with Amy Cohen (Ir Amim).

Israel Delays (for now) Consideration of E-1 Settlement

The Israeli Higher Planning Committee of the Civil Administration has again delayed its consideration of the E-1 settlement plan, which was scheduled to be taken up at the Committee’s September 12th meeting.  The E-1 settlement is considered a “doomsday” settlement for much of the international community that still hopes to negotiate a two state solution. This same committee was previously scheduled to take up the E-1 plan on July 18th – days after U.S. President Joe Biden’s visit to Jerusalem.  The Israeli government intervened to postpone the meeting, rescheduling it for September 12th – the hearing that has now also been delayed.

Peace Now said in response: 

“This is welcome news, but we wish to see E1 taken off the table completely. E1 is lethal to the two-state solution, highly detrimental to Palestinian freedom of movement and to connection between different parts of the future Palestinian state. The Israeli government, and in particular Minister of Defense Benny Gantz (in whose jurisdiction these decisions lie), must take the plan off the table completely.”

This repeatedly delayed meeting promises to be a decisive one for the long-pending E-1 plan, and could result in the Committee granting final approval to the highly contentious plan. Barring intensive outside pressure, additional postponement of the hearing seems highly improbable, given the Israeli domestic politics and the upcoming national election. 

As a reminder: in its current form, the E-1 plan provides for the construction of 3,412 new settlement units on a site located northeast of Jerusalem. The site is home to several Palestinian bedouin communities, including Khan al-Ahmar, which Israel has already undertaken to forcibly displace (many attempts). Long called a “doomsday” settlement by supporters of a two-state solution, construction of the E-1 settlement would sever East Jerusalem from its West Bank hinterland, preventing East Jerusalem from ever functioning as a viable Palestinian capital. It would also cut the West Bank effectively in half, isolating the northern West Bank from the southern West Bank and foreclosing the possibility of the establishment of a Palestinian state with territorial contiguity.

Israel’s “answer” to the latter criticism has long been to argue that Palestinians don’t need territorial contiguity, and that new roads can instead provide “transportational continuity.” To this end, Israel has already built the so-called “Sovereignty Road” – a sealed road that enables Palestinians to pass through, but not to enter, the E-1 area. That road is wholly under Israel’s control (meaning Israel can cut off Palestinian passage through it at any time). In January 2021, then-Prime Minister  Netanyahu promised to increase funding for the “Sovereignty Road” as part of the drive to get E-1 built.

And another reminder: there have been attempts to promote the E-1 plan since the early 1990s, but due to wall-to-wall international opposition, the plan was not advanced until 2012, when Netaynuahu ordered it to be approved for deposit for public review (a key step in the approval process), ostensibly as payback for the Palestinians seeking recognition at the United Nations. Following an outcry from the international community, the plan again went into a sort of dormancy, only to be put back on the agenda by Netanyahu in February 2020, when he was facing his third round of elections in the two years.  Also, as a reminder: under the Trump Plan (which the Biden Administration has yet to comment on), the area where E-1 is located is slated to become part of Israel.

Israel Planning to “Legalize” 30+ Shepherding Outposts in Massive Land Grab

Haaretz reports that the Israeli Civil Administration is in the midst of a years-long process of drafting new protocols that will allow the State to “legalize” settlers’ claims to huge areas of the West Bank (mainly in Area C) that settlers have de facto seized through illegal shepherding activities (grazing settler-owned flocks of sheep, etc on the land). The Civil Administration is working to “legalize” this land theft in areas where the land in question is categorized by Israel as “State land.” 

The phenomenon of “shepherding outposts” has been extensively documented by the Israeli NGO Kerem Navot, which has identified it as currently the “most significant mechanism for dispossessing Palestinian communities” in the West Bank. According to Kerem Navot’s May 2022 report, entitled “Wild Wild West,” settlers have taken control of nearly 7% of Area C of the West Bank (around 60,000 acres) via 77 of these grazing outposts.

The Haaretz Editorial Board – in a piece entitled “Settler Crime Always Pays” – writes:

“Once again, the settlers have proved that Jewish crime in the territories always pays. The Civil Administration began formulating the draft regulation about two years ago, against the background of the increase in the number of these outposts. The proper response to the growing number of farms established illegally would have been to see to their removal and to step up enforcement. Instead, the agency bowed down to the settler masters and seeks to cut the law to fit their vices…It must be hoped that he [Gantz] recognizes that it is a looting mechanism designed to take control of more and more of Area C, to prevent Palestinians from working their land and to reduce their living space.”

As a reminder: Israel has a legal responsibility under international law regarding stewardship of “state land” held under its occupation. As the Association for Civil Rights in Israel explains:

“Israel holds state land in an occupied territory as a trustee, and must do everything possible to preserve and develop it for the benefit of the local Palestinian population. The very use of state land for the purpose of building settlements and/or developing infrastructure and industrial zones not in favor of the Palestinian population constitutes a violation of international law.”

Israel to Request Another Delay in Demolition of Khan al-Ahmar

Facing a September 11th deadline to complete the forcible relocation of the Khan al-Ahmar community from their longtime lands just east of Jerusalem (an act that would constitute a war crime), Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid has become just the most recent Israeli premier to ask the Court for an extension.  As a reminder, the High Court has ordered the demolition of Khan al-Ahmar, which it declared to be illegally built (i.e., lacking Israeli building permits that are virtually impossible for Palestinians to obtain).

The Israeli High Court imposed a deadline on the State to demolish Khan al Ahmar in response to a petition filed by the right-wing pro-settler group Regavim, which sued the government for failing to carry out the demolition of the community in the wake of the Court’s ruling that the community was built illegally. That demolition order has been pending since 2018. The Court granted several delays to the Netanyahu government, and one to the Bennett government. When granting the government another delay in September 2020, the Court said that it would not be granting any more delays. It then granted several more delays, most recently in July 2021, ostensibly due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Prior to becoming Prime Minister, Lapid opposed the State’s plan to forcibly relocate Khan al-Ahmar. Reports suggested that the government has been preparing a plan that would entail the demolition of the Khan Al-Ahmar, followed by (bizarrely) the rebuilding of the community some 300 meters from where it currently stands.

IDF Issues Orders to Keep Settlers Out of Ramat Migron Outpost Area

After three weeks of repeatedly demolishing the “Ramat Migron” outpost, only to have settlers rebuild it, the IDF has issued a new order declaring the area a “closed military zone” — apparently in hopes of barring settlers from entering the area. The order is effective for only one month. As a reminder: The IDF already viewed it as illegal for settlers to enter the area (which is why the IDF arrested settlers in the area last week), so it is not clear (at least as of this writing) what is different about this new order.

The IDF informed the settlers of the new order as they were in the process of constructing buildings at the Ramat Migron site. Settlers have already vowed to continue fighting to establish a settlement on the hilltop.

IDF Removes Amichai Settlement Tower

On September 8th, Israeli authorities demolished a tower built by settlers on land that has been allotted to the Amihai settlement, located in the Shiloh Valley in the northern West Bank. Settlers built the tower apparently in order to surveil a nearby Palestinian village where new homes are being built. Settlers have already vowed to rebuild the tower.

The Amichai settlement was approved for construction in 2017, making it at that time the first new settlement formally approved by the Isareli government in 25 years. Aerial imagery from 2021 show the massive growth Amichai has enjoyed in the years that followed its establishment, a previously empty hilltop with cultivated fields nearby have been transformed into a sizable suburban neighborhood. In addition to new construction, Amichai was also massively expanded, subsequent to its initial construction, when the Israeli Civil Administration announced that its plan to retroactively legalize the Adei Ad outpost by significantly expanding the borders of the Amichai settlement to turn Adei Ad into a (non-contiguous) neighborhood. In effect, this was a slight-of-hand by Israel to turn the Adei Ad outpost into an entirely new official, legal settlement.

Yesha Council Elects New Leader

The Yesha Council – an association of heads of settlements and regional council leaders that acts as the settler lobby to the government – has elected a new chair, Shlomo Ne’eman. Ne’eman is set to take over the post from David Elhayani.

Ne’eman has earned his stripes as the chairman of the Gush Etzion Regional Council. Upon his election (he was unopposed), Ne’eman said:

“The first task before us is to strengthen the sovereignty and the Jewish presence in the region. This is the time to unite against those who seek our harm, the Palestinian Authority and other terrorist organizations that fight us with guns and knives, as well as with plows and concrete pumps, and to continue working to develop and strengthen Israeli settlement in Judea, Samaria and the Jordan Valley.”

Settlement Schools are Flourishing

According to a newsletter issued by the Friends of Beit El Settlement (an organization that former Ambassador David Friedman used to chair), as the new school year starts there are 86,000 children living in settlements and enrolled in 270 elementary schools across the West Bank. In addition, the newsletter reports that 35,000 settler students attend ~200 post-elementary schools. Gloating, the newsletter boasts:

“Beautiful numbers like these don’t just happen on their own. We can barely imagine the amount of idealism and effort and self-sacrifice over the course of decades, under severely difficult economic and security conditions, that has gone into the Yesha enterprise.”

Bonus Reads

1. “Settlement Org Eyes a New Target, and Israeli Authorities Go Out of Their Way to Help” (Haaretz)
2. “IDF preparing to use armed drones in West Bank operations” (The Times of Israel)
3. “U.S. Examining Allegations Against Israel’s Orthodox West Bank Battalion” (Haaretz)

Welcome to FMEP’s Weekly Settlement Report, covering everything you need to know about Israeli settlement activity this week.

To subscribe to this report, please click here.

September 1, 2022

1. Ramat Migron Outpost Demolished for Third Time in Three Weeks
2. Settlers’ Stealth Visit to Joseph’s Tomb in Nablus Ends in Gun Fight
3. Settlers Decry Removal of Trees Planted to Take Over Palestinian Land
4. Palestinians Campaign for Nabi Samwil Recognition as New Docs Show Original Israeli Intent to Expel Them for Settlement
5. Bonus Reads

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Ramat Migron Outpost Demolished for Third Time in Three Weeks

On August 30th, Israeli forces cleared settlers and their makeshift structures — comprising the illegal outpost settlers have named “Ramat Migron” — off of land privately owned by Palestinians, as recognized by the Israeli High Court of Justice in 2012. Five settlers were arrested for violating a military order which makes it illegal to enter the area (both for settlers and even for the Palestinians who own the land), and for obstructing the work of a police officer.

Starting in 2017, settlers have repeatedly attempted to re-establish an outpost at this site, which is where the outpost of Migron once stood. The Migron outpost was dismantled by the Israeli government in 2012 after the Israeli High Court of Justice left the government no other option. Israeli forces have demolished the setters’ repeated attempts to set up a new outpost there more than 10 times, most recently on August 15th and August 11th of this year.. 

Notably (in light of his rising popularity and the upcoming Israeli elections), Kahanist MK Itamar Ben Gvir seized on the repeated razing of the outpost to campaign against Defense Minister Gantz, saying:

“Community-Eviction Minister Gantz continues time and time again to evacuate outposts and surrender to Abu Mazen, a Holocaust denier, his friend. Today there is another evacuation in Ramat Migron. They are uprooting and destroying – we will plant and resettle. The answer to the evacuation will be given On November 1st with a real right-wing government.”

Settlers’ Stealth Visit to Joseph’s Tomb in Nablus Ends in Gun Fight

Two Israeli settlers were wounded this week by Palestinian gunfire in the course of trying to access Joseph’s Tomb, a holy site located in the heart of Nablus, along with a group of other settlers. Notably, that visit was undertaken without the required (by Israeli authorities) approval of and coordination with the Israeli military, which regularly escorts settlers to the site under heavy protection. While Joseph’s Tomb is in Nablus (Area A of the West Bank), the Oslo Accords afford the Israeli army control over the site.

The incident comes amidst a series of clashes between Israeli forces and Palestinians in Nablus, including the high profile killing of Ibrahim al-Nabulsi as a result of a gun battle with the IDF. Just last week, FMEP reported on the IDF is planning to bulk up its security control over Joseph’s Tomb in order to protect settlers who wish to visit.

Settlers Decry Removal of Trees Planted to Take Over Palestinian Land

The High Court of Justice recently issued an injunction to stop the Israeli Civil Administration from continuing to uproot trees illegally planted by settlers on Palestinian land near the settlement of Nokdim, located southeast of Bethlehem. Settlers filed the petition leading to the freeze after the Court ordered the removal of the trees three months ago. 

The settlers made their case for the injunction by arguing that (a) Palestinians who petitioned to have the trees removed had not proven their ownership of the land; and (b) the Civil Administration does not have the authority to uproot these trees, some of which are a protected species — notwithstanding the fact that they were planted illegally under Israeli law (such environmental work requires a permit signed by the staff officer in charge of agriculture, who works for the IDF’s Civil Administration). In effect, the settlers are arguing for the High Court to create/sign off on a new method of land takeover by settlers.

The battle of the trees and the plot of land dates back over 20 years, when settlers first built a fence to prevent Palestinians from accessing the area — which until then had been actively cultivated by Palestinians. In 2013, the IDF involved itself when Palestinians requested that it remove settlers from the site. The IDF ended up agreeing to do so and promised to ensure Palestinian access to the area (which it did, but very infrequently). Then, in 2017, settlers once again invaded the area and began planting trees as a means of taking control of the land. Since then settlers further developed the site into a park that is, of course, inaccessible to Palestinians.

In 2021, Palestinians, with the help of Haqel (an Israeli NGO), filed a petition with the Israeli High Court of Justice asking for the trees to be removed, and asserting that the land has been privately owned for generations.

Palestinians Campaign for Nabi Samwil Recognition as New Docs Show Original Israeli Intent to Expel Them for Settlement

+972 reports that newly released archival documents show that, in 1971, Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir signed off on a plan to expel Palestinians from Nabi Samwil in order to build a luxury settlement on the ruins of the village (which is now an archeological site). Plans for the new settlement – which Meir at one point dubbed “New Savyon” after a wealthy Tel Aviv suburb – were eventually abandoned by the Israeli government in the mid 1980s, but (of course) Palestinians were not allowed to return.

Instead, refugees established a new village some 200meters from their original homes, still located on a strategic and highly prized hilltop (inside an area that Israel has declared to be a national park) just outside of the municipal borders of Jerusalem but on the Israeli side of the separation barrier. Israel considers the village to be in the occupied  West Bank and so Nabi Samwil has been left in a Kafka-esque situation: they are cut off from the West Bank by the separation barrier but barred entry to Jerusalem. They are legally forbidden from taking the one road out of the village because it passes through Jerusalem, and the West Bank is accessible to them only via a circuitous route that passes through an Israeli checkpoint (for background see: The Palestinian village where Israel forbids everything, and this Twitter thread of resources curated by Lara Friedman). 

Palestinian refugees of Nabi Samwil, in conjunction with activists, have held weekly protests to demand recognition from the Israeli government, in order to be able to build legal structures and be granted permits to enter Jerusalem. Refugees have petitioned the Israeli government for over 20 years to accept a formal building plan for the village, in order to allow the buildings to be deemed legal, but the government has refused. Eid Barakat, an activist in Nabi Samwil, told +972 Magazine:

“Every few years, a new officer in the Civil Administration comes, makes promises, and in the end nothing is done..all our homes have demolition orders. I dug a well; they destroyed it. I built a fence; they destroyed it. I planted trees; they were uprooted.”

Bonus Reads

1. “The Fall and Rise of Israel’s First ultra-Orthodox Settlement” (Haaretz)
2. “I tracked down the house Israel stole from my grandfather” (Al Jazeera)
3. “WATCH: Women of Masafer Yatta tell their stories of resistance” (+972 Magazine)

Welcome to FMEP’s Weekly Settlement Report, covering everything you need to know about Israeli settlement activity this week.

To subscribe to this report, please click here.

August 25 2022

1. Ir Amim Gets Set to Sue Settlers & State Over Plan for Settler-Run Cultural Center in Silwan
2. This Week in Area C: Evangelical Group Launches Land-Grab as Demolition Rates for Palestinian Construction Spike
3. IDF Prepares to Fortify Settlers’ Access to Joseph’s Tomb in Nablus
4. Bonus Reads

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Ir Amim Gets Set to Sue Settlers & State Over Plan for Settler-Run Cultural Center in Silwan

Ir Amim announced that, after exhausting every avenue for administrative remedy, it will likely proceed with a civil lawsuit in light of the State’s move last month to proceed with the construction of a “Yemenite Jewish Culture Center” in the Batan al-Hawa section of Silwan, despite two pending legal petitions against the project.

Last month (July 2022), the Israeli government announced that the Jerusalem District Court had accepted a plan that would allow the project to move forward. That plan would see the building at the center of the dispute to be leased to a new company, which would establish and manage the cultural center. Hatched in secret by senior government officials and a body known as the Benvenisti Trust (which is at the center of the two pending legal petitions), the plan creates the appearance that the Benvenisti Trust is no longer directly involved in the project — but Ir Amim reports that there is reason to believe that this new company is an affiliate or subsidiary of Ateret Cohanim, the settler body that controls the Benvenisti Trust.

As a reminder, the two legal petitions filed by Ir Amim and residents of Batan al-Hawa against the project are:

1. A June 2020 petition directly challenging the legitimacy of Ateret Cohanim’s (a settler group) resuscitation and takeover of the Benvenisti Trust – the Jewish endowment fund which allegedly held title to land in Batan al-Hawa in the late 19th century. 
2. A December 2020 petition challenging the issuance of a tender for the new culture center, pending the resolution of the first petition regarding the relationship between the  Benvenisti Trust and Ateret Cohanim. 

Ir Amim explains that, in response to the State’s new plan, it has requested an update on its petitions. Describing a letter it recently sent to the the Ministry of Justice (which was supposed to have launched an investigation into the allegations) Ir Amim provided the following update:

“Ir Amim called again for suspension of the project, stating numerous arguments, including the fact that announcement of such an initiative by Ministers Elkin and Sa’ar (the new State Camp Party) during a transitional government constitutes “campaign advertising” and therefore violates election campaign regulations. Moreover, the letter emphasized that leasing the property to “some other organization” for the establishment of a tourist site still violates the trust’s charter and designated purpose of the property, which is for residential use only. In light of the conduct of the trustees’ (i.e. Ateret Cohanim) and state authorities’ to date, there is reason to believe that this purported organization is a subsidiary or affiliate of Ateret Cohanim.

As the letter states, “if this is indeed the case, this is yet further decisive proof that the Benvenisti Trust is clearly being harnessed for the purposes of Ateret Cohanim and its affiliated bodies. This is another layer of a serious conflict of interest in the trustees’ activity to the point of attempting to alter its official goals, which the Registrar of Trusts considered not in accordance with the law and the opinion of the original grantor. It likewise evades the obligation to comply with the grantor’s instructions concerning the trust’s assets through creating a measure to try and underhandedly circumvent these barriers.” As such, Ir Amim demands the complete suspension of the project and an immediate freeze on the state’s allocation of public funds.”

This Week in Area C: Evangelical Group Launches Land-Grab as Demolition Rates for Palestinian Construction Spike

In its monthly report, OCHA reports that the month of June saw a 48% spike in the number of Palestinian-owned structures demolished or seized by Israel. Recall that this spike comes against the backdrop of settlers’ ongoing campaign to push the Israeli government to more expansively and expeditiously destroy Palestinian buildings in Area C. Four of the structures demolished by Israel in June were demolished within 96 hours of their discovery, under an expedited process Israel formulated and implemented, by fiat, via a military order (Military Order 1797).

Meanwhile, Haaretz reports that an American Evangelical Christian group calling itself “Hayovel” has undertaken a tree-planting campaign on privately-owned Palestinian land in Area C. The group,  a U.S. 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization whose mission is to support “Israel’s right to exist in their biblical heart”, is charging donors $25 per tree, and has begun planting trees near the Har Bracha settlement in the central West Bank, south of Nablus. According to Dror Etkes – founder of the settlement watchdog group Kerem Navot – over 90% of the land in the area where the trees are being planted is owned by Palestinians from the nearby town of Burin. The land was once richly cultivated by its Palestinian owners, but has been left fallow for years because the Israeli military and settlers have prevented Palestinians from accessing the area. The American group’s stated objective is to plant 3,000 new trees in the West Bank by the end of 2022, and then 20,000 trees every year following. 

When asked about the land on which the trees are planted, Hayovel asserted that it was given permission by several Israeli authorities, telling Haaretz:

“We do not own any of the land where we plant trees. We work closely with individual farmers, local Jewish communities, and local municipality governments. Most of the Greening Israel Project forestry sites are located on land owned and controlled by the State of Israel.”

IDF Prepares to Fortify Settlers’ Access to Joseph’s Tomb in Nablus

Arutz Sheva reports that the IDF is preparing to increase its protection for settlers who regularly visit Joseph’s Tomb, located inside the Palestinian city of Nablus, near the Balata refugee camp. Settlers regularly visit the religious site, escorted by the IDF, which regularly results in clashes with Palestinians. 

As a reminder, Nablus is located in Area A of the West Bank, where the Oslo Accords afford Israel no jurisdiction. However, the Oslo Accords designated Joseph’s Tomb as one of two holy sites in Area A over which Israel retained control.

A former IDF Major General (Res.) Gadi Shamni, stressed the absurdity of the situation, telling a radio station:

“The entire story of Joseph’s Tomb is one big mistake. This is a huge operation of bringing people, transportation and other events around the prayers…There are parties who earn a lot of money there and there are many political interests. We have to stop endangering soldiers. Every entry into the site causes friction and it’s only a matter of time until a disaster happens there.”

Bonus Reads

1. “Jewish extremists accused of slashing tires, graffitiing in Palestinian town” (The Times of Israel)
2. [Video] “Palestinians in Masafer Yatta fear displacement” (Middle East Eye)
3. “Demolishing our community center won’t destroy our resistance” (+972 Magazine)
4. “Editorial | Denying the Green Line” (Haaretz)

Welcome to FMEP’s Weekly Settlement Report, covering everything you need to know about Israeli settlement activity this week.

To subscribe to this report, please click here.

August 19, 2022

1. Ir Amim on East Jerusalem Land Registration & State Land Seizures 
2. Israel Advances Plan to Build New Settlement “Ariel West”
3. IDF Razes “Ramat Migron” Outpost for Second Time in a Week
4. Ultra-Orthodox Settlers Establish Their First-Ever Outpost
5. Israel Pauses to “Rethink” Plan to Build on Historic Site of Lifta
6. Bonus Reads

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Ir Amim on East Jerusalem Land Registration & State Land Seizures 

In an alert issued August 11th, Ir Amim adds important information and analysis of Israel’s seizure of a plot of land in East Jerusalem last week. Importantly, Ir Amim explains how Israel is using the process of land registration to (sometimes covertly) take control over more and more land in the most sensitive areas in East Jerusalem. 

Ir Amim writes:

“The area between Jabal Mukkaber and Abu Dis has long been targeted by the state and settlers due to its strategic location…Upon investigation, Ir Amim discovered that 12 dunams of land (bloc 31735) situated in the same location referred to in the article were recently registered under the management of the General Custodian in the Land Registration Office…Rights, bloc 31735 recently underwent settlement of land title procedures (formal land registration). Initiated on May 31, 2021, the settlement of land title process was swiftly completed in just over a year with little to no transparency and formally registered in the Tabu (land record) on July 14, 2022. The official order transferring the respective plot of land into the management of the General Custodian was issued on June 8, 2021—a mere days after the announcement of the settlement of title process on the same bloc of land. It should be underscored that the General Custodian is one of the state institutions formally and integrally involved in the settlement of title process. The timing is certainly not coincidental, and it was clearly carried out as a means to assert Jewish ownership claims of the land. In contrast, the process has yet to be initiated on the adjacent thousands of dunams of land owned by Palestinians in the same area.

 

Such a move constitutes yet another cynical exploitation of the settlement of land title procedures which are being conducted in the framework of Government Decision 3790—a decision aimed at ostensibly improving the well-being of Palestinians in East Jerusalem. As reported previously, an examination of the locations where the procedures have been completed or currently underway reveals the driving rationale: settlement of land title is largely being promoted in areas where the state and/or settlers have a particular interest and have some capacity to lay claim to the land in the framework of the proceedings. As such, these procedures are being used as yet another mechanism to seize more territory in East Jerusalem under the guise of a decision and budgets earmarked for Palestinians.”

Israel Advances Plan to Build New Settlement “Ariel West”

On August 18th, the Israeli Civil Administration discussed an amended plan to build an access road leading to an area of land where Israel is intending to build a new settlement, dubbed “Ariel West.” At the time of publication, it is unclear the outcome of the discussion is not yet known. We do know that Israel was forced to amend its original plan to build the access road to the new settlement site when it was proven that the route went through privately owned Palestinian land belonging to the village of Salfit.

The plan for “Ariel West” was first discovered in November 2021, after the Israeli Ministry of Construction issued tenders (on October 24, 2021) for the new settlement, under the guise of a plan to “expand” the Ariel settlement, located south of Bethlehem. Under the plan, 731 new settlement units will be built on a hilltop located 1.2 miles away from Ariel, in an area that is non-contiguous with the built-up area of the current Ariel settlement.

Peace Now said in a statement:

“The government has been given another opportunity here to stop the establishment of the new settlement. After the Ministry of Housing rushed to issue tenders for the sale of the building rights, construction can still be halted if the defense minister stops the planning process. The “Ariel West” plan is not just a plan for thousands of housing units, but it is a new settlement designed to block the town of Salfit and prevent the development of Palestinian space in the area. Road comprise the infrastructure of the occupation, and the undercurrents of apartheid in the occupied West Bank. This dangerous plan must be stopped.”

“Ariel West” is one of many clear illustrations of how Israel systematically rewards unauthorized/illegal construction undertaken by settlers. In this case, settlers established an unauthorized outpost (i.e., illegal even under Israeli law) called “Nof Avi”on the hilltop where the new settlement is slated for construction. The Israeli government has allowed that outpost to remain in place for the past year, and thereby restrict Palestinians’ access to agricultural lands they rightfully own.

The hilltop and the Nof Avi outpost is located on land declared by Israel to be “state land” inside of the jurisdictional boundaries of the Ariel settlement, as authorized by the Israeli government. The jurisdictional boundaries of Ariel include several non-contiguous land areas — due to the fact that the area is dotted with land that even Israel recognizes to be legally owned by Palestinians (de facto annexing private Palestinian land to the settlement by leaving it in some places nearly completely surrounded by land controlled by the settlement).

The new settlement will further exacerbate the limitations that the settlements inflict on Palestinian agricultural workers, in addition to the future development of the nearby Palestinian town of Salfit, as illustrated in this video by Peace Now.  Even before the “expansion” plan, Ariel’s jurisdictional area was identified as a direct hindrance on the future development of Salfit. 

With news of the new settlement in October 2021, the Mayor of Salfit – Abdullah Kamil – explained to Haaretz:

​​“Salfit is slated for expansion. It has a university and there are plans to add 10,000 students over the next few years. The city’s master plan will have to be enlarged, and the site where the new settlement is planned is exactly the direction toward which we wanted to expand. This situation will explode. We also told the Israelis this; it will open a new front and it will harm Israeli security. It’s clear that part of the plan’s purpose is to eliminate any chance of a political solution.”

IDF Razes “Ramat Migron” Outpost for Second Time in a Week

On August 14th Israeli forces once again cleared settlers and their property off of a hilltop where the settlers are attempting to establish a permanent outpost, which the settlers call Ramat Migron. Israeli forces cleared the site just four days prior, but settlers quickly re-occupied the area.

As a reminder, in 2012 an illegal outpost known as Migron was dismantled by the Israeli government when the Israeli High Court ruled the land is privately owned by Palestinians. Since then settlers have continually sought to reestablish a settlement there. Israeli forces have razed outposts at the site at least 10 times in the past 10 years — all the while denying Palestinians the ability to reclaim control over land that an Israeli court affirmed they own.

In addition to the IDF retaining control over the Migron outpost site, Israel rewarded the settlers it forcibly removed from the Migron outpost by promising to establish two new official settlements: “New Migron” as well as 184 housing units to be built east of the settlement of Adam (aka, Geva Binyamin). Construction of the “New Migron” settlement was completed in July 2020. All said, the two new settlements and temporary housing for the evicted settlers cost Israeli taxpayers millions of dollars – sending a clear message that settler law-breaking pays.

Ultra-Orthodox Settlers Establish Their First-Ever Outpost 

On August 16th, a group of 15 settler families announced the establishment of a new outpost near the settlement of Metzad, located in the southern West Bank. The settlers, notably, are ultra-orthodox Jews – making this the first outpost established by ultra-orthodox settlers. The settlers, who are calling the outpost “Derech Emunah,” have built 15 makeshift structures already at the site, which they are using as a yeshiva, synagogue, and homes.

A leader of the group, Moshe Rotman, said:

“The establishment of Derech Emunah is designed to increase awareness within the ultra-Orthodox community of the religious commandment of settling the land, as well as showing that the housing crisis in the community can be resolved through settlement construction in Judea and Samaria.”

The Ultra-Orthdox have long been viewed as distinct from religious-nationalistic settlers. Most ultra-Orthodox settlers moved to homes in the settlements for cheap housing (and their desire to live in homogenous communities) rather than out of a religious or nationalistic belief that Israel has a right and/or obligation to reclaim all of the land between the river and the sea. The establishment of this outpost challenges that understanding. Rotman called the Ultra-Orthodox a “dormant volcano,” insisting that the new outpost was established not merely by members from the fringe of the ultra-Orthodox community, and suggesting that many more ultra-Orthodox settlers will follow suit. 

Peace Now said in response:

“Security forces must demonstrate zero tolerance to the outpost criminals, whether they are ultra-Orthodox, Zionist ultra-Orthodox or just criminals. Defense Minister Benny Gantz is avoiding evacuating the Homesh outpost. We call on him to instruct today, to demolish the new outpost. Any minute that the outpost is still standing shows that all he (Gantz) cares about is pleasing [right-wing Justice Minister Gideon] Saar and [right-wing Knesset member] Matan Kahana. It shows that he tries pleasing the ultra-Orthodox parties at the expense of the State of Israel.”

It’s also worth noting that Rotman said that the outpost was established in response to what his group perceives as the Israeli government’s selective enforcement against illegal construction by Israelis and the Palestinians in Area C of the West Bank. As FMEP has routinely covered, settlers and their allies in the Israeli government have perpetuated a false narrative – which at this point is deeply held by settler leadership – that the Israeli government is failing to thwart an alleged campaign by the Palestinian Authority to take over land in Area C via “illegal” construction – referring to construction by Palestinians on their own land, but without Israeli-required permits that Israel systematically refuses to issue. Settlers are using this story to push the government to more swiftly and systematically demolish any/all Palestinian construction in Area C.

Playing on this narrative, settler leader Tzvi Succot, who plans to run for the pro-settler Religious-Zionist (Orthodox) party Knesset list primaries, said:

“It is very exciting to see how members of the ultra-Orthodox community join with dedication to the holy mission of settling the land of Israel, breaking through the choking ring placed on the settlement enterprise in the West Bank. I hope the state of Israel won’t play a discrimination game and won’t demolish the new community, while all around it are hundreds of Arab-constructed illegal buildings that are not subjected to the law.”

Israel Pauses to “Rethink” Plan to Build on Historic Site of Lifta

The Times of Israel reports that the Jerusalem Municipality and the Israel Lands Authority have agreed to “rethink” their plans to build a luxury housing development on the ruins of the historic Palestinian village of Lifta, located in West Jerusalem. Lifta is the last Palestinian village in West Jerusalem to remain partially intact. Israel has prevented Palestinian refugees and landowners from returning to it, but has not yet demolished all the original structures (55 out of the original 400 structures still remain). In 2017 the ruins of Lifta were named by the World Monuments Fund as one of 25 at-risk sites around the world, and Lifta on the list of UNESCO’s tentative World Heritage Sites for bearing “unique testimony of the traditional village life.” 

The Times of Israel further reports that after visiting the site, Israel’s Mayor of Jerusalem Moshe Leon is considering a plan to “preserve the village and turn it into a World Heritage Site.” However, in commenting on the Mayor’s new directive, the Israeli Municipality erased Palestinians, their history and their culture, from the story of Lifta. In a statement, the Jerusalem Municipality said:

 

“[Lifta] serves as an important heritage symbol for Jerusalemites, Israelis and all those who come to Jerusalem. In the past, a plan to build housing units on the site was approved. The mayor discovered that this plan does not consider the preservation needs to the proper degree and in his opinion, is not appropriate at all. Therefore, in coordination with the ILA, it was decided not to market [the project] and to have a rethink. At the heart of the new thinking is the preservation of Lifta and its transformation into a world heritage site.”

Israel’s plans to build on top of Lifta’s ruins surfaced In May 2021, when Israel announced it planned to open bidding on a tender for the construction of 259 luxury housing units, commercial buildings, and a hotel. The announcement spurred a strong reaction, including daily protests on the land and several legal petitions. A lawyer representing a group of Palestinians refugees from Lifta submitted a petition against the plan in August 2021. In addition, the Israeli NGO Emek Shaveh submitted a petition against the plan, including three expert opinions with its submission, one from a civil engineer, a second from an ecologist, and a third written by a team of five architects and conservation planners. 

While FMEP’s settlement and annexation report focuses on settlement building in areas located over the 1967 Green Line, the story of Lifta – and of other Palestinian villages forcibly depopulated by Israeli forces in the 1948 – is another facet of the Israeli government’s policy of erasure of Palestinians via the establishment of Jewish Israeli communities. You can read one Palestinian’s account of forced her forced displacement from Lifta, here.

Bonus Reads

1. “Jerusalem girls school repaints iconic Homesh water tower” (Arutz Sheva)
2. “Israel recovers rare findings from alleged antiquities traffickers in West Bank” (The Times of Israel)
3. “Peace Now is taking direct action against settler outposts. Can it succeed?” (+972 Magazine)
4. “Why did the army shut down a Palestinian village? So settlers could pray in it” (+972 Magazine)
5. “Extreme left opposes Mosh Ben Ari’s performance in the Hinnom Valley in Jerusalem“ (Arutz Sheva)