Settlement & Annexation Report: October 29, 2021

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 29, 2021

  1. Supreme Court Hearing Ends Without Verdict on Key Silwan Case, But Court Appears to Support Settlers’ Ownership Claims
  2. Final Numbers: Israeli Civil Administration Advances Plans for 3,130 Settlement Units
  3. Israeli Housing Ministry Publishes Tenders for 1,335 Settlement Units, + 83 More Units in Givat Hamatos
  4. Elkin Announces Plan to Double Settler Population in Jordan Valley by 2026
  5. With Back-to-Back Major Settlement Announcements – and Ongoing Dispossession Cases – U.S. State Department Offers its Criticism
  6. Shaked & Settler Leader Push for Retroactive Legalization of Evyatar Outpost
  7. Israel Advances Annexation via Rent Protection Program
  8. New from FMEP
  9. Bonus Reads/Watches

Supreme Court Hearing Ends Without Verdict on Key Silwan Case, But Court Appears to Support Settlers’ Ownership Claims

On Monday, October 25th the Israeli Supreme Court held a key hearing on the case of the Palestinian Duweik family, the fate of which holds monumentous reprecussions for 85 other families in the Batan al-Hawa section of Silwan, all of which are similarly fighting eviction proceedings initiated by the Ateret Cohanim settler group. Contrary to expectation, the Court adjourned without reaching a verdict on the case, but in the course of the hearing the Court’s jurists did the following:

  1. The Court appeared to agree with two decisions by lower Courts, holding that the Benvenisti Trust (which is controlled by the Ateret Cohanim settler organization) is the rightful owner of the property. 
  2. The Court questioned the Israeli Administrator General’s actions over the course of decades, with Justices openly questioning why – for the sixty years in which the Duweik family has been living in the property – the Administrator General did not act to either inform the family that they were living on Jewish-owned land, or initiate eviction proceedings before now.
  3. The Court rejected a request by a group of leading Israeli lawyers to join the case and present an amicus curiae brief. The brief, organized by Peace Now and led by Michael Sfard, argues that the Palestinian’s right to remain in their longtime home trumps any landownership claims made by the settler group.

Last week, after repeated extensions on a Court-ordered deadline, the Israeli Attorney General finally submitted his position on the case to the Court. The document submitted by the Attorney General was only 1 page, and simply stated that the case does not merit intervention either on the specific case of the Duweik family or the wider legal principle at stake, which threatens an additional  85 families living under threat of eviction in Batan al-Hawa.

As a reminder, Ateret Cohanim has waged a years-long eviction campaign against Palestinians living in Silwan, on property the settler NGO claims to own. In total, Ateret Cohanim’s campaign stands to ultimately dispossess 700 Palestinians (85 families) in Silwan. The group’s claim is based on having gained control of the historic Benvenisti Trust, which oversaw the assets of Yemenite Jews who lived in Silwan in the 19th century. In 2001 the Israeli Charitable Trust Registrar granted Ateret Cohanim permission to revive the trust and become its trustees, (following 63 years of dormancy). In 2002, the Israeli Custodian General transferred ownership of the land in Batan al-Hawa to the Trust (i.e., to Ateret Cohanim). Since then, Ateret Cohanim has accelerated its multifaceted campaign to remove Palestinians from their homes, claiming that the Palestinians are illegally squatting on land owned by the trust.

Final Numbers: Israeli Civil Administration Advances Plans for 3,130 Settlement Units

On Wednesday, October 27th the Israeli Civil Administration advanced plans for a total of 3,130 settlement units in 25 settlements across the West Bank. Of that total, the Israeli body gave its final approval to 1,804 units, including two plans which will grant retroactive legalization to two unauthorized outposts – effectively creating two new legal (under Israeli law) settlements. The numbers appear higher than what was reported last week, which can be accounted for by different methods of counting units by the Israeli Civil Administration and the settlement watchdog Peace Now – which argues the Israeli government double counts some units “for certain bureaucratic reasons.”

Details on the units advanced this week can be found in last week’s Settlement Report.

Israeli Housing Ministry Publishes Tenders for 1,335 Settlement Units, + 83 More Units in Givat Hamatos

On Sunday, October 24th, the Israeli Ministry of Housing – which is headed by Likud MK Zeev Elkin – published tenders for the construction of 1,335 new settlement units across the West Bank. In addition, the Ministry also published tenders for the construction of an additional 83 units in the Givat Hamatos settlement, located in East Jerusalem. Tenders for the construction of 1,257 units in Givat Hamatos were issued in January 2021. 

Now that the tenders are published, contractors will bid on the projects and the Housing Ministry will award the tender. Following that, construction may commence. [graph]

The following tenders were published this week:

  • 731 units in the Ariel settlement, located in the central West Bank;
  • 346 units in the Beit El settlement, which also received final approval this week from the Civil Administration for 52 new units. The Beit El settlement is located in the heart of the northern West Bank [as a reminder, former US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman has deep ties to the Beit El settlement]; Construction on 350 new units in Beit El began earlier this year;
  • 102 units in the Elkana settlement, located about half way between the Ariel settlement and the cluster of settlements slated to be united into a “super settlement” area (Oranit, Barkan, Shiva Tikva, and others);
  • 96 units in the Adam (aka Geva Binyamin) settlement, located northeast of Jerusalem, just beyond the separation barrier. Israel has for some years been steadily building the Adam settlement in a manner meant to connect the settlement seamlessly with East Jerusalem settlements and infrastructure, erasing the Green Line;
  • 57 units in the Emanuel settlement, located in the northern West Bank east of the Palestinian village of Qalqilya.
  • 22 units in the Karnei Shomron settlement, located in the northern West Bank, east of the Palestinian village of Qalqilya. Israel has openly declared its intention to continue expanding settlements in this area with the stated goal of bringing 1 million settlers to live in the area;
  • 1 unit, 2 commercial buildings, and 1 employment building in the Beitar Illit settlement, located west of Bethlehem, near the Green Line.

At the announcement of the tenders, Minister Elkin said in celebration:

“Strengthening and widening the settlements in Judea and Samaria is a necessary and very important part of the Zionist enterprise.”

Peace Now said in response to the new tenders:

“Unfortunately, there is no longer any doubt that this government is not a government of change but rather a government of annexation. The commitment to a political status quo in settlements turned out to be a lip service on the way to continuing Netanyahu’s annexation policy. It is unfortunate to see how while the right is celebrating another step towards the total prevention of a Palestinian state, supporters of the two states within the government are silent. Labor and Meretz must wake up and demand an immediate halt to the construction rampage in the settlements that harms the prospect of a future political solution.”

Elkin Announces Plan to Double Settler Population in Jordan Valley by 2026

According to Haaretz, while announcing the publication of 1,355 settlement construction tenders, Housing Minister Elkin also announced that his ministry plans to double the settler population in the Jordan Valley by 2026, saying that he intends to advance plans for 1,500 new settlement units in the area. Haaretz further reports that the ministry’s initiative in the Jordan Valley will have a budget of nearly $70 million (224 million shekels).

With Back-to-Back Major Settlement Announcements – and Ongoing Dispossession Cases – U.S. State Department Offers its Criticism

In widely reported diplomatic news, the U.S. State Department has been engaged with its Israeli counterparts over the past week to offer its criticism of the multiple settlement advancements announced by Israel over the past week.

According to Axios, the following interactions took place:

  • Last week, U.S. Acting Chief of Mission in Jerusalem Michael Ratney called Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s foreign policy adviser, Shimrit Meir, to press Meir to restrain Israel’s plan to announce settlement activity. The call has been described as “difficult.” Ratney reportedly offered a specific objection to the fact that most of the settlement plans Israel intended to advance (and in fact did advance this week) are located deep in the West Bank. 
  • On Friday October 22nd, U.S. Secretary of State Blinken reportedly had a “tense” call with Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz to protest the forthcoming settlement approvals. Blinken reportedly told Gantz that the number of settlements and their location are both “unacceptable” to the Biden Administration. 
  • On October 26th, at a briefing at the U.S. State Department, spokesperson Ned Price said:
    • “When it comes to what we’ve heard recently, we are deeply concerned about the Israeli Government’s plan to advance thousands of settlement units tomorrow, Wednesday, many of them deep in the West Bank…In addition, we’re concerned about the publication of tenders on Sunday for 1,300 settlement units, for – 1,300 settlement units in a number of West Bank settlements. We strongly oppose the expansion of settlements, which is completely inconsistent with efforts to lower tensions and to ensure calm, and it damages the prospects for a two-state solution. We have been consistent, as I said, and clear in our statements to this effect. We also view plans for the retroactive legalization of illegal outposts as unacceptable. We continue to raise our views on this issue directly with senior Israeli officials in our private discussions.”

Haaretz dubbed this U.S. criticism “harsh.” The Washington Post called it a “rebuke.” The Jerusalem Post called it “strong opposition” and said that the statements made by Price are the “​​strongest statement to date on the matter.” The Times of Israel called it “ire.”

However, Axios reports and important viewpoint from with the Israeli government:

“Senior Israeli officials admit that the U.S. position on settlements was tougher than they had expected, but note that the criticism is coming mainly from the State Department, with the White House not weighing in publicly for now.”

And further, despite U.S. criticism of Israel’s settlement activity, the U.S. formally announced that it is considering adding Israel to the Visa Waiver Program – – which has been a longtime ask of Israel but has, to this point, not been implemented by successive Democratic and Republican administrations (including under Trump) due to a multitude of concerns, including Israel’s systematic discrimination against Arab Americans at Israeli ports of entry.

Shaked & Settler Leader Push for Retroactive Legalization of Evyatar Outpost

Divisions within Naftali Bennett’s governing coalition are locking horns over a proposal to grant retroactive legalization to the unuathorized outpost of Evyatar, which has been the site of sustained Palestinian protest and routine violence inflicted on the protestors by settlers and the IDF alike. Evyatar is located just south of Nablus on Jabal Sabih, which is land historically belonging to nearby Palestinian villages, including Beita, on a a strategic hilltop between the villages of Beita, Yatma, and Qablan.

The division within the coalition falls along predictable lines, with Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked (Yamina) pushing for legalization (under Israeli law) of the outposts, and leaders of the Labor and Meretz parties opposed – with Labor leader Merav Michaeli calling the proposed move a “red line.” The settler-run media outlet Arutz Sheva reports Labor and Meretz leaders have met with Bennett and “made it clear to him that Evyatar will not be resurrected. The Labor party will not lend a hand.”

Responding to Michaeli’s statement, Shaked told Channel 12 News that “despite Michaeli’s statement – Evyatar will be established.” Shaked enjoys the support of veteran settler leader Daniella Weiss, a leader of the Evyatar settlers. Weiss predicts that the government will move to legalize the outpost within two or three weeks. Weiss further told Arutz Sheva:

“I see that the time is trickling out. There is a stopwatch. We know there are discussions and I hear that there are intentions to bring the yeshiva and the fifty families back to Evyatar…there is progress that we in Nahala and the Samaria Council know about. It is not yet intended for public information.Things in politics progress at a different pace.”

The fate of the Evyatar outpost was the first controversy that threatened to divide the fragile Bennett-led government when it was sworn in. Bennet’s partners were bitterly divided on whether to evacuate the outpost or let it be, while the government sought to grant it retroactive legalization. In the end, the government reached a “deal” which saw the settlers (temporarily) vacate the outpost on Friday, July 2nd. In return, the government left the settlers’ illegal construction at the site in place (i.e., did not demolish it) — including buildings and roads —  while it “examines” the status of the land to see if it can be declared “state land” and therefore “legally” turned into a settlement (opening the door for the settlers to return). Under the agreement, the outpost is being used as a military base in the interim.

The fact that the “compromise” left in place the settlers’ structures and allowed Israel to maintain complete control over the site during the “survey” process signalled from the start that the government is not concerned with enforcing Israeli law, but rather is focused on finding a political solution that works for the settlers. It was further clear from the terms of the “compromise” that the Bennet government believed it will be succeed in finding a pretext to assert that the land on which the outpost stands is “state land” which can be used by the state as it sees fit (i.e., give it to the settlers). If the state decides, pursuant to the investigation, that it has a basis on which to declare the site to be “state land,” the settlers will be allowed to return and resume the establishment of what would from that point no longer be an illegal outpost, but a new “legal” settlement. 

On July 8, 2021, Palestinians submitted a petition to the Israeli High Court of Justice that challenges the agreements the Israeli government and settlers struck. The petition against the deal is led by the local councils of Beita, Yatma and Qabalan (three villages whose land is impacted by the outpost) and a group of nine individual Palestinian landowners. The petitioners seek the demolition of all illegal settler structures and infrastructure at Jabal Sabih, and the lifting of an military seizure order for the land issued by the Israeli army in the early 1980, based on security reasons (i.e., in order to build a military base at the site). The petition further seeks an investigation into the officials and entities that assisted the settlers in establishing the outpost, including Defense Minister Gantz, the Israeli Civil Administration, and the settler regional council governing the area (the Shomron Regional Council).

The petitioners also seek to prove to the Court that they are the rightful owners of the Jabal Sabih land. Since the land was not registered under the Jordanian government at the time Israel took control over the West Bank (after which Israel promptly froze the land registration process, making it impossible for Palestinian to register land), the petitioners are using Ottoman tax records as well as aerial photos to document and demonstrate that they own the land and cultivated it prior to the time the area was seized by the Israeli army in the 1980s.  Notably, by the 1990s the IDF no longer used Jabal Sabih as an army base, yet Israel continued to define the area as a closed military zone and continued to actively prevent Palestinians from accessing and cultivating their land. 

Now, as Palestinians seek to have Israel recognize their ownership, the fact that Israel has closed the land to its Palestinain owners for such a long period may itself become the basis for Israel declaring that the land is now “state land.” Such a declaration would be based on the twisted logic holding that since Palestinian owners failed to cultivate the land for more than 10 years — years when Israel actively prevented them from doing so — these owners have in effect abandoned their rights to the land and it is legally state land. [And no, this isn’t a joke.}

Israel Advances Annexation via Rent Protection Program

On October 24th, the director-general of the Israeli Construction & Planning Ministry, Aviad Friedman, announced that the government will include settlement housing in a new long-term rental housing program managed by the government. The extension of Israeli domestic law to settlements located outside its borders – often called “extending Israeli sovereignty” – is an act of formal, even if undeclared, annexation.  It is a tactic that Israel has used to gain more and more control over not only the settlements but over the entire West Bank. For more examples of de facto annexation, see FMEP’s table tracking such efforts from 2016-2020 [see Table 2 of 3].

New from FMEP

  1. Webinar [10/29] – “Israel’s Designation of Six Palestinian NGOs as “Terrorist”: Costs and Consequences” w/ Shawan Jabarin (Al Haq), Sahar Francis (Addameer), Ubai Al-Aboudi (Bisan Center), Khaled Quzmar (DCI-P), Fuad Abu Saif (UAWC), Tahreer Jaber (UPWC). Co-moderated by Khaled Elgindy and Lara Friedman
  2. Podcast [10/29] – “Spotlight on Al Haq with Shawan Jabarin” w/ Peter Beinart
  3. Podcast [10/27] – “Using ‘Terrorism’ Charges to Target NGOs: Lessons from the Case of Mohamed Halabi” w/ Lara Friedman and Daoud Kuttab
  4. Podcast [10/26] – “Not Without Precedent: Unraveling the History of Israel’s Escalating War on Palestinian Solidarity Work” w/ Lara Friedman and Omar Shakir
  5. Podcast [10/22] – “Israel Declares War on Palestinian Human Rights Defenders” w/ Lara Friedman, Sarit Michaeli, and Inez Abdel Razek
  6. Podcast [10/18] – “The Occupation & the Biden Administration” w/ Lara Friedman, Khaled Elgind, Danny Seidemann, and Yehuda Shaul

Bonus Reads/Watches

  1. “PODCAST: Tourism in Service of Israeli Settler Colonialism with Halah Ahmad” (Al-Shabaka)
  2. “VIDEO: How Israel Stole the Palestinian Olive Harvest” (PIPD)
  3. “Israeli electrical company to cut power to West Bank Palestinians over debts” (The Times of Israel)
  4. “Politics and Money Block East Jerusalem High-tech Quarter” (Haaretz)
  5. “Palestinians fear for loved ones’ remains as Israel plans Jerusalem park” (Reuters)
  6. “Israeli demolition of historic Muslim cemetery in Jerusalem a ‘move to erase history’” (The New Arab)
  7. “Israel to Join Key EU Research Program That Bans Use of Funds in Settlements” (Haaretz)
  8. “Red Cross says settlers maced personnel in West Bank” (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.

October 22, 2021

  1. Israel to Advance Plans for Nearly 3,000 Settlement Units & 1,300 Palestinian Homes in Area C
  2. Israeli Supreme Court to Hold Hearing on Batan al-Hawa, Silwan Dispossession Cases Next Week; AG Declines Intervention
  3. Israel Begins Construction on New Settlement in Downtown Hebron
  4. Israel Advances “Silicon Wadi” Project in East Jerusalem
  5. Recap: Israel Advances Settlement Plans Across Greater Jerusalem Area
  6. Recap: Court Pushes for Palestinians to “Compromise” with Settlers in Sheikh Jarrah
  7. New Report: State-Backed Settler “Tourism” Projects in East Jerusalem
  8. Bonus Reads

Israel to Advance Plans for Nearly 3,000 Settlement Units & 1,300 Palestinian Homes in Area C

The Israeli Civil Administration’s High Planning Council will convene next week — for the first time since Bennett and Biden took over leadership in Israel and the U.S., respectively —  to advance the construction of 2,862 new settlement units (of which 1,231 will be eligible to receive final approval). These plans include the retroactive legalization of two unauthorized outposts (Mitzpe Danny and Haroeh Haivri), which should be properly understood as the creation of two new settlements.

Peace Now data

In addition, reports suggest that Israel will also advance plans for 1,303 Palestinian homes in Area C – about half of which, importantly, are already built. A majority of these units have been awaiting Israeli approval for many, many years. If approved, the permits under consideration next week for Palestinians will be the first of any significant quantity issued by Israel since, at least, 2009 (data from before this period has not been released by the Israeli government). Between 2009 and 2018, Israel issued a total of 98 building permits to Palestinians according to data released by the Israeli government in response to a freedom of information request submitted by Bimkom.

As a reminder, Area C is the 60% of the West Bank over which Israel enjoys absolute authority. For years Israel has systematically denied Palestinians the right to build on land in Area C that even Israel recognizes is privately owned by them, At the same time, it has continuously promoted the expansion of settlements and unauthorized outposts, while systematically demolishing Palestinian private construction. In terms of numbers: between 2016 to 2018, Israel issued only 21 building permits to Palestinians in Area C, while issuing 2,147 demolition orders against Palestinians during.

Commenting on the Planning Council agenda’s Peace Now observed:

“The approval of a handful of plans for the Palestinians is only  a fig leaf intended to try to reduce criticism of the government. For years, Israel has pursued a policy of blatant discrimination that does not allow almost any construction for Palestinians in Area C, while in the settlements it encourages and promotes the construction of thousands of housing units each year for Israelis. The approval of a few hundred housing units for Palestinians can not cover up discrimination and does not change the fact that Israel maintains an illegal regime of occupation and discrimination in the territories.”

It is worth noting that many of the settlement units and Palestinian permits on next week’s agenda were expected to have been advanced earlier this year, in August 2021, but the High Planning Council never convened to do so. 

Below are lists of settlement plans expected to be given final approval and plans expected to be advanced next week (italicized plans represent those which appear to have been added to the slate of plans that were expected to be advanced in August 2021).

Settlement plans expected to be granted final approval include:

  • 629 units, including the retroactive legalization of 61 units, in the Eli settlement  – located south of Nablus and southeast of the Ariel settlement in the central West Bank. Though the Eli settlement previously received Israeli government approval, a “Master Plan” – which officially zones land for distinct purposes (residential, commercial, public) –  has never been issued for Eli, meaning all construction there is illegal under Israeli law;
  • 286 units in the Har Bracha settlement, located south of Nablus. If implemented, these new units will double the size of Har Bracha;
  • 224 units in the Talmon settlement, located west of Ramallah;
  • 146 units in the Kfar Etzion settlement, located between Bethlehem and Hebron and on the Israeli side of the planned route of the barrier (which is not yet built in this area);
  • 110 units in the Alon Shvut settlement, located just north of the Kfar Etzion settlement and between Bethlehem and Hebron;
  • 82 units in the Karnei Shomron settlement, located in the northern West Bank, east of the Palestinian village of Qalqilya. Israel has openly declared its intention to continue expanding settlements in this area with the stated goal of bringing 1 million settlers to live in the area.;
  • 52 units in the Beit El settlement, located in the heart of the northern West Bank [as a reminder, former US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman has deep ties to the Beit El settlement]; Construction on 350 new units in Beit El began earlier this year;
  • 42 units in the Givat Zeev settlement, located south of Ramallah in an area that is on the Israeli side of the barrier;
  • 24 units in the Haroeh Haivri outpost, a plan that will effectively grant retroactive legalization to this outpost. The Haroeh Haivri outpost is located just east of Jerusalem, within eyesight of the Khan al-Ahmar community, which Israel is threatening to demolish (forcibly relocating the Palestinian bedouin community that has lived there since the 1950s) — ostensibly because the structures in Khan al Ahmar were built without necessary Israeli approvals. The Haroah Haivri outpost was also built without the necessary Israeli approvals, but instead of demolishing the construction, Israel is moving to retroactively legalize it — demonstrating once again that, when it comes to administering the occupation, Israel prefers “rule by law” – where law is turned into a tool to elevate the rights/interests of one party over another, over the democratic rule of law.;
  • 14 units in the Ma’aleh Mikhmash settlement, a plan that will effectively grant retroactive legalization to one of Ma’aleh Mikhmash’s outposts – – Mitzpe Danny;
  • 10 units in the Barkan settlement, located about half way between the Ariel settlement and the cluster of settlements slated to be united into a “super settlement” area (Oranit, Elkana, Shiva Tikva, and others);
  • 5 units in the Shima’a settlement, located in the southern tip of the West Bank;
  • 7 units in the Peduel settlement, located in the northern West Bank and part of a string of settlements and unauthorized outposts – most notably Ariel – extending from the Green Line into the very heart of the West Bank and on towards the Jordan Valley.

Settlement plans expected to be approved for deposit (an earlier stage in the planning process) include:

  • 399 units in the Revava settlement, located just east of the Barkan settlement and west of the Ariel settlement, in a string of settlements and unauthorized outposts – most notably Ariel – extending from the Green Line into the very heart of the West Bank and on towards the Jordan Valley.
  • 380 units in the Kedumim settlement, located just east of Nablus. Israeli MK Bezalel Smotrich lives in the Kedumim settlement on a section of land in the settlement that has been found to be privately owned by Palestinians.;
  • 100 units in the Elon Moreh settlement, located east of Nablus (for background on the significance of the Elon Moreh settlement, please see here);
  • 100 units in the Sansana settlement, located on the southern tip of the West Bank on the Israeli side of the separation barrier;
  • 73 units in the Givat Zeev settlement, which is also expected to receive final approval for 42 units. Givat Zeev is located south of Ramallah in an area that is on the Israeli side of the barrier;
  • 68 units in the Tene settlement, located on the southern tip of the West Bank;
  • 45 units in the Vered Yericho settlement, located just west of the Palestinian city of Jericho in the Jordan Valley;
  • 27 units in the Karnei Shomron settlement, which is also expected to receive final approval for 82 units. Karnei Shomron is located in the northern West Bank, east of the Palestinian village of Qalqilya. Israel has openly declared its intention to continue expanding settlements in this area with the stated goal of bringing 1 million settlers to live in the area.;
  • 18 units in the Alon Shvut settlement, which is also expected to receive final approval for 110 units. Alon Shvut is located just north of the Kfar Etzion settlement and between Bethlehem and Hebron;
  • 10 units in the Tal Menashe settlement, located located on the tip of the northern West Bank, inside the “seam zone” between the 1967 Green Line and the Israel separation barrier, which was constructed along a route designed to keep as many settlements and as much adjacent land as possible on the Israeli side of the wall/fence.
  • 7 units in the Hermesh settlement, located in the northern West Bank; 
  • 4 units in the Efrat settlement, located south of Bethlehem, inside a settlement block that cuts deep into the West Bank. Efrat’s location and the route of the barrier wall around it, have literally severed the route of Highway 60 south of Bethlehem, cutting off Bethlehem and Jerusalem from the southern West Bank. The economic, political, and social impacts of the closure of Highway 60 at the Efrat settlement (there is literally a wall built across the highway) have been severe for the Palestinian population.

Peace Now reports that the Planning Council will also consider advancing the following plans for Palestinian homes:

  • 270 houses in the Bir al-Bash village, located south of Jenin in the northern West Bank;
  • 270 houses in the Al-Ma’asara village, located south of Bethlehem; 
  • 233 houses in the the Almasqufa village, located near Tulkarem in the northern West Bank;
  • 200 houses in the Dkeika village in the South Hebron Hills;
  • 170 houses in the Khirbet Abdallah Younas village, located in the Jenin area;
  • 160 houses in the Abba a-Sharqiya village, also located south of Jenin in the northern West Bank; 

Israeli Supreme Court to Hold Hearing on Batan al-Hawa, Silwan Dispossession Cases Next Week; AG Declines Intervention

On October 25th, the Israeli Supreme Court is scheduled to hold an important hearing on the case of the Palestinian Duweik family which  is under threat of being dispossessed of their longtime home in the Batan al-Hawa section of the Silwan neighborhood in East Jerusalem by the Ateret Cohanim settler organization. 

In advance of that hearing – and after repeated extensions on a Court-ordered deadline – the Israeli Attorney General finally submitted his position on the case to the Court. The document submitted by the Attorney General was only 1 page, and simply stated that the case does not merit intervention either on the specific case of the Duweik family or regarding the wider legal principle at stake, which threatens an additional  85 families living under threat of eviction in Batan al-Hawa.

Ir Amim writes:

“Among the 85 families facing eviction, the Duweik family case is the first to reach the Supreme Court level, and its outcome will inevitably set a precedent, significantly impacting the rest of the cases in the neighborhood…As in the eviction cases in Sheikh Jarrah, the Attorney General and by extension, the government, was given a rare opportunity to take a moral stand by providing a legal opinion and policy position to help prevent the mass displacement of these families. Yet, at this point, the Attorney General’s response appears to imply that he has declined to intervene. Now, the decision concerning the fate of these families seems to lie solely in the hands of the Supreme Court. The rights of Palestinians to housing and shelter and the right to family and community life are fundamental and must be upheld. The same discriminatory legal system, which led to the confiscation of these families’ original homes in 1948, is now being exploited 73 years later to displace them for a second time from their current homes in which they have lived for decades. The Supreme Court has the power to make a principled and just decision to uphold the rights of these families to remain safely in their homes, free from the constant threat of being forcibly uprooted and driven from their homes and communities.”

Peace Now said in response to the AG’s decision to not intervene:

“The Attorney General’s response actually says that for the Israeli government, there is no problem to kick hundreds of residents out from their homes, on the basis of a discriminatory law, in favor of a settlement. The government was given an opportunity here to try to prevent moral injustice and political folly, but instead of taking a stand, it chose to remain on the sidelines, as if Silwan’s story, like that of Sheikh Jarrah, was a legal matter and not a political one.”

In July 2021, Peace Now assembled a coalition of Israeli lawyers to submit an amicus brief to the Court regarding the Duweik case. Peace Now summarizes:

“The brief addresses an approach that has emerged in international jurisprudence on human rights law which puts an emphasis on group vulnerability of occupants facing eviction and institutional, systemic discrimination against them. Where these are present, in certain circumstances, the occupants’ rights, stemming from the human right to housing and specifically, to live in their home and their family’s home – trump the right of the original owner or their substitute to regain possession of the property.

The brief reaches the conclusion that in the Duweik case, the occupants’ property rights and their right to housing supersede the right of the settlers acting on behalf of the pre-1948 original owners to receive possession of the property, based on the following:

1 – The fact that Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem are underprivileged, vulnerable and subjected to discrimination in every aspect of life, and particularly the fact that Israeli law on the restitution of property that changed hands due to wars, openly and deliberately discriminates against them;

2 – The fact that the family entered the property in good faith and/or in accordance with the law applicable at the time, and has developed a legitimate expectation to continue residing in it permanently and without interruption;

3 – The imbalance between the devastating harm the family would suffer and the minor damage the Benvenisti charitable endowment (represented by the settlers), which claims ownership of the property, would sustain, which clearly tips the scales in favor of the family.

In other words, according to the brief, even if the court finds the settlers do, in fact, have ownership, they are not necessarily entitled to remedy in the form of the families’ eviction from their homes, but rather to compensation from the state.”

Israel Begins Construction on New Settlement in Downtown Hebron

Peace Now reports that construction has begun on 31 new settlement units at the site of an old bus station previously repurposed as an IDF base, located  in the heart of the Old City of Hebron on the infamous Shuhada street. This is a new settler enclave in the city and is, in effect, a new urban settlement, disconnected from already existing settlements in the city. It will be the first new settlement construction approved in downtown Hebron – where Palestinians already live under apartheid conditions – since 2002.

Peace Now said in a statement:

“The government is acting like an annexation government, not as a change government. Since the 1980s, no government has dared to build a new settlement in the heart of the largest Palestinian city in the West Bank, with the exception of one building built under the auspices of the second intifada in 2001. The Defense Minister has to stop construction, even if the plan was approved by the previous government. The settlement in Hebron is the ugly face of Israeli control of the territories. The moral and political price of having a settlement in Hebron is unbearable.”

As a reminder: in October 2017, the Israeli Civil Administration approved a building permit for the 31 units, on the condition that the Palestinian municipality of Hebron and others would have the opportunity to file objections to the plan. Soon after, two appeals were filed with the Defense Ministry: one by the Palestinian municipality of Hebron and one by the Israeli settlement watchdog Peace Now. The legal objections were based on the legally questionable process by which Israel made land in downtown Hebron available for settlement construction. Located in the Israeli-controlled H-2 area of Hebron (where 500 Israeli settlers live amongst 40,000 Palestinians), Israel seized the land in the 1980s from the Hebron Municipality, for military purposes. In 2007, the Civil Administration’s Legal Advisor issued an opinion stating that once Israel is done using the land for military purposes, it must be returned to the Hebron Municipality, which has protected tenancy rights to the land. Nonetheless, in 2015, the Israeli Civil Administration, with the consent of the Minister of Defense, quietly authorized the Housing Ministry to plan the area for Israeli settlement use, paving the way for that same ministry to subsequently present the plan for the 31 units.

In October 2018, with the legal challenges still pending, the Israeli Cabinet voted to expedite the planning of the new settlement and allocated approximately $6.1 million (NIS 22 million) for the project, which will require Israel to significantly renovate the bus station/military base in order to build the 31 new settlement housing units, as well as a kindergarten, and “public areas” for the new settler residents.  Peace Now explains: 

“The approval of the building permit in the heart of Hebron is an extraordinary move not only because it is a new settlement in Hebron for the first time since 2001, but because it indicates a significant change in Israeli legal interpretation of what is allowed and forbidden in occupied territory. The area in question was owned by Jews before 1948, and it was leased by the Jordanian government in protected tenancy to the Hebron municipality for the purpose of establishing the central bus station. Since 1967, the Israeli authorities managed the land and continued the lease to the Hebron municipality, until in the 1980s when the area was seized for military purposes, the bus station was closed and a military base was established there. A legal opinion of the Judea and Samaria Attorney General on the issue in 2007 emphatically stated that by law the municipality’s protected lease must not be revoked.”

Israel Advances “Silicon Wadi” Project in East Jerusalem

On October 13th, the Jerusalem Local Planning Committee met to initiate the planning process for the “Silicon Wadi” project, which was initiated by the Jerusalem Municipality and outlines plans to build a large industrial zone for hi-tech, commercial, and hospitality businesses in the heart of East Jerusalem’s Wadi Joz neighborhood. The project requires the demolition of some 200 Palestinian-owned businesses that currently operate in the area; dozens of demolition notices for which were issued in November 2020.

Ir Amim writes:

“Beyond the devastating impact of widespread demolitions of existing businesses and structures, the plan also raises concerns that the Israeli authorities will exploit the planning procedures to locate alleged Palestinian absentee properties and transfer lands into the hands of the State. It should also be noted that while Israel focuses on bolstering employment and economic activity in East Jerusalem, it simultaneously continues to suppress residential development in Palestinian neighborhoods. As with nearly all outline plans advanced in East Jerusalem in recent years, the Wadi Joz business park plan only allocates a marginal amount for residential use, which hardly meets the acute housing needs of the Palestinian population. Rather than undertaking measures to rectify the housing crisis, these plans only exacerbate the current situation and perpetuate the residential planning stranglehold, which ultimately serves to push Palestinians out of the city.”

Recap: Israel Advances Settlement Plans Across Greater Jerusalem Area

Over the past two weeks, the government of Israel has advanced four highly controversial and politically consequential settlement plans in the Greater Jerusalem area:

  1. The Givat Hamatos Settlement: On October 13th, the Jerusalem Local Planning Committee approved the expropriation of lands designated for public use in the Givat Hamatos area for the construction of roads, public buildings and the development of open space for the planned new settlement/neighborhood. For more on the Givat Hamatos settlement plan, please see here.

    Map by Haaretz

  2. The E-1 Settlement: The Israel Civil Administration moved forward with advancing plans for the construction of the E-1 settlement, setting a date for a third hearing to discuss public objections to the plan (now set for November 8th). The first hearing was held on October 4th, but Palestinians were denied the ability to participate in that hearing (which was held virtually, making it inaccessible to the many Palestinians affected by the plan who do not have internet access). As a result, the Court scheduled this 3rd hearing (to allow the participation of Palestinians). The second hearing was held on October 18th; at that hearing three objections were presented (one by the Palestinian village of Anata, a second by the Palestinian village of Al-Azariya, and a third joint submission filed by Ir Amim and Peace Now). Ir Amim reports that there was no substantive discussion of these objections, with the Civil Administration panel offering no questions or comments on them. For more on the E-1 settlement plan, please see Terrestrial Jeruaslem’s excellent and thorough reporting.
  3. The Atarot Settlement: The Jerusalem District Planning Committee formally signaled that it will proceed with a hearing on the Atarot settlement plan – scheduled for December 6th – to build a huge new settlement on the site of the former Qalandiya airport (located at the northern tip of East Jerusalem). In its current form, the plan provides for up to 9,000 residential units for ultra-Orthodox Jews (assuming, conservatively, an average family size of 6, this means housing for 54,000 people), as well as synagogues, ritual baths (mikvehs), commercial properties, offices and work spaces, a hotel, and a water reservoir. If built, the Atarot settlement will effectively be a small Israeli city surrounded by Palestinian East Jerusalem neighborhoods on three sides and Ramallah to its north. Geopolitically, it will have a similar impact to E-1 in terms of dismembering the West Bank and cutting it off from Jerusalem. For more on the Atarot settlement plan, please see here.
  4. The Pisgat Ze’ev Settlement: The Israeli government advanced plans for 470 new settlement units in Pisgat Ze’ev, the largest settlement located in East Jerusalem.

Recap: Court Pushes for Palestinians to “Compromise” with Settlers in Sheikh Jarrah

The Israeli Supreme Court has set November 2nd as the deadline for Palestinian families living at risk of forced displacement in Shiekh Jarrah to decide wether or not to accept a Court-authored deal which would help them – at least temporarily – avoid eviction from their homes, in part by requiring them to recognize settler ownership over the properties.

Under the terms of the Court’s deal, which it is pressuring both parties to accept, the following would take place:

  • The settler group Nahalat Shimon will be recognized as the owners of the site.
  • The Palestinians will be recognized as protected tenants and be required to pay an nominal annual rental fee to the attorney of the settlers (in effect recognizing the settlers as the owners) but 
    • The Palestinians will be able to continue pursuing legal challenges to the underlying ownership of the land
    • The Palestinians are permitted to renovate the properties without interference
  • Settlers will be able to instigate eviction proceedings against Palestinians if they are in violation of the Court’s compromise agreement or in violation of Israel’s tenancy laws.

Terrestrial Jerusalem writes:

“The most problematic element of the settlement relates to the settlers’ ability to institute evictions even if the residents are not in violation of the agreement or of the tenancy laws. The settlers will be entitled to institute such proceedings in the event that the ownership rights are conclusively awarded to them, or after 15 years, the earlier of the two. This can be done if the settlers either wish to personally use the property or to demolish and rebuild. Under these circumstances, the settlers will need to offer the residents alternative equivalent quarters. Palestinian residents might hope settlers reject the deal to avoid having to make an ‘excruciatingly painful decision.’”

According to Terrestrial Jerusalem, the Court has signaled that further negotiations are acceptable, but that if either party rejects the agreement a decision on the eviction cases will be handed down swiftly.

New Report: State-Backed Settler “Tourism” Projects in East Jerusalem

In a new report entitled, “The Valley of Hinnom: Trees and Flowerbeds in the Political Struggle over East Jerusalem,” the Israeli NGO Emek Shaveh surveys the multitude of recent “tourism” projects jointly undertaken by the Elad settler organization and the Israeli government in the Ben Hinnom Valley — a strategic area between East and West Jerusalem (stretching past the 1967 Green Line), and located within the area designated by Israel as the Jerusalem “Walls National Park”.

Emek Shaveh writes:

“The nature of the tourism-settlement activity in the Valley of Hinnom conducted jointly by Elad and government authorities is familiar to us from the City of David/Silwan.  The series of joint ventures such as the café, the Center for Ancient Agriculture and the cable car in effect hand over large expanses of land to the settlers of the Elad Foundation under the guise of tourism.  Although unlike Silwan, the valley is sparsely populated, the activity there must be viewed as an integral part of the struggle for the Old City Basin of Jerusalem and as a means to clear this highly strategic area from the presence of Palestinians.”

In conclusion, we wish to emphasize the following points:

1 – Development in East Jerusalem is almost always driven by political objectives.  Recent developments in the Valley of Hinnom are part of the grand plan to change the character and the landscape of the Old City Basin and ought to be considered an integral component of the settlement enterprise in the Palestinian neighborhoods surrounding the Old City.

2 – Halting the destructive development schemes in the areas surrounding the Old City is vital in order to preserve Jerusalem as a multicultural historic city and is indirectly essential for safeguarding the status quo at the holy places.

3 – The Palestinian protests against the expansion of the settlers’ grip over the open spaces such as the Hinnom Valley is part of the struggle by the residents of Silwan and the surrounding neighborhoods to preserve the character of their neighborhoods.  In our view, one ought to view the various activities by the settlers and the authorities in the Historic Basin such as the expulsion of residents from their homes, taking over land and the shaping of a historic narrative as part of the same general bid to cement their control over the Historic Basin.”

Bonus Reads

  1. “[PODCAST] The Occupation & the Biden Administration” (FMEP ft. Danny Seidemann and Yehuda Shaul with Lara Friedman and Khaled Elgindy)
  2. “How offshore accounts turned the British Virgin Islands into an east Jerusalem landlord” (JTA)
  3. “Beita residents reach lands for first time since settler takeover” (Al Jazeera)
  4. “After Years of Neighborly Relations, Settlers Try to Foil Recognition of Palestinian Hamlet” (Haaretz)
  5. “Palestinian protests turn deadly as Israel considers the future of a new settlement” (NPR)
  6. “These Palestinian Families Face Eviction From Their East Jerusalem Homes” (Haaretz)
  7. “When Settler Becomes Native” (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.

**The settlement report is on a two-week break, and is planned to return the week of October 18th. In the meantime, we are pleased to offer you links to the main settlement-related stories of the past week**

October 15, 2021

  1. Palestinian Olive Harvest Under Atttack (as it is every year)
  2. Settlers vs. IDF/Israeli Police
  3. Israel Advances Jerusalem-area Settlements — E-1, Givat Hamatos, Atarot, Pisgat Ze’ev
  4. Sheikh Jarrah “Compromise”
  5. Apartheid, or Not Apartheid?
  6. Facts & Figures (OCHA)

Palestinian Olive Harvest Under Attack (as it is every year)

Settlers vs. IDF/Israeli Police

Israel Advances Jerusalem-Area Settlements – E-1, Givat Hamatos, Atarot, Pisgat Ze’ev

Sheikh Jarrah “Compromise”

Apartheid, or Not Apartheid?

Facts & Figures (OCHA)

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA): Protection of Civilians Report | 21 September – 4 October 2021, including:

  • “Overall, Israeli forces injured 328 Palestinians across the West Bank. Of them, 217 were hit during protests against settlement activities in the Nablus governorate, near Beita (117), Beit Dajan (73) and Deir al Hatab (27).”
  • “Twenty-nine Palestinians, including a young child, were injured by Israeli forces or settlers in Umm Fagarah (Hebron). On 28 September, Israeli settlers injured nine Palestinians in this Palestinian community, which is in an Israeli-declared ‘firing zone’. One of those injured, a three-year-old boy, was hit by a stone in his head while in his bed, and was taken to an Israeli hospital. The remaining 20 injured Palestinians were treated for inhaling teargas. Israeli settlers also killed five sheep and damaged ten homes, 14 vehicles and several solar panels and water tanks. During the incident, Palestinians threw stones and Israeli forces fired teargas canisters and arrested three Palestinians who were released later that night.  Israeli police have arrested six settlers in connection with the incident, two of whom remain in detention.”
  • “Israeli settlers physically assaulted and injured eight Palestinians (in addition to the abovementioned nine in Umm Fagarah), and people known or believed to be settlers damaged or stole the harvest from over 180 olive trees. These included four farmers injured while working their land near As Seefer (Hebron), two shepherds near the community of Arab ar Rashayida (Bethlehem), and another farmer in Ein Yabrud (Ramallah) and an activist in Susiya (Hebron). According to eyewitnesses or landowners, settlers vandalized around 160 olive trees in Umm Fagarah (Hebron) and Burin (Nablus), and stole the olives from another 26 trees in Salfit. A number of attacks by settlers in the H2 area of Hebron were recorded, including breaking into a number of houses and stealing agricultural tools, surveillance cameras and water pumps, in addition to stealing olives.”

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.

**The settlement report is on a two-week break, and is planned to return the week of October 18th. In the meantime, we are pleased to offer you links to the main settlement-related stories of the past week**

October 8, 2021

  1. Settler Pogrom in the South Hebron Hills
  2. Smear Campaign Targeting Palestinian Who Filmed Settler Pogrom
  3. Sheikh Jarrah “Compromise” & E-1 on the Agenda
  4. Settlements & US-Israel Relations
  5. Other Settlement News – West Bank & Jerusalem
  6. Reports/Analysis/Commentary

Settler Pogrom in the South Hebron Hills

Smear Campaign Targeting Palestinian Who Filmed Settler Pogrom

Sheikh Jarrah “Compromise” & E-1 on the Agenda

Sheikh Jarrah

E-1

Settlements & US-Israel Relations

Other Settlement News – West Bank & Jerusalem

West Bank

Jerusalem

Reports/Analysis/Commentary

 

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.

**The settlement report will be taking a two-week break, and is planned to return the week of October 18th**

September 24, 2021

  1. New Givat Hamatos Settlement Plan – to Replace Existing, Approved, & Tendered Plan –  Advances in Jerusalem
  2. Settlers, IDF Continue to Impose Control Over Sebastia Archaeological Site As Settlers Amp Up Campaign to Takeover Sites in Palestinian Areas
  3. Bonus Reads

New Givat Hamatos Settlement Plan – to Replace Existing, Approved, & Tendered Plan –  Advances in Jerusalem

Ir Amim reports that, on September 12th, the Jerusalem Local Planning Committee approved for public deposit a new outline plan for the Givat Hamatos settlement in East Jerusalem. This new plan would replace the existing outline plan for Givat Hamatos, under which  tenders for the construction of 1,257 settlement units were awarded in January 2021. 

Ir Amim explains:

“According to the information currently available, the new plan neither expands the territorial area of the future settlement nor does it explicitly call for an increase in the number of housing units. However, it does cite a 30% increase in the total scope of construction, which appears contradictory. Additional information is still needed to definitively confirm the details of this apparent 30% increase; however, it could be allocated, for example, towards the enlargement of individual housing units. The Jerusalem Municipality has long sought to expand the number of housing units in Givat Hamatos as demonstrated by a master plan it attempted to advance last year, which included an additional 3,900 units. The plan, however, did not move forward. 

It should be noted that the approval process for the new outline plan (TPS 979336) will be fast-tracked since it is under the jurisdiction of the Local Planning Committee and will therefore not need to go before the District Planning Committee. While submission of new outline plans after completion of a tender process does occasionally occur, it is typically initiated by contractors in order to maximize future profits. In this instance, it is the municipality who has submitted the new outline plan.

The new plan’s potential impact on the tendered units is still unclear; however, it will certainly not terminate the contracts with the tenders’ winning bidders. Moreover, the ongoing construction of infrastructure works on Givat Hamatos indicates that the process is advancing at full speed. These measures underscore that the current government is continuing to accelerate further settlement and steps towards de facto annexation regardless of promoting the notion of change and reform to Israel’s policies and actions.”

The existing outline plan for Givat Hamatos, under which the tenders were issued, continues to face a legal challenge initiated by Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem (with the assistance of Ir Amim). That petition – which alleges that the planned construction of government-subsidized housing has discriminatory eligibility guidelines – is still pending.  A hearing was scheduled on May 27th, but was delayed at the request of the State. The hearing has been rescheduled for October 20th, and Ir Amim secured the Court’s condition that applications for Givat Hamatos housing will not be accepted in the intervening period.

Givat Hamatos has long been regarded as a doomsday settlement by parties interested in preserving the possibility of a two-state solution, in that it will prevent the division of Jerusalem into an Israeli capital and a Palestinian capital (if the Givat Hamatos settlement is built, the Palestinian neighborhood of Beit Safafa in East Jerusalem will be completely surrounded by Israeli construction, severing its connection to the West Bank). Indeed, regardless of the implications of Givat Hamatos on a two-state solution, the impact of the new settlement on the Beit Safafa neighborhood are severe.

Settlers, IDF Continue to Impose Control Over Sebastia Archaeological Site As Settlers Amp Up Campaign to Takeover Sites in Palestinian Areas

In what has become routine, on September 22nd the Israeli army sealed off the archaeological site in the Palestinian city of Sebastia, in order to allow a settler tourist group to visit the site. In addition to securing the site itself, the Palestinian Mayor of Sebastia, Mohammad Azem, told Palestinian media that Israeli troops were also stationed at the town’s entrances as well as all the roads leading to the site, and prevented Palestinains from opening their stores and businesses.

As FMEP has chronicled, settlers and their allies are intent upon taking control of archaeological sites in the West Bank, including Sebastia, and and seizing artifacts that are currently under Palestinian control. Settlers claim the sites are neglected and/or damaged. To that end, the settler groups known as “the Shilo Forum” and the “Shomrim al HaNetzach” (“Preservers of the Eternal”) — see background on these groups here — recently issued a report surveying 365 sites in the West Bank and arguing that the Palestinian Authority is moving to “erase all traces of Israel’s ancient Jewish heritage.” The accusations were in addition to allegations of neglect, mismanagement, and intentional damage. The report is part of the organizations’ campaign to push the Israeli government to assert control over these sites.

An advocate for this strategy – – Michael Freund, who served as a deputy communications director in the Netanyahu government – – wrote in the Jerusalem Post:

“Ever since the signing of the 1993 Oslo Accords, and the establishment of the Palestinian Authority, the Palestinians have been serially abusing our heritage, from digging up the Temple Mount in Jerusalem to attacking and burning Joseph’s Tomb in Shechem (Nablus). It should be clear to all that the Palestinians cannot be entrusted with safeguarding or administering Jewish historical sites under any circumstances whatsoever. The State of Israel needs to assume and assert responsibility for the national and historical heritage of the Jewish people in Judea and Samaria.”

Bonus Reads

  1. “Palestinians aim to prove right of return with ancestral land titles” (Middle East Eye)
  2. “The Illegal Settler Outpost Has Running Water. Its Palestinian Neighbors Don’t. This Is Apartheid at Its Starkest” (Haaretz)
  3. “Why the climate movement must support the Palestinian cause” (Middle East Eye)
  4. “Opinion | Israel Is Crushing My Right to Protest Its Occupation” (Haaretz // Galia Golan)

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 17, 2021

  1. In Public Disagreement Over Future of West Bank, Bennett and Gantz Continue to Play Nice
  2. As Settler Growth Rate Slows, Americans Jews Make up One-Third of New Settlers
  3. Settlers Enlist IDF to Help Takeover Archeological Site in Area B
  4. Al-Haq Report: Israel’s Policy of Forced Self-Demolition of Palestinian Homes in Jerusalem Serves Policy of Forcible Transfer
  5. Bonus Reads

In Public Disagreement Over Future of West Bank, Bennett and Gantz Continue to Play Nice

As has been the case since the inception of the Bennett coalition government, the government’s top figures continue to publicly disagree — to some degree — vis-à-vis the future of the West Bank. This week, Prime Minister Bennett addressed his divergence of views with his Defense Minister Benny Gantz, telling Ynet: 

“My perception is different than that of the defense minister although we work in harmony. I oppose a Palestinian state and I think it would be a grave mistake to import the failed Gaza model of Hamas which shoots rockets at us, and turn the entire West Bank to that.”

Meanwhile, in an interview with Foreign Policy magazine, Gantz seemed to suggest his reluctant acceptance to a future Palestinian state (or something that might be called a “state”), saying, “we will need two political entities.” Notably, in that same interview he vowed to never evacuate West Bank settlements. 

As Settler Growth Rate Slows, Americans Jews Make up One-Third of New Settlers

Haaretz reports that nearly 33% of all new settlers in 2020 immigrated to the West Bank from the United States. A total of 191 Americans moved to the settlements last year alone, a year when the growth rate of the settler population slowed to 2.3% — a rate which is both an all-time low for settlements, but (as in the past) remains higher than the growth rate within Israel itself, which stood at 1.6% in 2020.

Settlers Enlist IDF to Help Takeover Archeological Site in Area B

Haaretz published a new report on how settlers have enlisted (not unwillingly) the IDF in their attempts to seize control over the Tel Sebastia archaeological site in the Palestinian city of Sebastia. Part of the site (including the entrance, parking lots, and souvenir shops) is on land that is designated as Area B by the Oslo Accords, meaning the IDF should not be operating there. Different settlers groups now consistently – on a twice weekly basis, according to Haaretz – run tours for Israelis to visit the site, for which the IDF provides military escorts.

Map by Haaretz

Speaking to Haaretz, one of the settlers who organizes some of the tours, explained to Haaretz:

“The army has an interest in securing and getting to know the area…The army needs to preserve our historical values. It has a role to protect our lives, but also our quality of life.”

Meanwhile, the Palestinian Mayor of Sebastia tells Haaretz:

“I refer to the settlers’ visits to the site as ‘incursions,’ and everyone who lives in the area suffers. The army will come even during the night, firing stun grenades. It’s all for the settlers.”

Settlers have been openly agitating – with some success – for Israel to assert control over the archaeological site in Sebastia for years. In January 2021, Emek Shaveh (an Israeli NGO expert in – and focused on – archaeology) wrote about what is happening in Sebastia, saying:

“The archaeological site of Sebastia is identified with Samaria, the capital of the Kingdom of ancient Israel in 9-8 BCE. The site also features ruins from the Hellenistic, Roman and later periods. The village of Sebastia is situated within Area B while the site itself is located mainly in area C. Over the past few years, the Samaria Regional Council has been organizing tours to the site, particularly during the school holidays.  Several times this year, the Civil Administration has removed a Palestinian flag from the village and the site. In the most recent incident, a flag was raised following renovation works funded by the Belgian government. In their response the regional council blamed the Palestinians for destroying a site central to Jewish history and UNESCO for supporting the Palestinians. Sebastia is on the tentative list of World Heritage sites in Palestine….the integration of ancient sites into an organized strategy designed to weaken Palestinian hold on Area C is worrying. The formalization of this approach is likely to result in a steep rise in actions over ancient sites and structures, from water cisterns found in many villages, to major sites such as Sebastia. The justification for preserving and developing ancient sites familiar to us from East Jerusalem is now being applied wholesale to hundreds of places in the West Bank to the detriment of the Palestinians living near the sites and to the multilayered heritage inherent in the ruins which will be distorted for political ends.”

As FMEP has chronicled, settlers and their allies are intent upon taking control of archaeological sites and artifacts that are currently under Palestinian control, claiming the sites are neglected and/or damaged. For example, in February 2021 settlers used a construction mishap to raise claims to the Mt. Ebal site. 

In January 2021, the state of Israel committed funding to a new settler initiative to surveil archeological sites under Palestinian control. While the objective of protecting antiquities might appear uncontroversial and apolitical, the true (and transparently self-evident) objective behind this effort is to support yet another pretext to surveil and police Palestinians, and yet another means to dispossess them of their properties. It is the result of a campaign that has taken place over the past year in which settlers have escalated their calls for the Israeli government to seize antiquities located in Palestinian communities across the West Bank, especially in Area C, which Israel today treats as functionally (and legally) indistinguishable from sovereign Israeli territory. The controversy that erupted over the Mt. Ebal archaeological site in February 2021 should be understood in this context.

Previous victories for the settlers include the Israeli Civil Administration’s recent issuance of expropriation orders for two archaeological sites located on privately owned Palestinian property northwest of Ramallah. The expropriations – the first of their kind in 35 years – come amidst a new campaign by settlers lobbying the government to take control of such sites, based on the settlers’ claims that antiquities are being stolen and the sites are being mismanaged by Palestinians. The settlers’ pressure is also credited as the impetus behind the government’s clandestine raid of a Palestinian village in July 2020 to seize an ancient font. The Palestinian envoy to UNESCO, Mounir Anastas, recently called on the United Nations to pressure Israel into returning the font to the Palestinian authorities.

In June 2020, a settler group calling itself “Shomrim Al Hanetzach” (“Guardians of Eternity”) began surveying areas in the West Bank that Israel has designated as archeaological sites in order to call in Israeli authorities to demolish Palestinian construction in these areas. The group communicates its findings to the Archaeology Unit of the Israeli Civil Administration (reminder: the Civil Administration is the arm of the Israeli Defense Ministry which since 1967 has functioned as the de facto sovereign over the West Bank). The Archaeology Unit, playing its part, then delivers eviction and demolition orders against Palestinians, claiming that the structures damage antiquities in the area. 

As a reminder, in 2017, Israel designated 1,000 new archaeological sites in Area C of the West Bank. The “Guardians of Eternity” group, not coincidentally, is an offshoot of the radical Regavim organization, which among other things works to push Israeli authorities to demolish Palestinian construction (on Palestinians’ own land) that lacks Israeli permits (permits that Israel virtually never grants). The group raised public alarm about the Trump Plan, alleging that hundreds of biblical sites in the West Bank are slated to become Palestinian territory. 

Al-Haq Report: Israel’s Policy of Forced Self-Demolition of Palestinian Homes in Jerusalem Serves Policy of Forcible Transfer

In a new report, the Palestinian human rights group Al-Haq documents the intensification of Israel’s policy of compelling the self-demolition of homes by Palestinian owners in Jerusalem. As FMEP has reported in the past, Israel in effect coerces Palestinians into tearing down their own homes in order to avoid exorbitant Israeli fees and other consequences, while facing the same ultimate fate: homelessness in Jerusalem.

Al Haq’s report specifically documents four cases where Palestinians were forced to self-demolish their home between August 16-23, 2021. Al-Haq explains why Israel’s policies that result in coerced self-demolitions are “gross violations of international law, perpetrated under law enforcement considerations for the purpose of executing the forcible transfer of the protected Palestinian population from Jerusalem.” 

Al Haq further writes:

“House demolitions have been central tools to facilitate Israel’s land appropriation and dispossession. Israeli planning and zoning laws were from the onset designed to prevent Palestinian urban development, through elaborate legal arrangements including lengthy, costly and complex building permit procedures, and several building prohibitions based on land designations as ‘green areas,’ or ‘national parks’ to limit as much as possible Palestinian construction, with the result that only 13 percent of east Jerusalem land is zoned for construction, in already heavily urbanized areas. Demographic pressure and the need for urban expansion, coupled with the Israeli authorities’ denial of 93 percent of overall building permits, Palestinians are forced to build their homes without permits. Between 30 and 50 percent of Palestinian houses in Jerusalem are estimated to have been built without permits, putting some 100,000 individuals in jeopardy. They are subsequently ordered to demolish their homes by the Israeli municipality or the Ministry of Interior, under the tacit complicity of settler organizations. From January 2009 to November 2019, 952 Palestinian houses and structures were demolished in Jerusalem, inducing the forcible displacement of 3058 Palestinians including 1,196 children. Demolitions in Jerusalem represent some 20 percent of overall demolitions carried out in the entire occupied West Bank. Between 1 January 2021 and 24 August 2021, Al-Haq documented 42 homes demolished in Jerusalem, including 30 self-executed demolitions. The self-execution aspect raises home demolitions to another level of Israeli oppression imposed on Palestinians, obliged to carry out the dismantlement of their houses by themselves. Additional 10,000 NIS (about $2,500 USD fines) and up-to-18-months imprisonment are applicable for an individual who refuses to demolish his home by himself, which in fact, amounts to a State coerced demolition.”

You can read the full report, entitled “Israel Intensifies Forced Self-Demolitions of Palestinian Homes in Occupied Jerusalem” online.

Bonus Reads

    1. “​​In Jerusalem’s Holiest Site, These Modern Pilgrims Are Playing With Fire” (Haaretz)
    2. “Israeli occupation forces, settlers attack Palestinian homes in the occupied section of Hebron city” (WAFA)
    3. “Elderly Palestinian resists Israel’s settlement ambitions” (Al-Monitor)
    4. “UAE’s al-Otaiba claims Israel normalisation deal ‘salvaged two state solution’” (Middle East Eye)
    5. “[Podcast] The Abraham Accords, Israel, Biden, and Regional Trends” (FMEP // Lara Friedman w/ Annelle Sheline)
    6. “The False Promise of the Abraham Accords” (Foreign Policy)

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 10, 2021

  1. Israeli Supreme Court to Hear Al-Walajah Case on October 6th
  2. JNF to Start Massive Land Registration Process, Threatening Widespread Eviction of Palestinians
  3. Bennett Government Requests Six Month Extension to Finalize Plan to Forcibly “Relocate”  Khan Al-Ahmar
  4. Bennett Meets with Settler Council, Promises Settlement Growth (i.e. De Facto Annexation)
  5. Bonus Reads

Israeli Supreme Court to Hear Al-Walajah Case on October 6th

Ir Amim and Bimkom jointly report that the Israeli Supreme Court has set October 6th as the date it will hold a hearing on 38 demolition orders issued against Palestinian homes in the Al-Walajah neighborhood of East Jerusalem. In July of this year, the State moved to dismiss the current petition filed by Palestinians that, for the moment, has frozen demolition proceedings against their homes. If the Court chooses to dismiss the petition, those 38 houses – homes to some 300 individuals – will likely face immediate demolition. 

The State’s argument is that the houses – built by Palestinians on their own land – were built without the required Israeli permits. As a reminder, such permits are in general all but impossible for Palestinians to obtain; in the case of al-Walajah they are literally impossible to obtain, since the area lacks a required Israeli-approved “outline plan,” without which permits are an impossibility. In an effort to overcome this obstacle, Al-Walajah residents, with the help of planning experts, prepared and proposed an outline plan for the area, and for more than 15 years have worked to get Israel to approve it — to no avail. Israeli authorities have repeatedly (in January 2021 and again in March 2021) refused to approve the resident-backed plan, and have also refrained from initiating their own planning process. Indeed, the Jerusalem District Committee, as part of a January 25, 2021 ruling against the outline plan proposed by residents, deemed the area in question — where Palestinians have lived for decades — an “agricultural area” where no building would ever be permitted.  The result: Al-Walajah’s residents have been left with zero hope of obtaining the permits required to build on – or keep their current houses – on their own land. 

Due to its location and unique political situation Al-Walajah is a village besieged by Israel from every angle. In the words of Danny Seidemann:

“ Since 1967, Walajeh’s inhabitants have lived in a Kafka-esque situation, with their village technically located inside Israel’s expanded borders, but with villagers never given Israeli residency (they are considered West Bankers and thus are not permitted inside Jerusalem). As a result, the villagers’ presence in their own village is, under Israeli law, illegal, and their homes there are, by definition, illegal.”

For decades, the Israeli government has carried out a multi-prong effort to push Palestinians off of their land in al-Walajah. This has included demolition campaigns, construction of the separation barrier along a route that encircles the village and cuts residents off from their land, refusal to grant building permits, and the declaration of state parks over lands on which Palestinians have lived for generations. In October 2020, it was revealed that Israel, in order to build the Har Gilo West settlement, plans to extend the separation barrier to completely encircle al-Walajah, which is already surrounded on three sides by the separation wall. The new section of the barrier will be a 7-meter high concrete slab along the western edge of the built-up area of Al-Walajah.

JNF to Start Massive Land Registration Process, Threatening Widespread Eviction of Palestinians

On September 2nd, the Board of the Jewish National Fund in Israel (called the KKL-JNF) voted to initiate a new effort to register its ownership of land that the JNF claims to have purchased from the Israeli General Custodian. The JNF claims to have internal records of these purchases, despite the fact that the organization never formally registered its deed of ownership after the purchases.

According to Haaretz, the KKL-JNF Board has allocated over $31 million (100 million shekels) to a five-year plan that will see the organization pursue the formal registration of the following:

  • A total of 530 files pertaining to acquisitions in the West Bank, of which the KKL-JNF says it has documentation for 360 deals, but only has formal contracts for 170. With respect to the fact that the JNF cannot fully document closed deals for most of these properties, Peace Now warns:

“…in some of the cases the documents only show intent to broker deals, and/or a negotiation that didn’t become a deal, and yet, legally, it could be argued that intent for a deal existed, and on this basis the land could be registered in JNF- KKL’s name. In addition, according to JNF- KKL, past experience shows that JNF- KKL succeeds in convincing the courts to register properties in its name and the chances to succeed in various files is great.”

  • A total of 2,050 files pertaining to acquisitions in the Jerusalem area, totalling over 1 square mile in East Jerusalem – where the JNF is actively colluding with settler organizations to displace Palestinians from land it claims to own.

Ir Amim explains further: 

“The decision to suddenly transfer this land to the KKL-JNF, which was initiated by a high-ranking individual within the General Custodian who is known to be active in settler projects, follows Ir Amim’s uncovering of a series of alarming Israeli decisions that aim to misuse land registration mechanisms in East Jerusalem for registering sizable areas of land to Israeli authorities or settlers on behalf of settler organizations. These moves are being conducted without proper disclosure or publication, therefore preventing Palestinians from challenging and protecting their property rights. 75 Palestinian families on an area of 35 dunams are currently under threat of eviction from ownership lawsuits levelled by settler organizations in Sheikh Jarrah. 85 families on an area of 5 dunams face a similar threat in Batan al-Hawa, Silwan. Transferring 2,500 dunams of land from the General Custodian to the KKL-JNF will lay the groundwork for potentially thousands of more eviction demands.”

As a reminder, the JNF, established in 1901, devoted itself to buying land for Jews. Today, the JNF owns about 15% of all the land inside the Green Line (a figure which stands to increase if the review process leads to more properties being registered to the JNF). In addition, the JNF has used two subsidiary companies – both called Himanuta – to purchase land in the West Bank, even though the stated JNF policy (until now) did not support such purchases. Peace Now reports that the JNF, via Himanuta, has already purchased over 160,000 acres (65,000 dunams) across the West Bank. Settlements established on some of those lands include Itamar, Alfei Menashe, Einav, Kedumim, Givat Ze’ev, Metzadot Yehuda (Beit Yatir), Otniel and more. At the same time, the JNF and the settler group Elad have been partnering together to pursue the mass eviction of Palestinians from East Jerusalem neighborhoods, including Silwan.

Bennett Government Requests Six Month Extension to Finalize Plan to Forcibly “Relocate”  Khan Al-Ahmar

On September 5th, the Israeli government asked the Supreme Court for a six-month extension of its deadline to submit its position on the situation of the Khan al-Ahmar bedouin community – which the Court has set to be forcibly evicted from its current location in the West Bank, just east of Jerusalem (on land that Israel wants to develop for the settlements). In its filing with the Court, the State suggests that there has been “significant progress” towards reaching an agreement with community leaders on the future of the community, which has lived at its present location since being relocated there from the Negev during the 1967 war.

In July 2021, when Khan al-Ahmar was set to be forcibly relocated/demolished, the Court granted the newly formed Bennett government a six-week extension to review the plan that had been negotiated by the Netanyahu government. At that time the Court hinted that it would not be amenable to issuing further extensions on the case.

The terms of the Netanyahu era deal would reportedly see the Khan Al-Ahmar community agree to its forced relocation to a site several miles east of their current homes (the new site is near Abu Dis) in exchange for Israeli residency. 

It must be noted that, if reports are correct, Khan al-Ahmar leaders signed the deal after prolonged coercive circumstances. Previous allegations regarding the nature of the Khan al-Ahmar relocation – specifically B’Tselem’s accusation that it is tantamount to a war crime – have not necessarily been assuaged by the community’s agreement. Since the 1950s – when the community was forced to leave their land in the Negev during the 1948 war – the Khan al-Ahmar bedouin community has lived and worked the lands located just east of Jerusalem, in the shadow of the land marked for the construction of the E-1 settlement (which is once again in the headlines).

The settler group Regavim – which petitioned the Court to force the government to demolish Khan al-Ahmar last year (in the midst of a global pandemic) – rejected the possibility of another delay, saying:

“Lapid’s announcement is a political move intended to signal to Bennett and his partners that none of their election promises can be fulfilled. Not in the Negev, not in the Galilee, and not in Khan al-Ahmar.” [Regavim called on Bennett] “to show who’s in charge. We call on you to evacuate Khan al-Ahmar immediately!”

Jerusalem expert Danny Seidemann has previously written:

“the story of Khan Al-Ahmar is not only about the tragedy for the village and its inhabitants, or about Israel’s readiness to carry out an ostensible war crime in the face of the world. It is also about Israel’s determination to clear the entire area of the West Bank east of Jerusalem, and located within the line of the built and planned barrier, of any Palestinian presence. This clearing will prepare the ground for the future construction of E1 and de facto annexation of this so-called bloc, which extends well beyond the built-up area of Maale Adumim.”

Bennett Meets with Settler Council, Promises Settlement Growth (i.e. De Facto Annexation)

On September 9th, Prime Minister Bennett held his first meeting with leaders of the settler Yesha Council (a leadership body that Bennett himself once served as the head of) and promised that his government would not freeze settlement construction, while also stating that his government will not annex West Bank land. Bennett also reportedly told the settlers that he was clear with the Biden Administration that he would not stop settlement building. Crisis Group analyst Maraiv Zonzein puts it:

“Bennett tells settler council the government will consider all requests for settlement construction. ‘We won’t annex but we won’t stop building.’ That is de facto annexation”

Last week, a government source told The Times of Israel that the Trump-era understandings on settlements remain the standard operating practice – meaning that the High Planning Council will be allowed to convene quarterly meetings to advance settlement construction, and that settlement construction should be “limited” in a way that does not expand the existing footprint of settlements. The official said:

“The [Trump-era] understanding may well be adapted, but, as of now, it is still the only game in town,” the official said. “President Biden only spoke generally about his opposition to settlement building, and his team has not gotten into specifics with us.”

As a reminder, settlement construction and de facto annexation soared during the Trump Administration, under these so-called “limitations.”

Bonus Reads

  1. “Growth rate of settlements plummets to all-time low” (Jerusalem Post)
  2. “Israel’s New Government Wants to ‘Shrink’ the Occupation. Meet the Man Behind the Idea” (Haaretz)
  3. “SCOOP: An event marking the one year anniversary of the signing of the Avraham Accords will be held in Washington on September 14.” (Twitter // @amichaistein1)

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 2, 2021

  1. Israel Announces Next Steps for E-1 Settlement Construction
  2. Bonus Reads

Israel Announces Next Steps for E-1 Settlement Construction

On August 29th, the Israeli High Planning Council announced that it will take up consideration of plans to build the E-1 settlement, in the context of two hearings scheduled for October 4th and October 18th. This stage of the planning process is where objections filed by the public against the plan will be heard and discussed by the Israeli High Planning Committee (a body within the Israeli Defense Ministry responsible for regulating construction in the occupied West Bank). Once all objections have been dealt with (e.g., rejected, or addressed via changes in the plan), the Committee can grant final approval for construction.

Ir Amim writes:

“The discussion of objections constitutes one of the final stages in the plans’ approval. While it is unclear who initiated the discussion, it is unlikely to have happened without the knowledge and approval of both the Israeli Minister of Defense and Prime Minister. Advancement of the plans comes just days after Israeli Prime Minister Bennett met with US President Biden in Washington where Biden underscored the necessity to refrain from measures which inflame tensions and reaffirmed his support for the two-state solution. Construction in E1 has long been regarded as a death blow to the two-state framework and threatens to displace roughly 3,000 Palestinians living in small Bedouin communities in the area, including Khan al-Ahmar.”

The October 4th and 18th hearings are being called to discuss the joint objection to the E-1 plan that was filed in August 2020 by several Israeli NGOs including Peace Now, Ir Amim, and the Association of Environmental Justice in Israel. That organizations cite a litany of problems including dire economic repercussions, as well as the inherent inequality and discrimination of planning this community for Israelis. 

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 many attempts to forcibly displace. 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 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-PM  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 depositing, ostensibly as pay back 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.

Noting the timing of the news on E-1 – which came just two days after Prime Minister Bennett met with President Biden in the White House – Jerusalem expert Daniel Seideman tweeted:

“For 25 years, Israel was deterred and  didn’t dare approve E-1. Until now. It’s good to see how attentive PM Bennett is to Pres. Bidens’s call for restraint.”

Commenting on the imminent advancement on the E-1 plan Peace Now said:

“This plan poses a real threat for the chance for peace thus has gained sharp opposition in Israel and internationally. The Bennett Lapid government has glorified itself in turning a new page with the world and the citizens of Israel, but promoting the plan in E1 shows the opposite and will bring us back to the dangerous policies furthered by Netanyahu. The Minister of Defense can and must freeze this plan so that the Israeli interest is safeguarded and a wrong prevented.”

Bonus Reads

  1. “Home Invasions and False Arrests: What Happens to a Palestinian Who Protects His Land” (Haaretz)
  2. “Helping hand: Israeli forces in the service of Jewish settlers” (Al Jazeera)
  3. “‘I thought I would die’: Settlers abduct, brutally attack Palestinian teen in West Bank” (+972 Mag)
  4. “To Enjoy Peace and Security, Israel Must Consider the Palestinians” (Haaretz Editorial)
  5. “ President Biden: Don’t Fall for the Israeli-Palestinian ‘Economic Peace’ Fallacy” (Newsweeks // Dahlia Scheindlin) 
  6. “Opinion: Israel’s prime minister is not seeking a reset. He just wants more cover for apartheid and colonization.” (Washington Post // Noura Erakat)

 

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 27, 2021

  1. Israel Set to Seize More Palestinian Land for West Bank Settlement Expansion
  2. More Demolitions in Al-Walajeh
  3. Israel Approves New Plan for Archaeological-Tourism Site in Nabi Samwil
  4. Ir Amim: JNF’s Proposed Land Registration Will Result in Land Takeover of an ‘Alarming Magnitude’
  5. Bennett Goes to Washington to Talk Iran, But Questions on Settlements Remain
  6. Bonus Reads

Israel Set to Seize More Palestinian Land for West Bank Settlement Expansion

Haaretz reports that on August 25th the Israeli government was expected to approve a plan to expropriate 17 acres (68 dunams) of privately owned Palestinians land in order to widen Route 55, a road running east-west in the West Bank in a manner simultaneously serving settlements in the northern West Bank while fragmenting Palestinian life the West Banks.  Haaretz reports that despite promises to the contrary made by Israeli planners, the road will not be accessible to Palestinians. 

Thirty-five Palestinian land owners – all of whom run plant nurseries on the targeted land – fought this expropriation plan and even proposed a compromise plan, but last week the Israeli High Planning Council rejected both their objections and the compromise they proposed. 

By expanding Route 55 (at the high expense of Palestinian landowners) lsraeli is aiming to more seamlessly connect the Israeli town of Kfar Sava, located inside the Green Line, to settlements located near the Palestinian village of Qalqilya. The widened road should also be understood as preparation for more settlement growth, with plans already in the works for 5,650 new settlement units to be built adjacent to the road. 

For more on how Israel uses highway infrastructure to advance annexation and settlement expansion, see this December 2020 report by Breaking the Silence.

More Demolitions in Al-Walaja

Ir Amim reports that on August 25th, Israeli forces demolished one building housing two Palestinian families (14 individuals) in the village of Al-Walaja on the southern border of Jerusalem, specifically in the section of the town that was included inside of the expanded municipal borders of Jerusalem. The demolition is notable because the vast majority of Palestinians living in this section of Al-Walaja also face demolition orders, and mass demolitions (and accompanying wide scale displacement) can happen at any time.

Adding to the sense of imminent threat and rapidly changing conditions, the families living in the building demolished this week were only notified of the demolition order on their homes a few months ago. The families submitted an appeal against the order, but that appeal was rejected by the Jerusalem Magistrate Court 10 days ago and the families were not given any further notice of when the demolition was scheduled to take place. The families, therefore, had not yet filed an additional appeal to the District Court.

Ir Amim explains what is transpiring in al-Walaja:

“Since 2016, roughly half of the homes in the East Jerusalem section of Al-Walaja have received demolition orders and roughly 25 of these have been carried out. Indeed, most of the homes in the vicinity of the home demolished yesterday are under demolition orders and three of them were demolished just in the last two years.  An appeal submitted by the village to the Israeli Supreme Court has led to temporarily freezing 38 of the pending demolition orders in the village. Recently, the State Attorney’s Office requested that the Supreme Court reject the appeal. If the court does reject it, 38 demolitions are likely to happen quickly. Some 12 additional homes are also at risk of imminent demolition. Demolitions in Al-Walaja are due to two combined Israeli policy decisions: On the one hand, Israeli authorities have never made an outline plan for the annexed part of Al-Walaja and residents therefore have no possibility of obtaining a building permit. All construction that has taken place in Al-Walaja since 1967 is thereby considered illegal under Israeli law. On the other hand, in 2016 the government decided to increase home demolitions – specifically targeting Palestinian communities. Since that year, the National Enforcement Unit (under the authority of the Ministry of Finance) began issuing and carrying out demolition orders in Al-Walaja. This unit is the most aggressive of the Israeli enforcement units. The combined effect of no outline plan and aggressive enforcement has led to half of the homes of the Jerusalem section of Al-Walaja currently being under threat of demolition. In January of this year (2021), the al-Walaja’s community most recent attempt to advance the outline plan they prepared for their village was rejected by the Jerusalem District Committee. Meanwhile, Israeli construction plans of thousands of housing units around Al-Walaja are advancing – including a new settlement on the Western side of the village. Indeed, demolitions in Al-Walaja are part of the creeping annexation Israel is advancing within the Greater Jerusalem area, specifically with the aim of connecting settlements near Bethlehem to Jerusalem, which would effectively fragment the Palestinian space of the southern West Bank.”

Israel Approves New Plan for Archaeological-Tourism Site in Nabi Samwil

Emek Shaveh reports that the Israeli Civil Administration has approved a plan to renovate an archeological and holy site in the Nabi Samwil village, located just north of Jerusalem. The plan will see the construction of a new access road, a visitors area, a restaurant, a learning center for tour groups, a shop, and a conference room. 

The plan to invest in the development of this tourism site ignores the longtime suffering of the Palestinian residents of Nabi Samwil. This small village is located on a strategic and highly prized hilltop (inside an area that Israel has declared to be a national park) located just outside of the municipal borders of Jerusalem but on the Israeli side of the separation barrier. This location places the village’s residents — who remain in the eyes of the Israeli government residents of the West Bank, for whom access to Jerusalem is forbidden without a special permit — 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). The suffocation of Nabi Samwil is in line with Israel’s long-time ambitions to completely de-populate the village and take control of the land.

In April 2020 – during one of the most intense periods of the COVID-19 lockdown last year – the Israeli military closed off the village entirely, and enforced the closure with only 14 hours’ notice for residents. 

Ir Amim: JNF’s Proposed Land Registration Will Result in Land Takeover of an ‘Alarming Magnitude’

In a new analysis, Ir Amim explains how the Jewish National Fund’s upcoming decision on a proposal to start the process of registering land it claims to have purchased in the West Bank and East Jerusalem will serve as a means for mass land seizure. The JNF’s Board is expected to convene in the coming weeks to approve the plan.

Ir Amim explains:

“Anchoring KKL’s ownership claims to these lands is a dramatic move that puts entire Palestinian communities in jeopardy. This move is yet another troubling indication of how the recently enacted land settlement of title and registration process in East Jerusalem is being misused. As uncovered by Ir Amim over the last several months, this registration process – that has been advanced by the Israeli government – is unprecedented in both scope and consequence and is being used as a mechanism to register lands under Israeli ownership, which in the future could lead to settlement construction and displacement of entire Palestinian communities in East Jerusalem. The dangers these measures pose to Palestinian life in Jerusalem cannot be overstated, nor the severity of the political interests that are behind it. Given that the Sheikh Jarrah eviction cases attracted international attention, it is important to understand that the Israeli exploitation of the land registration process will involve vast areas of East Jerusalem, and therefore will lay the groundwork for future eviction demands against Palestinians several magnitudes larger than seen today.”

As a reminder, the JNF, established in 1901, devoted itself to buying land for Jews. Today, the JNF owns about 15% of all the land inside the Green Line (a figure which stands to increase if the review process leads to more properties being registered to the JNF). In addition, the JNF has used two subsidiary companies – both called Himanuta – to purchase land in the West Bank, even though the stated JNF policy (until now) did not support such purchases. Peace Now reports that the JNF, via Himanuta, has already purchased over 160,000 acres (65,000 dunams) across the West Bank; settlements established on some of those lands include Itamar, Alfei Menashe, Einav, Kedumim, Givat Ze’ev, Metzadot Yehuda (Beit Yatir), Otniel and more. At the same time, the JNF and the settler group Elad have been partnering together to pursue the mass eviction of Palestinians from East Jerusalem neighborhoods, including Silwan.

Bennett Goes to Washington to Talk Iran, But Questions on Settlements Remain

According to reports, Prime Minister Bennett’s priority for his first meeting with President Biden – now scheduled for August 27th – is Iran. However, in the lead up to that meeting Bennett has not been able to escape questions and pressure around the issue of settlement growth and annexation.

In an interview with the New York Times ahead of his meeting, Bennett said that his government is not looking to solve the question of Palestine, but also said that he has no plans to formally annex West Bank territory [although de facto annexation policies are proceeding apace) nor to end the siege on Gaza. Bennett said:

“This government is a government that will make dramatic breakthroughs in the economy. Its claim to fame will not be solving the 130-year-old conflict here in Israel. This government will neither annex nor form a Palestinian state, everyone gets that.”

In the interview, Bennett also briefly reiterated that his approach to settlement construction is limited to projects that address the supposed “natural growth” needs of existing settlements [for Lara Friedman’s take-down of this framing, see here]. 

In response to Bennett’s comments, settler leaders blasted him for betraying the settlement movement [reminder: Bennett led the settler Yesha Council for several years]. Current Yesha Council head, Yossi Dagan, told the Jerusalem Post that Bennett’s position is “totally unacceptable.” The Jerusalem Post also suggested that Bennett’s promise to allow for “natural growth” represented a cutting back in support for settlement construction compared to recent years.  

Even before the New York Times interview, Bennett was facing significant discontent from settlers over the low number of settlement units [in the eyes of the settlers] that were included in the first planning wave under the Bennett-led government. Articulating that discontent, and calling on Bennett to buck what they see as U.S. pressure to limit settlement growth, settler leaders spoke out earlier this week. Binyamin Regional Council head Israel Gantz said:

 “We urge you to remember where you came from and to tell the Americans that you are changing your policy and intend to build as needed. All ready-made construction plans in Judea and Samaria must be approved.”

Yossi Avrahami, a settler leader from Givat Ze’ev, said:

“Prove to us that you are not a [US] puppet that is being played.”

Bonus Reads

  1. “Jewish Agency Invites Staff to Radical West Bank Settlement for Holiday Trip” (Haaretz)
  2. “The Beita model: Palestinians lead ‘new form of resistance’ at Evyatar outpost” (The Times of Israel)
  3. “An Israeli Forest to Erase the Ruins of Palestinian Agricultural Terraces” (Haaretz)
  4. “This Luxury Home Epitomizes the Erasure of Jaffa’s Historical Landscape” (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 13, 2021

  1. The First Bennett/Biden Settlement Wave, Part 1: Israel Set to Advance 2,259 Settlement Units
  2. The First Bennett/Biden Settlement Wave, Part 2:  Israel Announces Intention to Issue 863 Building Permits for Palestinians in Area C
  3. The First Bennett/Biden Settlement Wave, Part 3: Observations on Settlement Policy Coordination Between Governments
  4. Jerusalem District Court Orders 16 Homes to Be Demolished While Delaying – for 6 months – Demolition of Others in Silwan
  5. Israel Begins Work on Settler-Back Project at the Ibrahimi Mosque/Tomb of the Patriarchs
  6. Atarot Settlement Plan to Be Discussed on December 6th
  7. Bonus Reads

Questions/comments? Email kmccarthy@fmep.org

The First Bennett/Biden Settlement Wave, Part 1: Israel Set to Advance 2,259 Settlement Units

On August 12th, Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz announced that the High Planning Council will convene on August 18th to advance 2,259 new settlement units, as part of projects across the West Bank. Of these, 908 units are slated to receive final approval, including many units in areas beyond Israel’s security barrier. This will be the first time that the High Planning Council (HPC) has convened in 10 months, and it will be the first time a large number of settlement units has been advanced since Biden entered the White House. As a reminder, the HPC is a body within the Israeli Civil Administration (which is a part of the Israeli Ministry of Defense) that has authority over construction planning and approvals for both settlers and Palestinians in the West Bank (the HPC does not have authority with respect to settlement construction in East Jerusalem; since Israel annexed the area in 1967, Israeli domestic Israeli planning authorities are in charge there). 

The plans expected to receive final approval include:

  • 286 units in the Har Bracha settlement, located south of Nablus. If implemented, these new units will double the size of Har Bracha;
  • 146 units in the Kfar Etzion settlement, located between Bethlehem and Hebron and on the Israeli side of the planned route of the barrier (which is not yet built in this area);
  • 110 units in the Alon Shvut settlement, located just north of the Kfar Etzion settlement and between Bethlehem and Hebron;
  • 82 units in the Karnei Shomron settlement, located in the northern West Bank, east of the Palestinian village of Qalqilya. Israel has openly declared its intention to continue expanding settlements in this area with the stated goal of bringing 1 million settlers to live in the area.;
  • 52 units in the Beit El settlement, located in the heart of the northern West Bank [as a reminder, former US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman has deep ties to the Beit El settlement]; Construction on 350 new units in Beit El began earlier this year;
  • 42 units in the Givat Zeev settlement, located south of Ramallah in an area that. is on the Israeli side of the barrier;
  • 14 units in the Ma’aleh Mikhmash settlement, located east of Ramallah;
  • 10 units in the Barkan settlement, located about half way between the Ariel settlement and the cluster of settlements slated to be united into a “super settlement” area (Oranit, Elkana, Shiva Tikva, and others).;

Peace Now said: 

“The approval of thousands of housing units in the settlements harms the Israeli interest and the chances of reaching peace. It seems that the approval of a handful of plans for the Palestinians is only intended to try to reduce criticism of the government and to please the US administration ahead of Prime Minister Bennett’s expected visit to Washington in the coming weeks. For years, Israel has pursued a policy of blatant discrimination that does not allow almost any construction for Palestinians in Area C, while in the settlements it encourages and promotes the construction of thousands of housing units each year for Israelis. The approval of a few hundred housing units for Palestinians can not cover up discrimination and does not change the fact that Israel maintains an illegal regime of occupation and discrimination in the territories.”

The First Bennett/Biden Settlement Wave, Part 2:  Israel Announces Intention to Issue 863 Building Permits for Palestinians in Area C

In announcing plans to advance over 2,000 new settlement units, Defense Minister Gantz also announced his intention to issue permits for 863 houses – some of which will be issued for existing structures – for Palestinians living in Area C. Haaretz reports that the permits are being advanced in order to buy the consent of the few members of the Israeli governing coalition that oppose settlement construction, and as “calculated risk” with respect to the Biden administration.

As a reminder, Area C is the 60% of the West Bank where Israel enjoys absolute authority and has systematically denied Palestinian building rights, while promoting the expansion of settlements and unauthorized outposts.  If issued, these permits for Palestinians will be the first issued by Israel in years, and the first of any significant size. Only 21 building permits were issued to Palestinians between 2016 to 2018, while 2,147 demolition orders were issued in the same period. 

Commenting on the announcement of the planned permits (which, given past experience, there is no reason to assume will ever be issued) Peace Now said:

“It is a very small expansion of the Palestinian villages and a drop in the ocean in terms of real Palestinian development needs.”

Peace Now reports that these permits, if they are ever issued, might be for:

  • 270 houses in the Bir al-Bash village, located south of Jenin in the northern West Bank;
  • 233 houses in the the Almasqufa village, located near Tulkarem in the norhtern West Bank;
  • 160 houses in the Abba a-Sharqiya village, also located south of Jenin in the northern West Bank; 
  • 150 houses in the Al-Ma’asara village, located south of Bethlehem; and,
  • 50 houses in the Khirbet Zakariya, also located south of Bethlehem.

The First Bennett/Biden Settlement Wave, Part 3: Observations on Settlement Policy Coordination Between Governments

In reporting over the past week, Axios journalist Barak Ravid has documented the efforts by the Israeli and U.S. governments to square conflicting positions with regards to settlement growth.  

On the U.S. side, the Biden Administration has appeared to take pains to make room in its official discourse to begrudgingly tolerate settlement construction. While the U.S. has criticized the new batch of settlement advancements, until this week the U.S. had reportedly identified three actions it has asked Israel to refrain from, notably not including settlement expansion. Those three actions are: the demolition of Palestinian homes, the eviction of Palestinians from their homes, and the establishment of new outposts in the West Bank. The U.S. is also reportedly asking Israel to take positive steps to stabilize the Palestinian Authority, which is suffering from economic shortfalls and crashing levels of popular support. 

For it’s part, Israeli press suggests that the Bennett government reduced the number of upcoming settlement advancements in order to appease the Biden Administration. The Israelis wanted to advance 3,623 plans, but announced a total of 2,259 (a 39% cut according to Jerusalem Post). Axios also reports that the Israeli government is assertively framing its settlement policy as one of restraint, prioritizing settlement projects that address the supposed “natural growth” needs of existing settlements. 

“Natural growth” has been used many times in the past by the Israeli government as an argument for why settlements must be allowed to expand. FMEP’s Lara Friedman has debunked this argument many times in the past, explaining:

“While ‘natural growth’ has no formal definition, it has generally been used in the settler context to mean population growth due to births, as contrasted to growth due to immigration from Israel or other places. But in numerical terms (according to Israeli official statistics), taking into account deaths and people migrating out of settlements, births inside the settlements account for approximately 60% of the annual population growth in settlements, while around 40% is immigration from inside Israel or abroad. So clearly population growth in settlements is not simply a matter of births.  Perhaps this is why some excuse-makers have expanded ‘natural growth’ to include other ways that families can grow, from non-settler spouses to aged non-settler relatives moving in.

“Regardless of what definition people want to use, the fact is that ‘natural growth’ is not a legitimate argument against a complete freeze in settlement construction. Yes, settlers, like people everywhere, indeed have the right to have babies, and yes, their children indeed have the right to grow up and have families and homes of their own. But nowhere in the world – not in New York, or Paris, or Tel Aviv – do people have an inalienable right to live exactly where they want – in the size home they want, in the neighborhood they want – irrespective of real estate market factors, or any political, economic, zoning, or other considerations that may come into play (including in this case, considerations about actual land ownership). Inside Israel, just like in other countries, people regularly face difficult decisions about where to live, given that major cities like Tel Aviv and Jerusalem are crowded and little affordable housing is available.

“Settlers have the right to have babies and to take in their parents or grandparents. When settler children grow up they have the right to start families and have homes of their own. But the settlers must do what people everywhere must do: reconcile their needs as best as possible to the housing market, which is affected not only by demand but by a myriad of other variables – including, in this case, the fact that settlers have knowingly and voluntarily chosen to make their lives on land that is the subject of a political dispute of global proportions.”

Axios quotes an Israeli government official saying:

“The Biden administration knows we are going to build. We know they don’t like it, and both sides don’t want to reach a confrontation around this issue.”

An Israeli government source summarized the dance going on between the respective governments by saying:

“[The U.S.] will express opposition to this move, but everyone wants this impossible coalition in Israel to hold out… It was clear for Bennett he would not have been able to advance this move after his meeting with [U.S. President Joe] Biden at the end of the month, so as not to damage their relations, and that’s why he had to announce it as early as he did.

Jerusalem District Court Orders 16 Homes to Be Demolished While Delaying – for 6 months – Demolition of Others in Silwan

On August 12th, a Jerusalem Court granted a six-month freeze on demolition orders affecting dozens of Palestinian homes in the al-Bustan section in the Silwan neighborhood of East Jerusalem. At the same time, the Court cleared the way for the immediate demolition of 16 Palestinian homes in the same area.

A lawyer representing the Palestinians involved in these demolition cases said his clients intend to file for permits for the structures, which were built on land that Palestinians assert they own. Israel argues that the land is public land. 

Israel Begins Work on Settler-Back Project at the Ibrahimi Mosque/Tomb of the Patriarchs

This week, an Israeli crew began construction on a new elevator leading to the Ibrahimi Mosque/Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron, arguably one of the most sensitive religious sites outside of Jerusalem. The project to install accessible infrastructure at the site has been backed and pushed by settlers for over two decades and provides a means by which the State of Israel has increased its control over the site. The project is roundly opposed by Palestinians along with archaeologists and other experts. The Israeli archeology group Emek Shaveh explains its opposition:

“We claim that while the plan is couched in terms of concern for the disabled and elderly worshippers, in actual fact it is unilaterally advancing changes to a site mired in deep political controversy…The size and characteristics of the structure demonstrate that at issue is not simply a lift for persons with disabilities, but a significant change to the compound.  The lift will constitute a change in the status quo and a strengthening of the settlers’ control of the holy site.  Ignoring the fact that the site falls under the auspices of the Hebron Municipality is evidence that Israel is further reneging on its commitments to agreements signed in the past with Palestinians.”

Atarot Settlement Plan to Be Discussed on December 6th

As expected, the Jerusalem District Planning and Building Committee has set a date – December 6th – for the advancement of the Atarot settlement plan. This plan would allow for the construction of 9,000 settlement units, to be built on the site of the former Qalandiya airport (located at the northern tip of East Jerusalem). 

The Atarot settlement plan dates back to 2007. It was pursued by the Israeli government in 2012 but shelved under pressure from the Obama administration. The plan came back into consideration in April 2017 (a few months following the inauguration of President Trump) when it was rumored to be included on Netanyahu’s master blueprint of settlements for which he was seeking U.S. approval. In February 2020, following the publication of the Trump Plan – which designated the area that would be used for the settlement as a “special tourist zone” for Palestinians –  the Atarot settlement plan was formally introduced. In January 2021 then-Prime Minister Netanyahu dangled the advancement of the plan as an incentive for parties to join his flagging coalition in order to remain in power. 

In its current form, the plan provides for up to 9,000 residential units for ultra-Orthodox Jews (assuming, conservatively, an average family size of 6, this means housing for 54,000 people), as well as synagogues, ritual baths (mikvehs), commercial properties, offices and work spaces, a hotel, and a water reservoir. If built, the Atarot settlement will effectively be a small Israeli city surrounded by Palestinian East Jerusalem neighborhoods on three sides and Ramallah to its north.

There are currently 15 Palestinian families living in buildings on the land slated for the settlement, part of which is privately owned by Palestinians. Other land in the area has been declared “state land” by Israel or belongs to the Jewish National Fund. To solve the problem of Palestinian land owners, the Israeli government will need to evict the Palestinians living there and demolish their homes — a step that will be facilitated by the fact that all of the homes lack Israeli-issued building permits (which are essentially impossible for Palestinians to receive). The private Palestinian landowners will then be subjected to a non-consensual process of “reparcelization,” in which Israel will unilaterally reparcel and then redistribute the land amongst its owners on the basis of the value of the land (as determined by Israel) and the percentage of their ownership claim.

 The Atarot airport site is an important commodity and, during past negotiations, it was promised to the Palestinians for their state’s future international gateway. Israeli development of the site as a settlement would — by design — not only deprive a future Palestinian state of the only airport in a Palestinian area, but also dismember Palestinian neighborhoods in the northern part of the Jerusalem, and sever East Jerusalem from a Palestinian state on this northern flank of the city (acting like E-1 on Jerusalem’s northeast flank, and like Givat Hamatos on Jerusalem’s southern flank).

Bonus Reads

  1. “Case Study: How a Settler Law-Breaker Became the #2 Official in Israel’s Ministry of the Interior” (FMEP // Lara Friedman w/ Dror Etkes)
  2. “Senior Israeli Official’s Appointment Approved Despite Demolition Order for His Settlement Home” (Haaretz)
  3. “In Sheikh Jarrah, anonymous actors and an absent state have created a powder keg” (The Times of Israel)
  4. “The Fight for Palestine’s Sheikh Jarrah Isn’t Over” (Jacobin)
  5. “ICC Mulls Probing Israel Over Razing Palestinian Homes in Jordan Valley” (Haaretz)
  6. “81 Palestinian homes demolished by Israel in East Jerusalem in 2021” (Middle East Monitor)
  7. “Jewish claim of land ownership in occupied East Jerusalem neighborhood displaces five Palestinian families” (WAFA)