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 2, 2022

1. Supreme Court Upholds Israeli Govt’s Discriminatory West Bank Land Allocation Practices
2. New Section of Jerusalem’s “Tunnels Road” Set to Open
3. Shaked’s Parting Gifts to Settlers: Money & the Atarot Settlement
4. New Al-Haq Report Centers “Settler Colonial” Legal Framing & What it Requires of Remedies
5. Smotrich Secures Broad Powers Over Settlements & Area C Construction
6. Ben Gvir’s New Power in East Jerusalem & the Erasure of the Green Line
7. Bonus Reads

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Supreme Court Upholds Israeli Govt’s Discriminatory West Bank Land Allocation Practices

On November 23rd the Israel Supreme Court dismissed a petition that challenged Israel’s land allocation practices in the West Bank. The petition – which was brought by Peace Now on behalf of affected Palestinians – sought to stop the construction of a new settlement — known as E-2/Givat Eitam — on a strategic hilltop just south of Bethlehem, which Palestinians know as a-Nahle. With the Court’s dismissal of the petition, construction of the E-2/Givat Eitam can now go forward. As a reminder, this new settlement will significantly expand the Efrat settlement in the direction of Bethlehem. It will also effectively cut Bethlehem off from the southern West Bank and complete the city’s encirclement by Israeli settlements.

In rendering its decision, the Supreme Court avoided tackling the merits of the petition’s central argument — i.e.,  that Israel’s practice since 1967 of allocating 99.76% of all “state land” in the West Bank for the exclusive use/benefit of Jewish Israeli residents of the West Bank is discriminatory (the petition argued, in effect, that to cure this discriminatory practice, the “state land” on which the E-2/Givat Eitam settlement is planned should instead be allocated to Palestinians). Instead, the Court urged the State to propose a “compromise” offer to the Palestinians (an offer that consisted of a tiny portion of the lands in question), and then  dismissed the petition after the Palestinian petitioners rejected that offer.

Peace Now said in response to the Court’s decision: 

“It is unfortunate that the Supreme Court, which is supposed to protect the underprivileged and strive for equality, chose to avoid responding to the central claim of the petitioners, according to which the allocation is tainted with severe discrimination and inequality, was made solely to serve the settlement project as part of an allocation policy which completely separates the Palestinians from land resources. Everything must be done to stop this dangerous plan, which will seriously harm the chance for peace and the development capacity of the Bethlehem area. The land must be allocated instead to the Palestinians who live there.”

Adv. Michael Sfard, who represented Peace Now and the Palestinian landowners in this petition, further stated:

 “The allocation to Efrat is a clear expression of the apartheid allocation policy, and this is what we argued before the court. Unfortunately, the court chose not to deal with the argument but to ignore it.”

As a reminder, Israel has declared a total of 16% of land in the West Bank – including nearly half of all land in Area C – as “state land” – that is, land over which Israel does not recognize any legal ownership. Israel has, in turn, systematically used “state land” to establish and expand settlements. Peace Now points out that Israel’s use of “state land” declarations is, at best, confusing, writing:

“Which “state” are we referring to? The West Bank is not part of the state of Israel, even according to Israeli law. We prefer to refer to it as “public land” which the occupier is responsible for managing to the benefit of the public. In practice, the state of Israel has used these lands virtually exclusively for the benefit of one public – the Israeli public.”

 As the Association for Civil Rights in Israel explains:

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

New Section of Jerusalem’s “Tunnels Road” Set to Open,/h3>

Al-Monitor reports that a final section of the discriminatory “Tunnels Road” in Jerusalem – on which Palestinians are prohibited from driving — will open soon, after years of construction which included Israel confiscating Palestinian land. The Tunnels Road connects settlements to the south of Jerusalem seamlessly to Jerusalem and is part of Highway 60, which Israel has already begun work to widen, which runs from Jerusalem all the way to the Kiryat Arba settlement in Hebron. 

Explaining the Tunnels Road, the non-profit organization Who Profits – which documents the complicity of corporations in the occupation – wrote in January 2021:

“The Tunnel Road, a section of Route 60 on which Palestinian vehicles are prohibited from traveling, connects the southern part of the West Bank to Jerusalem, bypassing the Palestinian city of Bethlehem. The road passes directly under the Palestinian town of Beit Jala and provides access to Jerusalem without coming into view of the surrounding Palestinian villages and neighborhoods. The Tunnel Road is emblematic of the “territorial labyrinth created by the Oslo Accords”20 —while the tunnel and the bridge are in Area C (under full Israeli control), the valley above, through which the bridge passes is in Area B (under Israeli military control and Palestinian civil control), and the Palestinian town below the tunnel is in Area A (under full Palestinian control)…One of the project’s objectives is to facilitate the lifting of restrictions on the construction of new housing units in surrounding cities, including the Beitar Illit settlement.”

In a deeply researched report on how Israelis uses infrastructure projects (like roads) as a means for settlement expansion and annexation, Breaking the Silence explains:

“While Israeli authorities justify many of the projects described in this document by claiming that they serve both the settler and the Palestinian populations in the West Bank, it is important to note that these roads are designed with Israeli, not Palestinian, interests in mind. Many of the roads that are technically open to Palestinian traffic are not intended to lead to locations that are useful to Palestinians.16 Instead, these roads are primarily designed to connect settlements to Israel proper (and thus employment and other services) via lateral roads, rather than to connect Palestinian communities to one another. Further, roads intended to connect Israeli settlements to Jerusalem (many of which are currently under construction) do not serve West Bank Palestinians outside of Jerusalem, as they are not allowed to enter Jerusalem without a permit. In addition, an extensive system of checkpoints and roadblocks allows Israel to control access to bypass roads and the main West Bank highways, and it can restrict Palestinian access when it so chooses. 

This prejudice against Palestinian development is even starker when one considers that, according to an official Israeli projection, the expected Palestinian population in the West Bank (excluding East Jerusalem) in 2040 is 4,600,000 individuals. Even if the vision of settler leaders to arrive at 1,000,000 settlers is realized by 2040, the Palestinian population would still be four times the size of the settler one. Despite this discrepancy, priority is still given to settler infrastructure development.

West Bank road and transportation development creates facts on the ground that constitute a significant entrenchment of the de facto annexation already taking place in the West Bank and will enable massive settlement growth in the years to come. By strengthening Israel’s hold on West Bank territory, aiding settlement growth, and fragmenting Palestinian land, this infrastructure growth poses a significant barrier to ending the occupation and achieving an equitable and peaceful solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.”

Shaked’s Parting Gifts to Settlers: Money & the Atarot Settlement

Arutz Sheva (a settler-run media outlet) reports that outgoing Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked is making a final push on two key settler initiatives during her final days in office.

First, Shaked has changed the criteria under which localities qualify for economic development funding from the government — in order to enable the funds to go to settlements and settlement bodies. According to the report, Interior Ministry sources stated that settlements will receive around 25% of recipients of these funds in 2022.

Second, Shaked has been working to secure final approval for the construction of the Atarot settlement before leaving office. And while final approval won’t happen before her time in office ends, the plan is getting close to finalization. According to Arutz Sheva, an environmental impact study (ordered in December 2021) is the only outstanding item preventing the plan from finalization, and the report is expected to be finished around three months from now.

As a reminder, the Atarot plan calls for a huge new settlement on the site of the defunct Qalandiya Airport, located on a sliver of land between Ramallah and Jerusalem. In its current form, the plan provides for up to 9,000 residential units for ultra-Orthodox Jews (assuming, conservatively, an average family size of 6, this means housing for 54,000 people), as well as synagogues, ritual baths (mikvehs), commercial properties, offices and work spaces, a hotel, and a water reservoir. If built, the Atarot settlement will effectively be an Israeli city surrounded by Palestinian East Jerusalem neighborhoods on three sides and Ramallah to its north. Geopolitically, it will have a similar impact to E-1 in terms of dismembering the West Bank and cutting it off from Jerusalem. For more on the Atarot settlement plan, please see here.

Commenting on the most recent reporting on Atarot, an anonymous source confirmed the geostrategic importance of the Atarot area, saying that, “this is about securing Israel’s hold on northern Jerusalem”.

New Al-Haq Report Centers “Settler Colonial” Legal Framing & What it Requires of Remedies

The Palestinian human rights group Al-Haq this week published a new, deeply researched legal report, entitled “Israeli Apartheid: Tool of Zionist Settler Colonialism”. The report was endorsed by several other prominent Palestinian civil society groups including Al-Mezan and the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights.

Al-Haq, echoing decades of Palestinian scholarship, has described the situation in Palestine as “apartheid” for decades. With the recent mainstreaming of the apartheid framework (most notably with the adoption of the term by Btselem, Human Rights Watch, and Amnesty International), this new report is an important contribution, in that it documents and explains why it is important to understand the situation of Palestine as a case of settler colonialism. Al-Haq writes:

“In this report, we analyse Israeli apartheid as a tool of Zionist settler colonialism. We do so in order to bring forward the eliminatory and population transfer logic of Israel’s apartheid system and its effort to displace and replace the indigenous Palestinian people on the land of Palestine. Palestinians have advocated for applying established decolonisation praxis in countering Israeli apartheid, recognising apartheid as a form of settler colonialism rather than pursuing a notion of ‘liberal equality’ without decolonisation…While we are encouraged by the growing global recognition of Israeli apartheid, we note that Zionist settler colonialism and its eliminatory and population transfer logic remain missing from recent analyses and reports on apartheid by Israeli and international human rights organisations such as Yesh Din, B’Tselem, Human Rights Watch, and Amnesty International. It is this gap that the present report seeks to fill.”

Smotrich Secures Broad Powers Over Settlements & Area C Construction

On December 1st, Netanyahu announced a coalition deal with the Religious Zionist Party, the far-right, pro-annexationist party headed by Bezalel Smotrich. Under the deal, Smotrich will be named to the powerful post of Finance Minister for two years. In addition, Smotrich will be in charge of appointing a deputy Defense Minister with specific authority over settlement matters within the Civil Administration and COGAT (Coordinator for Government Activities in the Territories) — in effect giving Smotrich far-reaching powers over settlements and issues like land registration, settlement construction, and the demolition of Palestinian construction in Area C of the West Bank. Channel 12 News in Israel reports that Smotrich is likely to name himself to this key role. 

Prior to the coalition deal being announced, Smotrich had pressed Netanyahu to give him direct power over the Civil Administration by changing the chain of command so that the head of the Civil Administration reported directly to Smotrich on non-defense-related matters. At the time, Haaretz reported that Smotrich had a keen interest in overseeing Israel enforcement of construction regulations and demolitions in Area C, reporting:

“Smotrich is particularly interested in the unit of the [Civil Administration] that oversees illegal construction in the West Bank and has said that he would make it a priority to address illegal Palestinian construction in Area C – the area under full Israeli control. The unit oversees construction in Area C by both Jews and Palestinians, and the priorities of the unit are currently set by the defense minister and the head of the IDF’s Central Command. Smotrich is interested in changing that.”

Smotrich has in many ways led the effort by settlers and their allies to more aggressively enforce Isreali building law against Palestinians construction in Area C. It is worth recalling that Smotrich is a co-founder of Regavim, a radical settler group that works to dispossess Palestinians of their land and property in the West Bank by “helping” the Israeli government to enforce planning and building laws. Ironically, Smotrich currently lives in the Kedumim settlement in a house that is located inside of an enclave of privately owned Palestinian land that is not included in the settlement’s Master Plan, making it illegal even under Israeli law.

As a reminder, Area C is the 60% of the West Bank where Israel enjoys total authority and in which Israel has systematically denied Palestinian building rights, while promoting the expansion of settlements and unauthorized outposts, and in parallel systematically demolishing Palestinian un-permitted construction. 

The discriminatory enforcement of construction laws is part of the continuing efforts of Israeli settlers and the Israeli government to entrench and expand Israel’s control over (and de facto annexation of) the entirety of Area C. Notably, in September 2020 the Israeli government allocated 20 million NIS ($6 million USD) for a newly created Settlement Affairs Ministry to survey and map unauthorized (by Israel) Palestinian construction in Area C — construction (by Palestinians on Palestinian land) which Israel has been aggressively demolishing. In addition to funding the expansion of policies that systematically discriminate against and dispossesses Palestinians in Area C, this funding has further empowered a domestic Israeli body to exert extraterritorial sovereignty over Area C – in effect, treating the area as land already annexed by Israel.  

The Knesset has also to a great extent adopted the narrative of settlers and pro-settler organizations — a narrative predicated on the idea that Area C belongs to Israel and must be defended against Palestinian efforts to steal it (framing that in effect dismisses the legitimacy of any Palestinian landownership in Area C). The Knesset has repeatedly hosted forums to discuss the alleged (by settlers and their allies/advocates) “Palestinian takeover of Area C.” Consistent with this framing and pushed by outside groups, many members of the Knesset have criticized the Israeli government’s alleged failure  to robustly “defend” Israel’s rights/ interests in Area C — demanding that the government do more to prevent and demolish “illegal” Palestinian construction (even as it refuses to issue permits for Palestinians to build “legally), that it must prevent foreign projects that support Palestinians’ presence in the area, that it must clear Palestinians out of areas targeted by settlers, and that it must do more to expand settlements and consolidate state-built settlement infrastructure.

Ben Gvir’s New Power in East Jerusalem & the Erasure of the Green Line

Kahanist politician Itamar Ben Gvir is still expected to receive the (newly renamed and expanded) Ministry of National Security, which would put him in control of Israeli police both in Israel and in the West Bank. Ir Amim has published a new – and essential – analysis detailing the various powers and projects that will come under the control of Ben Gvir and his party. 

Among other things, Ir Amim points out that, as part of his expanded portfolio, a body called the Land Enforcement Unit will come under Ben Gvir’s control. Ir Amim calls this body “the most aggressive of the various state bodies who carry out home demolitions,” noting that it operates in Al-Walaja and other Palestinian neighborhoods of East Jerusalem where mass displacement is being carried out at the settlers’ direction.

In a powerful piece on Ben Gvir’s new power, +972 Magazine’s Natasha Roth-Rowland explains how the roles of Ben Gvir and Smotrich in the new government fundamentally mean that Israel is annexing the West Bank:

“…Ben Gvir’s reported appointment is also reflective of the ongoing dissolution, at least as far as the Israeli government is concerned, of the Green Line: both in how the security logic and mechanisms of the occupation continue to seep over from the West Bank, and in how Israel has painstakingly dismantled the political and legal distinctions between the territories under its control. The resulting one-state reality has created parallel processes by which the occupied territories have come to be understood as an established part of Israel “proper,” while the area within the Green Line is increasingly seen as a restive territory in need of active subjugation. Under these conditions, Ben Gvir’s new mandate is not only to help maintain the ongoing colonization of the West Bank and imprisonment of Gaza, but also to help “re-colonize” Israel itself. The very naming of Ben Gvir’s trans-Green Line authority as “national security” is also an act of rhetorical annexation — one that would be reinforced should Smotrich get his wish for West Bank settlements to be removed from the jurisdiction of the Civil Administration, the bureaucratic arm of the military government in the occupied territories, and come under “regular” government control, which even right-wing media outlets have labeled as a form of annexation.”

Bonus Reads

1. “UN: Israeli controls in Area C costing West Bank Palestinians $2.5 billion per year” (The Times of Israel)
2. “Homesh rabbi indicted for residing in illegal settlement outpost” (The Times of Israel)
3. “Ben Gvir’s dream ministry brings Kahane’s vision one step closer” (+972 Magazine)

 

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

To subscribe to this report, please click here.

November 23, 2022

1. Smotrich Asks for Finance Ministry & Extensive Powers Over the Settlements in Exchange for Forgoing Defense Ministry Post 
2. Settlers Attack Palestinians (and an Israeli Soldier) in Hebron
3. New Report on Silwan/”City of David” & Elad
4. New Report on the Ben Hinnom Valley
5. “Insuring Dispossession”: New Report Examines Role of 5 Israeli Insurance Companies in Enabling Occupation

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Smotrich Asks for Finance Ministry & Extensive Powers Over the Settlements in Exchange for Forgoing Defense Ministry Post 

Israeli press is widely reporting that Bezalel Smotrich has agreed to back down from his demand to be appointed the next Defense Minister on the condition that he is named as Finance Minister and also that he will be given the authority to name a key official in the Defense Ministry who oversees policies related to the settlements. Settler media further reports that Smotrich has asked for the entire issue of settlements to be transferred from the Defense Ministry to the Finance Ministry – a move that would put the settlements under direct Israeli law (in effect, annexing them, even without any formal declaration of annexation). It is not clear at the time of reporting if Netanyahu has agreed to Smotrich’s demands.

Settlers Attack Palestinians (and an Israeli Soldier) in Hebron

What started ostensibly as a religious gathering of settlers in Hebron turned into a frenzied, violent mob composed of an estimated 32,000 settlers and their supporters. The mob marched through Hebron, attacking Palestinians, their homes, and their shops in the Old Market of Hebron. In anticipation of clashes, the IDF forced Palestinian shop owners to close their stores  Prior to the march, and then provided protection and security assistance to the marchers. According to one account (and as documented in multiple videos), IDF soldiers little or nothing to protect Palestinians who were being chased, beaten, and harrassed by the Israeli crowd, or to hold the attackers responsible.

As a reminder, Hebron is the clearest example of Israeli apartheid in action. In the city where 99.6% of the population is Palestinian, the Israeli army and settlers together strangle Palestinian life through severe restrictions on freedom of movement, access to education, commercial opportunities, and basically every facet of life — all for the purposes of supporting the existence and constant expansion of settler enclaves in the city, and the freedom of movement and impunity for the settler residents. 

The Haaretz Editorial Board published an incisive response to the events in Hebron:

“The police announced that they had prepared for the event in advance. But in a place where Jewish supremacy is anchored militarily (under “full Israeli security control”), preparations by the security forces mean only one thing – clearing swaths of the city of Palestinians to enable the Jewish masters to march through its streets…the incoming government not only isn’t interested in stopping this dangerous energy. It’s even riding it. The incidents in Hebron are emblematic of the spirit of the time. And from that standpoint, one can and should view these events as a preview of what is likely to happen in Israel and the West Bank under the rule of Benjamin Netanyahu, Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir.”

The clashes received media attention in Israel largely because those injured by the maruading settlers included a female IDF soldier (who was attacked by a settler with a stick – she was injured and briefly hospitalized) and an Israeli bodyguard of MK Itamar Ben Gvir. The injured soldier has pressed charges against the attacker, who turned out to be a 17-year-old. Additionally, an off-duty sareli soldier who participated in the mob was arrested in connection with the riot.

New Report on Silwan/”City of David” & Elad

Al-Haq – the preeminent Palestinian human rights group that has been targeted by the Israeli government – has published a lengthy report (and a short video) on settler initiatives in Silwan, entitled “Finding David: Unlawful Settlement Tourism in Jerusalem’s so-called City of David.” The report provides legal analysis on how the ‘City of David’ – a Palestinian-populated area of Silwan that Israel has for years been actively working to transform into an archeological-tourist site, and management of which, in the service of this goal, has been given over to the Elad settler group –  serves to “forcibly displace Palestinians from their homes, lands and properties in the context of Israel’s plan to organise a demographic change in Jerusalem.” 

On Elad, Al-Haq writes incisively:

“Elad’s objective is to use the archaeological remains in the Palestinian neighbourhood of Silwan to support Israel’s political claim over Jerusalem, Judaise the space and forge links with Jewish tourists through education and tourism programmes at the ‘City of David’ settlement. Presenting a Zionist Jewish tourism narrative operates in parallel with the State goals of inviting Jews to move to Israel and colonise unlawfully appropriated Palestinian lands.50 Elad concurrently operates a settlement programme deep into the heart of the picturesque Palestinian hilltop neighbourhood of Silwan and forcing the removal of Palestinian families. In doing so, the systematic erasure of the Palestinian past (through archaeology) and Palestinian present (through tourism) is an integral part of the colonisation and Judaisation of Silwan.”

In conclusion, Al-Haq writes:

“The ‘City of David’ is a political tool in Israel’s strategy to maintain and entrench its apartheid and settler-colonial regime over Jerusalem. The settlement exemplifies the importance of narratives in Israel’s settler-colonial enterprise, where the search for purported historical legitimacy becomes a national goal. At the illegal ‘City of David’ settlement, the Israeli state, archaeologists (both local and international) and settler organisations work to erase Palestinian presence; historically through the destruction and designation of the Palestinian artefacts and contemporaneously through the forced removal of Palestinians from their archaeologically rich lands. Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of tourists stroll through the settlement each year, failing to see what happens around them.”

New Report on the Ben Hinnom Valley

Emek Shaveh has published a new report surveying the myriad of settlement projects in and around the Ben Hinnom Valley of East Jerusalem, including their history and current legal status, which are controlled by the Elad settler group (in parallel to Elad’s control over projects in Silwan/”City of David”). 

In previewing the report, Emek Shaveh writes:

“The developments described in this report underscore Elad’s control over a highly strategic area that links West Jerusalem to important sites in Silwan/City of David adjacent to the Old City walls. The new route provides access to the northeastern Sambuski Jewish Cemetery, where it descends toward the City of David site, the Elad Foundation’s flagship project in Silwan. At its eastern tip, the valley borders the al-Bustan neighborhood which, according to a municipal plan, will lead into a garden that simulates that of the biblical King David.

Activities in the Hinnom Valley are integral to the efforts to transform the Historic Basin of Jerusalem and force Palestinians out of the area. Together with the appropriation of Palestinian homes and lands,  the creation of archaeological touristic attractions that tell an exclusive Judeo-centric story of the city serves to legitimize the settlement enterprise in the eyes of the Israeli and international publics. Needless to say, this process is highly detrimental to the prospect of a negotiated political resolution for the conflict.

This report will detail developments in the valley as documented by Emek Shaveh, and outline the mechanisms used to accomplish the Elad Foundation’s objectives including: Exploitation of legal and administrative mechanisms to promote Elad’s interests; Selective enforcement; Influence over planning institutions to promote plans that fundamentally change the character and demographics of the valley; Direct influence over State authorities – the Jerusalem Development Authority (JDA), the Israel Nature and Parks Authority (INPA) and the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA), along with links to the Ministry of Education, IDF, and other authorities – which serve to promote plans and activities that alter the Hinnom Valley’s landscape and undermine its heritage.”

“Insuring Dispossession”: New Report Examines Role of 5 Israeli Insurance Companies in Enabling Occupation

In a new report, Who Profits — and an independent research center dedicated to exposing the commercial involvement of Israeli and international corporations in the ongoing Israeli occupation of Palestinian and Syrian lands — examines the complicity of five key Israeli insurance companies in enabling the occupation by financing the construction of settlements, settlement infrastructure, Israeli military, and activities that exploit natural resources in the West Bank. Who Profits concludes that the five companies are among the “prime financiers of Israel’s economic and political agendas,” noting that the companies “are involved in widespread activities that work to entrench Israel’s prolonged military occupation and processes of colonial dispossession and control.”

You can read the report here.

 

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 18, 2022

1. Jerusalem Planning Committee to Discuss (Another) Plan to Significantly Expand Nof Zion Settlement Enclave
2. As Court Tries to Avoid Underlying Issue of Land Allocation Practices in the West Bank, Palestinians Reject “Deal” that Would Allow Construction of Givat Eitam/E-2 Settlement,
3. Mass Displacement/Dispossession in Silwan Advances, Court Rejects Shahadeh Family Petition
4. Elad Continues Illegal Work in East Jerusalem Cemetery
5. Bibi’s Coalition Promises on Settlement: Outposts, Homesh, Evyatar, Infrastructure, Override Clause, & More
6. Settler Violence Continues to Surge
7. U.S Ambassador Visits a Settlement, Less Than a Year After Saying He Won’t
8. Bonus Reads

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Jerusalem Planning Committee to Discuss (Another) Plan to Significantly Expand Nof Zion Settlement Enclave

Ir Amim reports that on November 23rd the Jerusalem District Planning Committee is scheduled to discuss a plan to expand the Nof Zion settlement enclave, located in the heart of the Palestinan neighborhood of Jabal Mukaber in East Jerusalem. The plan would allow for 100 new residential units and 275 hotel rooms in the settlement enclave, and is part of a larger scheme to connect the enclave to the built-up area of East Talpiot – a scheme which would cut deeply into the Jabal Mukaber neighborhood and entrench the expanding continuum of Israeli settlements surrounding Jerusalem.

Commenting on the plan, the Israeli NGO Ir Amim writes:

“Beyond its geopolitical implications, this is yet another example of the severe discrimination in urban planning and housing in East Jerusalem. Despite the plan being slated for the entrance of Jabal Mukabber, it is not designated for the community’s development needs but rather for the expansion of a Jewish settlement in the middle of a Palestinian neighborhood. It should be noted that Jabal Mukabber is among the Palestinian neighborhoods in East Jerusalem with the highest number of demolitions per year.”

Specifically, the Nof Zion expansion plan to be discussed by the Jerusalem District Planning Committee on November 23rd is interconnected with another plan (last discussed by the Committee in January 2022). That plan seeks to move an Israeli police station [the Oz station] currently located on the border of Jabal Mukaber, to a new site across the street (where it will become a massive Israeli security headquarters), leaving its current location free for the planned expansion of Nof Zion. Ir Amim filed a petition against the police station plan, saying that it is an affront to the planning needs of the local community and continues Israel’s systematic, city-wide discrimination against the housing, educational, and service-based needs of Palestinian neighborhoods. A decision on the police station relocation plan is expected soon. 

Ir Amim further explains the impact of these plans:

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

These plans are just the latest efforts to expand and entrench the Nof Zion settlement enclave. Prior plans include:

• In 2017, the Israeli government approved a plan to build a new synagogue and mikveh for the settlement, to be located on private Palestinian land that had been expropriated form Jabal Mukaber the year before. 
• In April 2019, after two years of rumors, the Israeli government issued 176 building permits for the already-approved project to build . According to Ir Amim, those permits were ultimately issued in April 2019. 
• In 2019, construction began on a plan to triple the size of the settlement enclave, making it the largest such enclave in East Jerusalem. After a two-year stall, construction on the expansion resumed in 2021 with new financing.

As Court Tries to Avoid Underlying Issue of Land Allocation Practices in the West Bank, Palestinians Reject “Deal” that Would Allow Construction of Givat Eitam/E-2 Settlement

On November 14th, Peace Now tweeted updates from a courtroom where the Israeli Supreme Court was attempting to resolve the ongoing petition against the allocation of “state land” for the construction of the Givat Eitam/E-2 settlement, slated to be build on a strategic hilltop – which Palestinians know as a-Nahle – located just south of Bethlehem. The construction of Givat Eitam/E-2 would significantly expand the Efrat settlement in the direction of Bethlehem. It would also effectively cut Bethlehem off from the southern West Bank and complete the city’s encirclement by Israeli settlements.

In the hearing, the State of Israel proposed a deal to the Palestinian petitioners, according to which the State would allocate to them a total of 54 dunams (out of the 1,400 dunams originally planned for the construction of the new settlement). The Palestinian landowners rejected the deal, with their lawyer Michael Sfard noting:

“The main problem is that the solution proposed by the court…does not remove the evil of the decree from their heads, and therefore we oppose this proposal…that offer, whether it is 50 or 100 dunams, does not help the Palestinian communities. Since we, and everyone who sits around here, knows that if this neighborhood is built, it’s likely that they won’t even be able to cultivate those acres.”

Peace Now tweeted its sense of where the judges opinions might land, writing:

“The hearing is over. The petitioners rejected the state’s offer. It seems that the judges are trying to avoid a decision on the central question regarding the entire land – whether it should be allocated to the settlements or the Palestinians. The judges keep trying to walk between the drops. On the one hand, they cannot ignore the blatant discrimination in Israel’s land allocation policy. On the other hand, they are trying to avoid the fundamental question of the legality of this land allocation to the settlement.”

The High Court held a hearing in June 2021 on this same petition. Peace Now’s Hagit Ofran told FMEP that at the conclusion of that hearing the Court had given the government of Israel 90 days to respond to a proposal to either allocate to the individual petitioners some of the “state land” directly involved in the case, or to allocate to them “state land” nearby. This decision by the Court purposely narrowed the scope of Peace Now’s legal challenge by addressing only the case of the land in a-Nahle and the individual petitioners involved, thereby dodging the more fundamental question put forth in the petition challenging Israel’s discriminatory practice of allocating 99.8% of “state land” for settlement purposes. This is the first time the issue of state land allocations to settlements is being challenged in an Israel court.

Mass Displacement/Dispossession in Silwan advances, as Court Rejects Shahadeh Family Petition

On November 13th, the Jerusalem District Court announced that it had rejected an appeal by the Palestinian Shehadeh family seeking to cancel eviction orders that seek to dispossess them of their longtime homes in the Batan al-Hawa section of Silwan in favor of the Ateret Cohanim settler organization. The announcement follows a hearing the Court held on the appeal on November 9th.

As a reminder: the Shahadeh family is one of 85 families in Batan al-Hawa facing displacement at the behest of Ateret Cohanim. The legal fate of all of the families is bound together, with the Duweik family’s case being the furthest advanced and setting a dangerous precedent for the Shehadehs and others. Indeed, this week the Supreme Court discussed several of the decisions made in regards to the Duweik family, and their relation to the Shehadehs’ case. Notably, in July 2022 a 3-judge panel of the Supreme Court could not agree on the Duwiek’s family’s petition, which resulted in the petition being sent back to the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court – where it currently awaits further consideration. One of the judges accepted the argument that the family should be allowed to continue living in their homes because a statute of limitations prohibits Ateret Cohanim – through its management of an historic land trust – from making a claim to the land after such a long period of absence. 

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

Elad Continues Illegal Work in East Jerusalem Cemetery

Emek Shaveh & Ir Amim tweeted footage of construction work at the site of the Sambuski cemetery, an ancient Jewish cemetery located in the Ben Hinnom Valley in East Jerusalem. The Elad settler group – which is paid by the Israeli government to manage and expand a web of settler-tourist sites and the City of David National Park – has been conducting work on the Sambuski Cemetery despite apparently lacking a permit. Emek Shaveh – an Israeli NGO with expertise in archaeology –  notes that any construction within a national park should be heavily scrutinized by professionals and the public before being implemented.

In August 2022,  Elad unilaterally closed the main access road leading to the Palestinian neighborhood of Wadi Rababa, which travels past the Sambuski cemetery.  150 families were trapped in the neighborhood while Elad worked on the site.

The Sambuski cemetery was a relatively unknown, neglected site until recent years – but it is deeply integrated into Elad’s overarching, comprehensive plan to take control of the Silwan neighborhood. In 2020, the-president Trump’s “Peace to Prosperity” plan identified the Sambuski cemetery as a place of prime historical and religious importance to Israel, elevating the status of the cemetery. The Israeli NGO Emek Shaveh – which has special expertise on archaeology and the way archeology has been weaponized to serve the political agenda of the settlers and the state of Israel – wrote a report on exactly how the Trump plan supports settler efforts to use Jerusalem’s history and antiquities to promote Israeli-Jewish hegemony and control over the city.

Emek Shaveh explains how the cemetery is connected to other settler endeavors in Silwan:

“For the Elad Foundation the cemetery is a strategic site as it links together two important focal points of its enterprise – the neighborhood of Silwan, home to the City of David archaeological park and specifically to the Pool of Siloam at the southern tip of the site, and the Hinnom Valley an area which Elad has been developing for the past two years (more below).”

Bibi’s Coalition Promises on Settlement: Outposts, Homesh, Evyatar, Infrastructure, Override Clause, & More

Netanyahu continues to negotiate a final coalition agreement in order to form a new government, and has reportedly committed to virtually all of the main demands of the settler movement (short of outright annexation of all the land between the river and the sea), including:

1. Passage of the Supreme Court Override Clause (see this new explainer by ACRI). This law would obliviate judicial oversight in Israel, giving ultimate power to the Knesset. Under the new Israeli government and with the current Knesset, this law would likely be used  to reinstate the Settlement Regulation Law – the law that seeks to establish a legal basis for Israel to retroactively legalize outposts and settlement structures which are built on land that Israel acknowledges is privately owned by Palestinians. As a reminder, that law was overturned by the Israeli Supreme Court in June 2020. Peace Now estimates that the law stands to convert some 55 unauthorized outposts into official, authorized settlements, seizing some 8,000 dunams of privately owned Palestinian land in the process.
2. Full recognition & integration of outposts (i.e., retroactive legalization and de facto annexation). This was reportedly promised to Bezalel Smotrich, who has authored Knesset legislation to grant full status to outposts irregardless of the status of the land on which the outposts were built illegally. Separately, Netanyahu agreed with Itamar Ben Gvir that the outposts would be provided infrastructure services within 60 days of the new government being sworn in.
3. The reestablishment of the Homesh Settlement. Netanyahu reportedly committed to Itamar Ben Gvir, a longtime supporter/devotee of Rabbi Meir Kahane, that the settlement of Homesh will be reestablished on the land where it stood prior to being dismantled by the Israeli government in 2005. To do so would require the government to amend the 2005 Disengagement Law that not only ordered the dismantling of the Homesh settlement along with three others in the northern West Bank, but provided for Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza. For more on the long-running campaign by settlers and their allies to reestablish the Homesh settlement – and its consequences for Palestinians who live nearby and own the land on which Homesh once stood – see here. 
4. The legalization of a yeshiva at the Evyatar Outpost. Netanayhu and Ben Gvir agreed to grant retroactive authorization to a yeshiva established at the Evyator outpost. For more on the Evyatar outpost & yeshiva saga – see here.
5. A commitment to expanding settler road infrastructure across the West Bank. Netanyahu agreed with Ben Gvir to allocate $434 million ($1.5 billion shekels) for the paving of new and expanded bypass roads in the West Bank and for the expansion of Highway 60, and to expedite the planning process for doing so. For more analysis on how infrastructure such as roads contribute to Israel’s de facto annexation of the West Bank, see this report by Breaking the Silence.

In addition, Netanyahu is coming under increasing pressure from inside his coalition to name far right-wing MK Bezalel Smotrich as the next Defense Minister. Haaretz reports that Itamar Ben Gvir supports Smotrich’s demand because it will, 

“help implement a full right-wing policy, establish new settlements in the West Bank, approve construction of thousands of new housing units in them, stop Palestinian construction in Area C and halt the evictions of illegal outposts.” 

Of note, in 2021 Smotrich suggested that a “solution” to Palestinian “illegal” construction in Area C (construction by Palestinians on their own land, but without Israeli-required building permits, that Israeli makes it nearly impossible to obtain) could be to give settlements the authority to demolish Palestinian construction they believe to be unauthorized. 

American officials, including Ambassador Nides, have expressed concern over Smotrich’s potential appointment to such a key – and powerful – post. In addition to his pro-settlement, pro-annexation positions, Smotrich is also a self-proclaimed homophobe and has lobbied for the expulsion of Palestinians from Israel.

Lastly, and underscoring the extent to which the settlers’ agenda and the governing coalition’s agenda are one and the same: a newly elected Member of the Knesset, Limor Son Har-Melech of the Religious Zionism  coalition, has appointed a member of the radical hilltop youth movement to serve as his spokesperson.  Har-Melech’s new spokesman, Elisha Yered, lives in the outpost of Ramat Migron in the northern West Bank, and is under ongoing investigation following his arrest in August 2022 for “racist conspiracy” — amongst other charges for crimes against Palestinians. Yered is quoted as saying: 

“the hills are the scene of a war that according to Jewish law one is required to wage…what the hills do is to bring Jewish control to hundreds of dunams – that is something that no soldier in the greatest reconnaissance unit can do during his service.”

Settler Violence Continues to Surge

Following a Palestinian stabbing attack near the Ariel settlement that left 3 Israelis dead and 3 injured, settlers across the West Bank rampaged to take their revenge, committing over 20 attacks against Palestinian and their property, as well as Israeli soldiers, in the 24 hours that followed.

In addition, in its weekly report on Israeli human rights violations covering Nov. 10-16, the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights reports that settlers conducted 4 attacks on Palestinians’ vehicles in different areas in the West Bank during the reporting period Nov. 10-16.

“On 14 November 2022, Israeli settlers moved into Haris village in Salfit, north of the West Bank, and burned four vehicles belonging to the villagers.

On 15 November 2022, Israeli settlers attacked and set fire to a vehicle belonging to a
Palestinian who was in his way back from ‘Attil village in northern Tulkarm to Nablus.

On the same day, Israeli settlers intercepted a bus for a women’s trip in Hebron and
prevented it from moving for few hours, enticing fear among the passengers.

On 16 November 2022, Israeli settlers threw stones at four vehicles near Ramin village, east of Tulkarm, breaking their windows. On the same day, Israeli settlers damaged a vehicle belonging to a Palestinian doctor near Jit village in Qalqilya.”

PCHR concludes, noting: “Since the beginning of the year, settlers conducted at least 236 attacks. In two of the attacks, 2 Palestinians were killed.”

U.S Ambassador Visits a Settlement, Less Than a Year After Saying He Won’t

This week U.S. Ambassador to Israel Thomas Nides visited the West Bank settlement of Kiryat Netafim to offer his condolences to the grieving family of a victim of Sunday’s stabbing attack that killed three and wounded three. Nides’ trip marks the first time any representative of the Biden Administration has undertaken official travel to any Israeli settlement. A U.S. Embassy spokesperson said that “the shiva visit in no way signals a change in US policy toward settlements”

In January 2022 Ambassador Nides was quoted as saying he “will absolutely not” visit a settlement. It’s worth recalling that the Biden Administration has not reversed or publicly rejected the Trump Administration’s “Pompeo Doctrine,” which made it U.S. policy to view Israeli settlements as not “per se inconsistent with international law.” 

Kiryat Netafim is located about half way between the Ariel settlement and the cluster of settlements close to the 1967 Green Line that are slated to be united into a “super settlement” area (Oranit, Elkana, Shiva Tikva, and others). The string of settlements creates a contiguous corridor of Israeli construction and control stretching from sovereign Israeli territory to Ariel. As FMEP has repeatedly pointed out, the Ariel settlement is located in the heart of the northern West Bank, reaching literally to the midpoint between the Green Line and the Jordan border. The future of Ariel has long been one of the greatest challenges to any possible peace agreement, since any plan to attach Ariel to Israel (with a finger of land running through settlements like Kiryat Netafim) will cut the northern West Bank in half..

Bonus Reads

1. “Gantz approves upgrade to stretch of West Bank barrier after spate of terror attacks” (The Times of Israel)
2. On the U.N.:
   1. “Key UN committee seeks legal opinion on Israel’s occupation” (Washington Post)
   2. “Opinion | Israel’s Chutzpah at the United Nations” (Haaretz / Noa Landau)
   3. “Lapid, Gantz slam UN panel’s call on ICJ to probe Israeli ‘occupation, annexation’” (The Times of Israel)
3. “Adalah and Center for Constitutional Rights demand US cancel its plan to build embassy compound in Jerusalem on private Palestinian land” (Adalah)
4. “Expulsion by Other Means: Israel’s Campaign Against Palestinians in Masafer Yatta” (J Street)
5. “Ben & Jerry’s board bemoans West Bank, east Jerusalem sales” (AP News)
6. “Wild boars in Palestine are being weaponized by Israeli colonialism” (Mondoweiss)
7. “IDF soldier suspended for cursing left-wing activist in Hebron: ‘You’re a traitor’” (The Times of Israel)

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

To subscribe to this report, please click here.

November 11, 2022

1. Israel Gives Settler Group $7.8 Million for East Jerusalem Projects
2. Israel Supreme Court Holds Hearing on Silwan Displacement Case
3. Israeli Lawmakers Join Settlers on Provocative Visit to Joseph’s Tomb; 1 Palestinian Killed
4. Peace Now Video Shows Impact and Tragedy of the Planned E-2 /Givat Eitam Settlement
5. A New Israeli Government: Implications for Settlements & Annexation
6. Bonus Reads

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Israel Gives Settler Group $7.8 Million for East Jerusalem Projects

A Haaretz investigation has revealed that various arms of the Israeli government have transferred a combined total of $7.8 million to the Elad settler organization to develop and manage new tourist projects in the Ben Hinnom Valley in East Jerusalem. This figure is double the State’s original budget for Elad – a settler organization which Israel also pays to manage the City of David National Park. 

The additional funding came from three sources: the Jerusalem Affairs & Heritage Ministry, the Israel Lands Authority, and the Jerusalem Municipality. All funds were used to fuel the expansion of integrated tourism projects which underpin Elad’s control over land in the Ben Hinnom Valley, located near Silwan. This is an area where most of the land is privately owned by Palestinians and rich with olive groves. Over the past few years Israel has begun seizing land – plot by plot – mainly via the issuance of ”landscaping” (or “gardening”) orders which allow the government to take control of and develop any land that it deems “neglected.” The land, once seized, is then handed over to Elad.. 

The Israeli NGO Emek Shaveh responded: 

“The settlement project of Elad, one of the richest nonprofits in Israel, is being funded by the citizens of the State of Israel and the residents of the poorest city in Israel – out of their own pockets! But the real price and the irreversible damage will be paid by the heritage sites of Jerusalem. At the end of the day, the ancient landscapes of the Hinnom Valley will become a playground, with a suspension bridge, a cable car and a biblical farm for ancient agriculture with sprinklers, an artificial waterfall and an electric outdoor oven – all in order to push the Palestinians out of the valley.”

In addition to its increasing control of the Ben Hinnom Valley, Elad and the Israel Nature and Parks Authority have had a contract, since 2020, to transfer the management and development of the City of David National Park to Elad. Elad carries out this contract with brutal implications for Palestinians who live inside the borders of this national park – borders Israel imposed on Palestinians residents, many of whom had been living in the areas for generations, with what appears to be total disdain/disinterest in their rights or welfare. Elad’s management of the park also weaponizes archaeology in the service of its explicit agenda: increasing Israeli control and imposing an exclusively Jewish religious and historical narrative over the entire city of Jerusalem. Elad is also a main actor behind the widespread house-by-house dispossession of Palestinians living in Silwan. In addition, Elad is pioneering a never growing slate of touristic settlement projects which increase Israeli control over the area and help reinforce a settler narrative of the city of Jerusalem which emphasizes its Jewish history while erasing past, present, and future Palestinian heritage.

Israel Supreme Court Holds Hearing on Silwan Displacement Case

Ir Amim reports that on November 9th, the Israeli Supreme Court held a hearing on an appeal against the pending eviction of the Shahadeh family from their longtime home in the Batan al-Hawa section of Silwan. A decision is expected to be issued by the Court within a few weeks.

The Shahadeh family is one of 85 families in Batan al-Hawa facing displacement at the behest of the Ateret Cohanim settler organization. The legal fate of all of the families is bound together, with the Duweik family’s case being the furthest advanced and setting an dangerous precedent for the Shehadehs and others. Indeed, this week the Supreme Court discussed several of the decisions made in regards to the Duweik family, and their relation to the Shehadehs’ case. Notably, in July 2022 a 3-judge panel of the Supreme Court could not agree on the Duwiek’s family’s petition, which resulted in the petition being sent back to the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court – where it currently awaits further consideration. One of the judges accepted the argument that the family should be allowed to continue living in their homes because a statute of limitations prohibits Ateret Cohanim – through its management of an historic land trust – from making a claim to the land after such a long period of absence.  

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

Israeli Lawmakers Join Settlers on Provocative Visit to Joseph’s Tomb; 1 Palestinian Killed

On November 9th, a Palestinian teenager was killed in Nablus during clashes between Palestinians and the IDF. These clashes resulted from a deliberately provocative visit carried out by settlers and Israeli lawmakers – under IDF protection – to the site of Joseph’s Tomb, which is located inside of Nablus. The settlers and eight current and incoming members of the Knesset visited the site despite a public threat to attack the delegation which was issued the day before by a Palestinian armed faction.

On a monthly basis (and sometimes more often) the IDF arranges for settlers to visit Joseph’s Tomb. The tomb is located within Area A of the West Bank (where Israel does not, under the Oslo Accords, have direct control). However, Joseph’s Tomb is one of two sites in Area A which the Oslo Accords stipulate are under the control of the Israel military. As such, it has been a perennial flashpoint, largely due to deliberately provocative actions by settlers. The whole circumstance – of settlers visiting Joseph’s Tomb – was recently called “absurd” by former IDF Major General Gadi Shamni.

While some Jewish Israelis may want to visit the site of Joseph’s Tomb for non-politically-motivated religious purposes, this latest story should be viewed in the larger context of settlers weaponizing claims to sites like Joseph’s Tomb, and archaeology in general, to expand Israel control over (i.e., de facto annexation of) parts of the West Bank that per the Oslo Accords are under Palestinian Authority control. 

Peace Now Video Shows Impact and Tragedy of the Planned E-2 /Givat Eitam Settlement

In advance of a High Court hearing scheduled for Nov. 14th, Peace Now has released a 10 minute video  explaining the unfolding tragedy of E-2/Givat Eitam. Peace Now is leading the petition alongside the Palestinian landowners. 

The Supreme Court – courtesy of a petition filed by Palestinian landowners with the assistance of Peace Now – is due to continue its consideration of the Palestinians’ challenge to the allocation of “state land” to the Israeli Ministry of Housing for the construction of a new settlement called Givat Eitam on a strategic hilltop – which Palestinians call a-Nahle – located just south of Bethlehem. 

As a reminder, the High Court held a hearing in June 2021 on this same petition. Peace Now’s Hagit Ofran told FMEP that at the conclusion of that hearing the Court had given the government of Israel 90 days to respond to a proposal to either allocate to the individual petitioners some of the “state land” directly involved in the case, or to allocate to them “state land” nearby. This decision by the Court purposely narrowed the scope of Peace Now’s legal challenge by addressing only the case of the land in a-Nahle and the individual petitioners involved, thereby dodging the more fundamental question put forth in the petition challenging Israel’s discriminatory practice of allocating 99.8% of “state land” for settlement purposes. This is the first time the issue of state land allocations to settlements is being challenged in an Israel court.

A New Israeli Government: Implications for Settlements & Annexation

Likud Party leader and Israel’s longest-serving (over multiple tenures in office) Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is once again poised to lead the Israeli government, this time relying on a governing coalition that includes extremist/racist/Islamophobic/homophobic Jewish supremacist figures like Itamar Ben Gvir (a longtime supporter/devotee of Rabbi Meir Kahane) and Bezalel Smotrich. Settlers are giddy, with notable settler leaders Daniela Weiss describing the election results as a “revolution,” and saying there will certainly be an acceleration in settlement growth.

Here are key demands being made of Netanyahu that will likely define the new government and influence its policies on settlements and annexation:

• Itamar Ben Gvir – who has called for the expulsion of Palestinian citizens of Israel, who was disqualified from IDF service for his extreme views, and who is closely allied with the settlers in Sheikh Jarrah – is demanding to be named the Minister of Public Security. This would put him in charge of the Israeli police and their power over Palestinians living in Israel and East Jerusalem. The Ministry would also hand Ben Gvir a large role over security at the Temple Mount, which Ben Gvir has advocated for Israel to take unilateral control over – a dangerous proposition. Ben Gvir has also publicly proclaimed that, should he be appointed, he will change the rules of engagement so that Israeli soldiers have broader leeway to shoot at Palestinians (for reasons as minimal as suspected stone-throwing), and he will push for broad immunity for Israeli security officials (which combined appear to be a directive to kill Palestinians under the promise of immunity).
• Bezalel Smotrich – who continues to demand either the Defense, Finance, or Justice Ministries –  is making two key legislative demands:
  • Passage of the Override Clause, which would allow a simple majority in the Knesset to vote to reinstate any law that the Supreme Court rules is unconstitutional. This is particularly relevant for the Settlement Regulation Law,  which the Court struck down by the Court in 2020. The Knesset had passed the Settlement Regulation Law in order to create a legal basis to allow Israel to retroactively legalize outposts and settlement structures which had been built on land that Israel acknowledges is privately owned by Palestinians. Smotrich and many of the coalition members have been longtime supporters of the Override Clause in order to reinstate this law in particular.
  • Annexation of settlements. Smotrich is demanding that settlements come under domestic Israeli law, which would implement the annexation of the settlements to Israel. This is also a widely-popular initiative, with Yariv Levin – Netanyahu’s Likud partymate – recently saying that annexation is high on the government’s agenda.

Bonus Reads

1. “West Bank Settler Accused of Terrorism After Attacking Palestinian in East Jerusalem” (Haaretz)
2. “Israel Resumes Construction of Jewish Town Planned Over Ruins of Yet-to-be-demolished Bedouin Village” (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 4, 2022

1. Apartheid in action: Israel proceeds with plan to cut off Al Walajah from lands & water source 
2. In Response to Settler Violence in Hebron, IDF punishes Palestinians — Declares Issa Amro’s Home and surrounding area a “Closed Military Zone”
3. Israel Seizes More Land to Expand Eli Settlement
4. Settler Terrorism Visualized in New Infographic
5. Bonus Reads

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Apartheid in action: Israel proceeds with plan to cut off Al Walajah from lands & water source 

Ir Amim reports that the Jerusalem Municipality allocated NIS 3 million to implement its plan to relocate a key IDF checkpoint leading to the Palestinian village of Al-Walajah, a village which is located on (and partially within) the southern perimeter of Jerusalem’s expanded municipal borders. The effort to move the checkpoint closer to the built-up area of Al-Walajah is part of the Israeli government’s long running effort to take control over an increasing amount of land – and importantly, the Ein Haniya spring – that historically belongs to Al-Walajah. Israel’s plan to relocate the checkpoint has been frozen for the past four years, after a petition against the plan filed by residents of Al-Waljah was rejected by the Israeli courts. Now it appears to be proceeding. Ir Amim explains what is happening behind the scenes:

“According to Ir Amim’s initial inquiries, no building permit necessary for the relocation and construction of the new checkpoint appears to currently exist. The Finance Committee’s agenda cited that the checkpoint’s relocation is being carried out at the request of the Jerusalem Municipality, Ministry of Jerusalem Affairs, and the Israel Police. However, the checkpoint constitutes a military facility–the location of which should be determined by the Israeli army. Yet, the army is not among the Israeli bodies requesting its relocation; therefore, claims stating that such a measure is necessary for “security reasons” can be interpreted as unsubstantiated.  If the checkpoint is relocated, it will have dire consequences on the residents of al-Walaja, their agricultural lands, and their livelihoods.”

By relocating the checkpoint to a point closer to Al-Walajah, Palestinians from the village will no longer have unfettered access to approximately 1200 dunams of agricultural land, including the site of the Ein Haniya springs. The Ein Al-Hanya spring, which the Jerusalem Municipality declared a national park in 2013 and then spent years and millions of dollars renovating into a tourist destination, is located on land historically part of Al-Walajah and it long served as a main source of water for households, farms, and recreational purposes for the village’s residents. Ir Amim explains this model of land seizure, writing: 

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

Since 1967, Al-Walajah has suffered due to its location and its complicated status (much of the village’s lands, including areas with homes, were annexed by Israel in 1967, but Israel never gave the villagers Jerusalem legal residency by Israel – meaning that under Israeli law, their mere presence in their homes is illegal). Today it is acutely suffering from a multi-prong effort by the Israeli government and settlers to grab more land for settlement expansion in pursuit of the “Greater Jerusalem” agenda. This land grab campaign includes home demolitions (four homes in Al-Walajah were demolished by Israel on November 2, 2022, for example), the construction of the separation barrier and bypass roads in a way that seals off the village on three sides, and the systematic denial of planning permits.

In Response to Settler Violence in Hebron, IDF punishes Palestinians — Declares Issa Amro’s Home and surrounding area a “Closed Military Zone”

On October 31st, the IDF has declared the immediate area around the home of prominent Palestinian activist Issa Amro to be a “closed military zone” – an order which prevents the operations of Amro’s community organization, Youth Against Settlements, which operates partially out of Amro’s home. Under the order, Amro is the only person permitted to enter the house.

The order was issued after Amro made three attempts to file a complaint with Israeli police in Hebron regarding one particularly violent attack by settlers, parts of which were caught on video. Police turned Amro away. In a video message explaining the situation, Amro says that the closure order follows years of settlers trying to take over his home, which is located in the heart of downtown Hebron, sandwiched between settlement enclaves.

Michael Sfard, a prominent Israeli human rights lawyer representing Amro, wrote a letter to the Israeli army requesting a criminal investigation into the officer who issued the closure order, saying the order is:

“so arbitrary that there is no doubt that [it was not the product of] good faith or a mistake in judgment but rather signed with the knowledge that it was not directed at the person who has been disturbing the peace and was meant to satisfy the thugs who had initiated the attacks and ‘friction.’”

Israel Seizes More Land to Expand Eli Settlement

On October 31st, Wafa News reports that the Israeli army issued a military order seizing 152 acres of land belonging to the Palestinian villages of Qaryout and al-Lubban ash-Sharqiya (near Nablus) in order to expand the Eli settlement. No further details were reported.

Settler Terrorism Visualized in New Infographic

Visualizing Palestine published a superb new graphic that communicates the severity and totality of escalating settler terrorism targeting Palestinians and their property. 

Bonus Reads

1. “Britain Scraps Plan to Move Embassy to Jerusalem” (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.

October 27, 2022

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

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Israel Advances Sheikh Jarrah Settlement Projects

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Kerem Navot explains the importance of this:

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

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

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

Settlers (& IDF) Continue Violence Against Palestinian Olive Harvest

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Bonus Reads

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

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

To subscribe to this report, please click here.

October 13, 2022

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Ben Gvir Joins, Escalates Settler Attacks in Sheikh Jarrah

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

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

Settlers Attack Palestinian Olive Harvest, Seize Control of Silwan Grove

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Hebron-Area Town Emptied for Israeli Military, Settler Event

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

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

Bonus Reads

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

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

To subscribe to this report, please click here.

October 13, 2022

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

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Nablus Region Broiling as Settlers Rampage

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

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

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

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

Samaria Regional Council head Yossi Dagan stated:

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

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

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

Emek Shaeh comments:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Emek Shaveh notes:

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

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

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

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

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

Bonus Reads

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

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

To subscribe to this report, please click here.

October 7, 2022

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Settlers to get Armored Buses

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

New Yesh Din Report on “Shepherding Outposts”

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

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

Yesh Din writes:

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

Bonus Reads

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

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

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September 30, 2022

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Peace Now said in response:

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

Bonus Reads

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