Settlement & Annexation Report: February 2, 2024

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.

February 2, 2024

Israel’s High Planning Council Convenes for First Time in 2024, Promotes Plan for Expanding Givat Ze’ev
Conference Planning for Gaza Resettlement Draws Israeli Ministers
Biden Issues Executive Order on Settler Violence
Bonus Reads

Israel’s High Planning Council Convenes for First Time in 2024, Promotes Plan for Expanding Givat Zeev

Peace now reports that the High Planning Council – the body within the Israeli Defense Ministry which oversees planning and construction in the West Bank, and is under the authority by minister Bezalel Smotrich – met for two days this week, January 31st and February 1st, marking its first meeting in 2024.

On February 1st, the Council reportedly considered a plan to build 68 new settlement units in the Givat Ze’ev settlement, located south of Ramallah in an area that is on the Israeli side of the barrier.

In 2023, the High Planning Council promoted plans for 12,349 new settlement units (not including East Jerusalem) which was a record high since Peace Now began systematically recording such figures in 2012. Bezalel Smotrich gained nearly unilateral authority over the High Planning Council in 2023, while also receiving approval from the Israeli Cabinet to significantly shorten the planning process for settlement construction. Importantly, the shortened planning process removed any significant role for Israeli politicians to intervene – a lever which designed and used successive Israeli governments to throttle settlement planning in response to internal and/or international pressure.

Peace Now said in a statement:

“The Netanyahu-Smotrich-Ben Gvir government continues its destructive construction in the West Bank, adding to the illegal construction widespread throughout the West Bank in the past year and an unrestrained development across all areas of the Occupied Territories. The government of Israel begins 2024 with a clear signal that it is heading towards eliminating the two-state solution, despite the clear understanding that only this solution can halt the cycle of violence.”

Conference Planning for Gaza Resettlement Draws Israeli Ministers

On January 28th over 3,000 people – including no less than 12 Israeli government ministers and 15 members of Knesset – attended the “Conference for the Victory of Israel – Settlement Brings Security: Returning to the Gaza Strip and Northern Samaria,” held in Jerusalem. The conference was organized by the Nahala settler organization, which was founded and continues to be ran by Daniella Weiss. At the conference, Weiss suggested Palestinians will eventually choose to leave Gaza after Israel withholds food long enough, saying Palestinians have “lost the right” to live there.

As the title suggests, the conference featured speakers calling for – and actually planning in detail – the reestablishment of Israeli settlements in the Gaza strip, and for the permanent removal (ethnic cleansing) of Palestinians from the area. The conference included maps showing where settlers aim to reestablish communities, including in Gaza City, and vendors offered chances for attendees to sign up for relocating to specific settlements.

This was by no means a fringe event. The speakers included not only the far-right ministers like Smotrich and Ben-Gvir, but Likud ministers like Haim Katz who said Israel has “opportunity to rebuild and expand the land of Israel” in Gaza. In fact, one third of Netanyahu’s cabinet members attended.

Analyst and pollster Dahlia Scheindlin said:

“We can no longer look at this as some kind of fringe phenomena Even if the idea [of settling Gaza] sounds far-fetched right now, we have to realize that over time, Israel has developed a tradition of beginning with what seem like extreme policies on the margins and [them] then creeping into the mainstream. I would expect that this government over the next number of years will make efforts to increasingly legitimize the idea of Israel occupying the Gaza Strip and rebuilding settlements, and then little by little, try to lay the groundwork to do it.”

Haaretz columnist Alon Pinkas wrote:

“This was not a fringe opposition group: it was the government of Israel in all its political splendor, unabashedly showing its true colors. This was the governing coalition in an orgy of anti-state and antidemocratic euphoria…What you saw was messianic ecstasy and religious fervor in a position of power. What you saw was not merely a theocratic-fascist strain in Israeli society and politics but almost half of Mr. Netanyahu’s coalition (27 lawmakers), including five ministers in his government.”

Prime Minister Netanyahu did not attend nor publicly criticize the conference. Indeed, Netanyahu has called for Israel to retain security control over Gaza following the its current war – which the International Court of Justice recently ruled constitutes plausible genocide.

The conference was, however, condemned by left wing members of the Israeli opposition, including Benny Gantz, who said the conference ““harmed Israeli society during wartime, harmed our legitimacy in the world, harmed efforts to create a framework for the return of our hostages.” Opposition Leader Yair Lapid said the conference “poses an international damage, undermines potential negotiations, endangers IDF soldiers, and reflects a grave lack of responsibility.”

The conference – which received widespread international media coverage – was roundly criticized by key Israeli allies, including the United States, France, and Germany.

Biden Issues Executive Order on Settler Violence

On February 1st, the Biden Administration issued an executive order aimed at punishing Israeli settlers involved in violence in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. The order allows the U.S. to sanction any Israeli found to be “directing, enacting, implementing and enforcing or failing to enforce policies that threaten the peace, security and stability in the West Bank.” The Administration simultaneously announced sanctions against four Israeli settlers, all of whose participation in violence against Palestinians and Jewish activists in the West Bank has been recently documented. Haaretz calls the EO the “most punitive measure ever taken from the U.S. government against Israeli citizens.”

This is an escalation of the U.S. decision to issue visa bans to several dozen violent settlers December 2023. In addition to being banned from traveling to the U.S., the four settlers sanctioned this week will have their assets and bank accounts in the U.S. (if they have any) frozen, and they will be locked out of the U.S. financial system and unable to engage in any commerce with people in the United States.

Axios reports that the U.S. had considered sanctioning Israeli government ministers Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir, but ultimately did not. U.S. officials have denied this. Smotrich called the new order an “antisemitic lie.”

Reaction to the Executive Order has been mixed.

Voicin skepticism, political analyst Yousef Munayyer posted on X:

“First, this is significant because it represents, as far as I can recall, the US effort to sanction Israelis over their violations of Palestinian rights.That said, the extent to which it is effective depends a lot on the political will to designate violent Israeli settlers. If done honestly, it could have a significant impact not just on the violent settlers themselves but an entire transnational financing network. That is the test that will tell us whether this is a serious effort at addressing a real problem on the ground or an unserious effort at trying to save face for Biden in an election year with voters appalled at his handling of Palestine.Settler violence has long been a major problem and politically it is among the easiest for the admin to address given the US’s history of opposing settlements in its public statements. But it has taken years for even this action which we still should doubt will be enforced.More of a problem however is that this fits into a liberal Zionist understand of the settlers, not the state, being the problem. It is an off ramp that puts the onus on the settlers while ignoring the elephant in the room; The settlement enterprise is a state enterprise. It won’t take long to find out whether this is a fig leaf or a genuine effort and the designations and the designation process will tell us a lot. However, if the Biden admin thinks that taking lukewarm measures on an issue they should have seriously addressed years ago is going to make voters forget about the genocide they are backing in Gaza they are sorely mistaken.”

Articulating the potential power of the EO, Joel Braunold, Managing Director of the S. Danny Abraham Center, posted on X:

“This is a weapon of mass destruction in the sanctions world and the targeting is extremely broad in who the Sec of State and Treasury have authorities to hit – and by large I mean gigantic. Reports says they will start with a scalpel. Authority gives them ability to target heads of government entities who threaten the peace security and stability of the West Bank or who plan order or direct acts of violence targeting civilians, place civilians in reasonable fear of violence including property destruction or seizure by private actors – this includes leaders of government agencies. The sanction power applies also to U.S. citizens so having a passport doesn’t get you out of it. It’s a full spectrum material support ban meaning any FX, credits payments by or through banks securities etc that touch US jurisdiction. The level of banking risk for anyone in the West Bank who is Israeli just jumped up into a different stratosphere. All Israeli banks are tied into the SWIFT system and have U.S. branches so can’t run afoul. For foundations who have been supporting settlements calls your lawyers. Starting from the moment the State department lists you need significant material support statue vetting and the risk of others being added will have a freezing effect in major ways. More then differentiation this EO opens up possibilities of full sanctioning of major parts of settlement movement up to and including ministers and gov departments should admin go that route.”

Matt Duss, Executive Vice President of Center for International Policy, told Time Magazine:

“Steps like this are a good way to show that they are serious this time. Consequences for Israeli violence against Palestinians—whether in the form of just physical violence, settlement growth, expulsion of families, demolition of homes—that has always been a missing piece in the U.S.-led peace process. There have always and only been consequences imposed on one side, the weaker side, the Palestinian side. So what I think the administration is importantly signaling here is that’s going to change.”

Bonus Reads

“Israeli Settler Rampage: Hundreds of Olives Almond, Vine Trees Destroyed in West Bank” (Palestine Chronicle)
“ The War in Gaza Brings Severe Poverty and Despair to the West Bank” (Haaretz)
“In the West Bank, Palestinians Struggle to Adjust to a New Reality” (The New York Times)
“‘We Are Not Very Far From an Explosion’” (The New York Times)

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.

January 19, 2024

Israel to Advance Plan for New Settlement in East Jerusalem, Extending Control of Southern Perimeter
Settlers Establish Outpost on Privately Owned Land
Settlers Ask PM to Treat Settlements Like Israel, & Prohibit Palestinian Laborers from Entering
Bonus Reads

Israel to Advance Plan for New Settlement in East Jerusalem, Extending Control of Southern Perimeter

Ir Amim reports that the government of Israel is promoting plans for a new settlement on the southern slopes of the Sur Baher neighborhood in East Jerusalem. The plan for the new settlement – referred to as “Nofey Rachel” – calls for 650 settlement units built on land that directly borders the boundaries of the recently approved “Lower Aqueduct” settlement plan. Together, Ir Amim explains:

“these two settlements will isolate Sur Baher-Umm Tuba, fracturing it from the Palestinian space around it, inducing Beit Safafa to its northwest and Beit Sahour and Bethlehem in the West Bank to its south. As such, the new plan will extend the Israeli territorial continuum between Har Homa, the Lower Aqueduct, and Givat Hamatos, which further seals off the southern edge of East Jerusalem from Bethlehem and the southern West Bank.”

The plans for the Nofey Rachel settlement is just the latest proof of Israel’s accelerating efforts to secretly officially register land to settlers and settler organizations, land which the state has exercised custodial management of since 1948, at which time the land was abandoned by Jewish refugees. Under Israeli law, the state is obligated to manage these land parcels and properties in the interest of their original (Jewish) owners until the owners and/or their descendants are located and reclaim the land. Palestinian refugees of war are denied this same right. Ir Amim and Bimkom published a recent report – “The Grand Land Theft” – documenting how settlers and the Israeli state have worked together to deliver these lands – via the settlement of land title process – into the hands of settlers, even though the original landowners have never been located.

Ir Amim explains:

“Similar to the cases in Givat Shaked, Nof Zahav, and Umm Lysoon among others, the settlement of land title (SOLT) process is being strategically promoted on the precise bloc of land (#31786) designated for the new settlement in Sur Baher-Umm Tuba. Based on ongoing monitoring, the process was first initiated in the area in January 2022 and is now in its final stage, just prior to completion, which will lead to the registration of ownership rights in the Tabu (land record). As was the process in the aforementioned areas, the timing suggests that the state and setters are utilizing the land registration procedures to finalize land rights in preparation for advancement of new settlements. This further confirms that the process is being exploited to register land in East Jerusalem in the name of Jews and/or the state for the promotion of settlements, while contradicting the government’s claim that it is intended to promote property rights of Palestinians.”

Settlers Establish Outpost on Privately Owned Land

Peace Now reports that over the past year settlers have illegally uprooted hundreds of olive trees belonging to the nearby village of Qusra, located south of Nablus in the heart of the northern West Bank. In the aftermath of October 7th, settlers sought to fortify their control over the land by moving four prefabricated buildings onto the cleared land (a new outpost) and calling on the IDF to prevent Palestinians from reaching the remaining olive groves close to the settlement and its new outpost. Since then, settlers have undertaken illegal construction to expand and build new access and bypass roads near the settlement, and in December 2023 the IDF blocked off the main entrance to Qusra village.

Peace Now also reports that settlers have begun cultivating new land east of the settlement, which is privately owned land belonging to the Jorish village.

Peace Now said in a statement:

“The isolated settlement of Migdalim is deep within Palestinian territory and poses a barrier to any future political agreement. The government does nothing to stop the ideological settlers who allow themselves to confiscate lands and damage Palestinian property, establishing facts on the ground that not only escalates security tensions in the area but also hinder any political solution between Israel and the Palestinians.”

Settlers Ask PM to Treat Settlements Like Israel, & Prohibit Palestinian Laborers from Entering

Fifty settler leaders penned an open letter to the Defense Minister Gallant and Prime Minister Netanyahu demanding that the severe entry restrictions on Palestinians laborers seeking to cross from the West Bank into Israel for work be extended to apply to Palstinians laborers seeking to enter the settlements for work. The call is for settlements to be treated as the legal equivalent of sovereign Israeli territory, making it not only openly racist but a call for de facto annexation.

At a Knesset meeting last week on this topic, MK Tzvi Sukkot said:

“l do not understand why there is still anyone who thinks that the lives of residents of Judea and Samaria are less important. Specifically in Judea and Samaria, workers are still allowed entry despite a report that 82% of them support terror and are themselves potential terrorists.”

In the immediate aftermath of the Hamas attack on October 7th, Israel banned all West Bank Palestinian laborers from entering Israel and Israeli settlements. In December 2023, the ban was partially lifted under pressure from factory and business owners located in the settlements. Between 8,000 and 10,000 Palestinians were then allowed to resume work in the settlements under enhanced security measures (conditions which treat every Palestinian as a would-be terrorist if not monitored incessantly). More than 150,000 Palestinian laborers worked in Israel proper prior to October 7th, and have not been allowed in since. This is having a massive impact on the West Bank economy, as well as Israeli economy.

Bonus Reads

“Israel’s Army Drafted and Armed Thousands of Settlers. Accounts of Their Violence Are Piling Up” (Haaretz)
“Palestinians struggle to rebuild their lives after West Bank settler pogroms” (+972 Magazine)
“Israeli Wounded in Shooting Near West Bank Settlement, IDF Kills Three Terrorists” (Haaretz)
“Editorial | Israel’s Settler Government Is Fueling a West Bank Blowup” (Haaretz)
“Israel Wants a Palestinian Intifada in the West Bank” (Gideon Levy, Haaretz)
“’On the Brink of Implosion’: Israeli Army Transfers Elite Unit Out of Gaza to West Bank” (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.

January 12, 2024

Peace Now Petitions Israeli High Court Over Illegal Outpost

Peace Now reports that the Israeli Supreme Court will convene on January 29th to hear a petition concerning an illegal outpost that settler built initially on July 23, 2023 on land belonging to the Beit ‘Awwa municipality, west of Hebron. The petition was filed by the municipality, Peace Now, and a group of Palestinian residents who have been severely affected by the outpost and accompanying construction.

The petition seeks the re-opening of a road that leads to six homes and agricultural land, a road that has been blocked by the UDF since August 2023. Since then, Palestinians who live in those six homes have been forced to walk several hundred meters uphill with their water, supplies, and food (amongst other challenges posed by the inability to access one’s home and agricultural land by vehicle). Meanwhile, since October 7, 2023 settlers have illegally paved at least two new roads between the outpost and the Negohot settlement.

Peace Now said in a statement:

“The establishment of the new outpost has had severe consequences on the lives of Palestinians in the area. The military’s involvement with the settlers, through securing illegal activities and blocking Palestinian roads, is unbearable. Instead of halting the settlers and preventing the establishment of illegal outposts and roads in an area that affects the future of the State of Israel and regional security stability, the IDF is assisting lawbreakers. It is time to put an end to lawlessness in the territories and dismantle the illegal outposts.”

The outpost was established in July 2023 by setters from the nearby Negohot outpost. Settlers initially took over dozens of dunams of land, bulldozing and clearing th area with heavy machinery and assistance from the IDF. Since then, the outpost has evolved and grown to have many structures and a permanent settler presence. These settlers have engaged on violent intimidation and harassment of Palestinians who live and work near the outpost.

With Eyes on Gaza, Four Major Developments Regarding West Bank Antiquity Sites Targeted for Annexation by Israel

Emek Shaveh has raised concerns over recent developments at four different antiquity sites in the West Bank, explaining that these events taken together show how “processes tantamount to the weaponization of heritage in the service of settlement expansion in the Occupied Territories continue unhindered.” Details of the developments are below.

New Outpost in Battir

As FMEP has previously reported, on December 24, 2023 settlers established an illegal outpost on land near the Palestinian village of Battir (a UNESCO World Heritage Site). Emek Shaveh adds, “The new outpost established […] is situated half a kilometer from the village Battir i n the core zone of the World Heritage Site. The announcement of plans to expan d the Har Gilo settlement in 2022 also remains a threat to the integrity of the World Heritage site.”

Allocation of Funds for Secret “Khirbet Eqed” Site

Emek Shaveh reports that on December 31, 2023 the Knesset’s Finance Committee approved a $3.25 million (NIS 12.25 million) budget for the preservation and development of a site called “Khirbet Eqed,” located in a JNF-established Park (the Ayalon-Canada Park) in the “seam zone” area between the Israeli separation barrier and the 1967 Green Line.

Emek Shaveh explains:

“Khirbet Eqed and its environs has been excavated multiple times by Israeli archaeologists since 1976, mainly by the Civil Administration’s Staff Office for Archaeology (SOA) and Tel Aviv University. Since the construction of the separation wall east of Mavo Horon in the early 2000s, this area had been de-facto annexed both physically and, with the help of the park, also conceptually…The Ayalon-Canada Park and the investment in Khirbet Eqed is an example of a site where the process of annexation has been completed. What began with the expulsion of Palestinian communities in 1967 and was followed by the establishment of a settlement segued into the creation of a park which has been cut off from the West Bank. The latest plan takes this process to its logical conclusion with the development of the archaeological site and tourist attractions, all in service of erasing the greenline. Investment in Khirbet Eqed has the same purpose of entrenching Israeli control and normalizing tourism on Palestinian land like at multiple other sites throughout the West Bank.”

Military Activity in Bani Naim

Over the past week, Emek Shaveh has fielded many reports about increased military activity in the village of Bani Naim, where there are three antiquity sites. Bani Naim is located in Area A of the West Bank as defined by the Oslo Accords, where the IDF does not have authority to operate. Settlers have targeted at least two of these sites, located a bit south of the village, in their lobbying efforts to push the Israeli government to unilaterally seize and “safeguard.”

Government Budget Allocation Funds Settlers’ Antiquity Agenda

Emek Shaveh reports key details on the government’s December 2023 approval and allocation of $19 million (NIS 72 million) for a “Jerusalem and Heritage” program.

The approved budget and later additions include:

$4.25millino (NIS 16 million) to promote tourism to antiquity sites in the West Bank.
$8.8million (NIS 33 million) for a project entitled “Strengthening and Branding of Jerusalem’s Historical Basin”.
$4.25 million (NIS 16 million) for the Shalem Plan C which is focused on the excavation, preservation and development of archaeology in the Historic Basin mainly in the archaeological park of the City of David, located in the Silwan neighborhood of East Jerusalem.
$670,000 (2.5 million NIS) for the Sebastia plan () aimed at turning the site into a tourist stronghold with a total budget of 32 million NIS.

Knesset Caucus, Settler Leader Promises Gaza Resettlement

In early January 2024, the Knesset “Caucus to Strengthen the Awareness of Israeli Victory” held a meeting to encourage the re-establishment of settlements in Gaza. Led by MK Tzvi Succot, the caucus discussed what “victory” in the context of the current war on Gaza could look like, with applause for nearly every time a speaker mentioned resettlement.

MK Zuccot led the charge, encouraging that:

“At least in the northern Gaza Strip we first have to conquer, annex, destroy all the houses, build neighborhoods – large and expansive neighborhoods, large settlements in that place that will be named after our heroes, after the nation’s heroes who fought there. We will distribute free plots there to the soldiers who fought, to the wounded who fought. This image, and this is the most important thing, of the destroyed Gaza, of Palestine Square that will become Israeli Heroism Square, this image will echo in every home around the world so that everyone will see what happens to those who mess with the people of Israel.”

One of the figures leading the calls for the resettlement of Gaza, is settler leader Daniella Weiss who attended the caucus meeting. Weiss later claimed on X that she is planning a convoy to the northern areas of Gaza on January 11th. Weiss has said that over 1,000 Israelis are ready to move to Gaza, and called for the Israeli government to clear all Palestinians out of Gaza so that the settlers can see the sea. It is unclear at the time of publication if the convoy proceeded.

Bonus Reads

“Editorial | Arming and Mobilizing Settlers Must Stop to End Violence Against West Bank Palestinians” (Haaretz)
“Settlers killed a Palestinian teen. Israeli forces didn’t stop it.” (Washington Post)

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

To subscribe to this report, please click here.

January 5, 2024

Tenders Issued for Settlement Units on Mount Scopus

Ir Amim reports that on December 25, 2023 the Israel Land Authority published two tenders ]for the construction of 1,539 new settlement units in the French Hill area of East Jerusalem. The Land Authority also opened one new tender for bidding, which calls for the construction of 300 new settlement units in the East Talpiyot settlement in East Jerusalem.

The tenders published for construction in French Hill are for two plans on the Hebrew University’s Mount Scopus campus, plans which will replace campus dormitory buildings with residential housing not intended for students. Tellingly, the two tenders that were published without having received formal approval and neither had been published in the public record. Ir Amim explains that the plans can’t move forward without these steps, so the publication of the tenders shows the “authorities’ intent on advancing these plans at a rapid pace.”

The Hebrew University Campus falls on both sides of the GReen Line in the French Hill area, though the plans advancing now are almost entirely for areas beyond the Green Line. Those plans are:

The “Bronfman Dormitory Complex” area. This calls for 500 settlement units to replace an existing dormitory building. If built, the new buildings will encircle a Palestinian residential area.
The “Lerner Complex & Lower Resnik Dormitory” area. This plan calls for 1,039 settlement units on land which straddles the Green Line. 90% of the units are designated for an area beyond the Geen Line.

For details on the plans, see Ir Amim’s reporting.

Israel Advancing Plans to (re)Build the Homesh Settlement

Peace Now reports that the Israeli government is actively advancing plans to build the Homesh outpost in the northern West Bank, a settlement which was dismantled by the government in 2005 along with three others (Sa-Nur, Ganim, and Kadim). Homesh was built on lands historically belonging to the Palestinian village of Burqa. The land was never returned to its Palestinian owners even after the settlement was dismantled in 2005, though settlers have been permitted to establish (and recently re-locate) an illegal outpost in the area, from which settlers operate a yeshiva.

Prior to the October 7th war, the construction of Homesh was a central agenda item for the Netanyahu government – as promised to the far-right members of Netanyahu’s coalition as part of the coalition agreement that brought him back to power. In the months between Netanyahu’s return and the war, the government passed laws and changed others in order to provide a legal basis by which to build the settlement. With that basis esstablished, on December 21, 2023 the Commissioner of Government Property and Abandoned Lands (a body within the Defense Ministry’s Civil Administration) signed an authorization to allow the settlement planning to begin.

Peace Now speculates that the timing of the authorization is linked to a petition against the Homesh plan submitted by Yesh Din, which calls on the State to allocated the land for the benefit of Palestinians in Burqa who have been deprived of their land for decades. Peace Now writes:

“The timing of the publication appears to be linked to the appeal of the Yesh Din organization, legally demanding the annulment of the newly designated jurisdiction for the establishment of the Homesh settlement, allocating public land for the benefit of the residents of the Palestinian village of Burqa. As part of the appeals process, it was argued in court that the Civil Administration did not announce the authorization for the planning area, thus preventing the residents of Burqa from lodging objections. The publication would enable the state attorney’s office to argue in court that the subject of the authorization was indeed publicized. It cannot be overlooked that the process is being made public now, while attention is focused on the conflict in Gaza and Lebanon, and as the world celebrates Christmas. The fact that the process is now being made public, at a time when attention is focused on the war in Gaza and Lebanon, and the world is celebrating the Christmas holiday, underscores that this is a maneuver designed to prevent public and international scrutiny. In June 2023, the government decided that Minister Smotrich would be responsible for approving planning authorizations.”

New Outpost Established in Battir, A UNESCO World Heritage Site

Peace Now reports that on December 12, 2023 settlers established a new outpost on state land a mere 500 meters from the Palestinian village of Battir, a village known for its ancient terraced hills and recognized by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site. This is the third time settlers have illegally moved into this area of land in an attempt to establish permanent control over the area. This time, instead of once again removing the criminal settlers, the IDF created a perimeter around the outpost in order to keep Palestinians out of the area.

Peace Now reports:

“It is important to note that the outpost is situated approximately 500 meters away from the village of Battir and is considered a strategic and significant point for the settlers. The location of the outpost is part of an attempt to create a buffer of Israeli presence between the city of Bethlehem and the Palestinian villages to its west, namely Husan and Battir, aiming to prevent the possibility of a territorial continuum for a future Palestinian state. In this area, two additional outposts were established in recent years: the Makhrour outpost (also known as ‘Neve Uri’) and the Eden Farm Outpost, and a plan for the expansion of the settlement Har Gilo (“Givat Hagamal“) was recently promoted.”

Israel Supreme Court Orders State to Defend Settler Leaders or Face Investigation

On December 28, 2023 the Israeli Supreme Court issued a Decree Nisi instructing the State of Israel to submit its arguments within 60 days as to why the Court should not open a criminal investigation into the violation of Israeli law governing construction in the settlements of Haroeh, Alonei Shilo, Ramat Gilad and Shvut Rachel. The issuance of a Decree Nisi signals that the Court has accepted the principle claim in a petition filed by Peace Now, and shifts the burden of proof to the State.

It should be noted that the petition is limited in its scope – not challenging the legality of settlement construction wholesale – but of settlement construction that was done in violation of Israeli legal processes for planning and building in the West Bank.

Peace Now said in a statement:

“Today, the court sends a clear signal to law enforcement authorities that there is no longer room for the years of immunity granted by the state to leaders of the settlement movement. They have acted against the law and utilized public funds to determine facts on the ground, affecting the future of Israel as a whole. We hope that this message resonates, leading to an end to lawlessness in the settlements and outposts.”

Israeli Governments Diverts $20 Million to Illegal Outposts, Contemplating $20million More

Haaretz reports that over $40million dollars were secretly diverted from existing budgets in order to boost funding to illegal outposts.

Of the total, $20million was diverted out of the Interior Ministry into the hands of Orit Struck and the National Missions Ministry. The re-allocation of these funds was done so secretly at a cabinet meeting, not having appeared on the agenda. Haaretz speculates that the proposal was hidden “most likely because of reservations on the part of professional and legal government offices. They argued the budget allocation is illegal…”.

Another $20million diversion is being pushed by Finance Minister and minister in the Defense Ministry Bezalel Smotrich over the objections of legal and professional counsel. The funds would be taken from the Settlement Division for the “provision of security elements” for outposts.

Questions Raised Over “Israel Gives” Fundraising in U.S. After October 7th

The Guardian published an investigation into a fundraising platform called “Israel Gives” (very much like GoFundMe), which has raised millions from U.S. donors since October 7, 2023, inlcuding for illegal causes like outposts and paramilitary forces.

The Guardian reports it:

“identified at least 450 fundraising campaigns that are currently live on the site. Some 204 of these, initiated after 7 October, sought donations for tactical equipment or logistical support. Named beneficiaries included the IDF, individual IDF units, or paramilitary squads attached to specific Israeli communities, including many attached to West Bank settlements.

After conversion to US dollar amounts at market rates at the time of reporting, the Guardian determined that donors had pledged $5.3m to military, paramilitary or settlers since 7 October. A high proportion of these donors indicated that they are US residents.

Campaigns raising funds specifically for illegal settlements included campaigns in support of Efrat, Tene (called Tene Omarum by settlers), Shavei Shomron, and Ma’on (also called Havat Ma’on). All of these fundraisers appear to ask for funding for paramilitary units attached to the settlements.”

One of the founders of IsraelGives, Ben-dor, defended his platform to The Guardian, and explained that one of the campaigns to raise funds for illegal outposts was “created automatically on our platform through a war-time program designed to provide emergency assistance to communities and families directly affected by the October 7th attacks”. Ben-dor told The Guardian that the funds raised for these causes have not yet been released and, like every campaign, will be put through an “extensive [know your customer] and compliance process.” Specifically on a campaign to benefit the outpost Ma’on, Ben-dor said the fundraiser “has yet to be vetted, approved, or funded, and on the face of it is not a cause that we will support, for the aforementioned reasons”.

Peace Now Report: “Unmatched Surge in Settlement Activity in the West Bank Since the Onset of the Gaza War”

Peace Now issued a new report summarizing settlement activity since October 7, 2023 – including construction of roads, establishment of outposts, and the imposition of roadblocks and other obstacles to prevent Palestinians from accessing roads and land in Area C of the West Bank.

Key points covered in the report include:

A record number of 9 new outposts in a span of about three months.
A record number of 18 illegal roads paved or authorized by settlers.
The settlers returned to Amona. An outpost that was evacuated in 2017 following a court order. Settlers evacuated it in exchange for financial compensation, and the settlement of Amihai was established.
The Huwara Bypass Road has been nearly deserted since the efforts to open it.
A new phenomenon of settlers closing Palestinian traffic routes against military orders.
Building fences instead of new settlements.
A significant portion of the outposts and roads are located on private Palestinian land.

Peace Now said in a statement:

“The three months of war in Gaza are being exploited by settlers to establish facts on the ground and effectively take control of extensive areas in Area C. Settlers decide where to build roads and outposts continuously, disregarding the legal status of the land. They persist in constructing outposts on private Palestinian lands, defining open areas, and restricting Palestinian movement in the West Bank. The permissive military and political environment allow the reckless construction and land seizure almost unchecked, with minimal adherence to the law. The result is not only physical harm to Palestinians and their lands but also a significant political shift in the West Bank. The unchecked rampage of the settlers must be stopped now.”

Bonus Reads

“Stay Inside: Hebron Residents Face Restrictions Like Never Before, Unable to Leave Their Homes or Neighborhood“(Haaretz)
“Smotrich touts revival of Gaza settlements after war, wants Gazans encouraged to leave” (The Times of Israel)
“Rejection of Irresponsible Statements on Resettlement of Palestinians Outside of Gaza” (U.S. Department of State)

Welcome to FMEP’s Weekly Settlement Report, which is an abbreviated roundup today. Please note there will be no Settlement Report next week.

To subscribe to this report, please click here.

December 22, 2023

Bimkom, Emek Shaveh, Ir Amim and Peace Now published a joint year-end alert entitled: “Wartime Developments in Old City Basin Carry Grave Implications for Palestinian Rights and the Political Future of Jerusalem.” The alert looks at the cable car project and settlement of title procedures threatening to change the character of the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan.
Peace Now published, “Unprecedented Advancement of Settlements in East Jerusalem Amidst the War in Gaza” reviewing recent advancement of the three new settlements (Kidmat Zion, The Lower Aqueduct, Givat HaShaked), the expropriation of land for the settler-backed cable car project, the settler takeover of a significant amount of land in the Armenian Quarter of the Old City, and the approval of the Givat Hamatos settlement in September 2023, and finally, the acceleration of demolitions of Palestinian homes/property.
Peace Now also published, “Unmatched Surge in Settlement Activity in the West Bank Since the Onset of the Gaza War” showing how settlers have seized the opportunity provided by Israel’s war in Gaza and a near complete shut down of Palestinian movement in the West Bank in order to take control of more land and infrastructure.
OCHA published a West Bank Snapshot – a visual looking at several alarming statistics that demonstrate the environment in the West Bank since Oct. 7th.
The Times of Israel covered the IDF’s decision to freeze the operations of a unit that recruited settlers aligned with the radical and violent “hill-top youth” movement.
Haaretz published a feature on what’s happening in the Armenian Quarter, where a significant portion of land has been purchased (a disputed transaction) and is now being developed by settler-aligned companies.
Bonus Reads:
- “In Gaza war, Israel’s radical settlers see an opportunity to expand” (Washington Post)
- “Two-state solution would mean relocating 200,000 settlers, says Israeli lawyer who has David Cameron’s ear” (The Guardian)
- “Thousands of Palestinian workers to resume work in West Bank settlements” (i24 News)
- “Why Palestinians in East Jerusalem are losing their homes” (Al Jazeera)

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.

December 15, 2023

Israel Expropriates More Land in Silwan For the Settler-Backed Cable Car Project
Key Hearing on Givat Shaked Settlement Scheduled for Next Week
Israel Government Planning Decision to Extend Domestic Construction Laws to Settlements (An Act of De Facto Annexation)
Hamoked Seam Zone Petition Rejected by Supreme Court
US Delays Rifles to Israel Over Settler Violence
International Bans on Violent Settlers Grow, Even as Criteria is Unclear
Bonus Reads

Israel Expropriates More Land in Silwan For the Settler-Backed Cable Car Project

According to reports, on December 10th the Jerusalem Municipality announced the expropriation of 10 dunams (~3 acres) of land in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan in order to enable the construction of the cable car project, which is promoted by (and designed to benefit) the Elad settler organization. Peace Now reports that the new expropriations are supposed to be “temporary”, and will expire in eight years, in order to allow the Municipality to survey and test the land to determine the final location of the giant pillars which will support the cable car. Once the location for the pillars is determined, that land will be permanently expropriated.

Image by Peace Now

Palestinian landowners were given 60 days to file objections to the “temporary” and future expropriation of their land.

As a reminder, the Jerusalem cable car project is an initiative backed by the powerful, state-backed Elad settler group and advanced by the Israeli Tourism Ministry. While public efforts to “sell” the cable car plan focused on its purported role in helping to grow Jerusalem’s tourism industry or in serving supposedly vital transportation needs, in reality the purpose of the project is to further entrench settler control in Silwan, via archeology and tourism sites, while simultaneously delegitimizing, dispossessing, and erasing the Palestinian presence there. The State of Israel was forced to publicly admit that the implementation of the cable car project will require the confiscation of privately owned Palestinian land in the Silwan neighborhood of East Jerusalem.

Notably, the cable car line is slated to terminate at the settler-run Kedem Center compound (Elad’s large tourism center, currently under construction at the entrance of the Silwan neighborhood, in the shadows of the Old City’s walls and Al-Aqsa Mosque).

The cable car project received final approval in May 2022, but the tender for construction has yet to be issued. Emek Shaveh speculates that the cable car tender might be issued on Jerusalem Day – which will be celebrated with ultranationalist, racist parades through the Old City next week — on May 18th and 19th. Emek Shaveh further warns that several other settler projects in East Jerusalem, including the Ben Hinnom suspension bridge and the zip line over the Peace Forest, are nearing completion and might also be part of Jerusalem Day celebrations.

Emek Shaveh and other non-governmental organizations, including Who Profits and Terrestrial Jerusalem, have repeatedly challenged (and provided evidence discrediting) the government’s contention that the cable car will serve a legitimate transportation need in Jerusalem, and have clearly enumerated the obvious political drivers behind the plan, the archeological heresies it validates, and the severe negative impacts the cable car project will have on Palestinian residents of Silwan. All objections to the plan were dismissed in May 2022.

Following the recent expropriation, Daniel Seidemann of Terrestrial Jerusalem says:

”Before relating to the significant geopolitical impact of the plan it is important to emphasize: the cable car is a crime against Jerusalem, regardless of who rules the city. Only those utterly detached from Jerusalem and its precious unique character could consider acting in a manner that will contribute to the transformation of Jerusalem into a Biblically themed theme park – the disneyfication of Jerusalem. The cable car was initiated by the settlers in Silwan, who were actively involved in promoting the plan.The cable car is part of a much broader scheme to seamlessly integrate occupied East Jerusalem into pr-1967 Israel, by surrounding the religious and historical core of the city with biblically motivated settlements and settlement-related projects. The settlers aspire by these means to transform their settlement enclave into an extension of pre-’67 Israel so as to include the settlement in the Palestinian neighborhood of Silwan.”

Key Hearing on Givat Shaked Settlement Scheduled for Next Week

Ir Amim reports that the Jerusalem District Planning Committee is scheduled to meet on December 19th for a hearing on objections to the Givat Shaked settlement submitted by the public. This hearing is one step towards the approval of the settlement plan, which outlines 700 settlement units (in 4 high-rise towers and several six-story buildings), a school, and commercial buildings, all to be built on a highly sensitive and geopolitically critical sliver of land located within the Palestinian neighborhood of Beit Safafa. Ir Amim further notes that the plan is advancing at a rapid pace, with this hearing coming just days after the close of the objection period.

The plan for Givat HaShaked is unprecedented, according to the Israeli NGO Terrestrial Jerusalem, in that it is the first settlement of this size that that Israeli government will establish within a Palestinian neighborhood. Beit Safafa is already in the process of being completely surrounded by Israeli development (for Jewish Israelis) — most notably the new Givat Hamatos settlement, which the government is expanding.

The Israeli NGOs Bimkom and Ir Amim filed a joint objection to the Givat Shaked plan, contesting two factors:

That the plan itself is unjust and discriminatory, the land designated for the settlement is inside of the Palestinian neighborhood Beit Safafa and should be used to address the severe housing crisis faced and lack of schools by Palestinian East Jerusalemites.
The improper and exceptional role that the Israeli General Custodian has played in initiating a settlement plan for land which it does not own, but which it is a caretaker until the heirs of the land are located (more below).

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

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

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

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

Israel Government Planning Decision to Extend Domestic Construction Laws to Settlements (An Act of De Facto Annexation)

On X, Itay Ephstein (Senior Humanitarian Law and Policy Consultant and Special Advisor to the Norwegian Refugee Council) reports that the Israeli government is preparing to present within 30 days a detailed ordinance which, if approved, would extend Israel’s domestic planning and construction law to its settlements the West Bank. This would further Israel’s de facto and bureaucratic annexation of the West Bank through the application of Israeli domestic law in the occupied territory, and it would likely lead to a massive construction boom in the settlements. Currently, planning and construction in the West Bank is governed by the Israeli Defense Ministry within which Bezalel Smotrich serves as a civilian ministry in charge of all construction matters in Area C of the West Bank.

Hamoked Seam Zone Petition Rejected by Supreme Court

Hamoked reports that the Israeli Supreme Court has rejected two (1, 2) of its recent petitions seeking relief for Palestinian landowners and farmers who have been denied access to their agricultural land in the Seam Zone, the sizeable amount of West Bank land trapped between the Israeli separation wall the 1967 Green Line (i.e. land that was de facto annexed to Israel when Israel built the separation wall along a route the cuts deeply into the West Bank). The Court rejected the petitions in agreement with the State’s contention that, given the events of October 7th and after, it is dangerous to let Palestinians cross the wall and the military cannot supply the necessary troops to operate the designated gates where farmers can cross through the wall and access their land.

Hamoked reports that the Court accepted the security argument without dispute, and did not even discuss Israel’s legal obligations, under both Israeli and international law. Beyond the legal infringement on the rights of landowners, the inability of PAlstinians to harvest their crops not only deprives them of profit this year, but crops can suffer if not harvested – impacting production for years to come.

US Delays Rifles to Israel Over Settler Violence

Axios reports that the Biden Administration is slow-walking the sale of >20,000 M-16 rifles to the Israeli state amidst concern the rifles will end up in the hands of settlers and pressure on Israel to mitigate settler violence in the West Bank.

Despite holding up the sale of rifles, the Biden Administration has simultaneously bypassed Congress to finalize the sale of 14,000 tank shells to Israel for its war on Gaza (worth $106 million). According to Politico, the sale transfers not only 14,000 120mm M830A1 High Explosive Anti-Tank Multi-Purpose with Tracer tank cartridges, but also includes the provision of U.S. support, engineering and logistics.

The juxtaposition of these sales tracks with the Biden Administration’s increasingly focal concern for settler terrorism in the West Bank alongside its tight embrace of Israeli military actions in Gaza and in the West Bank.

International Bans on Violent Settlers Grow, Even as Criteria is Unclear

The United Kingdom is the latest government to announce that it will ban Israeli settlers who participate in violent crimes in the West Bank. European Union Foreign Minister Josep Borrell also announced his support for the EU imposing such a ban.

Though the number of countries to announce a settler ban policy, the mechanics for creating a list of sanctioned settlers is very murky. Haaretz reports that the countries who have announced the new ban policy are struggling with creating the criteria by which names can be added to a list of banned settlers. The U.S. appears to be operating independently of its allies’ complementary efforts to decided criteria and create a list. Part of the impetus behind the actions of these governments is the lack of prosecution and accountability by the Israeli government for settlers who have been involved in violent crimes, so relying on Israeli government actions cannot reasonably serve as a basis for action. And as the Israeli NGO Yesh Din has thoroughly documented for years – only 7% of crimes by settlers that are reported by Palestinians to the Israeli police (which is likely only a fraction of all the crimes) results in an indictment, even though video footage of settler crimes is now commonplace.

In its December 14th report, OCHA documents the following data on settler violence since October 7th

Settlers are responsible for the death of 8 Paletinians and injuries to 85.
Settlers have perpetrated at least 343 attacks against Palestinians, resulting in Palestinian casualties (35 incidents), damage to Palestinian-owned property (263 incidents), or both casualties and damage to property (45 incidents);
Settler violence has contributed to the displacement of at least 189 Palestinian households comprising 1,257 people, including 582 children;

Bonus Reads

”Far-right minister calls for Israel to ‘fully occupy’ Gaza, reestablish settlements” (The Times of Israel)
“How Israeli settler violence is forcing Palestinians to flee their homes – video” (The Guardian)
“European Financial Institutions’ Continued Complicity in the Illegal Israeli Settlement Enterprise” (Don’t Buy Into Occupation)

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.

December 8, 2023

Israel Approves First New East Jerusalem Settlement Since 2012 – the “Lower Aqueduct plan”
“Kahanist” March Calls for Israeli Control Over Western Wall, Clash With Israeli Police
In Armenian Quarter, Settler Group Believed to Be Behind Disputed Land Deal
U.S. & Belgium Imposes Visa Ban on Dozens of Settlers, Criticizes Israel’s Lack of Action
Miftah Reports on “State Sponsored Settler Terrorism”
A Roundup of Settler Violence
Bonus Reads

Israel Approves First New East Jerusalem Settlement Since 2012 – the “Lower Aqueduct plan”

On December 4, 2023 the Jerusalem District Planning Committee approved a plan to build a new settlement – called the “Lower Aqueduct” plan – on a sliver of land located between the controversial settlements of Givat Hamatos and Har Homa in East Jerusalem. The settlement will be adjacent to the Palestinian neighborhood of Umm Tuba and fall on both sides of the 1967 Green Line. Its location is intended to connect the two and in so doing, it will establish a huge, uninterrupted continuum of Israeli settlements on the southern rim of Jerusalem, and will destroy Palestinian contiguity between the West Bank and East Jerusalem. [map]

The final approved plan provides for the construction of 1,792 settlement units. According to Ir Amim, this is the first major new East Jerusalem settlement established by Israel since 2012.

Ir Amim says:

“This plan carries serious ramifications on the political future of Jerusalem. If constructed, it will extend the Israeli settlement wedge along East Jerusalem’s southern border, further creating a sealing-off effect of East Jerusalem from the southern West Bank, while fracturing the Palestinian space and depleting more vacant land for Palestinian development….Beyond its geopolitical ramifications, the advancement of this plan underscores the systematic discrimination implicit in Israeli planning and building policy in Jerusalem. Since the beginning of 2023, over 18,500 housing units have been advanced for new or existing Israeli settlements in East Jerusalem, while residential development for Palestinians has been all but neglected. This is despite the fact that Palestinians constitute nearly 40% of Jerusalem’s population. 2023 is slated to join 2022 as being the two years with the highest number of settlement units advanced in the last decade in East Jerusalem. Such inequitable urban planning policy has long served as a driver of Palestinian displacement in service of solidifying a Jewish demographic majority in Jerusalem and further cementing Israeli territorial control to foil prospects for a just political resolution.”

Peace Now said in a statement:

“The Israeli government continues to undermine any viable two-state solution. While the IDF is engaged in the Gaza Strip, and hundreds of Israelis living in border areas in the north and south are uncertain about when they can return to their homes, the government is advancing construction beyond the Green Line, further jeopardizing the security of all Israeli residents seeking a hopeful future with secure borders.”

“Kahanist” March Calls for Israeli Control Over Western Wall, Clash With Israeli Police

On the first night of Hanukkah, approximately 150 far right wing Israelis gathered for a planned march through the Old City of Jerusalem calling for Israeli control over the Temple Mount. Israeli police – which had previously approved the march (likely with the knowledge and approval of Netanyahu) and its route – ultimately stopped the march from leaving its convening point, resulting in clashes and at least one arrest.

The point of the march was to call on Israel to “restore full Jewish control over the Temple Mount and Jerusalem,” an inflammatory message that threatens to further undermine the very delicate status quo. Indeed, the march’s organizers dubbed the march the “Maccabi March,” referencing an important Jewish revolt that ended in the rededication of the Temple. An the night of the march, attendees were shouting racist slogans and raising racist signs.

Israeli Opposition Leader Yair Lapid said in a tweet that the march is:

“A blatant Kahanist attempt to set other [war] fronts on fire and to bring about more destruction and death.”

Daniel Seidemann, founder of Terrestrial Jerusalem, said:

“If there is any provocation more dangerous, more incendiary and more likely to trigger an eruption of violence in East Jerusalem and/or the West Bank and/or the Lebanese border, I can’t think of one.”

In Armenian Quarter, Settler Group Believed to Be Behind Disputed Land Deal

Ir Amim reports that senior executives of the Ateret Cohanim settler groups have recently been seen meeting with representatives of the real estate company behind the controversial purchase of a significant amount of land in the Armenian Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem. The reports appear to confirm suspicion that Xana Gardens is actively collaborating with settlers in, according to Ir Amim, “attempts to Israelize the Old City and erode its historically multicultural and multireligious character.”

For a background on this case, please see reporting by Ir Amim and Terrestrial Jerusalem.

U.S. & Belgium Imposes Visa Ban on Dozens of Settlers, Criticizes Israel’s Lack of Action

On December 5th, the U.S. Department of State announced that it has placed visa restrictions on dozens of settlers believed to be complicit in violent attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank. The U.S. also imposed visa bans on several dozen Palestinians believed to have perpetrated violence against Israelis.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in announcing the new policy:

“Last week in Israel, I made clear that the United States is ready to take action using our own authorities. Today, the State Department is implementing a new visa restriction policy targeting individuals believed to have been involved in undermining peace, security, or stability in the West Bank, including through committing acts of violence or taking other actions that unduly restrict civilians’ access to essential services and basic necessities. Immediate family members of such persons also may be subject to these restrictions.”

The list of individuals affected by this effort is not expected to be made public, but individuals will be notified if their visas are being revoked. Settlers who are U.S. citizens will not be affected. Axios reports that the last time the U.S. imposed such restrictions was under the Clinton administration.

It is unclear what process the U.S. government is undertaking to identify acts of violence and the individuals involved in them. On December 6th, OCHA reported that since October 7th settlers have launched 318 attacks against Palestinians, resulting in:

8 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli settlers;
84 Palestinians have been injured by settlers;
241 incidents resulting in damage to Palestinian-owned property;
1,014 people, including 388 children, have been displaced amid settler violence and access restrictions. The displaced households are from 15 herding/Bedouin communities.

Israel, for its part, is currently holding four settlers and two Israeli (non-settlers) in administrative detention who are believed to have perpetrated violence against Palestinians since October 7th. In announcing the visa bans, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that the U.S. continues to push the Israeli government to “do more to hold accountable extremist settlers who have committed violent attacks against Palestinians in the West Bank.”

Soon after the U.S.’s announcement, Belgium announced a similar policy banning settlers suspected of engaging in violence from entering the country. Belgium Prime Minister said in a tweet that he will work with the U.S. in implementing this policy.

Last week, the spokesperson for the French Foreign Ministry publicly stated that the European Union should also consider sanctions on violent settlers. The comments were in support of U.S. President Biden’s op-ed in which he had threatened to impose visa bans, a week before the policy was implemented.

Miftah Reports on “State Sponsored Settler Terrorism”

The Palestinian NGO Miftah has published a short new report on settler violence, saying “settler violence and terror is a systematic state policy pursued by every Israeli government past and present, and the whole government apparatus is complicit and responsible for such terrorism.”

The report calls on the international community to “muster the courage and political will to hold Israel accountable with effective measures.” Specifically, it calls on the International Criminal Court to investigate war crimes in Palestine, label settlement products, impose a complete ban on trade with settlements, blacklist settler groups on terrorists lists, freeze assets of individuals and companies involved in the settlement enterprise, and more.

You can read the full report here.

A Roundup of Settler Violence

The following are a few examples of settler violence that have been picked up by major media outlets over the past two weeks:

“Left-wing Israeli Activists Attacked While Protecting Settler-targeted West Bank Village” (Haaretz – Dec. 4th)
“Homes and EU-funded school in West Bank village wrecked after threats by settlers” (The Times of Israel – Dec. 4th)
“Israeli Soldiers Documented Shooting Disabled Palestinian in West Bank” (Haaretz – Dec. 7th)
“Two Palestinians Killed in Separate Incidents in West Bank” (Haaretz – Dec. 3rd)

Bonus Reads

“Return to Gush Katif: A determined movement emerges to resettle Israelis in Gaza” (The Times of Israel)
“With All Eyes on Gaza, West Bank Palestinians Are Facing Unprecedented Violence” (Haaretz)
Israeli Army Mulls Shutting Down Unit of Settler ‘Hilltop Youth’ Amid Violent Incidents Against Palestinians““ (Haaretz)
“A Bitter Season in the West Bank” (The New York Review)
“Northern Israeli Kibbutz Residents Prevent Palestinians From Harvesting Their Olives” (Haaretz)
“West Bank settlers unwavering in support for Israeli government” (Al-Monitor)
“Amid a Settler Onslaught, Protective Presence Activism Falters” (Jewish Currents)

News from the West Bank

Peace Now report: “New Roads and Outposts Flourish in the West Bank amid Gaza War”. Over the past week, Peace Now reports settlers have established at least 4 new outposts and 9 new roads
On the South Hebron Hills:
- “Many West Bank Palestinians Are Being Forced Out of Their Villages. Is My Family Next?” (Ali Awad in the New York Times)
- “A Population Transfer Under the Cover of War: A Visit to the Forsaken Land of Settler Militias” (Haaretz)
“Settler attacks and Israeli restrictions paralyse West Bank economy” (Middle East Eye)
“As War Rages, Israeli Settlers and Soldiers Try to Block the Palestinian Olive Harvest” (Haaretz)

News from East Jerusalem

“Attempt for the Establishment of a New Settlement in the Armenian Quarter of the Old City” Peace Now
Correction to last week’s report regarding activities on Mount Scopus: Ir Amim and Bimkom report that Israel is expected to revive its plans to declare the open area between the Palestinian East Jerusalem neighborhoods of Issawiya and A-Tur. In last week’s report, the plan to declare the area as a national park was erroneously confused with separate plans to build a new settlement on a different part of Mount Scopus.

On Reestablishing Settlements in Gaza

Breaking the Silence posts on X: “The Israeli right has a focus right now. The goal? Resettle the Gaza Strip. Their way to establish it in the hearts and minds of Israelis: to aggressively push the false notion that the 2005 disengagement was the main failure that led to this moment. This lie must be debunked…” (1/11)

News From the U.S.

“Biden orders top aides to prepare reprimands for violent Israeli settlers in West Bank” (Politico)

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.

November 17, 2023

West Bank Stats via OCHA (as of November 16th)

OCHA reports that in the West Bank since October 7th:

248 settler attacks against Palestinians have been recorded, resulting in Palestinian casualties (30 incidents), damage to Palestinian-owned property (182 incidents), or both casualties and damage to property (36 incidents). This reflects a daily average of six incidents, compared with three since the beginning of the year. Over one-third of these incidents included threats with firearms, including shootings. In nearly half of all incidents, Israeli forces were either accompanying or actively supporting the attackers.
At least 143 Palestinian households comprising 1,014 people, including 388 children, have been displaced amid settler violence and access restrictions. The displaced households are from 15 herding/Bedouin communities.
186 Palestinians, including 51 children, have been killed by Israeli forces; and an additional eight, including one child, have been killed by Israeli settlers in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. Four Israelis have been killed in attacks by Palestinians.
Israeli forces have injured 2,661 Palestinians, including at least 282 children, over half of them in the context of demonstrations. An additional 74 Palestinians have been injured by settlers. Some 33 per cent of those injuries have been caused by live ammunition.
A total of 48 Palestinians, including 24 children, have been displaced since 7 October following punitive demolitions.
An additional 135 Palestinians, including 66 children, have been following demolitions in Area C and East Jerusalem, due to lack of permits.

Settlers Take Over Large Amount of Property in the Armenian Quarter

Terrestrial Jerusalem reports that on November 16th a group of settlers guarded by Israeli police entered and took control over several tracts of strategically located land in the Armenian Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem owned by the Armenian Patriarchate. The settlers assert that the lands were leased to them by the Armenian Patriarchate, a lease the Patriarchate contests the legality of and then formally canceled on October 26, 2023.

The Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem issued the following statement on Nov. 16th:

“The Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem is under possibly the greatest existential threat of its 16-century history. This existential-territorial threat fully extends to all the Christian communities of Jerusalem.

The Armenian Patriarchate has recently canceled a contract tainted with false representation, undue influence, and unlawful benefits.

Instead of providing a lawful response to the cancellation, the developers attempting to build on the Cow’s Garden have completely disregarded the legal posture of the PAtriarchate toward this issue, and instead have elected for provocation, aggression, and other harassing , incendiary tactics including destruction of property, the hiring of heavily armed provocateurs, and other instigation.

In recent days, the cast destruction and removal of asphalt on the grounds of the Armenian Quarter have been done without the presentation of permits from the municipality by neither the developer nor the police. Despite this fact, the police have chosen in the last few days to demand that all the members of the Armenian Community vacate the premises.

We plead with the entirety of the Christian communities of Jerusalem to stand with the Armenian Patriarchate in these unprecedented times as this is another clear step taken toward the endangerment of the Christian presence in Jerusalem and the Holy Land”

Rumors of this sale first surfaced in 2021, but it wasn’t until June 2023 the details of the sale were publicly reported. At the time, the Associated Press reported that the Armenian Orthodox Church signed a 99-year lease giving several church properties in the Old City of Jerusalem to an Australian-Israeli businessman, Danny Rothman (sometimes referred to as Danny Rubenstein). The lease reportedly includes the Hadiqat Al-Baqar (The Cows’ Garden) and its surrounding properties, including the Qishla building in Bab al-Khalil (Jaffa Gate), located in the Armenian Quarter. In total,

In June 2023, settlers placed a sign on one of the tracts saying the land is the property of Xana Capital, the company which Danny Rothman owns. According to a bishop involved in the sale, Rothman and his business Xana Capital plans to develop the land into a luxury resort managed by a Dubai-based company.

The Armenian Archbishop, Nourhan Manougian, alleged that the Church’s real estate official and priest – Baret Yeretsian – sold the land in a “fraudulent and deceitful” deal that he was unaware of. Yeretsian, in turn, said he carried out the deal at the direction of Manougian. Both Manougian and Yeretsian have been forced into hiding due to communal outrage.”

Terrestrial Jeruslame’s Danny Seidemann stresses the active role of the Israeli government in collaborating with settlers to take control of these properties, as in the case of other settler takeovers across the Old City. He writes.:

“We have seen this pattern all too often. In the past, both distant and recent, settlers succeeded to take over strategically located Church sites of great historical, religious and cultural value. These include enormously important Greek Orthodox properties only meters away: the Imperial and Petra Hotel at Jaffa Gate, the St. John’s Hospice in Muristan, adjacent too the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, etc…

The most important aspect is the least visible: the location suggests that this property has been singled out, and is likely an integral part of an ambitious and highly consequential Government plan. For many years, and under the radar, the Government of Israel has been implementing projects to encircle the Old City w/ Biblically motivated settlements and settlement-related projects: a planned Israeli National Park over the Christian holy sites on the Mount if Olives, a cable car from West Jerusalem to the settler headquarters n Silwan, the opening of an Israeli Night spot at the entrance to the Christian Quarter at New Gate, etc. are just a few, of the prominent examples. There are dozens more. More than a billion sheqels have been invested in this Government project. Its goals are to encircle the religious, historical and cultural core of Jerusalem with settlement enclaves, and projects that will etch the Biblically motivated settler narrative into the landscape and urban fabric.

This is no mere “bad thing”. The Government plan will radically undermine the character of Jerusalem, fragmenting Palestinian Jerusalem and marginalizing the already challenged Christian presence in the city. This is so impactful, that one prominent Christian cleric cautioned that the tome is not far off when Jerusalem will no longer be hospitable to Christians.”

Plan for New National Park in East Jerusalem Resurfaces (Mount Scopus Slopes National Park)

Ir Amim and Bimkom jointly report that the Israeli government appears to have renewed its efforts to designate the open area between the Palestinian neighborhoods of al-Isawiyyah and a-Tur in East Jeruasalem as a new national park, called the Mount Scopus Slopes National Park.

Ir Amim and Bimkom explain:

“The plan aims to turn the large vacant space between the aforementioned neighborhoods into a national park, which would extend eastward from Hebrew University towards the edge of the city and the E1 corridor. This will severely limit proper development of both neighborhoods, including the ability to adequately expand, which is essential. In addition, a large national park in this location would contribute to Israeli territorial contiguity between Jerusalem and the E1/Maaleh Adumim area. It will likewise serve as a form of touristic settlement, which increases Israeli control over more land and fractures the Palestinian space in the city.

The designation of areas as national parks and/or green spaces is a common practice in East Jerusalem used to alter the character of the space, fragment the Palestinian environs, and suppress urban planning, while enabling the seizure of their lands for Israeli interests.”

“Lower Aqueduct” Settlement Plan on the Agenda Again

Ir Amim reports that the JErusalem District Planning Committee is scheduled to meet on November 21st to discuss objections submitted against the “Lower Aqueduct” settlement plan, located in East Jerusalem. This plan would see a new settlement of 1,465 units built on a sliver of land located between the controversial settlements of Givat Hamatos and Har Homa – and is intended to connect the two. In so doing, it will establish a huge, uninterrupted continuum of Israeli settlements on the southern rim of Jerusalem, and will destroy Palestinian contiguity between the West Bank and East Jerusalem. For more background on the Lower Aqueduct plan, see resources by: Terrestrial Jerusalem and Ir Amim.

Adding insult to injury, two years ago the Jerusalem Municipality and the Ministry of Jerusalem Affairs initiated a plan to build a new Palestinian business center in the precise area targeted by the “lower aqueduct” plan, as part of an Israeli government initiative to reduce poverty in East Jerusalem. The Jerusalem Municipality subsequently abandoned the plan for the Palestinian business center under pressure from settlers, specifically from the Har Homa settlement which borders the area. Ir Amim comments:

“Not only is this yet another example of severe planning discrimination, but construction of this new neighborhood will serve to further create Israeli territorial contiguity along East Jerusalem’s southern perimeter while depleting more land reserves for Palestinian development.”

Peace Now notes that the majority of the land on which the new settlement will be built (half of which is in East Jerusalem and half in West Jerusalem) is privately owned, or managed by the Israeli Custodian General. Although recent reporting suggests the Custodian General is moving to advance settlement construction on lands it manages across East Jerusalem, its legal ability to do so is questionable (and doing so has historically not been its practice).

Israel Opens Huwwara Road for Settlers, While Keeping Palestinians Under Lock Down

Peace Now reports that the first section of the Huwara Bypass Road – near Nablus – opened for vehicular traffic on Sunday, November 12, 2023. Settlers – along with Bezalel Smotrich, who is effectively the governor of the West Bank – have pressed for this road to open for settlers since before the October 7th attacks. With the opening of the Huwara Bypass road, settlers now have exclusive use of two highways in the area, while Palestinans do not have access to either one.

The Huwwara Bypass Road is designed for residents of Nablus-area settlements to bypass the Palestinian village of Huwwara (which is an area with heavy traffic congestion from daily commuters), in order to more easily/directly access Jerusalem. This bypass road has long been a top priority for the settlers, who have complained about the long commute to Jerusalem and the limits this puts on the potential for growth of Nablus-area settlements. Building the road also gained urgency for the settlers after the release of the Trump Plan’s conceptual map, which left the area where the road is slated to be built within the borders a future Palestinian “state.” On October 6th (the day before Hamas’ heinous massacre of civilians in the south of Israel), Smotrich and settlers pressed for the road to be completed and opened after a spate of Palestinian attacks on Israeli persons and cars in the area.

Peace Now reports:

“Despite the ongoing war, the government is investing considerable efforts to open the road quickly, and construction continued even during the Gaza war, despite interruptions in other building and infrastructure projects during this period. The road’s trajectory required the confiscation of private Palestinian lands from the villages of Burin, Huwara, Beita, Awarta, Yasuf, Yatma, and A-Sawiya. The old Huwara Road, which until recently served both settlers and Palestinians, has been a central artery for Palestinian traffic from the Nablus area to Ramallah and southern West Bank. The road has been closed to Palestinian traffic since the beginning of the war. The Central Command Chief decided to reopen the road to Palestinians in parallel with the opening of the bypass road. However, settlers opposed its reopening, arguing that the old Huwara Road should also serve as a secure passage only for settlers. Eventually, the old Huwara Road was reopened to limited Palestinian traffic only on the evening of Sunday, November 12, 2023.”

Sheikh Jarrah Eviction Case Postponed

FMEP has been informed that the Israeli Enforcement and Collection Authority (ECA) has postponed its discussion of the eviction of the Salem family from their home of 60+ years in the Umm Haroud section of Sheikh Jarrah, which was scheduled for November 14th. The Salem family is one of approximately 40 Palestinian families under threat of forcible displacement by settlers from the Um Haroun section of Sheikh Jarrah.

The Salem family has been fighting efforts by settlers to evict them from their home since 1988. The individuals behind the years-long effort to evict the Salem family are Yonaten Yousef, a Jerusalem city councilmember, and former deputy mayor of Jerusalem Aryeh King. Yousef and King claim to have bought the house from the Jewish family that owned it before 1948 — based on an Israeli law known as the Legal and Administrative Matters Law of 1970. This law provides Jewish Israelis the right to “reclaim” properties lost in the 1948 War. In contrast, under Israeli law the Salem family lacks any legal basis to claim both its home in Sheikh Jarrah – where the family has lived since being displaced from their home inside the Green Line during the 1948 War – or to their original home inside Israel, which they lost in the 1948 War (Israel law recognizes no such property claims by Palestinians who fled or were otherwise absent from the areas that became Israel in the course of that war)/.

In February 2022 the Jerusalem Magistrate Court froze an impending eviction of the Salem family based on the family paying the court a $7,700 “guarantee”. Around that same time the Israeli government seized a piece of the Salem property, located adjacent to the home that is now under demolition threat. Itamar Ben Gvir (who is now serving as the National Security Minister, with authority over demolitions in East Jerusalem) subsequently set up a tent on that seized property and called it his parliamentary office – a deliberate provocation.

For further background on the Salem family’s case (including on the Israeli laws that were expressly designed to enable the eviction of Palestinians in favor of settlers), see reporting by Ir Amim and Peace Now.

Accountability as Settlers Terrorize South Hebron Hills

The intensification of settler terrorism and displacement efforts in the South Hebron Hills has continued to escalate. The Association for Civil Rights in Israel wrote an urgent appeal to the head of the IDF, calling for the IDF to intervene on behalf of Palestinians. Citing many specific incidents, ACRI writes:

“settlers living in outposts in the South Hebron Hills, have presented themselves in Palestinian communities dressed in military uniforms, sometimes masked, and intimidated residents, violently attacked them, damaged property and even ordered them to leave their homes.”

B’Tselem: H-2 Area of Hebron Suffering Under Collective Punishment

B’Tselem has called the IDF-imposed curfew on Palestinians living in the H-2 area of Hebron “collective punishment.” It also collected testimonies of families living in H-2 under highly restrictive and frightening conditions. B’Tselem writes:

“Since the war broke out on 7 October 2023, the military has been imposing a curfew on 11 neighborhoods in Area H2 in Hebron. Stores and businesses have been shut down and thousands of people, amounting to about 750 families, are imprisoned at home. Only after two weeks of full curfew, on 21 October 2023, did the military permit residents to leave home on Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays, for an hour in the morning and an hour in the evening.

Venturing out of the house requires crossing checkpoints and engaging with soldiers. This invariably involves humiliating treatment and meticulous body searches, and takes up most of the brief window of time allotted to the residents. As a result, many cannot get back in time to the checkpoint and have to stay out an entire day or night until it reopens. This prevents residents from getting what they need, and some are running low on food, water, medication and cooking gas.

The curfew has completely disrupted life in H2. Residents cannot get to work and school or visit family, and all the businesses are closed. They are living in complete uncertainty, without knowing when they will return to normal. Meanwhile, settlers in Hebron are enjoying full freedom of movement, which they use to harrass residents and damage their property.

There is no justification for keeping hundreds of people under a blanket movement ban, locked up at home for weeks on end. Israel is taking advantage of the fact that local and international attention is currently diverted from the West Bank to impose far-reaching measures that constitute collective punishment, which is prohibited under international law. This conduct is integral to Israel’s apartheid regime, which is at its most flagrant in Hebron.”

Bonus Reads

“West Bank olive harvest ‘more dangerous than ever’ under shadow of war” (+972 Magazine)
”Coalition of 11 right-wing organizations unveils Gaza strip resettlement initiative” (Jerusalem Post)
“From Montana to Samaria – The cowboys who came to help” (Arutz Sheva)
“‘They Don’t Want People to Know We Exist’ Palestinians across the West Bank describe what life has been like since October 7.” (New York Magazine)
“While It Bombs Gaza, Israel Is Now Shooting to Kill Palestinians in the West Bank” (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.

November 10, 2023

Smotrich Calls for West Bank Land Grab To Create “Sterile” Areas Near Settlements
After 30 Years, Israeli High Court Orders Settlers Off Palestinian Land
With Settlers Acting as a West Bank Militia, U.S. Transfers 24,000 Rifles to Israel
On Reestablishing Gaza Settlements
Bonus Reads

Smotrich Calls for West Bank Land Grab To Create “Sterile” Areas Near Settlements

Bezalel Smotrich, the Israeli Finance Minister and deputy minister in the Defense Ministry who operates as the de facto governor of Area C in the West Bank – wrote a letter to PM Netanyahu and Defense Minister Gallant calling for the establishment of extensive “sterile security zones” (i.e. closed to Palestinians) to form a wide perimeter around settlements and key roads throughout the West Bank. The recommendation is tantamount to a call for unilateral annexation of more West Bank land to the settlements and a proposal for removing Palestinians from their land under the guise of security. This would include seizing actively cultivated agricultural land that is privately owned by Palestinians (ownership which is recognized by Israel).

Smotrich made a point to say that the “sterile security zones” would be used to stop Palestinians from harvesting their olives during peak season (now). Palestinian farmers in the West Bank are already struggling to harvest olives this season due to the near total military shutdown of the West Bank. Smotrich, in his proposal for creating these “sterile” zones around settlements and roads, also argued that the creation of these zones would accomplish “the removal of left-wing [Israeli] anarchist activists who set the area on fire.” Israeli and international activists have long accompanied Palestinians during the olive harvest season in part to offer protection to the farmers posed by settlers and the IDF.

Commenting on Smotrich’s proposal Jan Egeland, head of the Norwegian Refugee Committee, said on X:

“Israel’s Additional Minister of Defence Bezalel Smotrich has called to establish extensive closed military zones around illegal Israeli settlements + along major routes in occupied West Bank, which would prevent Palestinians freely moving & increase risk of forced displacement. In Gaza, we have witnessed the transfer, en masse, of Palestinians without any guarantees of their safety, survival, and eventual return to their homes. Public statements by Israeli officials are also calling for the deportation of millions to Egypt. Israel must not further perpetrate forcible transfer, and should allow the safe return and compensate for damages caused to displaced Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza according to international law.”

After 30 Years, Israeli High Court Orders Settlers Off Palestinian Land

Haaretz reports that on November 8th, the Israeli High Court ordered settlers to vacate a land in the Jordan Valley that they had been given illegally and improperly by the State over 30 years ago. The judge sharply criticized how the State, which originally seized the privately owned land via a temporary military seizure, proceeded to allocate the privately owned land to the World Zionist Organization. The State was ordered to pay the legal fees of the petitioners and also intimated that the State could be liable to pay for its illegal profit off the land for the past 30 years.

This case dates back to a 1969 military seizure order for a vast tract of land in the Jordan Valley, including a parcel of land privately owned by Palestinians. Instead of canceling the seizure order and returning the land to its owners, the state instead gave control over that land to the World Zionist Organization. Then, on the 1980s, the World Zionist Organization allocated the land to settlers without any documentation of either having received control of the land from the government, or documentation allocating the land to the settlers. Since then, settlers have developed the land into profitable date farms. In 2018, several Palestinian landowners have filed a petition with the High Court of Justice to have the settlers removed from the area and the land returned to their control. In a contentious court hearing in June 2022, in which the State conceded that it does not know how or why the settlers were allocated the land in the first place, High Court Justice Esther Hayut told the State lawyer: “Given that you cannot explain how the land was given to those to whom it was given, does that give them the right to remain there forever?”

With Settlers Acting as a West Bank Militia, U.S. Transfers 24,000 Rifles to Israel

On November 7th, a coalition of 26 Palestinian human rights groups appealed to the third state parties to press for an immediate intervention to protect Palestinians in the West Bank and Jerusalem from state-backed settler violence. On the day the letter was sent, OCHA reported that Israeli settlers killed at least nine Palestinians, including at least one child, and injured 62. In addition, at least 905 Palestinians, including 356 children, have been forcibly displaced because of Israeli settler violence and access and movement restrictions. These numbers continue to grow. Since the Oct. 7th Hamas attack, there has been an average of seven settler attacks a day and the scale of displacement has escalated sharply, with nearly four times as many West Bank communities depopulated in the past month as in the preceding year and eight months combined.

In a rare public criticism, President Biden and the U.S. Secretary of State Blinken have both raised concern about the scale of settler violence in the West Bank in the wake of the October 7th massacre by Hamas and Israel’s war on Gaza. On Oct. 25 President Biden warned that settler violence was “pouring gasoline on fire,” and Secretary Blinken raised concerns while in Israel on November 3rd.

Nonetheless, the Biden Administration finalized the sale of 24,000 assault rifles to Israel despite the settler violence and loosened gun regulations in Israel. Before the sale was complete, the U.S. reportedly received assurances from the Netanyahu government that these particular guns will not end up in the hands of settlers policing Palestinians in the West Bank. The government said these guns would arm Israeli civilian response teams that operate within sovereign Israeli territory, under control of the Israeli police (which, it should be recalled, are under the control of Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir).

In the wake of rare public concerns from the U.S. administration, on November 8th, PM Netanyahu convened a meeting with settler leaders during which he was reported to have told them that he would not tolerate a “handful of extremists[settlers]…[who] cause great damage to the State of Israel.”

In a new report on settler violence since Oct 7th, Peace Now writes:

“The war in Gaza has created a new reality where the security system in the West Bank increasingly relies on settlers within the framework of operational activities, becoming more dependent on them. Ideological and violent settlers leverage the war to coerce the military for their own goals of expulsion and harm to Palestinians, even interfering with IDF activities. This blurring of boundaries between the army and civilians, which has always been a significant problem in the Israeli occupation system in the territories, might cause a dire deterioration, potentially leading to the creation of a third front in the West Bank. Meanwhile, amid the war, a group of settlers managed to strengthen their hold over Area C, advocating for the coercive displacement of Palestinians and exacerbating the discriminatory practices and oppression against them in the West Bank. A decisive political decision to evacuate violent outposts not to disrupt security during wartime could prevent numerous attacks. Initiating law enforcement against violent settlers could restrain and deter others. Preventing the conscription of violent settlers into the reserves and the immediate dismissal of reservist soldiers involved in or enabling violence are essential steps, not mandating political decisions”

On Reestablishing Gaza Settlements

Several senior Israeli officials have been publicly proclaiming their hope to reestablish settlements in the Gaza Strip, which were removed by the Israeli government as part of the 2005 Disengagement Plan. In fact, members of Netanyahu’s Likud party have introduced a piece of legislation in the Knesset that would cancel the part of the Disengagement Law that bars Israelis from entering the Gaza Strip.

Amira Hass warns that these statements should be taken seriously, writing in Haaretz:

“As the last 50 years have shown, any single settler’s hallucination should be taken seriously, and treated as a plan of action by the next government, if not the current one. And when the hallucination is built on overt plans for total destruction and mass expulsion, wars are the most suitable ground for its realization.”

Bonus Reads

““‘Leave or Die’ An account from a Palestinian in the West Bank” (Slate)
“Trending: Israeli Soldiers Document and Proudly Post Their Own Abuse of Palestinians” (Haaretz)
“How a Campaign of Extremist Violence Is Pushing the West Bank to the Brink” (New York Times)
“Local Construction Firm for Secret US Base in Israel Also Built an Illegal Settlement” (The Intercept)
“The Gaza-fication of the West Bank” (The New Yorker, interview with Hagai El-Ad)
“Kathy Hochul’s Israel Trip Bankrolled by Group Funding Illegal Settlements” (The Intercept)