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

To receive this report via email, please click here.

July 12, 2018

1. Continuing New Legal Strategy, Israel Argues “Market Regulation” Principle In Bid to Legalize Outpost
2. Cabinet to Consider New Bill to Legalize 70 Outposts
3. Cabinet to Consider Three Bills that Advance Annexation of Area C Settlements
4. New Proof that the Israeli Government is Driving Unauthorized Settlement Activity
5. High Court Freezes Plan for Settlement Committee in Hebron; IDF Seizes Private Land Near Kiryat Arba
6. High Court Allows the Israel Land Authority to Remain Under the Influence of the Jewish National Fund
7. New Bill Would Allow Settlers to Build on National Park Grounds in East Jerusalem
8. Civil Administration Strike Will Delay Settlement Construction
9. Amichai Settlement’s Makeshift Sewage Pit is Contaminating Nearby Palestinian Fields
10. Israeli President Cautions Against Shaked’s Bill to Politicize Key Legal Appointments
11. United Nations Envoy: Israel is Moving Towards Formal Annexation
12. Bonus Reads

Comments, questions, or suggestions? Email Kristin McCarthy at kmccarthy@fmep.org.

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Continuing New Legal Strategy, Israel Argues “Market Regulation” Principle In Bid to Legalize Outpost

On July 3rd the Israeli State Prosecutor’s Office told the Jerusalem District Court that it has the right to retroactively legalize the Mitzpe Kramim outpost based on the “market regulation” principle. This is the recently-invented legal principle according to which the government can seize privately owned Palestinian land to give to settlers if settlers can demonstrate (to the satisfaction of an Israeli government that is doing everything possible to help them) that they built on the land “in good faith,” based on government assurances, and if the rightful landowners are offered compensation. This is just the second time the government has used the “market regulation” principle to defend the seizure of privately owned Palestinian land in court, the first being in November 2017 when the State informed the High Court of Justice that it intended to expropriate private land near the Ofra settlement. Neither court ruled on either case. 

The government’s deployment of the “market regulation” principle in the Mitzpe Kramim case completely reverses the position the government has taken for the last 7 years on this specific outpost case. Since 2011, the Israeli government admitted that the land was privately owned, that it had been mistakenly given to the World Zionist Organization in the 1980s (the Mitzpe Kramim outpost was built without Israeli authorization in 1999), and that the situation should be corrected. In its argument on July 3, 2018, the government is expressing its newfound power to seize the land, asserting that the settlers built there “in good faith” and should not be punished for the government’s mistake, under the powers of the “market regulation.”

Peace Now said:

“The state’s announcement to the District Court is a new low in the moral and political deterioration led by the Netanyahu government. As the body that has assumed responsibility for the Occupied Territories for the last 51 years, the state should have protected the property rights of Palestinians, who have no civil rights nor the ability to defend their own land. The fact that the state failed to protect their land cannot be an excuse to steal the land and grant it to the settlers.”

As Peace Now also notes, in order to satisfy the 1967 Government Property Order (which is the law underlying the “market regulation” principle) all of the land owners must be invited to participate in the court case. However, the settlers who filed the petition regarding Mitzpe Kramim failed to include all of the registered land owners, meaning there is a long course of legal action ahead before the case. Should the Court decide the case in the settlers’ favor, it would set a potentially far-reaching precedent for implementing and upholding the “market regulation” principle.

Israeli Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit originally argued for the “market regulation” principle in late 2016 as an alternative legal basis to the Regulation Law, which he believes to be “a sweeping and injurious arrangement that does not meet the test of proportionality.” That law,  passed by the Knesset in February 2017, is now in serious legal jeopardy. While the Israeli government continues to staunchly defend the broader legal basis for expropriating privately owned Palestinian land established under the “Regulation law,” its increased use of the “market regulation” principle makes clear that come what may, the Israeli government has the intention to do whatever it takes to “legally” seize Palestinian private land in order to legalize outposts (offering a stark illustration of the difference between “rule of law” and “rule by law.”)

For extensive reporting on and analysis of the “market regulation” principle and the “Regulation Law,” see FMEP’s tables documenting Israeli annexation policies.

Cabinet to Consider New Bill to Legalize 70 Outposts

MKs Bezalel Smotrich (Habayit Hayehudi) and Yoav Kisch (Likud) have submitted a bill for consideration by the Israeli Cabinet that seeks to retroactively legalize 70 unauthorized outposts across the West Bank. The Ministerial Committee for Legislation (a group of Cabinet members that decides whether or not to lend government backing to Knesset legislation before it is introduced) could vote on the July 15th, during its last weekly meeting before the Knesset recesses for its summer break. According to a Defense Ministry spokesperson, 50 of the 70 outposts can become part of existing official settlements — meaning that if passed into law, the bill would (a) significantly expand the borders/footprint of some 50 existing settlements (to include the outposts and land separately the outposts from the new parent settlement), and (b) create as many as 20 new settlements.

In addition, the bill would direct the government to treat the 70 unauthorized outposts as if they were legal settlements, which would include providing municipal services like water and electricity infrastructure at the expense of the relevant regional council (funded by Israeli tax-payers). The bill would also stop the potential of enforcement of the government’s own laws against the specified 70 outposts (reminder: the Israeli government rarely enforces building laws against Israeli settlers, actively funds outposts despite their illegality, and continues to invent new ways to legalize them). According to the bill, enforcement of building laws against the unauthorized outposts could only happen at the direction of the Defense Minister or the Prime Minister, with the backing of the Cabinet.

FMEP has repeatedly covered news regarding the government’s efforts to legalize outposts built on privately owned Palestinian land. The passage of the settlement “Regulation Law”  gave the government new, sweeping authority to legalize outposts which it had been unable to address under existing Israeli law (because of the fact that they were built on privately owned Palestinian land, in effect turning these into cases of incontestable theft of private property. The 2005 Sasson Report admitted that there was no possible way to legalize outposts built on privately owned Palestinian land, and concluded that all such outposts should be evacuated). With the new law in place permitting Israel to launder this land theft, the Cabinet created a Defense Ministry task force – and appointed veteran settler leader Pinchas Wallerstein as its head – empowered to examine the individual legal situation of each outpost and devise plans to retroactively legalize as many outposts as possible. In January 2018, a leaked recording revealed that the task force had been working for six months to prescribe courses of action for the outposts. Despite this, settlers and Knesset members have complained that the task force has done nothing and has not been funded, using these as talking points in their push for the new Smotrich bill.  

Developments related to these efforts are tracked in FMEP’s annexation policy tables.

Cabinet to Consider Three Bills that Advance Annexation of Area C Settlements

In addition to the outpost legalization bill (covered above), the Israeli Ministerial Committee on Legislation is slated at its next weekly meeting on July 15th to discuss three bills that seek to advance Israeli de facto annexation of Area C, after refraining from discussing them last week. Those bills are:

1. A bill to recognize settlements in the South Hebron Hills as well as the Kiryat Arba settlement (which is, in effect, part of Hebron) as part of the Negev regional economy. Economically, the change would enable these settlements to benefit from government grants and programs for the Negev; politically, and far more importantly, the change would erase the Green Line, legally treating these settlements as part of sovereign Israeli territory (the Negev is an area located inside sovereign Israel).
2. A bill to change a 1953 Jordanian law in order to allow Israelis to directly purchase property in the West Bank. Under the current law, private, non-Arab individuals cannot purchase land in the West Bank. In 1971, the law was amended to add a loophole allowing companies registered to operate in the West Bank (like the World Zionist Organization and the Jewish National Fund) to purchase property, and often do so only to give it to Israeli settlers. This additional change would open the door for private purchases across the West Bank by settlers and their backers, including in the heart of Palestinian cities. Notably, Israeli security officials have in the past objected to changing this law, based on their recognition of the fact that settlers implanting themselves wherever they want in the West Bank – including in acts intended to be deliberately provocative – will be a security nightmare for the IDF and will enable settlers and their financial patrons to further hijack the national security agenda of the state of Israel.
3. A bill to rescind the 2005 Disengagement Law in order to allow four settlements in the northern West Bank to be rebuilt. The settlements – Sa-Nur, Homesh, Kadim and Ganim – were evacuated following the passage of the Disengagement Law. Notably, the head of the Samaria Regional Council, Yossi Dagan, is one of the settlers that was evacuated from Sa-Nur in 2005 and has championed the bill, which was submitted for Cabinet consideration by Bezalel Smotrich (Habayit Hayehudi).

New Proof that the Israeli Government is Driving Unauthorized Settlement Activity

The Israeli State Comptroller published a report that exposes how Israel government bodies have colluded with the Binyamin Regional Council (one of the main governing bodies over West Bank settlements) to bankroll the construction and ongoing support of unauthorized outposts, even as the Israeli Civil Administration acts to try to stop the illegal construction the government is funding.

The report reads:

“The [Binyamin Regional] council has been the driving force in the construction of unauthorized communities [outposts] and has financed them…In so doing, the council has dictated a negative standard of behavior, that has allowed for illegal construction in the Judea and Samaria and has even advanced such activity…Government offices were involved in financing the planning and construction of the unauthorized outposts.”

In one of several examples of how the collusion has worked, the Comptroller explained that the Esh Kodesh outpost – which is actually located outside of the Binyamin Regional Council’s jurisdiction – was built in 2000 without government permission. In 2014, the Interior Ministry financed the renovation of roads in the outpost. Meanwhile, the Civil Administration issued demolition orders against structures in the outpost in 2003, 2012, and 2013.

Sensing opportunity to promote their new bill to retroactively authorize outposts (see above), MKs Yoav Kisch (Likud) and MK Bezalel Smotrich (Bayit Yehudi) argued that the Comptroller’s report, by proving the the state has participated in building outposts, underlines the necessity of authorizing those outposts for the sake of the settlers who moved to the outposts at the encouragement of the state.

Adding to the Comptroller’s report (and echoing several of its key points), a freedom of information act filed by Peace Now revealed that the Binyamin Regional Council has been concealing massive and illegal annual contributions to the Amana organization, which leads wide scale illegal settlement construction. Amana received NIS 37 million over three years from the Council, which is 57% of the funds doled out to non-governmental groups over that period. The Comptroller’s report criticized the Council’s support for private organizations, which violates Israeli law restricting regional councils to supporting apolitical, public groups. The report said “the council serves as a conduit for transferring funds from the state to a private association.”

Peace Now writes:

“this data now reveals the depth of this robbing of public funds to finance political campaigns and illegal activity. It is time for the Interior Ministry to put an end to this abuse of Israelis’ taxpayer money and to demand that the authorities in the West Bank cease this illegal funding and give the money back.”

High Court Freezes Plan for Settlement Committee in Hebron; IDF Seizes Private Land Near Kiryat Arba

The Israel High Court has ordered a temporary freeze on a military order creating a new, autonomous settler committee to represent and service a cluster of Israeli settlement enclaves in Hebron’s city center, a plan announced by Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman in August 2017. The military order, if allowed to be implemented, would transfer responsibility for the settlers’ municipal services (roads, sewage, electricity, etc.) from the Hebron Municipality to the new settler committee, a plan which contradicts the 1997 Hebron Protocol.

The High Court gave the Israeli government 120 days to explain the legality of the plan, which was challenged on multiple fronts by the Hebron Municipality. The petition argued that the military order was intentionally vague in defining the legal and geographical jurisdiction of the proposed settler body, and pointed out that the new committee would be able to override decisions by the Hebron Municipality thereby stripping Palestinians of autonomy and representation in matters that directly affect them.

While the Court considers the matter, events on the ground continue to underscore the volatility of the situation in Hebron. Elor Azaria, the Israeli soldier who was caught on camera executing an incapacitated Palestinian on the streets of Hebron, victoriously returned to the city on July 3rd after serving only 9 months in jail. The festivities welcoming Azaria were planned by a group that included the extremist settler and politician, Baruch Marzel. Only two days after the Azaria lovefest, Marzel pitched a two-person tent on the sidewalk next to a Palestinian home in the Tel Rumeida neighborhood in the Old City of Hebron. According to the Palestinian news outlet Ma’an, Marzel was involved in attacks on Palestinians in Tel Rumeida the same day, in an incident that resulted in the arrest of one Palestinian. Israeli police removed Marzel’s encampment from the street.

Also in Hebron, Palestinian media reports that Israeli forces have confiscated a plot of privately owned Palestinian land near the Kiryat Arba settlement and the Ibrahimi Mosque/Cave of the Patriarchs. A Hebron activist reports that the Israeli Army set up a new camp across the street from the seized land about one month ago, and is now moving the camp to the new site with the intention of declaring it a “closed military zone” to prevent Palestinians from entering the area.

High Court Allows the Israel Land Authority to Remain Under the Influence of the Jewish National Fund

The High Court of Justice dismissed a petition filed by Adalah which alleged that the Jewish National Fund’s representation on the Israel Land Authority council infringes on the rights of Palestinian to equality and dignity. Under Israeli law, 6 of the 14 members on the Land Authority council are to be appointed by the Jewish National Fund, an organization the petitioners say (with good cause) “openly discriminates against non-Jews and sees itself as an entity that serves only one population.” The Israel Land Authority is responsible for deciding how (and to whom) to allocate or sell land in Israel, including the land owned by the Jewish National Fund (13% of all land in Israel).

Following the High Court’s dismissal of the petition, the Haaretz Editorial Board wrote:

“In a properly run country, people who declare that they’re committed to acting in a discriminatory way are immediately disqualified from a public role. One can only imagine what Israelis’ response would be if in a country where Jews were a minority, half of a group’s members stated their intention to discriminate against Jews.”

New Bill Would Allow Settlers to Build on National Park Grounds in East Jerusalem

The radical settler group Elad is lobbying for a bill that will allow the group to build settlement units on the grounds of one specific national park located in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan, where Elad is engaged in a variety of activities to displace Palestinians and replace them with Israeli settlers (as FMEP has reported on extensively). On July 10th, the bill was approved by the Knesset’s Interior and Environment Committee, despite objections submitted to the committee by the Justice Ministry and the Attorney General. The bill was sent to the Knesset plenum for its first of three votes.

The bill will allow Elad to build more homes for Israeli settlers on the grounds of the City of David national park, which is located immediately south of the Temple Mount, adjacent to the southern wall of the Old City of Jerusalem. Since 2001, Elad has managed the park grounds on behalf of the Israel Nature and Parks Authority, a scheme which gives the settler group authority over (but no legal responsibility towards) thousands of Palestinian homes and hundreds of settler homes – a demographic balance Elad is working hard to flip.  

Ir Amim’s researcher Aviv Tatarsky told Haaretz:

“This isn’t the first time a monkey is being made of the law and common sense to advance the agenda of the Elad settlers. But even this law can’t change the fact that Silwan, like East Jerusalem, is entirely a Palestinian city. Israeli attempts to deny that simple truth impair the basic rights of 350,000 people in East Jerusalem. The residents of the Israeli city also pay a price for it.”

For more information on the role on national parks around Jerusalem in advancing the Israeli settlement agenda in Palestinian neighborhoods, see Ir Amim’s reporting here, and a key survey and analysis of national parks in Jerusalem/East Jerusalem by Bimkom here.

Civil Administration Strike Will Delay Settlement Construction

A recently released list of Civil Administration functions that will be brought to a halt during the impending union strike includes the High Planning Council’s work to advance settlement construction plans, though a Civil Administration spokesperson said that construction can be expected to climb next quarter.

Hananel Dorani, Chairman of the Yesha Council, the umbrella group representing settlements,wrote a letter to Prime Minister Netanyahu, Defense Minister Lieberman, and Finance Minister Kahlon. Dorani, highlighting the green light from the political echelon to promote settlements, criticized the Civil Administration while pushing for a resolution:

“Especially now, at a time when political approval was given to promote construction, it’s not only commonplace that the Civil Administration doesn’t meet the task properly, but the workers’ strike will exacerbate the situation and create a bottleneck that’ll be difficult to free from for years. Civil Administration employees’ demand to add additional positions and their requests to improve salary conditions so they can fill existing positions hasn’t been answered for a long time, leading to renewed sanctions. As is well known, this is not the first time Civil Administration employees have initiated sanctions, but this hasn’t yet been dealt with…this organization is routinely substandard, and for a long time important headquarters work wasn’t promoted, plans approved by the political echelon are halted and piled up on the table in the Civil Administration, budgets earmarked for infrastructure projects (transportation, cellular, etc.) aren’t realized, no work permits are issued, and more…We ask that you get involved with all relevant parties and act immediately and personally to restore the Civil Administration to full functioning.”

Samaria Regional Council chairman Yossi Dagan complained:

“As if it is not enough that every house in Judea and Samaria (West Bank) needs four different permits from the political echelon, now the residents have also become hostages in a conflict between Civil Administration employees and the Finance Ministry.”

The Civil Administration will also suspend the following operations: the flow of commercial goods between the West Bank (both settlements and Palestinian areas) and sovereign Israel; changes to the land and population registries, issuance of import licenses and business permits; and, significantly, all actions – including demolitions – against illegal construction, which might delay the demolition of the Khan al-Ahmar bedouin community.

Amichai Settlement’s Makeshift Sewage Pit is Contaminating Nearby Palestinian Fields

Raw sewage from the Amichai settlement (the first new government-backed settlement in 20 years, established in the Shiloh Valley as pay-off to the evacuees of the illegal Amona outpost) has been flowing into the agricultural lands of the nearby Palestinian village Turmus Ayya.

The settlers dug a temporary sewage site (a pit in the ground that is now overflowing) only a few meters from Palestinian farm lands. Settlers have been living in mobile homes on the site of the settlement (which has not been built yet) for less than four months, and Palestinians say the the sewage began overflowing two months ago. A permanent sewage site for the settlement has not yet been built, in part because the settlement plans were approved at a “dizzying speed,” as Haaretz explains it.

Israeli President Cautions Against Shaked’s Bill to Politicize Key Legal Appointments

At a swearing in ceremony for new judges, Israeli President Reuven Rivlin took the opportunity to pointedly criticize a bill promoted by Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked which would, by design, politicize the appointment of ministerial legal advisors (a bill FMEP reported on here).

Rivlin said:

“we need independent legal advisors whose commitment to the law and being gatekeepers flows in their veins and constitutes the essence of their professional ethic. I understand elected officials. I too served in one or two roles before I reached this house, and I didn’t always agree with the legal advisor’s position. However, I believe we must be careful not to weaken one of the important pillars of the executive branch in Israeli democracy. We all want a legal advisor who’ll serve all elected officials from anywhere in the political spectrum in exactly the same way. Faithfully, devotedly, professionally, committed to government policy and primarily responsibility to uphold the law.”

United Nations Envoy: Israel is Moving Towards Formal Annexation

Ahead of the United Nations Human Rights Council’s meeting on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, legal expert Michael Lynk told press that:

“After years of creeping Israeli de facto annexation of the large swathes of the West Bank through settlement expansion, the creation of closed military zones and other measures, Israel appears to be getting closer to enacting legislation that will formally annex parts of the West Bank. This would amount to a profound violation of international law, and the impact of ongoing settlement expansion on human rights must not be ignored.”

The statement was later posted on the Human Rights Council’s website.

Bonus Reads

1. “US administration silent on Israel’s occupation policy” (Al Monitor)
2. “A Tango of Violence: Building Outposts on Palestinian Land” (Haaretz)
3. “The Maps of Israeli Settlements that Shocked Barack Obama” (The New Yorker)
4. “Israel slams ‘immoral’ Irish bill banning trade with settlements” (Times of Israel)
5. “The demolition of Khan al-Ahmar is more than just a war crime” (+972 Mag)

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

To receive this report via email, please click here.

June 28, 2018

1. Israeli Govt Advances Plans for 1,064 New Settlement Units in East Jerusalem
2. Justice Minister Pushes Bill to Further Politicize Legal Environment
3. New Moves Make Bad Situation Worse for al-Walajah
4. Israeli Ministry Funds Settlement Farm Schools Built on Private Palestinian Land
5. Israeli Anthropological Association Rejects Annexation-By-Academia
6. Bonus Reads

Comments, questions, or suggestions? Email Kristin McCarthy at kmccarthy@fmep.org.

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Israeli Govt Advances Plans for 1,064 New Settlement Units in East Jerusalem

The Israeli government in recent days deposited for public review six plans to expand the East Jerusalem settlement of Pisgat Ze’ev, totaling 1,064 new settlement units. After being deposited, the public has 60 days to submit objections, which will then be considered by the High Planning Council which will either recommend changes to the plan or validate it (meaning, give it final approval).

Ir Amim reports:

“Most of the plans will expand Pisgat Ze’ev to the west, pushing it further to the limits of Beit Hanina, and east toward Hizma [two Palestinian neighborhoods in the norther part of East Jerusalem]. The narrowing proximity of Israeli and Palestinian neighborhoods along the northern perimeter increases tensions on the ground, throwing into stark relief the endemic discrimination between planning and resource investment in Palestinian and Israeli neighborhoods. Further, enduring discrimination in the planning process – the suppression of detailed outline plans (requisite for access to building permits) for Palestinian residents alongside continued growth and expansion of Israeli neighborhoods/settlements in East Jerusalem – serves as a powerful Palestinian displacement mechanism in support of Israel’s demographic goals.”

Justice Minister Pushes Bill to Further Politicize Legal Environment

On June 25th, the Knesset Constitution, Law, and Justice Committee considered a bill, introduced by Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked (Jewish Home), that would empower Cabinet Ministers to select their own ministerial legal advisors. Historically non-political positions, the ministerial legal advisors, referred to as “gatekeepers,” work to ensure that ministerial activities are taken up and implemented in accordance with Israeli law. This move is just the latest Shaked effort to politicize elements of the Israeli legal environment in favor of the de facto annexation of settlements.

Under current Israeli law, legal advisors are appointed through a public tender process that ministers cannot influence. Under Shaked’s bill, each ministry would create a selection committee to the fill the position. The members of the selection committee would be chosen by the relevant minister, and the committee’s decision on a candidate would then require the approval of the relevant minister and the Attorney General. The proposal would effectively allow each minister to choose the legal advisor he or she wants. Haaretz explains:

“The ‘selection committee’ would exist in name only, a way to whitewash the complete politicization of the position of ministry counsel. In the name of governability, Shaked seeks to eliminate the gatekeeper function of the legal adviser, protecting human and minority rights and fighting corruption and damage to proper public administration.”

Current Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit submitted an 11-page brief to the Knesset ahead of the hearing, which he attended in person to argue against the bill. He was joined by two former Attorneys General, Yitzhak Zamir and Elyakim Rubinstein, who also argued against the bill in the Knesset on June 25th.  Zamir told the committee, “the entire legal community,” opposes the politicization of the ministerial legal advisor position as proposed in the bill.

Shortly after assuming office in 2015, Shaked hired a private lawyer, Amir Fisher (who also represents the settler group Regavim), to essentially write the State’s responses to petitions before the High court that deal with settlements. In June 2017, Shaked announced that all Knesset bill’s seeking government backing must include a legal opinion explaining the method by which the bill can be applied to the settlements (by Military Order or directly). In January 2018, Shaked announced that she had reorganized the Justice Ministry in order to create a new unit tasked with coordinating the application of Israeli laws in the settlements across government ministries. In February 2018, the Ministerial Committee for Legislation voted to give government backing to a bill introduced by Shaked which would transfer jurisdiction over certain West Bank legal petitions (including Palestinian petitions relating to land disputes, travel permits, and building permits) from the High Court of Justice to the Jerusalem District Court – where Shaked installed a pro-settlement judge. The bill received government backing in February 2018 and passed its first reading in the Knesset May 2018. In April 2018, Shaked and Education Minister Naftali Bennett (Jewish Home) advanced a bill that would allow the Knesset to reinstate a law that the High Court of Justice overturned (the Ministerial Committee on Legislation, of which Shaked and Bennett are members, voted to give government backing to the bill in May 2018).

FMEP tracks all these developments in the Israeli legal system with regards to settlements and annexation in its regularly-updated annexation policy tables.

New Moves Make Bad Situation Worse for al-Walajah

Haaretz reports that that the Jerusalem District Planning Committee gave final approval to a plan to relocate the “Ein Yael” checkpoint, which controls traffic into and out of the Palestinian village of al-Walajah. By moving the checkpoint, Israel will be able to prevent Palestinian access to the recently renovated Ein Haniya spring and further consolidate Israeli control over the village’s access to Jerusalem.

FMEP has covered the relocation of the Ein Yael checkpoint previously, first and most extensively in February 2018, when construction on the new checkpoint began, and then in March 2018 when the Israeli government admitted in court that construction permits for work on the new checkpoint had been issued illegally. Since them, all the necessary authorizations have been properly issued and construction of the new checkpoint can resume.

Haaretz observes that the relocation of the checkpoint, coupled with the June 15th advancement of a plan to build the Har Gilo West settlement (see FMEP reporting here) will completely isolate al-Walajah and create an “unbroken stretch of Jewish construction from Jerusalem to Bethlehem in the West Bank.”

Ir Amim research Aviv Tatarsky said:

“Har Gilo’s expansion and the checkpoint’s relocation give us an opportunity to see the true significance of the greater Jerusalem plan. The expansion will create contiguity between Jerusalem and the settlements near Bethlehem, and also strangle Al-Walaja. These are two sides of the same coin. The situation in which Israel chooses to expand settlements in a way meant to perpetuate its control over millions of Palestinians without citizenship cannot be sustainable. But when the day we finally understand this arrives, the price of fixing it will be much higher.”

FMEP has repeatedly documented various Israeli efforts to seal off al-Walajah from Jerusalem. Residents of al-Walajah have fought the growing encroachment by the nearby Etzion settlement bloc and the Israeli government’s attempt to de facto annex the bloc as part of “Greater Jerusalem.” Ir Amim explains several prongs of this effort, including a particularly unbelievable section of Israel’s separation barrier planned to almost completely encircle the village, to turn its valuable agricultural land into an urban park for Jerusalem, and construction of a highway that will connect the Etzion settlement bloc to Jerusalem with Israeli-only bypass roads.

Israeli Ministry Funds Settlement Farm Schools Built on Private Palestinian Land

Haaretz reports that the Israeli Education Ministry is supporting two farm schools built on privately owned Palestinian land in the West Bank. The farms in questions – one near the Efrat settlement and one near the Geva Benyamin settlement – were built by local settlement councils for “ecological agricultural education,” and are officially supported by the Education Ministry. In 2017, the Efrat settlement received $274,000 USD from the government to build the farm (the settlement’s budget did not specify which ministry transferred the funds).

The Efrat local council argued that their farm school is located on state land (and therefore, even if built improperly, is eligible for retroactive legalization). However, the council acknowledges the school is outside of the so-called “blue line,” which is the Israeli government’s demarcation of land in the West Bank that it has granted to settlements. The council’s disregard for the blue line’s relevance adds to the call to disband the IDF team responsible for accurately demarcating the “blue line.”  If the blue line team is disbanded, Israel will cease making any effort to identify if and where settlement boundaries include private Palestinian land, let alone retroactively returning such land to the control of its owners. Israeli Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit has reportedly already agreed to this recommendation.

Israeli Anthropological Association Rejects Annexation-By-Academia

The Israeli Anthropological Association voted 49-25 to stop cooperating with institutes of higher education based in the occupied West Bank, a ban which extends to holding “conferences and workshops or any general interaction.” The Association states that the decision is applied only to institutions, not students or professors associated with the institutes.

In a statement, the Israeli Anthropological Association said:

“Putting Ariel University, Herzog College, and Orot Israel College [all in West Bank settlements] harms both Israeli society and the academy (and…) it undercuts the Council’s position as a barrier to the politicization of the Israeli academy, science, and higher education, and drags academics working in Israeli academic institutions into supporting the occupation and annexation efforts.”

The decision follows the February 2018 passage of a bill to extend Israeli domestic law over universities and colleges in the settlements. Know as the “Ariel Bill,” it effectively annexes colleges and universities in settlements by bringing them under the authority of the domestic Israeli Council for Higher Education.

Bonus Reads

1. “As Israel Pushes to Build, Bedouin Homes and School Face Demolition” (New York Times)
2. “In memory of Felicia Langer, the first lawyer to bring the occupation to court” (+972 Mag)
3. “Trump and Netanyahu have not learned from history – they are repeating it” (+972 Mag)
4. “Donald Trump’s Policies are Hurting Palestinians and Middle East Peace Prospects” (Sen. Dianne Feinstein, USA Today)
5. “Israeli settlers burn 300 Palestinian olive trees in Nablus District” (Maan)

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

To receive this report via email, please click here.

June 21, 2018

1. Settlers Attack Israeli Police Evacuating Structures in West Bank Outpost
2. Israel Strips Palestinians of Ability to Challenge Demolition Orders
3. Applying Israeli Domestic Law to Settlements: Knesset Passes One Bill,  Advances a Second
4. High Court Demands Further Explanation re: Justice Ministry’s Decision Transfer Silwan/Batan al Hawa Property to Settlers
5. Bibi Calls (again) for Permanent Control Over the West Bank
6. A Case Study of Israel’s Discriminatory & Strategic Planning Policies in Area C: the Village of Nabi Samwil
7. New UN Report Expected to Criticize Israel for Conduct in Gaza & for Settlement Activity

Comments, questions, or suggestions? Email Kristin McCarthy at kmccarthy@fmep.org.

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Settlers Attack Israeli Police Evacuating Structures in West Bank Outpost

On June 17th, hundreds of Israeli police officers carried out the court-ordered evacuation of 10 uninhabited structures in the outpost known as West Tapuah, in an area south of Nablus known to be a hotbed of settler extremism. During the demolition, dozens of settlers attacked the police, throwing bleach, stones, sticks, eggs, and other objects. 11 police officers were injured; 6 settlers were arrested on the scene.

The court ordered the evacuation because settlers built the structures on privately owned Palestinian land. The evacuation comes on the heels of the February 2017 High Court ruling on a petition filed by Yesh Din regarding the outpost. In that ruling, the Court ordered the state to relocate or demolish 17 structures in the West Tapuah outpost, seven of which were relocated (to “state land” in the Tapuah settlement) prior to June 17th. But significantly, the ruling rejected Yesh Din’s motion to have the entire outpost evacuated, and instead accepted the state’s plan to retroactively legalize 18 structures in the outpost that were built on state land. The state argued for the plan based on the settlement “Regulation Law” which is currently being weighed by High Court and expected to be overturned.

The settler violence in the West Tapuah outpost came less than a week after similar settler violence against Israeli forces during the demolition of structures in the Netiv Ha’avot outpost (which the Israeli government also plans on retroactively legalizing). While several left-wing Israeli lawmakers spoke out against the violence coming from the settler movement, right-wing politicians who are typically quick to denounce Palestinian violence against Israeli police have been notably silent. Writing in Yediot Ahronot, former Peace Now Secretary General Yariv Oppenheimer observed:

“Justice Minister Shaked, who sponsored legislation to ramp up punishments for stone throwers, is silent. Internal Security Minister Erdan, who rushes to slam and point an accusing finger at the Arab sector following every incident, is silent. Defense Minister Lieberman, who made his political capital from his incitement against Arab Knesset members, is silent. And Prime Minister Netanyahu has already learned that he shouldn’t get into trouble with the hard core of the right-wing support base. The Tapuach settlers are immune. One doesn’t have to go too far to understand the extent of hypocrisy here. Only seven months ago, the whole country was shocked by the documentation of teenager Ahed Tamimi confronting and slapping two soldiers. The incident was met with endless condemnations from the Right, and although she didn’t physically wound anyone, the demand for her arrest was loud and clear.”

In +972 Mag, Joshua Leifer noted another inconsistency:

“In the West Bank, the consequences for throwing stones at Israeli soldiers differ dramatically, depending on who’s doing the throwing. The same act, when carried out by Jews in the West Bank, is met — often literally — with a soft-gloved hand. When carried out by Palestinians, the punishment can be as severe as death.”

Israel Strips Palestinians of Ability to Challenge Demolition Orders

On June 17th, a new Israeli military order entered into effect denying Palestinians living in the West Bank any right to legally challenge most demolition orders issued by the Civil Administration. The new diktat applies in cases where Israeli authorities deem Palestinian construction to be new, defined to mean construction that is incomplete or completed in the past six months. New residential construction may be demolished if still unoccupied or newly occupied (within 30 days). In cases where the owner of the targeted property has a building permit, they have 96 hours within which to apply to have the demolition canceled; if they fail to do so (and fail to self-demolish), Israeli authorities may “remove the structure and anything attached thereto from the property”, so long as it is “not located within the confines of a detailed building plan”, and after consulting with the legal advisor or his representative.

In short, under the new order, Israel can summarily demolish Palestinian homes, with impunity. This is just the latest Israeli effort to deny Palestinians the right to challenge Israeli policies that deprive them of the right to build on their own land.

B’Tselem notes:

“About a year ago, the state attempted to use a different method, originally designed to remove illegal settlement outposts. The military declared an area where an entire community resides as a ‘restricted area’ and ordered the removal of any real property found therein, foregoing the need to issue demolition orders for each structure separately. The state has so far issued such orders against three [Palestinian] communities. The communities have petitioned Israel’s High Court of Justice and are awaiting its decision.”

Prior to this new military order, Palestinians had a theoretical right to challenge demolition orders. That legal process was already deeply problematic (usually ending, predictably, with the demolition being carried out), but at least provided some hope and a delay before the family in question lost their home. This new order, in effect, removes even the pretense that Israel offers Palestinians any chance to defend their rights.

As B’Tselem explains:

“In essence, the new military order removes the façade of judicial review over demolition orders and over Israel’s planning and building policy in the West Bank. This is no trifling matter: upholding the regime of occupation requires façades and Israel goes to great lengths to maintain them. This is true of the military law enforcement system, the military courts and the takeover of tens of thousands of hectares in the West Bank. Israel’s readiness to lift the veil on this matter indicates its plan to accelerate and expand the dispossession of Palestinians throughout the West Bank, and a conviction that it will not be called to task over this either internationally or locally.”

Applying Israeli Domestic Law to Settlements: Knesset Passes One Bill,  Advances a Second

On June 18th, the Israeli Knesset voted on two bills which apply Israeli domestic law over the settlements, further destroying the legal significance the Green Line and effecting the de facto annexation of the settlements.

The first bill, which was passed into law, allows chicken farmers located in the settlements to sell their egg-production quotas to farmers in sovereign Israel (whose quotas are smaller). The second bill, which was passed through its first reading, would allow certain tax revenues from inside sovereign Israel to be sent to the settlements (FMEP covered this bill in the June 8th Settlement Report).

Following the votes, MK Abd al-Hakim Hajj Yahya (Joint List) said:

“Carrying out creeping annexation on the backs of the chickens too is getting to be too much. These are quotas from people who are living [in the West Bank] in violation of international law – war criminals who are in the territories as settlers. What is needed is to return them [the settlers] rather than unnecessarily returning the egg quotas that they have there” to Israel.”

MK Hilik Bar (Zionist Union) challenged the Knesset in regards to the tax-sharing bill:

“Your agenda is annexation, so don’t carry out creeping annexation. Instead, put it on the table and pass an annexation bill. Let’s see you let the truth blow up in your faces.”

As FMEP has extensively documented, Israel’s accelerating efforts to apply Israel domestic law outside of its sovereign borders is one of the key ways by which Israel is moving to unilaterally annex territory in the West Bank.

High Court Demands Further Explanation re: Justice Ministry’s Decision Transfer Silwan/Batan al Hawa Property to Settlers

The Israeli High Court of Justice has ordered the Justice Ministry to provide more information regarding its 2002 decision to transfer land in the Batan al Hawa area of Silwan, in East Jerusalem, to a trust controlled by the Ateret Cohanim settler organization. The Court asked the Justice Ministry to explain how it determined that the original deed from the Ottoman era was eligible for transfer, and if the 700 Palestinians affected by the deed transfer were given proper notice. The Court also asked the petitioners to provide information on any previous legal data involving the land.

As FMEP reported last week, Ateret Cohanim facilitates and encourages Jewish Israelis to settle in Palestinian neighborhoods of East Jerusalem. Ir Amim reports that Ateret Cohanim’s takeover of land in Batan al-Hawa is, “the single largest takeover campaign in a Palestinian neighborhood of Jerusalem since 1967.”

Bibi Calls (again) for Permanent Control Over the West Bank

On June 17th, the Israeli Shin Bet announced that it had uncovered a Hamas cell in Nablus that had allegedly been working for months to plan bombings and suicide attacks on Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, and the Itamar settlement. In response, Prime Minister Netanyahu said, “Hamas is trying to harm us both from Gaza and from Judea and Samaria. That’s why we will continue to maintain security control over all the territory west of the Jordan [River].”

This is not the first time Netanyahu has said that Israel will never give up the West Bank. For example, in August 2017, he vowed that no more settlements would ever be removed and, speaking of the West Bank, promised, “We are here to stay, forever.” In a speech delivered in July 2014, during Israel’s military assault on Gaza, Netanyahu stated: “I think the Israeli people understand now what I always say: that there cannot be a situation, under any agreement, in which we relinquish security control of the territory west of the River Jordan.”

A Case Study of Israel’s Discriminatory & Strategic Planning Policies in Area C: the Village of Nabi Samwil

A new report published by Al-Haq – “Hidden In Plain Sight: The Village Of Nabi Samwil” – examines how the lives of Palestinians living in the village of Nabi Samwil have been severely impacted by Israel’s discriminatory planning policies. Al-Haq shows how Israel’s treatment of Nabi Samwil is aimed at displacing Palestinians from the area by creating “a coercive environment that propels their transfer from Nabi Samwil.”

Located on one of highest mountain tops east of Jerusalem, Nabi Samwil has been a target for Israeli takeover since 1971 (at least), when Israeli lawmakers lamented the failure of the government to include Nabi Samwil in the municipal borders of Jerusalem that were expanded following the 1967 war. Arguing that the village was of high strategic importance, the Israeli government took actions to encourage Palestinians to leave – including demolishing 52 homes in a single day – while advancing plans to build Israeli settlements in the area.  

The situation took a turn for the worse in 1995 when, in light of the state’s new focus on the religious significance of the area, which is said to be where the prophet Samuel is buried, Israel declared the area a national park. Since then, Israel has undertaken excavations that have further negatively impacted Nabi Samwil residents.

The lives of Nabi Samwil’s residents became nearly unbearable starting in 2005, when Israel built its West Bank separation barrier to the east of the village – in effect isolating Nabi Samwil. The village is still technically located in the West Bank, not Jerusalem. Its residents carry West Bank ID cards, meaning they are legally forbidden from entering Israel without a special permit (which few have) and must look to the West Bank – now cut off from them by the barrier, for all their needs. In order to enter/exit the West Bank residents must pass through an Israeli checkpoint, where Israeli regulations prevent them from carrying virtually anything with them.

As a result, living conditions in Nabi Samwil – including decaying house, absence of health, education, and sanitation services, no local employment, and being cut off from the fabric of life of the West Bank (other Palestinians cannot visit Nabi Samwil unless they have an Israeli-issued permit to enter Jerusalem) – are among the worst in the entire West Bank. Efforts to improve these conditions have for years been blocked by Israel, even as settlement construction surges in the surrounding area.

Despite all of this, Nabi Samwil’s residents refuse to leave.

Al-Haq writes:

“Every aspect of life for Palestinians in Nabi Samwil is shaped and impacted by an array of Israeli policies and practices that target the land and its people. As described by one resident, living in Nabi Samwil is like being confined to ‘an invisible cage.’”

New UN Report Expected to Criticize Israel for Conduct in Gaza & for Settlement Activity

United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres is expected to release a new report that will be harshly critical of Israel’s handling of protests along the Gaza fence and, once again, call out Israel for its unabated, illegal settlement activity. The U.S. reportedly tried to suppress the report, which was leaked to the press before Amb. Nikki Haley announced the U.S. withdrawal from the UN Human Rights Council on June 19th.

 

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

To receive this report via email, please click here.

June 8, 2018

1. Government to High Court: The “Regulation Law” Has Flaws, But Striking it Down Would ‘Undermine the Knesset’s Sovereignty’
2. Attorney General to High Court: “Regulation Law” Should Be Overturned, But Not Because of International Law
3. Petitioners to High Court: Settlement “Regulation Law” Violates International Law, Must Be Struck Down
4. Knesset Pushes De Facto Annexation with New Tax Legislation
5. Settlers Plan Protest Against Netiv Ha’avot Outpost Demolitions
6. Defense Ministry Reassures Knesset About Plan Stop “Palestinian Takeover” of Area C
7. Wild Wild West: Government Funded Horse Farms Built Illegally on Palestinian Land
8. Bonus Reads

Comments, questions, or suggestions? Email Kristin McCarthy at kmccarthy@fmep.org.

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Government to High Court: The “Regulation Law” Has Flaws, But Striking it Down Would ‘Undermine the Knesset’s Sovereignty’

The Israeli High Court of Justice heard oral arguments on the settlement “Regulation Law” on Sunday, June 3rd. The law was passed by the Knesset in February 2017 to provide an avenue for the Israeli government to seize privately owned Palestinian land for settlements and outposts. For a more detailed explanation and chronological documentation of the “Regulation Law” and the events related to it, see FMEP’s tables tracking annexation policies here.

The Israeli government was represented by private attorney Harel Arnon, and the Israeli Knesset was represented by attorney Eyal Yinon. Though arguing separately, Arnon and Yinon made some of the same flabbergasting arguments in defense of the extraordinary concept that Israel can and must legislate laws for the occupied territories, outside of Israel’s sovereign borders, and that in doing so it has the right, and even the necessity, to trample the basic concept of the sanctity of private property ownership. Their defense, which reads like a laundry list of the classic logic fallacies, argued (and threatened):

1. False Dilemma/False Choice fallacy: Arnon admitted, “It’s possible to find a flaw here and there; but in the end, there is no other solution.” Yinon argued that the Court should try to fix the law instead of striking it down.
2. Slippery Slope fallacy: Arnon argued, “The Knesset has the right to dictate the rules of the games of the legal system” threatening, “If the High Court lets international law trump Israeli Knesset laws, then soon it will need to worry about petitions against Israeli control of the West Bank and Golan areas which until now were not in play.”
3. Two Wrongs Make a Right, Tu Quoque (“you too”), and False Dilemma/False Choice fallacies: Since the government helped finance and plan settlements and outposts built on private Palestinian land, it cannot punish the settlers now. Arnon said that the government has “spoken in two voices,” on the one hand financing the settlements, and then calling them illegal in retrospect.
4. Appeal to Pity fallacy: The lawyers doubled down on the “distress of the settlers” argument made in written defenses submitted to the Court last year. They argue that the law is a response to the plight of Israeli settlers whom government has thus far left hanging out to dry. Yinon argued, “extraordinary measures must be taken to address the real distress” of the settlers.
5. Appeal to Ignorance and Equivocation fallacies: Arnon argued, “I do not know of a case in which they [the government and/or the settlers] took control of private land and expelled its owners. These are lands that were uncultivated and unregulated, and there was a basis for assuming that they would become state land in the future.” The argument suggests that legal ownership of the land is a technical and irrelevant matter. It also suggests that the Palestinians did not use or want their own land — until Israelis took it — and they are just trying to cause problems.
6. Ad Hominem fallacy: Arnon told Israel Radio that the petitioners have “a political motive, and not concerns for the landowners’ interests…” He also noted that “the law allows for generous compensation or alternative land, while leaving the settlers in their homes.”
7. Straw Man fallacy: Arnon asserted that the effort to strike down the law “has only one purpose – to destroy the settlement enterprise.”

Arnon ventured to give the High Court three government-approved ways to move forward:  allow the Regulation Law to stand, warts and all; amend the law by somehow shrinking its scope; or withhold judgement on the law and instead instruct the Knesset on how to amend the law so that it does not run afoul of the Court. The High Court does not have to choose any of Arnon’s options.

Attorney General to High Court: “Regulation Law” Should Be Overturned, But Not Because of International Law

Attorney General Avichai Mandleblit – who has made his opposition to the legal framework in the “Regulation Law” abundantly clear by refusing to represent the government in the case – was not present for the oral arguments at the High Court this week, but his office was represented by attorney Anar Helman. Helman told the court:

“In the attorney general’s opinion the Regulation Law is null and void…In the attorney general’s view, the dominant feature of this law is insensitive to human rights of those whose rights were violated—the Palestinian resident who have rights over the lands. There is no balance…Neither the Palestinians’ nor the Israeli citizens’ right to property is absolute, but the Regulation Law’s purpose is not to strike a balance (between the two) but to mainly promote the regulation for the betterment of Israeli settlements.”

Helman called for the law to be struck down based on Israeli domestic law, but lended the Attorney General’s support to the utter disregard for international law which formed the basis of the Knesset and State’s defense of the law (see the section above). Helman told the Court to put aside issues of international law, to be decided on another day.

Helman’s hedging on international law is consistent with the Attorney General’s prescription of an alternative legal basis by which Israel can (and should) regulate land disputes in the West Bank. In his written opposition to the Regulation Law, AG Mandelblit endorsed the concept of expropriating privately owned Palestinian land for settlements based on the “Market Regulation” principle. That principle – which is being swiftly adopted by the Israel government as a new and powerful tool to – justifies the Israeli government expropriating privately owned Palestinian land in order to retroactively legalize settlement structures and outposts, based on the fact that the illegal settler construction was undertaken “in good faith.”

Notably, Chief Justice Hayut criticized all three attorneys who argued on behalf of government bodies for having “openly avoided those issues” of international law.

Petitioners to High Court: Settlement “Regulation Law” Violates International Law, Must Be Struck Down

The groups challenging the Regular Law – including Yesh Din, Peace Now, Adalah, and ACRI on behalf of 40 Palestinian local councils – presented the Court one straightforward, clear-cut, legally decisive argument: The “Regulation Law” violates international law. This is the very same argument that the lawyers representing the State, the Knesset, and the Attorney General attempted to persuade the Court to completely reject or ignore.

Attorney Michael Sfard, representing Yesh Din, argued that international law only allows an occupying power to temporarily seize land for security needs, not to “take land from Mousa [in order] to give it to Moshe.”

Representing Adalah, attorney Hassan Jabareen argued that the basic premise of the government’s defense – that the Knesset has authority to legislate Palestinian affairs in the occupied West Bank – is illegitimate. Jabareen explained that the Knesset’s assertion of power over West Bank affairs (and the government’s defense of it) constitutes a “legal revolution” which seeks to change the norm that has maintained a separation between Israel’s domestically elected government and the Israeli military’s administration of the occupied territories.

Attorney Suhad Bishara, representing Adalah, told the High Court, powerfully:

“This law, intended to authorize theft of land, is illegitimate and violates international humanitarian law. This law makes the Palestinian invisible. They take from me because I am Palestinian. Legally, I do not exist. My rights do not exist. They take from me by force because I am under occupation.”

Knesset Pushes De Facto Annexation with New Tax Legislation

The Knesset’s Interior Committee sent a bill to the Knesset plenum which seeks to extend Israeli law into the West Bank (an act of de facto annexation) in order to send certain Israeli tax revenues to settlements. Current Israeli law allows tax funds to be transferred between communities inside of sovereign Israel, a tax sharing arrangement that stops at the Green Line; the bill advanced this week will allow a one-directional transfer from Israel into West Bank settlements, with the Interior Committee discussion making it clear that the law will not allow tax revenue from wealthy West Bank settlements to be brought into sovereign Israel.

The Haaretz Editorial Board eviscerated the bill in a piece titled “The Knesset Wants Apartheid.” In it, the Editors write:

“The current Knesset is persistently carrying out a creeping legal annexation of the occupied territories, applying more and more Knesset laws to the West Bank while erasing the Green Line…This government is acting for the settlers’ interests on two levels: It is advancing bills intended to blur the distinction between the sovereign state of Israel and the settlements. At the same time, it continues to conduct clear financial discrimination in favor of the settlements, which receive much more generous government funding and have the status of a national priority region.”

Joint List MK Yousef Jabareen criticized the bill, saying

“its goal is to legitimize funneling municipal taxes and other taxes collected in Israel to settlements in the occupied territories…In practice this is another in a series of annexation bills the rightist government is advancing to apply Israeli law beyond the Green Line.”

Peace Now slammed the bill, tweeting:

“Are you an Israeli within the Green Line? The @netanyahu govt is advancing a bill to send your property taxes from localities within Israel to those in the settlements. As for Israeli communities affected by Gaza rocket fire, for this govt they take a back seat.”

The flow of tax revenue from sovereign Israel into the settlements is a complex and multifaceted issue. According to Adva, an Israeli NGO which produces an annual report documenting the price of the occupation, approximately 25% of Israel’s annual budget goes to the Defense Ministry, which administers all affairs in the Occupied Territories. However, the Defense Ministry is a black hole when it comes to its books, and it is unclear how much of the government’s tax-payer funded budget goes towards settlements or the occupation more generally. If passed into law, this new bill will only add to the extraordinarily high cost of the occupation that is levied on Israeli taxpayers.

Settlers Plan Protest Against Netiv Ha’avot Outpost Demolitions

Settlers from the Netiv Ha’avot outpost are planning a final protest against the demolition of 15 structures in the outpost which are slated to be demolished on June 12th. According to a report from Arutz Sheva, a settler-aligned media outlet, the settlers and their allies are planning to rally against the demolitions as they take place. Just this week a group of settlement-based rabbis penned a letter calling for the Israeli public to join the demonstration.

According to a seperate report by the Arutz Sheva, the head of the IDF Central Command has been negotiating with the settlers regarding the protests. Under a reported agreement, “violence is not expected, and there will be passive resistance in 2 of the 15 houses” (whatever that means). Last year, when the IDF moved in to demolish another structure in the Netiv Ha’avot outpost protests against the demolition turn (mildly) violent. Israeli soldiers had to drag settlers out of a building one-by-one, and settler set tires on fire in an attempt to prevent the IDF from reaching the unauthorized structure.

The planned demolitions are just the latest development in the saga of Netiv Ha’avot. After a protracted legal battle the High Court refused to compromise on the demolition plan, so the state and the Knesset has been advancing legislation that will retroactively legalize the entire outpost, creating in effect an entirely new, official settlement to house the settlers who will be displaced by the demolitions next week, and – to top it all off – to create a slush fund to pay-off the settlers impacted by the demolitions.

Defense Ministry Reassures Knesset About Plan Stop “Palestinian Takeover” of Area C

A report from the settler-aligned (and Sheldon Adelson-backed) media outlet Israel Hayom detailed the proceedings of an emergency hearing – held by the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs & Defense Subcommittee on Judea and Samaria – entitled, “the Palestinian Authority’s strategic takeover of Area C.”

During the hearing the Defense Ministry’s settlement affairs secretary, Kobu Eliraz, told Knesset members that the Defense Ministry is “familiar” with the Palestinian Authority’s alleged efforts to take over Area C and is “pursuing operative, legal and administrative measures to stop it. We have an orderly work plan in place that includes clear objectives.” Eliraz also noted that the Defense Ministry has stopped nearly all “illegal” funding from the European Union for Palestinian communities in Area C.

Colonel Uri Mendes, deputy head of the Civil Administration, was also in attendance and noted that the Civil Administration (which is the body of the Israeli Defense Ministry which, under current Israeli law, acts as the sovereign power administering Palestinian affairs in the West Bank) meets once a month to discuss illegal Palestinian construction in Area C.

The Knesset committee hearing and the comments of the Defense Ministry officials represent an extraordinary manipulation of the facts regarding Area C — a term which refers to the 60% of the occupied West Bank which the Oslo Accords temporarily assigned to complete Israeli control (civil and security) as part of an interim agreement designed to remain in place for a short period pending  conclusion of final status negotiations. Since then, Israel has implemented a discriminatory planning policy in Area C, which B’Tselem says is aimed at “preventing Palestinian development and dispossessing Palestinians of their land.” While implementing a planning system under which it is nearly impossible for Palestinians to obtain building permits, Israel routinely enforces demolition orders against Palestinian structures built without the permissions.

The facts well-documented facts regarding construction, demolition, displacement, and settlement growth show clearly that it is, in fact, Israel who is implementing an unapologetic and undisguised takeover of Area C. Members of the Knesset and the Defense Ministry do not try to hide that fact, evidenced not only in the subcommittee hearing but also in the growing call for Israel to unilaterally annex Area C. Just this week, punctuating the effort to normalize Israeli de facto annexation of Area C, Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely asked the travel site TripAdvisor to designate “Israel” as the location of hotels that are located in Area C settlements (the site currently lists the location, accurately, as “Palestinian Territories”). In a letter to the CEO, Hotovely argued that “There must be no politicization of sites in Judea and Samaria that fall under Israeli control.” TripAdvisor declined the suggestion, replying that the site “complies with international tourism industry standards.”

Wild Wild West: Government Funded Horse Farms Built Illegally on Palestinian Land

A new report by Kerem Navot, titled “Blazing Saddles,” reveals that government-funded horse farms in the West Bank are an increasingly popular and effective way in which settlers are illegally seizing Palestinian land.

The report maps the locations and examines the legal status of 65 such horse farms: 28 are professionally operated as business ventures, while the remaining 37 are private, hobby stables. In total, 31 horse farms (11 professional and 20 private) are built partially or entirely on privately owned Palestinian land.

The report also explains how government money is flowing to many of the professional horse stables through healthcare organization which fund therapeutic riding lessons as a treatment for patients (many of whom are living in sovereign Israel and traveling to the West Bank settlements for riding lessons).

Kerem Navot also reports:

“Illegal construction of stables and horse farms in settlements and outposts is also well known to the civilian body responsible for enforcing planning and construction laws in the West Bank, namely the Civil Administration. Over the years, the Civil Administration’s supervision unit has issued no fewer than 44 demolition orders for illegally constructed Israeli structures that are used as stables and horse farms. Needless to mention, as with the vast majority of demolition orders issued by the Civil Administration over the years for thousands of structures in settlements and outposts, in most of these cases nothing was done to implement the orders, evacuate the structures, demolish them, or punish the perpetrators.”

Bonus Reads

1. “Will Israel Annex the Jordan Valley?” (Al-Monitor)
2. “The Israeli gov’t is arguing that annexation is good for Palestinians” (+972 Mag)
3. “Israel’s Land-Grab Law is a Brazen, Decisive Step Towards Annexation” (Haaretz)S

***In total, the Israeli government advanced plans for 3,120 new settlement units this week alone. Details, along with additional significant settlement news, are below.***

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

To receive this report via email, please click here.

June 1, 2018

1. Plans Advance for 1,958 New Settlement Units
2. Tenders Published for 1,162 New Settlement Units
3. Israeli Chief Justice Questions Legal Opinion Regarding Status of Settlers
4. Knesset Advances Bill to Bring West Bank Land Cases Under Israeli Domestic Jurisdiction (De Facto Annexation)
5. Labor MK Calls on Left to Endorse De Facto Annexation of “Settlement Blocs”
6. Israeli Security Increase Presence Near Radical Settlements
7. Human Rights Watch: Israeli Banks Are Integral Part of the Settlements Enterprise
8. U.S. Ambassador Friedman on Settlements, Annexation, Trump “Peace Plan,” & More
9. Bonus Reads

Comments, questions, or suggestions? Email Kristin McCarthy at kmccarthy@fmep.org.

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Plans Advance for 1,958 New Settlement Units

On May 30th, the Israeli High Planning Council advanced plans for 1,958 new settlement units, located across the West Bank. Of the total, 696 units received final approval and 1,262 units were approved for deposit for public review (a key, step in the planning process). Peace Now estimates that 80% of the planned units are to be built in isolated settlements and that 1,500 of the units are to be built outside of the “built up” area of existing settlements. Two of the plans would establish two entirely new settlements.

Adding insult to injury (or in this case, to a war crime), the Council gave final approval (“validation”) to a provocative plan to build 92 units near the Kfar Adumim settlement east of Jerusalem, less than a mile from the soon-to-be forcibly removed Khan al-Ahmar bedouin community. Those new units will considerably expand the footprint of the Kfar Adumim settlement by building a new neighborhood (called “Nofei Bereishit” meaning “the landscapes of Genesis” in Hebrew), which will serve to connect the existing settlement structures to the site of a future school campus slated to serve several Israeli settlements in the area.

With respect to the Kfar Adumim expansion plan, Peace Now writes:

“The approval of the plan is the embodiment of exploitation and evil. The government stubbornly refuses to grant building permits to 32 Palestinian families living on about 40 dunams in the area and intends to evict them, but at the same time approves construction on large areas for hundreds of Israeli families. If there is anything that blackens Israel’s image in this world, it is the cruelty and discrimination that reeks to the heavens in this case. Neither is there any real Israeli national interest behind the destruction of the village.”

With respect to the plans advanced for two new government-sanctioned settlements, the details are:

• A plan for 189 units in the unauthorized outpost of Zayit Ra’anan, near the Talmon settlement northwest of Ramallah. As Peace Now explains, this plan constitutes the sanctioning of a new settlement entirely. Talmon has three satellite outposts, according to a map by WINEP. Zayit Ra’anan is the outpost the furthest from the settlement.
• A plan to authorize the “Brosh Educational Institution,” an outpost in the Jordan Valley. This too constitutes the establishment of an entirely new settlement. As Peace Now explains, the settlers who established the Brosh outpost named their endeavor an “Educational Institution” in order to obscure their intent to build a settlement. The plan for the “Brosh Educational Institute” includes residential buildings.

These approvals are notable for two reasons: First, they show that the Israeli government is significantly expanding the footprint of settlements across the West Bank, including in isolated settlements. Second, the plans demonstrate that the Israeli government is not acting, in any way, with “restraint” in regards to its settlement activity  (per a reported agreement between the U.S. and Israel, “restrained” settlement growth limits Israel’s building to areas adjacent to existing settlement buildings). The reaction of the Trump Administration to the approvals suggests that the U.S. isn’t in any way troubled that Israel appears to be defying its commitment. An official at the U.S. National Security Council told The Times of Israel:

“The Israeli government has made clear that going forward, its intent is to adopt a policy regarding settlement activity that takes the president’s concerns into consideration. The United States welcomes this. The president has made his position on new settlement activity clear, and we encourage all parties to continue to work toward peace.”

Tenders Published for 1,162 New Settlement Units

One day after the High Planning Council advanced plans for nearly 2,000 new settlement units (above), on May 31st the Israeli Housing Ministry issued tenders for another 1,162 new settlement units that had previously approved by the High Planning Council (once planning approvals are complete, the decision on if/when to issue construction tenders for an approved plan rests with the Housing Ministry). The 1,162 tenders issued this week are are for:

• 459 new units in the Ma’ale Adumim settlement;
• 409 new units in the Ariel settlement;
• 250 new units in the Elkana settlement;  and
• 44 new units in the Ma’ale Ephraim settlement.

Israeli Chief Justice Questions Legal Opinion Regarding Status of Settlers

On May 31st, Israeli Chief Justice Esther Hayut issued a significant legal opinion that complicates the growing momentum across the Israeli government to adopt and implement a legal precedent holding that Israeli settlers are a part of the “local population” of the West Bank. Chief Justice Hayut said the precedent does not constitute “a binding law” saying it “appears that the ruling contradicts previous rulings…and it contains both a novelty and a difficulty.” The ruling in question, written by retired Justice Salim Joubran in 2016, is currently being used as a precedent to justify the expropriation of privately owned Palestinian land near the Haresha outpost, and adopting the precedent was a key recommendation of the recently-released “Zandberg Report” which gave the Israeli government a plethora of legal tools to retroactively legalize outposts and settlements structures.

Hayut’s opinion was issued in response to a petition by the Israeli NGO Yesh Din, which asked to Court to reopen the Amona outpost case where the “local population” precedent was set. The opinion itself was not published until October 2017 (meaning the precedent was not known to the public or able to be debated until now, precisely when the government is moving swiftly to implement it). While Hayut declined to reopen the Amona outpost case, she took the opportunity to address the question raised by Yesh Din regarding the underlying precedent that was set in the case.

FMEP tracks the evolving legal architecture of the Israeli government’s efforts to retroactively legalize outposts and settlement structures (our regularly updated data tables are available here).

Knesset Advances Bill to Bring West Bank Land Cases Under Israeli Domestic Jurisdiction

On May 28th, the Israeli Knesset advanced a bill through its first reading that, if passed, will give jurisdiction the Jerusalem District Court jurisdiction over land disputes in the occupied West Bank. Since 1967, such cases have been under the jurisdiction of the Israeli High Court of Justice, reflecting the unusual – indeed, legally extraordinary – situation in which an Israeli court is ruling on with respect to land and people that are not part of sovereign Israel. The bill passed by a vote of 47 to 45, and will need to be voted through two more readings in the Knesset plenum before it becomes law.

As FMEP explained when the bill gained government backing in February 2018, the bill’s main proponent, Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked, has three main rationales for the bill: (a) to further extend and formalize Israel’s extraterritorial application of its domestic law and legal structures, giving a regular Israeli domestic court jurisdiction over non-citizen Palestinians living in territory that is beyond Israel’s sovereign borders; (b) to give settlers an advantage in court over Palestinian plaintiffs; and (c) to circumvent what Shaked sees (according to a Justice Ministry official) as the High Court being “overly concerned with international law and with protecting the rights of the ‘occupied’ population in Judea and Samaria.” Under Shaked’s proposal, some Palestinian cases could still reach the High Court of Justice, but only after the much more conservative Jerusalem District Court rules, adding time and cost to any Palestinian land petition.

Yesh Din representative Gilad Grossman commented:

“This bill is designed to indicate a kind of normalcy. [It is meant] to show that we’re not talking about an area conquered by one nation whose residents [Israelis] do whatever they want and no one enforces the law against them in an equal manner, but rather that these are conflicts between neighbors just like in Tel Aviv, Haifa or any other town within sovereign Israel.”

FMEP tracks the progress of this bill in its compendium of annexation policies currently being advanced and implemented in Israel. This bill (tracked on the third table) is just one mechanism by which Israeli lawmakers are moving to apply Israeli domestic law extraterritorially – which amounts to de facto annexation of the West Bank.

Labor MK Calls on Left to Endorse De Facto Annexation of “Settlement Blocs”

Last weekend, MK Eitan Cabel (Labor, the largest faction in the Zionist Union coalition) published an op-ed in the Hebrew edition of Haaretz arguing that Israel should define and then apply Israeli law to the “settlement blocs,” which he defines to include Ma’ale Adumim, the Etzion Bloc, the Jordan Valley, Ariel, Karnei Shomron, and more. Cabel promised to release and campaign for the full plan (presumably with more details) sometime soon.

In the op-ed and in subsequent comments to the press, Cabel calculates that 300,000 Israeli settlers will be annexed into Israel under his scheme. Cabel’s calls for the 100,000 settlers outside of those areas to be compensated and for a total construction freeze to be implemented there. He proposes that the status of those areas will be negotiated if, “one day, the Palestinian Nelson Mandela arrives.”

Zionist Union Chairman and Labor Party leader Avi Gabbai – who has said Israel should not evacuate settlements in any peace deal – slammed Cabel’s plan, saying:

“In a democratic party, everyone can have their opinion, but Labor is for separation, not annexation. Separating from the Palestinians must come as part of an agreement. I am not in favor of a unilateral step. I think in negotiations we can reach better results than without them. This is the best time for negotiations because of our alliance with the US and because the Arab countries want peace.”

Cabel’s plan impressed Naftali Bennett (Jewish Home) who tweeted in support of the op-ed, saying it was a step in the direction of his own proposed scheme to annex all of Area C in the West Bank (60% of the occupied land). Apparently agreeing with that point, an unnamed Labor Party official said:

“It’s a delusional initiative. It’s like [Habayit Hayehudi leader Naftali] Bennett speaking through Cabel…He’s [Cabel] suggesting an annexation, but doesn’t say what will become of the Palestinian population in those territories. These are irresponsible and ill-prepared statements.”

Peace Now tweeted in response:

“Another dangerous, self-defeating remark from this weekend for the Labor party. Veteran MK Cabel’s call for unilateral annexation of the “blocs,” including Ariel & Karnei Shomron, is a cowardly rhetorical surrender to the right’s one-state apartheid agenda. Shameful & disturbing….For everyone who supports cutting Israel a break on building in the ‘blocs,’ this is what happens when you give in. Not only is a top Labor MK adopting the right’s maximalist interpretation of the term ‘blocs,’ he is now making the Maale Adumim annexation bill look tame….One can only assume @netanyahu‘s support for annexing the blocs, but it should be noted that at least publicly he has not advocated as much as Cabel just did.”

As Peace Now suggests, using the term “settlement blocs” is unfortunately misleading, and implies an agreed upon acceptance of what the blocs are and the fact that they are inarguably Israel’s to keep. The term “settlement blocs” has no legal definition or standing, and they are indisputably a matter for negotiations aimed at a two-state solution. The terminology has been used for decades by the Israeli government to convey legitimacy to building in the so-called “blocs.” For more context, see resources from Americans for Peace Now here and here.  (NOTE: A Haaretz investigation last year estimated that a total of 380,000 Israeli settlers live in the West Bank, of which 170,000 live outside of the so-called blocs, as defined by Haaretz).

Applying Israel law to areas outside of Israel’s sovereign borders is de facto annexation, as FMEP has explained and documented.

Israeli Security Increase Presence Near Radical Settlements

In early May (before the U.S. Embassy opening and the beginning of Ramadan), Israeli security forces increased troop deployments across the West Bank in order to “prevent friction” between Israeli settlers and Palestinians.

According to a Haaretz report, the decision to increase Israel’s security presence was preceded by a series of discussions over the past month between the army, the police, and the Shin Bet. One such meeting was held at the Prime Minister’s office. A source told Haaretz that the meeting participants came to a consensus that settlers from Yitzhar are the main perpetrators responsible for the escalating frequency of “price tag” attacks against Palestinians. As recapped by Haaretz, the main concern of the Israeli officials is that settler attacks might foment Palestinian attacks in response. Haaretz reports:

“The main concern within the Jewish Division of the Shin Bet, which investigates the activities of Jewish Israeli extremists, is that price tag attacks during Ramadan, a fast month, and coming shortly after the controversial transfer of the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem and the tensions on the border with the Gaza Strip, could spur terrorist attacks against Israelis.”

Despite the rise in settler violence, Israel MK Bezalel Smotrich took the opportunity to accuse the Israeli police of “bullying” Israeli settlers – an accusation that echoed complaints from settlers, including those from Yitzhar, regarding an increased IDF presence. The Israeli Police issued a response, saying Smotrich’s comments were regrettable.

Even with higher troop deployment, settlers continue to attack Palestinians and their property on a weekly basis.

Human Rights Watch: Israeli Banks Are Integral Part of the Settlements Enterprise

In a new heavily researched, documented report titled “Israeli Banks in West Bank Settlements,” Human Rights Watch documents how Israeli banks facilitate and profit from Israeli settlements and makes the case that these banks are therefore complicit in war crimes, including pillaging. HRW reports:

“Most Israeli banks finance or ‘accompany’ construction projects in the settlements by becoming partners in settlement expansion, supervising each stage of construction, holding the buyers’ money in escrow, and taking ownership of the project in case of default by the construction company. Most of that construction takes place on ‘state land,’ which can include land unlawfully seized from Palestinians and which Israel uses in a discriminatory fashion, allocating one third of state land in the West Bank, not including East Jerusalem, to the World Zionist Organization and just 1 percent for use by Palestinians.”

HRW concludes that banks operating in the settlements are, therefore, unavoidably complicit in violating the human rights of Palestinians, and the only remedy is for these banks cease settlement-related operations.

To illustrate the point that human rights violations are an inherent part of all settlements in the West Bank, HRW partnered with the Israeli NGO Kerem Navot to share the story of how the construction of the Elkana settlement and the Israeli separation barrier has deprived Palestinians from the nearby city of Mas-ha of access to their own lands. Banks that have financed projects in Elkana are part of the machinery that entrenches and expands the theft.

Kerem Navot writes:

“Settlements wreck havoc on Palestinian life in the West Bank. For example, as depicted in the animation, the Aamer family used to walk 20 minutes from their West Bank home to their farm. Then Israel built an Israeli-only settlement on part of it, with help from Israeli banks, turning it into a 2-hour detour on what’s left of their land. Banks and all businesses should cease doing business in and with settlements.”

This is just the latest HRW report on the Israeli banking sector and the occupation, and it builds on a September 2017 legal analysis titled, “Israeli Law and Banking in the West Bank.” In the 2017 report, HRW took apart a common legal defense Israeli banks deploy to defend their settlement practices: that Israeli law requires them to operate in the settlements. HRW concluded that there is no such legal requirement currently in Israeli law.

U.S. Ambassador Friedman on Settlements, Annexation, Trump “Peace Plan,” & More

In a wide-ranging (and stunning) interview this week with The Times of Israel, U.S. Ambassador David Friedman spoke revealingly about behind-the-scenes policy discussions within the Trump Administration, including on the topic of settlements, the status of the West Bank, and Israeli annexation proposals.

A few key Friedman quotes from the transcript include:

• On Israel’s settlement activity during the Trump Administration: “The administration’s stance has been that the settlement enterprise is not an impediment to a peace deal, but that unrestrained settlement activity is not consistent with the cause of peace. Where you draw that line or slice that, I am reluctant to go into now. I have felt for years that there has been an oversimplification by the international community of the legal claims, if you will, within the West Bank. That came to a head in December of 2016, with UN Security Council Resolution 2334. It’s not a secret that the Trump administration does not support that resolution, would have vetoed that resolution, had Nikki Haley been the ambassador rather than Samantha Power. I think you can draw some insight from the administration’s views on that resolution.”
• On how Friedman views the international consensus holding that Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank are illegal: “…Look, I don’t believe the settlements are illegal. I think I’ve been clear on that for years. President Reagan was very clear that he would never suggest Israel would go back to the 1967 borders. They were called the suicide borders; they were considered indefensible. So the notion that Israel’s presence over the Green Line is illegal is something the United States has through many leaders rejected, which is why that UN resolution in 2016 was so offensive to so many people.”
• On whether the Trump Administration discussed annexation proposals with the Israeli government: “We have not had discussions with Israel about annexation…I’ve done lots of listening, so those discussions have taken place, but not in the sense of planning or seeking to execute a strategy, just in the context of enabling me to hear everybody’s views.”
• On the State Department’s decision to stop using “occupied territories” in materials, and instead use “West Bank”: “I believe this is a highly controversial issue and we ought to be using terminology that doesn’t prejudge issues…I was perfectly happy with any geographic identification that people could commonly understand that didn’t involve an adjective. West Bank is fine, Judea and Samaria would have been fine. If there’s another name that would do it justice, that would have been fine. I didn’t think it was appropriate to use “occupied territories,” because I just found it to be unnecessarily political and judgmental on an issue that was still unsettled in many people’s minds.”

Bonus Reads

1. “The UN Database on Businesses in Israeli Settlements: Pitfalls and Opportunities” (Al-Shabaka)
2. “Checking Supreme Court’s powers, Bennett looks to ‘rebalance’ Israeli democracy” (Times of Israel)

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

To receive this report via email, please click here.

May 25, 2018

1. Israeli Government to Advance 3,900 Settlement Units Next Week
2. Finance Ministry Announces Bargain Construction in Beit El & Ma’ale Adumim Settlements
3. Defense Ministry Supports Expropriation of Private Palestinian Land for Settlements
4. High Court Supports Destruction of Khan al-Ahmar [A War Crime], Clearing the Way for E-1 Settlement
5. Palestinians Ask the ICC to Open Investigation into the Israeli Settlement Regime
6. Bonus Reads

Comments, questions, or suggestions? Email Kristin McCarthy at kmccarthy@fmep.org.

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Israeli Government to Advance 3,900 Settlement Units Next Week

Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman (Yisrael Beiteinu) announced that the High Planning Council (the body in the Defense Ministry’s which oversees all construction in the occupied West Bank) is expected to advance plans for 3,900 settlement units next week. Of that total, 2,500 units will reportedly receive final approval for construction and 1,400 will be advanced through the planning process. Peace Now estimates that 52% of the units will be located in isolated settlements.

Lieberman – whom The Times of Israel and Haaretz note has repeatedly inflated settlement approval numbers in the past – said the specific plans set to advance will include:

• 400 units in the Ariel settlement (where a medical school financed by Sheldon Adelson was recently brought under Israeli domestic jurisdiction, in a case of de facto annexation. And where a future stop on the recently approved settler-only light rail is slated to be built.);
• 460 units in the Ma’aleh Adumim settlement;
• 250 units for an assisted living center in the Elkana settlement (where the settler-only light rail will also have a stop);
• 180 units in the the Talmon settlement;
• 170 units in the Neve Daniel settlement;
• 160 units in the Kfar Etzion settlement;
• 150 units in the Kiryat Arba settlement (where construction preparations for a new industrial zone – which in reality is a new settlement in Hebron – recently began);
• 130 units in the Avnei Hefetz settlement;
• 130 units in the Tene Omarim settlement;
• 80 units in the Hinanit settlement;
• 60 units in the Halamish settlement (where settlers have built a strategic outpost, with the protection of the IDF, in order to further restrict Palestinian access to the area);
• 45 units in the Ma’ale Efraim settlement;
• 40 units in the Avnei Hafetz settlement;
• 45 units in unspecified settlements.

This will be the third meeting of the High Planning Council in 2018, in accordance with a reported agreement between Israel and the United States to consolidate and coordinate the number of times settlement plans are announced. The first regularly scheduled meeting of the year was in January, when 1,122 new settlement units were advanced, of which 352 received final approval for construction. The Council met again, unexpectedly in February, which Lieberman tried to minimize by calling  it “less significant” because the majority of the projects approved were non-residential. In fact, the projects were extremely significant. All of the plans expanded the footprint of settlements located deep inside the West Bank – including plans for a race track and hotel in the Jordan Valley. One “unusual” plan even created a new outpost to house settlers evacuated from a different outpost (the Netiv Ha’avot outpost case that FMEP has covered in exhaustive detail).

The anti-settlement watchdog group Peace Now writes: 

“In the year and a half since President Trump took office some 14,454 units in the West Bank has been approved (in plans and tenders, including today’s announcement not including East Jerusalem), which is more than three times the amount that was approved in the year and half before his inauguration (4,476 units)…The Netanyahu government is clearly continuing to take advantage of the carte blanche the Trump Administration has given it in order to destroy the chances for peace. It is well-known that for a two-state solution to be feasible Israel will have to withdraw from most of the West Bank, yet the government keeps raising the political cost of this redeployment and the evictions it will entail. By adding housing to settlements, the government shows total disregard for the two-state solution.”

In reaction to Lieberman’s announcement, PLO Executive Committee member Hanan Ahrawi said:

“Such egregious policies affirm the imperative need for the International Criminal Court to open an immediate criminal investigation into Israel’s flagrant violations of international law and conventions,” she said in a statement….Israel’s declared intention to build thousands of illegal settler units in the occupied West Bank discloses the real nature of Israeli colonialism, expansionism and lawlessness…Undoubtedly, Israel is deliberately working to enhance its extremist Jewish settler population and to superimpose ‘Greater Israel’ on all of historic Palestine…It is evident that the recent provocative and unlawful moves adopted by the United States, Guatemala and Paraguay have emboldened Israel to move forward with enhancing its illegal settlement enterprise, thereby finalizing the total annexation of the occupied West Bank.”

Saeb Erekat, a top diplomat for the Palestinian Authority released a video response, in which he highlighted the PA’s recent referral to the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate Israeli settlement crimes (see FMEP’s coverage on the ICC referral, below). Erekat said in part:

“This is a flagrant violation and an eye opener to the judicial council of the ICC that an official judicial investigation must be opened immediately. This cannot go on. Israel cannot continue business as usual with this impunity and immunity that they think they have.”

Nadil Abu Rudeina, a spokesman for PA President Mahmoud Abbas, said:

“The continuation of the settlement policy, statements by American officials supporting settlements and incitement by Israeli ministers have ended the two-state solution and ended the American role in the region.”

Finance Ministry Announces Bargain Construction in Beit El & Ma’ale Adumim Settlements

In addition to the approvals expected from the High Planning Council this week, the Israeli Finance Ministry has announced that a 300-unit project in the Beit El settlement and 44-unit project in the Ma’ale Adumim settlement have been marketed as part of the “Buyer’s Price” program. Under this program, the government sells land to construction companies at low prices, and those companies commit to offering future settlement units at below market prices. With the plan being marketed in Beit El, the government is accepting bids on the project from construction companies which commit to pricing the apartments 20% below market value – in effect creating a powerful financial subsidy that incentivizes Israelis to move into settlements.

The Beit El project involves 5 buildings with a total of 296 units. According to Ynet:

“the program’s goal is to transform Beit El’s southeast agricultural area into a residential neighborhood as well as unification and re-division of the lands, which will be allocated to building houses, public offices, commercial areas, routes, and a public open space.”

FMEP has covered the progress of this Beit El project repeatedly over the past year, particularly because the push around Beit El projects typifies the Netanyahu-Trump era of settlement growth. Beit El settlers have lobbied for the project for over 5 years, ever since the settlers were evacuated from an outpost of Beit El (called “Ulpana”) in 2012. When the outpost was evacuated, Prime Minister Netanyahu promised to build replacement settlement units in Beit El. Buoyed by the apparent green-light from the Trump administration, over the summer of 2017 settler leaders repeatedly and publicly shamed Netanyahu for failing to fulfill that promise, and in response Netanyahu very publicly and repeatedly promised that the settlement units will be built expeditiously. After being ignored by the High Council during its September meeting, the plan for 296 units was then approved for marketing in October 2017. Now, this week, the government has acted on that approval to market the plan, moving ever closer to the start of construction. As the Ynet report notes, if/when the 300 units are built, this will be the first new, government-sanctioned construction in the Beit El settlement in 10 years.

Also in Beit El, the settler-aligned media outlet Arutz Sheva reports that the IDF plans to build a new “razor wire” fence to separate the settlement from the Palestinian Jalazone refugee camp, located across the street (where it has been since before Beit El’s establishment). At the time of this writing, there has been no additional reporting on where the fence will be placed, and if it relates to plans to build a wall between Beit El and the Jalazone refugee camp. To better understand the severe implications of the Beit El settlement on the lives of Palestinian in Jalazone, see B’Tselem’s updated, expanded, and now pictorial project: “Life under the shadow of the Beit El Settlement.”

As a reminder,  U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman is closely associated with the Beit El settlement, having donated to and fundraised for it prior to his appointment as ambassador (including in his capacity as the President of the American Friends of Beit El, reportedly from 2011 until he became ambassador).

The Beit El settlement was established in 1977, on land previously seized by Israel for military purposes. A second military seizure in 1979 enabled Beit El to expand. This method of establishing and expanding settlements has been repeatedly challenged in Israeli courts. The Israeli group Yesh Din led one such petition against Beit El, seeking to have the second seizure annulled; that petition was dismissed earlier this year. Yesh Din writes:

“The State understood that it was impossible to legally defend the land theft that has been ongoing in Beit El for 40 years on land that was seized for arbitrary reasons, but it refrained, once again, from defending the rights of the weakest population, simply because they are Palestinians. Despite this, we at Yesh Din will continue to fight against the dispossession of Palestinians and the infringement of their rights.”

Defense Ministry Supports Expropriation of Private Palestinian Land for Settlements

On May 24th, the Israeli Defense Ministry released a legal opinion endorsing the government’s plan to expropriate privately owned Palestinian land in the Ofra settlement in order to retroactively legalize illegal settlement structures built there. The opinion adopts the “market regulation” principle as a legal basis for Israel to expropriate privately owned Palestinian land in cases of settlements in which decades-old structures were built and/or purchased by Israelis “in good faith” (believing the Israeli government to be the rightful owner of the land). The legal opinion also calls for the Palestinian owners to be “fully compensated, if not more than that,” and recommends that the principle should not apply to cases of unauthorized outposts. The Ofra situation is a test case for the “market regulation” principle, which has not yet been used (or tested in court) to justify expropriating Palestinian land for Israeli settlements.

Defense Ministry legal advisor Itai Ofir called on Attorney General Avichai Mandleblit to adopt the legal opinion as a government policy, which stands a good chance of happening (Mandleblit already endorsed the Ofra expropriation on that basis). In fact, the Attorney General invented the “market regulation” principle in the first place, as an alternative to the legal argument made in the Regulation Law (which he opposed). The “market regulation” principle was also recommended in the recently released “Zandberg Report,” as one of the tools that the Israeli government should use to carry out massive land expropriations, retroactive legalizations, and continued and intensified settlement growth.

FMEP has chronologically documented the development and adoption of the “market regulation” principle in the Annexation Policies tables.

High Court Supports Destruction of Khan al-Ahmar [A War Crime], Clearing the Way for E-1 Settlement

On May 24th, the High Court of Justice upheld a government plan to destroy the Palestinian Bedouin community of Khan al-Ahmar and forcibly relocate its residents out of the Ma’ale Adumim/E-1 settlement area east of Jerusalem – which Israel is expected to carry out soon. The Court reasoned that the community’s structures were built on State Land without the proper permits, even though Israel deliberately makes such permits nearly impossible to obtain. Clearing Khan al-Ahmar from the its current site (where it has been for 60+ years) is widely interpreted to be a step towards building the “doomsday” E-1 settlement which, if built, will complete a ring of Israeli settlements around East Jerusalem, destroying the territorial contiguity between Palestinians living there and the West Bank, and preventing any possibility of a viable, contiguous Palestinian state with its capital in East Jerusalem. 

Israel has faced intense criticism for its plan to forcibly relocate Khan al-Ahmar, a plan many, including B’Tselem, call a war crime. A group of 76 U.S. Members of Congress recently sent a letter to  Netanyahu beseeching him to abandon the plan, as well as the plan to demolish the Palestinian community of  Susya, in the South Hebron Hills.

Peace Now says:

 

“The State of Israel must implement a policy of moral values, justice, equality and human rights for the Jahalin people. It is not in the Israeli interest to forcibly move them from their homes. We must stop the abuse that has been going on for decades, and allow them to live according to their way of life, to make a living and to educate their children in a way that is no different from that of the Jews living in their neighborhoods.”

The Jahalin Bedouin built the Khan al-Ahmar community in the area east of Jerusalem in the 1950s, after they were expelled from their lands in the Negev by the Israeli military. A total of 18 Bedouin tribes live in the vicinity of Ma’ale Adumim/E-1, totaling approximately 3,000 people, who have already endured numerous demolitions this year alone. The Ma’ale Adumim settlement was built in 1975 on land near where the Khan al-Ahmar community already existed; the plan for the E-1 settlement was approved in 1999.

Palestinians Ask the ICC to Open Investigation into the Israeli Settlement Regime

The Palestinian Authority has officially asked the International Criminal Court (ICC) to open an investigation into the Israeli government’s illegal settlement activity. The text of the referral can be found here. Citing “sufficient compelling evidence” and an “alarming intensification of Israeli crimes,” Palestinian Minister of Foreign Affairs Riad Malki asked the ICC to immediately open an investigation into war crimes and crimes against humanity that have been committed against Palestinians in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza. The referral requests that the investigation include:

“those who plan, prepare and implement policies linked to the settlements regime as well as those who enable it, whether through financial, military, or logistical support or otherwise aid and abet or encourage the commission of crimes connected to that regime.”

The referral lists specific, ongoing crimes that are “among the most widely documented in contemporary history,” for the ICC to investigate. The PA’s allegations mainly relate to settlement activity (much of which is documented on a weekly basis in FMEP’s Settlement Reports) including: the unlawful appropriation and destruction of private and public properties, including land, houses and buildings, as well as natural resources; the forcible transfer of Palestinians; the unlawful transfer of the Israeli Occupying Power’s population into Occupied Palestinian Territory; the “persecution, including the grave, widespread and systematic denial or violation of basic human rights on discriminatory grounds against Palestinians, including those resulting in or intended to achieve the deportation of forcible transfer, directly or indirectly, of the Palestinian population, the re-population of ‘cleansed’ territories with Israeli settlers and the unlawful appropriation of Palestinian land and properties”; and “the establishment of a system of apartheid based in particular on the adoption of discriminatory laws, policies and practices as well as the commission of inhumane acts intended to establish an institutionalized regime of separation and advancement of Israeli settlements accompanied by the systematic oppression and domination by Israeli settlers over Palestinians.”

After the PA submitted its referral, Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman argued that the “ICC lacks jurisdiction over the Israeli-Palestinian issue, since Israel is not a member of the Court and because the Palestinian Authority is not a state.” While Israel is not a member of the ICC, the State of Palestine acceded to the ICC in December 2014, and its membership took force in April 2015. In January 2015, the ICC’s Office of the Prosecutor opened a preliminary inquiry to “ascertain whether the criteria for opening an investigation are met.” The preliminary inquiry is listed as “ongoing” on the ICC website. Following by the referral for an investigation submitted this week, ICC Chief Prosecutor Mrs. Fatou Bensouda released a statement saying:

“Since 16 January 2015, the situation in Palestine has been subject to a preliminary examination in order to ascertain whether the criteria for opening an investigation are met. This preliminary examination has seen important progress and will continue to follow its normal course, strictly guided by the requirements of the Rome Statute.”

The press release also notes that this is the eighth referral on the matter to date (previously, the situation in Palestine was referred to the ICC for investigation by Uganda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Central African Republic, Mali, the Comoros Islands, and the Gabonese Republic).

Bonus Reads

1. “Minister Ariel initiates museum of settlement” (Arutz Sheva)
2. “Cherry Plantation Burned in Settlement a Hay Torched in Southern West Bank” (Haaretz)
3. “Sheikh Jarrah: A Tale of Eviction and Resettlement” (Al Jazeera)

“In new film, Tel Aviv leftist picks up and moves to a West Bank settlement” (Times of Israel)

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

To receive this report via email, please click here.

May 18, 2018

1. Israeli Cabinet Approves Projects to ‘Deepen Israeli Sovereignty Over East Jerusalem’
2. IDF Applies New Israeli Law in the Settlements, Before It Is Even Law
3. Another Sheikh Jarrah Eviction is Imminent
4. Abbas: U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem is an “American Settlement Outpost”; Erekat: We’re Going to the Hague
5. Bonus Reads

Comments, questions, or suggestions? Email Kristin McCarthy at kmccarthy@fmep.org.

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Israeli Cabinet Approves Projects to ‘Deepen Israeli Sovereignty Over East Jerusalem’

On Sunday, May 13th – the day that thousands of radical religious Israelis marched provocatively through Palestinian areas the city in celebration of Jerusalem Day, and the day before the celebration of the official opening of the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem – the Israeli Cabinet authorized a series of projects that, as Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked (Jewish Home) explained, will “deepen Israeli sovereignty over East Jerusalem,” at a cost of $560 million USD. NOTE: Israel annexed East Jerusalem and surrounding areas in 1967 – an annexation rejected by virtually the entire world through the present day.

One of the projects the Cabinet authorized is a “Land Regulation” scheme which directs the Israeli Justice Ministry to register the status of all East Jerusalem land with the Israeli Land Registry. Under the new project, Palestinians must file a claim with the Justice Ministry to have their ownership of lands in East Jerusalem assessed and recorded (or challenged/denied). In cases where Israel determines that Palestinians have not sufficiently proven their property claims, the land will be taken over by Israel for development. Cases in which more than one party claims ownership (e.g., where Israeli settlers claim to have, through various means, gained title to the property) will be referred to an Israeli court. Given that since 1967, Israeli judges have overwhelming ruled against Palestinian claimants in cases dealing with land ownership, the project appears to be a transparent, large-scale mechanism to transfer Palestinian property into the hands of the Israeli government and settlers. The project also sets up a panel of government officials to begin preparations for developing the land in the future, including assessing the state of water and sewage connection.

Shaked connected the “Land Regulation” project to broader events of the week, saying:

“A day before we strengthen Jerusalem by moving the US embassy here, we are bolstering the city by applying Israeli sovereignty in East Jerusalem through the plan to regulate land claims. This is the first practical application of Israeli sovereignty since Israel took sovereign control of the eastern part of the city.”

The Cabinet also voted to allocate an additional $56 million USD towards the Jerusalem cable-car project, which, according to Emek Shaveh, means the cable car project is now fully funded. FMEP has covered the cable car project, and the settler-run Kedem Center which will be its final stop, many times in the past. The project is properly understood as a touristic settlement project that bolsters the presence and control of Israeli settlers in the Palestinian East Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan.

The Cabinet approved $16.5 million USD for archaeological excavation projects in the Silwan neighborhood, to be carried out by the radical settler group Elad. FMEP covers Elad’s activities on a near weekly basis; the group’s mission is to establish Jewish hegemony over East Jerusalem, and Elad focuses its activities intensively on Silwan, both in terms of taking over properties and gaining control of the public domain through control over parks, tourist facilities, and archeological sites.

The Israeli NGO Emek Shaveh has a detailed look at what excavation projects will be funded. Emek Shaveh writes:

“These decisions constitute the state’s commitment to financing and promoting the settlers’ plan in Silwan and in the historic basin, constituting an escalation in the use of archaeology and tourism for political purposes: The scope of the projects and the budgets allocated for their implementation are unprecedented. It appears that the Israeli government is no longer maintaining the pretense of distinguishing between its own actions and those of the settlers.”

IDF Applies New Israeli Law in the Settlements, Before It Is Even Law

Haaretz reports that IDF Commander Nadav Padan issued a military order applying to settlements a new set of rules and regulations for the upcoming municipal elections. These rules and regulations are contained in a bill that is under consideration, but has not yet been passed, by the Knesset (regarding candidate eligibility, polling place regulations, and voter registration issues). The issuance of the order in advance of the Knesset plenum’s consideration of the bill was neither a mistake nor a coincidence: Padan reportedly issued the order to appease Interior Committee Chairman Yoav Kisch (Likud), who had delayed progress of the bill specifically out of concerns over how it would be applied to the settlements. Once the military order was issued, Kisch allowed his committee to vote on the bill. The measure is expected to pass a final Knesset vote when it is brought up.

Kisch was a key figure in the recent effort to require all Knesset legislation to state how it can be applied to the settlements (via military order or directly). That effort failed, and Kisch was forced to accept the recommendation of the Knesset legal advisor that instead of changing Knesset rules to require a statement of applicability, Knesset legal advisors are instructed to discuss the issue during the bill’s formulation. However, Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked (Jewish Home) succeeded in a similar effort within the Israeli Cabinet, ensuring that all Knesset legislation seeking government backing is now required to include a written statement of how it will be applied in settlements.

The IDF Commander’s preemptive order is a novel new tactic by which the Israeli government is affecting the de facto annexation of areas in the West Bank by applying Israeli domestic law there. As the Haaretz report notes, it typically takes months if not years for the IDF Commander to issue military orders that apply Israeli laws to the settlements after they are passed by the Knesset. FMEP recently published a compendium of policies that advance that end – but this week’s events are notable in that the military order effectively implemented a law that the Knesset has not yet passed (or even debated).

Another Sheikh Jarrah Eviction is Imminent

In’am Kneibi, a 77-year-old Palestinian woman living in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of East Jerusalem, received notice last week that the Israeli government intends to execute an eviction order against her family, to take place between May 13th and May 27th.

Peace Now warned that the timing of the eviction alongside the opening of the U.S. Embassy and the celebration of Jerusalem Day might ignite simmering tensions in the city:

“The expected eviction of the Kneibi family represents an organized, systematic campaign by radical settlers, in cooperation with government agencies, to supplant Palestinian communities in East Jerusalem with new settlements.”

Sheikh Jarrah is a particularly combustible area of occupied East Jerusalem, where radical religious Israeli settlers have concentrated their activities. Earlier this year, the eviction of the Shamasneh family from their home in Sheikh Jarrah ended an unofficial moratorium on Israeli evictions in the neighborhood. Peace Now notes that 75 families in Sheikh Jarrah are currently facing eviction. Simultaneously, the Israeli government has advanced several highly provocative settlement plans in Sheikh Jarrah, including a 7-story Jewish religious school (a yeshiva) on the main road leading into Sheikh Jarrah.

Abbas: U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem is an “American Settlement Outpost”; Erekat: We’re Going to the Hague

“What we saw in Jerusalem today was not the opening of an embassy, but the opening of an American settlement outpost.” – Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. Top Palestinian Authority diplomat Saeb Erekat followed up Abbas’ comments by announcing that Palestinian Authority leadership has decided to pursue war crimes charges against Israel for its settlement construction in the occupied territory.

Bonus Reads

1. “New report on illegal outposts fuels West Bank annexation concerns” (Times of Israel)
2. “Living in the constant shadow of settler violence” (+972 Mag)
3. “A Tale of Two West Bank towns: A Bleak Palestinian Refugee Camp Choked by a Thriving Israeli Settlement” (Haaretz)
4. “Seven decades of struggle: How one Palestinian village’s trouble captures pain of the ‘Nakba’” (The Guardian)
5. “To Demolish Palestinian Villages in the Name of Parity” (Haaretz)
6. “VIDEO: A Muslim Amongst the Settlers” (The Atlantic)
7. “Settlements Are Not the Periphery” (Haaretz)
8. “Defense establishment girds for price tag attacks in midst of combustible week” (Ynet)

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

To receive this report via email, please click here.

May 10, 2018

1. Israeli Government Task Force Recommends Massive, Unlimited Land Theft to “Legalize” 1000s of Unauthorized Settlement Buildings
2. DETAILS: Zandberg Report Recommendations (as reported in English-language media)
3. REACTIONS to Zandberg: Some Celebrate, Others Sound the Alarm
4. Efrat Becomes First Settlement to Acquire Private Drone to Police Palestinians
5. Financing Occupation: World Zionist Organization Offers Cheap Rent in Settlements
6. Israeli Cabinet Votes to Back Legislation Stripping High Court of Significant Power
7. Former Top Military Prosecutor – Current NGO Monitor Employee – Lives in House Built on Stolen Palestinian Land
8. Bonus Reads

Comments, questions, or suggestions? Email Kristin McCarthy at kmccarthy@fmep.org.

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Israeli Government Task Force Recommends Massive, Unlimited Land Theft to “Legalize” 1000s of Unauthorized Settlement Buildings

Last year, the Israeli government formed a task force to develop new legal solutions that will save settlement buildings and outposts that were built without Israeli authorization on privately owned Palestinian land in the West Bank.The committee’s final report mapping out a menu of options to accomplish that end – called the “Zandberg Report” after the committee’s chair, Dr. Haya Zandberg – was published (in Hebrew) on Friday, May 4th. Soon after its publication, Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman announced he will be introducing a plan “within weeks” that will operationalize the report’s recommendations.

Described by the The Jerusalem Post as “the latest attempt by settler leaders, right-wing politicians and judicial experts to normalize settlement building in Area C of the West Bank by divorcing it from existing legal constraints,” it is clear that the recommendations toss out even a pretense of respect for the rule of law in order to entrench and expand Israeli settlements,  rewarding Israeli settlers who broke Israeli law. If implemented, the recommendations will “legalize” the outright theft of land recognized by Israel as privately owned by Palestinians and will lay the groundwork for continued, additional expropriation of privately-owned land for settlement-related construction.

DETAILS: Zandberg Report Recommendations (as reported in English-language media)

The report opens by stating that “the State of Israel, as the state of the Jewish people, has a right and claim over areas whose status is disputed in the Land of Israel.” The contents of the report make clear that the drafters define “the Land of Israel” as including all of the West Bank.

The authors go on to offer a number of unprecedented legal arguments and recommendations. Those include:

1 – Calling for wholesale implementation of the “Market Regulation” principle, and additional, similar actions. “Market Regulation” is a recently invented Israeli legal principle that involves granting post-facto legitimacy to illegally built settlement construction in cases where settlers built “in good faith,” i.e., they do so under the belief that their actions were correct and legal.  FMEP has covered the “Market Regulation” principle several times in the past, and tracks the operationalization of it in real time on our annexation policy tables. Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit first introduced the “Market Regulation” argument in late 2016 as an alternative legal basis to the one that was eventually adopted by the Knesset in the Regulation Law. In November 2017, the government embraced Mandelblit’s “Market Regulation” principle when it submitted a brief to the High Court of Justice announcing its plan to retroactively legalize the settlers’ construction on privately owned Palestinian land near the Ofra settlement by expropriating that land.

In addition, the report recommends legalizing illegal construction in cases where settlements have expanded beyond their borders onto private land, and where that structures in question “were built over a decade ago, without any protest and with the support of the state.”

2 – Endorsing the expropriation of privately owned Palestinian land for “public use.” As an occupying power, Israel technically has the right to expropriate land for public use — meaning, for the benefit of the public that resides in the territories held under occupation. Since 1967, Israel has interpreted that authority in a manner that is both legally questionable and which discloses a very clear political and territorial agenda, using “public use” as the basis for expropriating West Bank land for the exclusive benefit of Israel and Israeli settlers. The Zandberg report makes this explicit, endorsing expropriations for the purpose of building new roads that connect isolated outposts and settlements to more developed areas. Defending this self-serving interpretation of “public use,” the report cites an opinion by (now retired) High Court Justice Salim Joubran, which held that settlers are legally a part of the “local population” of the West Bank and that the IDF is obligated to provide for their welfare. As another means of connecting isolated settlements and outposts, the report also recommends that the State consider building tunnels or bridges through privately owned Palestinian land to connect isolated settlement areas to more developed areas. The report argues “the ownership underground and [in the air] above the ground belongs to the state.”

FMEP has repeatedly reported on the events related to the legal basis created by Justice Joubran’s opinion, and FMEP tracks the operationalization of the legal basis on our annexation policy tables. Joubran’s opinion was made public in October 2017, prompting the Israeli NGO Yesh Din to file a new petition regarding the case it was related to – the Amona outpost case. Then, in November 2017 the High Court accepted the “local population” argument as an adequate legal basis for expropriating Palestinian land near the unauthorized outpost of Haresha in order to legalize an access road that had illegally been built on the private land.

3- Recommending a principle of flexibility in defining “adjacent areas.” The basis of this recommendation is the idea that Israel’s right to use land that is immediately adjacent to authorized settlements cannot be questioned, and that by interpreting the concept of “adjacent areas” broadly, Israel can justify taking large swathes of West Bank land located around and between settlements, including private land. Doing so would enable Israel to incorporate unauthorized outposts as “daughter neighborhoods” of existing settlements, even when located a great distance away. Doing so would also allow private Palestinian land surrounding isolated outposts to be seized and zoned for settlement construction and expansion (some outposts are located on pockets of territory designated by Israel as “state land,” prohibiting, under current law, the outpost to expand).

4 – Calling for the establishment of new, official settlements. The report endorses the establishment of independent new settlements for satellite outposts that are not connected to the main settlement area, like what Israel is in the process of doing for the Havat Gilad outpost.

5 – Recommending an end to the work of the “Blue Line Team.” This is the team within the Israeli Defense Forces which was tasked with examining and correcting the demarcation of land in the West Bank that Israel has granted to settlements. Ending the work of the team means Israel will cease making any effort to identify if and where settlement boundaries include private Palestinian land, let alone retroactively returning such land to the control of its owners. Israeli Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit has reportedly already agreed to this recommendation.

6 – Calling for Regional Settlement Councils to be allowed to provide municipal services to (currently) unauthorized outposts. Many unauthorized outposts – being outside the jurisdiction of regional councils (because they are not officially recognized by the government) – lack connections to the Israeli power grid and water supply. This recommendation will allow settlement Regional Councils to hook up outposts to the Israeli grid, an ability which had already been extended to local settlement councils.

REACTIONS to Zandberg: Some Celebrate, Others Sound the Alarm

Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked: “The end of the era of uprooting settlements without purpose in Judea and Samaria, was led by a team that found legal ways to regulate settlements in Judea and Samaria and to end the shame of evacuating settlements for no real reason. The report gives legal tools that are compatible with international law, for the settlement of settlements in Judea and Samaria.”

Education Minister Naftali Bennett (Jewish Home): “We act responsibly and creatively and within a few weeks we will present a comprehensive and systematic plan of action for the legalization of outposts in Judea and Samaria.”

Agricultural Minister Uri Ariel (Jewish Home): “The Settlement Committee was established in order to find a solution for thousands of houses in settlements that are in danger because of petitions by radical leftist parties and the Palestinian Authority, which exploit the judicial system to harm and sabotage Jewish settlement in Judea and Samaria. The report sets before us, the government, the simple truth that it is possible and necessary to settle settlement in Judea and Samaria after 50 years of settlement. I call on the prime minister to immediately adopt the report and put an end to the unnecessary and painful demolition and destruction of homes and settlements in Judea and Samaria established with the encouragement and support of successive Israeli governments.”

MK Ksenia Svetlova (Zionist Union): “Because the government was unable to implement the Levy report, they need to be able to show some sort of result on this issue…It will give a tailwind to settlers to continue building illegally…” She referred to the report as a “legal carte blanche,” providing another avenue for advancing the so-called “Regulation Law.” She added, “I believe in international legitimacy, and nobody has recognized our sovereignty in the West Bank.”

Peace Now: “This is a serious and dangerous report, which recommends that Israel blatantly violate international law and trample on the protected needs and rights of the Palestinian population…the implementation of its recommendations would lead to apartheid in practice.

Talia Sasson (author of the 2005 Sasson Report and current head of The New Israel Fund): The report was written “on the basis that the political debate over the West Bank is over…Their legal attitude to issues of land ownership is one of ‘we don’t want to know.’ ”

Michael Sfard (human rights lawyer): Referring to a 1979 court ruling that held Palestinian land could not be confiscated by the state for the use of settlement building, Sfard said: “The adoption of this report would signify the end of that ruling. It has been abused quite regularly on the ground, but never before at the legal level.”

[Updated post-publication with new statements]

Efrat Becomes First Settlement to Acquire Private Drone to Police Palestinians

The Efrat settlement, located south of Bethlehem, recently became the first settlement to have its own drone to police the skies. The settlement held a demonstration of the drone’s capabilities over the weekend, stressing that the drone is able to quickly identify Palestinians on the ground.

The purchase of the drone was supported by a $37,000 donation from the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, an organization which claims to be the “largest Christian-supported humanitarian agency helping Israel and the Jewish people around the world,” counting 1.6 million Christian donors who contribute a total of $140 million annually. The group’s founder, Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein, told the Jerusalem Post that he plans on equipping more settlements with their own private drones.

Military-grade drones have long been a part of the Israeli military’s blockade of Gaza, and Gaza residents have long noted with despair the audible buzzing of drones above them. The Washington Post wrote that the buzz of drones is the “the most enduring reminder of Israel’s unblinking vigilance and its unfettered power to strike at a moment’s notice.” Just last week, and for the first time ever, Israel used drones to drop tear gas on Palestinians participating in protests along the fence separating Israel from the Gaza Strip.

The privatization of drones follows the diffusion of drone technology throughout the Israeli armed forces; as of last year, Israel had furnished camera-equipped drones to hundreds of IDF units.

Financing Occupation: World Zionist Organization Offers Cheap Rent in Settlements

A freedom of information request filed by two Israeli NGOs has revealed that the Settlement Division of the World Zionist Organization (WZO) offers mobile homes for rent in West Bank settlements for 20-30% cheaper than in Israel proper. According to the data, 37% of the division’s rental properties are located inside of West Bank settlements.

The Settlement Division is technically part of the World Zionist Organization, but in practice the unit is fully funded by the Israeli government and even splits its real estate profits with the Israeli Housing and Construction Ministry. Together, the WZO and the Israeli government work in coordination to develop West Bank settlements and encourage Jews to move into them.

From the beginning of the Israeli settlement movement, the Israeli government has provided significant economic subsidies to encourage its citizens to move to the West Bank (subsidies which is not offered to citizens living in Israel proper, where a housing shortage has been front-page news for years).

Israeli Cabinet Votes to Back Legislation Stripping High Court of Significant Power

On May 6, 2018, the Israeli Cabinet voted to support legislation that, if passed by the Knesset, will empower the Knesset to reinstate laws struck down by the High Court with a bare-bones majority vote (61 of 120). This move by the Cabinet sends the bill – known as the override law –  to the Knesset, where it appears to have been put on ice due to opposition within the governing coalition.

The Cabinet’s decision to vote on the bill and send it to the Knesset took place entirely at the insistence of Jewish Home leaders Naftali Bennett and Ayelet Shaked, in defiance of a request from Prime Minister Netanyahu’s (Likud) to delay the Cabinet vote until the Ministers could reach a compromise on the text of the bill. Instead, Bennett and Shaked plowed ahead with their own version of the bill without consensus in the Cabinet. The Jewish Home version is the most extreme: it would allow the Knesset to reinstate bills with just 61-votes, a threshold so low that it would effectively allow governing coalitions to pass laws that are immune to judicial review. Chief Justice Esther Hayut warned that the 61-vote version sets the bar too low, calling it a “danger to democracy and to the court.”

As of this writing, Netanyahu has not yet weighed in on the Cabinet’s action on the bill, which leaves Likud faction votes uncertain. Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon – who heads the Kulanu Party, the second largest party in the governing coalition – has promised to instruct his faction to vote against the bill should it be brought up, a move which could shelve the bill for six months according to Knesset procedures. Kahlon, who was not present during the Cabinet’s discussion or vote, said:

“The passage of the bill in the Ministerial Committee of Legislation is a violation of the coalition agreements and a blow to law enforcement. The Kulanu faction will continue to struggle against the override powers clause and we will fight. We will not allow extreme elements to lead the daily agenda in the State of Israel.”

Adding to the dissent, a spokesman for Israeli Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit reiterated  the AG’s opposition to all versions of the bill currently under consideration. As an alternative, Mandelblit has recommended a bill that would require a majority vote in the High Court (6 out of 9) to overturn a bill, and then a vote of 70 MKs to reinstate any bill that was struck down.

Former Top Military Prosecutor – Current NGO Monitor Employee – Lives in House Built on Stolen Palestinian Land

Dror Etkes – founder of the anti-settlement watchdog group Kerem Navot – revealed that Maurice Hirsch, Israel’s former chief military prosecutor in the West Bank – lives in a house that the Israeli Defense Ministry has admitted was built on privately owned Palestinian land. Hirsch is currently employed by NGO Monitor, a group dedicated to quashing activisim critical of Israel or Israeli policies.

Bonus Reads

1. “Ultra-Orthodox population grows in Israeli settlements” (i24 News)
2. “Israeli forces expel Palestinian families from homes in Jordan Valley for army training” (Maan News)
3. “How the U.S. State Department Deleted the Occupied Territories” (Haaretz)

 

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

To receive this report via email, please click here.

May 3, 2018

1. Forging Ahead with Another Settler Project at Entrance of Sheikh Jarrah
2. Israeli NGOs File Challenge Against Settler Footbridge Near Old City
3. Kerem Navot Report: Some of Israel’s West Bank Police Stations are on Private Palestinian Land
4. Update: High Court Override Legislation is in Limbo
5. Bonus Reads

Comments, questions, or suggestions? Email Kristin McCarthy at kmccarthy@fmep.org.

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Forging Ahead with Another Settler Project at Entrance of Sheikh Jarrah

On April 26th, the Jerusalem District Planning and Building Committee advanced a plan, backed by settlers, to build a 6-story commercial building at the entrance of the Palestinian East Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah – taking the key step of depositing the plan for public review. The building will be across the street from one of the most provocative settlement projects that were advanced last year: a new religious school (the Or Sameach Yeshiva/Glassman Complex) described by Terrestrial Jerusalem to be:

“a clear effort to exploit Torah study to expand and normalize occupation in East Jerusalem (including by making the site politically untouchable, as it will now be linked with religious activities).”

The location of the yeshiva and the 6-story building (which, once built, will literally flank both sides of the road leading into Sheikh Jarrah) will strengthen Israeli settlers’ hold on the neighborhood. Together they will  advance the settlers’ goal of cementing the presence of the settlement enclaves inside of Sheikh Jarrah by connecting them more seamlessly to the neighborhood’s outer periphery and the rest of Jerusalem.

Sheikh Jarrah and its Palestinian residents are the target of intense settler activity, which FMEP has covered repeatedly in the past.

Israeli NGOs File Challenge Against Settler Footbridge Near Old City

The petitioners argue:

“The proposed bridge is located in one of the most sensitive and significant areas in Jerusalem and one of the most important in the world. The Old City basin is one of Jerusalem’s most precious cultural, religious and historical assets, as well as politically significant. Construction and development in this area should be done in a careful and considerate way, in a meaningful public debate and in the context of a true planning vision.

It is not without reason that the designs were set in the planned area. . . [an area] whose main purpose is to preserve and protect the Old City basin from rapid development and construction initiatives that might damage the important values in this special area. These plans do not allow the issuance of permits for such a significant construction and do not allow expropriation at all without proper documentation, and they explicitly state the need for detailed planning with the approval of the District Committee.

It is important to note that in addition to the familiar tension between development and tourism needs and the principles of conservation and protection of historical and environmental values, the Old City basin is also an urban area with a population of tens of thousands of people who live alongside and sometimes within historic sites. The bridge and pedestrian traffic will have significant implications for the area and its character for the residents living in the area.

For all these reasons, extreme caution is required in approving development plans in the Old City basin. The permit in question was approved in violation of all the proper planning and public principles, and therefore there is a need to cancel it.”

Peace Now reports that Elad has already started building infrastructure for the footbridge in Abu Tor, despite lacking a building permit (the plan was approved, but permits have not been issued). Peace Now appealed to the Jerusalem Municipality to have the construction stopped; the Municipality responded saying the construction does not relate to the bridge but to a permit that was issued for the “restoration of terraces” on the same land. Peace Now appealed again two weeks ago, arguing that Elad’s current undertakings – which include building walls, pouring of concrete, and excavating – require an additional permit (how it is being argued that those projects relate to the “restoration of terraces” is unclear). The Municipality has not yet responded.

As FMEP has covered many times in the past, Elad’s mission is to establish Jewish hegemony in Jerusalem, and it often uses tourism as a pretext for its activities in Jerusalem’s most contested neighborhoods. Kerem Navot says the Abu Ror footbridge is part of Elad’s efforts to take control of areas surrounding the neighborhood of Silwan.

Kerem Navot Report: Some of Israel’s West Bank Police Stations are on Private Palestinian Land

New research published by the anti-settlement watchdog Kerem Navot documents the legal status of land in the West Bank on which 38 Israeli police stations have been built, and reveal that four stations are built illegally on privately-owned Palestinian land.

The report reveals that of the 38 police stations in the occupied territories:

• 17 stations are on land declared by Israel to be “state land”
• 8 stations are on land Israel seized for “security purposes”
• 2 stations are on land expropriated for “public purposes”
• 1 station (servicing the Givat Ze’ev settlement) is fully on privately-owned Palestinian land
• 1 station (servicing the Ma’ale Adumim settlement) is partially on privately-owned Palestinian land, and partially on land that was seized from the Palestinian owners for “public purposes”
• 1 station (servicing the Elkana settlement) is partially on privately-owned Palestinian land and partially on land seized from Palestinian owners for “security purposes”
• 1 station (servicing the Vered Yeriho settlement) is partially on privately-owned Palestinian land and partially on land that was declared “state land”

Kerem Navot writes:

“As is well known, there are two communities in the West Bank, each of which has completely different rights, and previous reports have been devoted to describing the Israeli Police’s failure to enforce the law in cases of settler violence in a sense reminiscent of values of equality. This modest document will not address this fundamental ethical issue… this report solely seeks to address the geographical-statutory aspect of the deployment of Israel Police stations throughout the West Bank…The initial idea for addressing this aspect arose when, over the course of our research in recent years, we incidentally discovered that several police stations in the West Bank are illegally located on private Palestinian-owned land. There is no need to elaborate on the paradoxical severity of this fact.”

Update: High Court Override Legislation is in Limbo

It appears that the Israeli Knesset, which convened this week for the summer session, will not take immediate action on a bill to empower the Knesset to reinstate laws struck down by the High Court of Justice (reminder: the High Court is expected to strike down the Regulation Law, and MKs have already stated their desire to make sure it remains on the books). Prime Minister Netanyahu (Likud) and Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked (Jewish Home) were not able to reach a compromise on the specifics of the bill during a meeting with Chief Justice Esther Hayut last weekend, and no news of the bill has surfaced since. It is unclear if Naftali Bennett (Jewish Home) intends to follow through on the threat he made last week to call for elections if Netanyahu does not advance his version of the bill – which will allow the Knesset to reinstate laws with a bare-bones, 61-vote majority in the Knesset – this week.

While political leaders debate amongst themselves, a new public opinion poll found that 65% of Israelis believe that the version of the bill pushed by Ayelet Shaked and Jewish Home party leaders would “grant the government ‘unlimited’ and unchecked power.” 58% of the public said they believed the law would lead to more corruption.

Bonus Reads

1. “Settler Rail Line to Israel Latest Land Grab, Palestinians Say” (Al Jazeera)
2. “Thirteen Cases of Vandalism, One Arrest: Who is Behind the Wave of West Bank Hate Crimes?” (Haaretz)
3. “‘Price tag’ hate crimes against Palestinian on the rise in Israel and West Bank” (NBC News)
4. “Christians in Jerusalem’s Old City ‘under threat’ from settlers” (The Guardian)

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

To receive this report via email, please click here.

April 26, 2018

1. Construction Begins on Government Housing New Talpiot Settlement in East Jerusalem
2. Defense Ministry Blames Yitzhar Settlement & its “Hilltop Youth” for Recent Price-Tag Attacks
3. High Court Super-Session Legislation Increasingly Threatens the Stability of Netanyahu’s Governing Coalition
4. U.S. Ambassador David Friedman Pushes Policy Language Backing Settlers & Annexation
5. Trump Questioned Netanyahu Over Settlement Approvals

Comments, questions, or suggestions? Email Kristin McCarthy at kmccarthy@fmep.org

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Construction Begins on Government Housing Near Talpiot Settlement in East Jerusalem

On April 23rd, Israeli bulldozers uprooted dozens of olive trees from land farmed by Palestinians in East Jerusalem, located between the Palestinian neighborhood of Sur Baher and the settlement neighborhood of East Talpiot. The Israeli government expropriated the land from Sur Baher in 1970 for “public use,” barring Palestinian construction on the land but permitting owners (now legally ex-owners) to continue farming it; in 2012, the Israel Land Authority (ILA) – a quasi-governmental agency – submitted plans to build 180 residential units on the site for former Defense Ministry employees.

The Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) petitioned the High Court of Justice in 2012 to stop the new settlement plan, arguing that it discriminates against Palestinians. The petition was rejected, with the Court accepting the government’s argument that ~20% of Israeli security forces (whom the project is meant to serve) are minorities and that therefore the project serves the public good – despite the fact that few if any Palestinian Jerusalemites (the overwhelming majority of whom are not citizens of Israel) serve in the Israeli security forces. As noted by Terrestrial Jerusalem:

“Given that Palestinians of East Jerusalem do not serve in the IDF or the Israeli Police, this new construction is de facto intended for exclusively Israeli-Jewish residents – i.e. it is new settlement construction in East Jerusalem.”

In 2014, a Palestinian family petitioned the Court to modify the plan, in order to save their olive tree grove. The Court rejected the petition, ruling that the family should have petitioned against the 1970 expropriation, not the current plan. According to Palestinian media, the court case regarding the fate of these trees was still pending when Israeli authorities went ahead with uprooting the trees this week.

The Israel Lands Authority announced that it plans to market the project (i.e., seek bids from construction companies) in the near future.

Peace Now said:

“This was not a legitimate expropriation for public purposes, but rather an invalid expropriation that takes land from one community (Palestinians) and allocates it to another (Israelis). The U.S. ambassador [David Friedman] can see this ugly situation from the window of [what will soon be] the embassy, which is located only about a kilometer away from the olive grove that was uprooted: the reality of a divided Jerusalem of discrimination and deprivation.”

Defense Ministry Blames Yitzhar Settlement & its “Hilltop Youth” for Recent Price-Tag Attacks

Speaking to The Times of Israel, an anonymous official from the Defense Ministry said that the radical Yitzhar settlement near Nablus is responsible for the sharp rise of troubling “price-tag” attacks in recent weeks targeting Palestinians and their property. The official said that members of the “Hilltop Youth” – which is known to base its operations in Yitzhar – and students enrolled in Yitzhar’s religious school (the Od Yosef Chai yeshiva) are the main perpetrators.

A leader from Yitzhar defended his settlement by blaming the Defense Ministry for allegedly targeting and mistreating the “Hilltop Youth.” At the same time, the Israeli Welfare Ministry confirmed that the Israeli government is involved in supporting an informal educational-vocational program in the Yitzhar settlement to try to redirect radical young settlers who identify with the Hilltop Youth.

Yitzhar continues to function as the base for the Hilltop Youth, as evidenced by the IDF’s undercover arrest of a Hilltop Youth member in Yitzhar over the weekend. The settler was allegedly involved in throwing stones at IDF officers in an incident last week. Last year, in advance of evacuating one of the Hilltop Youth’s outposts, Israeli security officials met with leaders from the Yitzhar settlement in the hopes of deterring the settlement from allowing the displaced setters from taking up residence in Yitzhar.

High Court Super-Session Legislation Increasingly Threatens the Stability of Netanyahu’s Governing Coalition

It was another eventful week of internal political jockeying amongst Israeli cabinet ministers in their respective efforts to advance legislation that will empower the Knesset to reinstate laws that are stricken down by the High Court of Justice. Referred to as the “override bill,” the various versions of the legislation – several of which were covered in last week’s Settlement Report – have not, at the time of publication of this Settlement Report, been reconciled.

Education Minister Naftali Bennett (Jewish Home), who is pushing for one of the more extreme versions of the bill, threatened to call for elections if Prime Minister Netanyahu does not bring the legislation up for a vote (despite the fact the cabinet has not agreed on what they would be voting on). The threat comes after Netanyahu’s decision to delay the vote by one week in order to seek the support of High Court Chief Justice Esther Hayut, who the Times of Israel speculates might offer another version of the bill. Hayut agreed to meet with Netanyahu on the condition that the vote is delayed. That meeting is scheduled for Sunday, April 29th.

Bennett, in defending his threat and his rationale for the legislation, said:

“Over the past 25 years, the Supreme Court has radically encroached on the government’s authority to govern…Time and again it cancels bills the Knesset legislates. When you want to expel a terrorist who murdered, they say you can’t. When you want to take key security steps, they cancel them. When you want to pass tax bills, they stop it. The Supreme Court is not a government on top of a government.”

The drama over the “override bill” relates to settlements because Knesset members are anticipating that the High Court of Justice will strike down the Regulation Law. That law (covered extensively in past reports and in FMEP’s new resource documenting annexation policies) was passed in February 2017 in order to provide a legal basis for Israel to retroactively legalize outposts and settlement structures by permitting Israel to expropriate privately owned Palestinian land for this purpose. Last week, comments by Transportation Minister Yariv Levin made explicit the connection between the fate of the Regulation Law and the “override bill,” making clear that a key goal is to ensure that in the event that the High Court strikes down the Regulation Law, the Knesset will have the power to reinstate it.

Earlier in the week the Knesset’s Legal Advisor, Eyal Yinon, issued a strong rejection of all proposals to empower the Knesset to reinstate laws struck down by the High Court of Justice. Yinon rejected not only the proposals but the principle behind the legislation. He said,

“In our [Israel’s] reality, I think that in principle it would be a mistake to pass a supersession clause, whether it specifically concerns illegal migrants, or whether it is framed in general terms, and that it would do more harm than good. Good legislation requires restraint and balance, and as soon as, in effect, you remove constitutional review, that is liable to deal a severe blow to the quality of legislation and to the balances that must be maintained in it.”

U.S. Ambassador David Friedman Pushes Policy Language Backing Settlers & Annexation

The same week that the term “occupied territories” (as well as “occupation”) disappeared from the State Department’s annual report on human rights, reports surfaced suggesting that U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman has been angling to use the term “Judea and Samaria” in his speeches and in State Department literature, instead of “the West Bank.” The phrase “Judea and Samaria” is the Biblical term for the area known to the world today as the West Bank. It is the term used by settlers and pro-annexationist Israelis to refer to the West Bank in order to assert what they see as the Jewish right to and rightful ownership of the land.

Friedman has been pushing for consequential shifts in State Department language since assuming his post. In a major break with decades of U.S. policy, Friedman has referred to settlements as “part of Israel,” and last December, he ordered the Embassy to stop referring to the West Bank as “occupied.”

Trump Questioned Netanyahu Over Settlement Approvals

After hearing that Prime Minister Netanyahu was planning to advance settlement construction projects, President Trump reportedly asked Netanyahu if he was genuinely interested in peace in a call late last year. Three sources told Axios that the call took place as Israeli press outlets were speculating that Netanyahu intended to allow a number of sensitive settlement to advance soon. The White House has not denied the account of the conversation.