Settlement & Annexation Report: January 21, 2022

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

To subscribe to this report, please click here.

January 21, 2022

  1. Under Cover of Darkness & Cold, Israel Evicts Palestinian Family & Demolishes Their Homes in Sheikh Jarrah
  2. Israel Advances Plan for New Settlement in East Jerusalem
  3. Settlers Continue To Press For “Legalization” of Homesh Outpost & Yeshiva
  4. New U.S. Ambassador Will “Absolutely Not” Visit Settlements
  5. Further Reading

Under Cover of Darkness & Cold, Israel Dispossessed Palestinian Family & Demolished Their Homes in Sheikh Jarrah

At approximately 3:00am on Wednesday, January 19th Israeli forces undertook a major operation in order to forcibly remove the Salhiya family from their longtime home in Sheikh Jarrah — rendering 7 adults and 5 children homeless in the middle of the night in the freezing rain. Israeli forced then moved to promptly demolish the home. The action followed Israel’s aborted two days earlier, on January 17th, to remove the family, during which it razed part of the Salhiya family plot, including a plant nursery. 

As a reminder, Israel pursued this dispossession after unilaterally expropriating the plot of land owned by the Salhiya family in 2017 for “public use.” Israeli authorities say that they intend to use the land to build schools to serve Palestinians, who have long suffered from a shortage of school facilities. As has been noted, this argument is hard to take seriously, given that land exists elsewhere in Sheikh Jarrah on which schools could be built without evicting and rendering an entire Palestinian family. Ir Amim explains:

“Although Israeli law allows for the expropriation of private property for public purposes, it is typically only carried out in the absence of alternative options. The authorities have had various options at their disposal, including use of other plots of open land in the neighborhood, which would not have necessitated the Salahiya family’s eviction. Rather than using such plots, the municipality saw it reasonable to dispossess a Palestinian family to meet such needs.”

In order to carry out this forcible dispossession, Israel forces first cut power to the entire (Palestinian) area in which the Salhiya house and businesses were located. Accounts from those present at the eviction/demolition reported that Israeli forces violently assaulted several members of the Salhiya family including children. Israeli forces also arrested eighteen human rights defenders – including members of the Salhiya family — for resisting the eviction (for a detailed update on these cases, please see this report by Human Rights Defenders Fund). An additional six human rights defenders were arrested later on January 19th during a protest  against the demolition, held in front of the Jerusalem Mayor’s home. Human Rights Defenders Fund, which is funding the legal representation of those arrested, said:

“HRDF opposes the unjust evictions of family homes in Sheikh Jarrah and will continue to stand with Palestinian HRDs defending their basic human rights for property and shelter. We will continue to closely monitor Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood and oppose any illegitimate attempt to change its demographics.”

The overnight evictions have been roundly criticized by human rights groups and several international governments. The European Union slammed the eviction/demolition, along with separate statements issued by individual European nations. The United States Ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield also spoke out (weakly, in a statement framed in classic bothsides-isms).

Israel Advances Plan for New Settlement in East Jerusalem

On January 17th, the Jerusalem District Planning Committee approved for deposit for public review a new settlement plan in East Jerusalem – called the “Lower Aqueduct” plan. The new settlement is intended to connect the controversial settlements of Givat Hamatos and Har Homa, establishing an uninterrupted continuum of Israeli settlements on the southern rim of Jerusalem, and destroying the contiguity of Palestinian land in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

As laid out in new reporting from Terrestrial Jerusalem, the plan is being promoted by the Jerusalem Municipality together with the Israel Lands Authority, but – as the reporting predicts – 

“when the smoke clears, it will become evident that the same protagonists that are facilitating settlements in Sheikh Jarrah, Silwan, Givat Shaked, Musrara – i.e. the Custodian General and the Absentee Property Custodian – are deeply implicated in the Plan.”

Terrestrial Jerusalem further notes that the plan is being advanced at an expedited pace, giving the appearance that “someone senior and in a position of authority is expediting the Plan at [a] highly irregular pace.”

In total, the plan provides for the construction of 1,465 new units – around half of which will be constructed over the 1967 Green Line the demarcates (in the eyes of the international community) the line between Israeli-annexed West Jerusalem and Israeli-occupied East Jerusalem. The plan also provides for open public spaces and buildings including schools and a gymnasium. 

Importantly, the new settlement will impinge on the two neighboring East Jerusalem Palestinian villages of Sur Baher and Umm Tuba, and will involve the expropriation by Israel of privately owned Palestinian land. Most notably, in order to pave a new access road for the new settlement, the State will likely expropriate land privately owned by Palestinian residents of Umm Tuba.

Ir Amim’s Aviv Tartarsky told The Times of Israel:

“This is another way in which Israel is erasing the Green Line in Jerusalem, ending Palestinian contiguity, and expropriating the lands of Palestinians. When Palestinians tried to plan construction there, it was rejected — and now the territory will be confiscated.”

Following the committee’s decision to this week to advance the plan, the European Union, France, Germany, Spain and Italy all issued statements calling for Israel to reverse the move. France also published a joint statement with Ireland and Estonia.

Settlers Continue To Press For “Legalization” of Homesh Outpost & Yeshiva

In a display of brazen lawlessness, more than 1,200 Israeli Jews managed to enter the closed military zone that is the site of the former Homesh settlement – where settlers have illegally established and operated a yeshiva for years – in order to celebrate the Jewish holiday of Tu B’Shvat, as part of their ongoing campaign to pressure the government to reestablish the settlement.

To reach the site, settlers (identified as yeshiva students by The Jewish Press) marched en masse for two hours with armed guards through the outskirts of the Palestinian village of Sebastia. On their way, settlers passed easily through at least two IDF checkpoints — meant to stop traffic towards the Homesh area, though Israeli soldiers in practice prevented only the freedom of Palestinian traffic in that direction. Sebastia is a routinely besieged city, suffering closures in the wake of the murder of settler Yehuda Dimentan and as a consequence of Israeli settler’s focus on archaeological sites in the city [as has been covered in the Settlement Report regularly: settlers, in collaboration with Israeli authorities, are openly seeking to exploit archeology as a tool to dispossess Palestinians in the West Bank]. 

In Jerusalem, settler leaders and their allies continued their mass protest in front of the Prime Minister’s residence in a bid to pressure Bennett to authorize Homesh, amongst other demands.

New U.S. Ambassador Will “Absolutely Not” Visit Settlements

In an interview with the Yedioth Ahronoth news outlet, U.S. Ambassador Thomas Nides said that he will not visit Israeli settlements in the West Bank, unlike his immediate predecessor David Friedman. 

When questioned about his travel policy as compared to Friedman’s, Nides said:

“Because just like I ask both the Palestinians and Israelis not to take steps that inflame the situation, I don’t want to do things intentionally that would create disrespect or anger among people. Now, listen, I’ll make mistakes. I’ll say things that will aggravate people. I’m sure that in this interview, I’ll say something that will aggravate someone. But I don’t want to intentionally anger people.”

It’s worth recalling that the Biden Administration has not reversed or publicly rejected the Trump Administration’s “Pompeo Doctrine,” which made it U.S. policy to view Israeli settlements as not “per se inconsistent with international law.” The overwhelming majority of the international community holds that all Israeli settlements and outposts in the West Bank are illegal pursuant to Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which states:

“The Occupying Power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies.” It also prohibits the “individual or mass forcible transfers, as well as deportations of protected persons from occupied territory”.

Bonus Reads

  1. “PODCAST: Excavating Israel’s underground settlements” (+972 Magazine)
  2. “Palestinian Activist Dies Two Weeks After Being Run Over by Israeli Police Truck” (Haaretz)
  3. “There’s a Mass Palestinian Grave at a Popular Israeli Beach, Veterans Confess” (Haaretz)
  4. “JNF Board Members Demand End to Controversial Tree-planting in Negev Until Questions Answered” (Haaretz)

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

To subscribe to this report, please click here.

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

September 24, 2021

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

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

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

Ir Amim explains:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Bonus Reads

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

Welcome to FMEP’s Weekly Settlement & Annexation Report. To subscribe to this report, please click here.

July 30, 2021

  1. Sheikh Jarrah Updates: Court Issues Delays for Three Cases; Bennett Reportedly Considering Delaying Four Others
  2. In First Since Settlement Regulation Law Was Overturned, Israel Announces Intent to Demolish Settlement Buildings on Privately Owned Palestinian Land
  3. Elad Settler Group Loses Control Over East Jerusalem Holy Site/Archaeological Park
  4. Knesset Votes Down West Bank Annexation Bill, Condemns Ben & Jerry’s
  5. State Allows (& Funds) “Farming Outposts” to Graze Huge Tracts of West Bank Land
  6. Outpost Activity Continues in the South Hebron Hills
  7. Israeli Army Let Settlers Stay at Abandoned Base Despite Knowing Plans for Illegal Outpost
  8. Bonus Reads

Comments or questions? Email Kristin McCarthy – kmccarthy@fmep.org.

Sheikh Jarrah Updates: Court Issues Delays for Three Cases; Bennett Reportedly Considering Delaying Four Others

On July 29th, the Israeli Supreme Court issued notices delaying the forcible displacement of three families (Dajani, Hammad, and Dahoudi) from their longtime homes in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of East Jerusalem. The eviction orders were set to become enforceable on Sunday August 1st, but the Court has halted the evictions while an appeal filed by the Palestinian families is dealt with.

Also sheduled for August  2nd, the Supreme Court is currently set to hold a final hearing to decide on the fate of four other Palestinian families (Jaouni, Iskafi, al-Kurd, and al-Qadi) facing forcible eviction in Sheikh Jarrah. According to press reports, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett is considering delaying the final hearing (thus stopping the evictions for the time being). Notably, reports suggest Bennett is looking not to cancel the evictions but only to postpone a final decision on them – a postponement that could be reversed at any time at the whim of the Prime Minister (for example, when the world’s attention is elsewhere).

In an op-ed in The Guardian, Mohammad El-Kurd – whose family is facing eviction – powerfully wrote:

“On 2 August, the Israeli supreme court, whose jurisdiction over the eastern part of Jerusalem defies international law, is set to decide whether it will allow the appeal of my family and three others – a last legal obstacle before we can be expelled. There have been postponements before. Palestinians are accustomed to this kind of stalling; it tests our stamina. But we are as stubborn as anyone else faced with the prospect of losing their home – their life, their memories – to those using force, intimidation and biased laws. In the face of this cruelty, and despite teargas and skunk water, we are resisting. We cannot allow them to steal our homes once more, and we refuse to continue living in refugee camps while colonisers live in our houses. We cannot let them throw more of us on to the streets. We are tired of being turned into a refugee population, neighbourhood after neighbourhood, one home at a time. I have no faith in the Israeli judicial system; it is a part of the settler-colonial state, built by settlers for settlers. Nor do I expect any of the international governments who have been deeply complicit in Israel’s colonial enterprise to intervene on our behalf. But I do have faith in those people around the world who protest and pressure their governments to end what is essentially unconditional support for Israeli policies. Impunity and war crimes will not be stopped by statements of condemnation and raised eyebrows. We Palestinians have repeatedly articulated what kind of transformative political measures must be taken – such as civil society boycotts and state-level sanctions. The problem is not ignorance, it is inaction.”

In First Since Settlement Regulation Law Was Overturned, Israel Announces Intent to Demolish Settlement Buildings on Privately Owned Palestinian Land

On July 28th, the Israeli Attorney General’s office informed the High Court of Justice that within three years (!!) it plans to carry out the demolition of two buildings built by settlers on privately owned Palestinian land located inside of the Eli settlement, in the context of a petition filed in 2011 by Palestinian land owners with the assistance of Yesh Din and Bimkom. Notably, the underlying legal petition sought the demolition of a total of 20 buildings constructed illegally on private Palestinian land, 18 of which Israel granted retroactive legalization in February 2020.

According to the Jerusalem Post, this is the first instance of the Court resuming looking at a case of this kind since the Settlement Regulation Law was overturned by the Court in June 2020. Previously, all cases involving illegal construction inside of settlements had been frozen while the Court considered the constitutionality of the law, which sought to create a legal basis by which Israel would be able to grant retroactive legalization to outposts and settlement structures built on land that even Israel acknowledges is privately owned by Palestinians.

In resuming its consideration of the case, the Court first asked to be updated on the State’s reexamination of the status of the land in hopes of finding a means by which to retroactively legalize the illegal construction, despite the fact that a previous government effort confirmed that the two buildings fall outside of the boundaries of state-owned land. With no other avenue available to “legalize” the construction, the State informed the Court this week that it intends to demolish the structures after the three years, which it claimed was the amount of time required to provide new housing for the four affected settler families [demonstrating, as always, that settler law-breakers are never punished and always rewarded]. This long delay also suggests that the State will continue to look for new ways to avoid demolishing the homes.

Leaders of the Land of Israel Lobby in the Knesset, MKs Yoav Kisch and Orit Strock, told Israel Hayom:

 “This week, the government informed the High Court of Justice that it agrees to demolish the homes of four families in Eli. This is a horrifying, shocking announcement. Rather than preventing the destruction of Jewish homes in Judea and Samaria, the government is busy regulating the illegal construction crimes in the Bedouin sector. This is a badge of shame for the government, which is freezing construction, as well as going back on all its promises to regulate [settlements] and also demolishing Jews’ homes.”

Yisrael Gantz – who heads the Benyamim settler regional council –  said:

“We are surprised that the government is falling in line with the Arab petitioners and announcing that it will, heaven forbid, demolish two homes where families have been living for years, which are part of a living, vibrant neighborhood. Razing a home whose status was legal and which a new review by the Civil Administration left outside the settlement’s borders is a new low in crimes against settlement in Judea and Samaria. These two homes are just a preview. We have hundreds of homes with similar status in the Binyamin settlements and thousands throughout the settlements as a whole that suddenly found themselves outside the new ‘blue lines’ drawn in the Civil Administration’s work. No normal country would demolish homes in a situation like this.”

Elad Settler Group Loses Control Over East Jerusalem Holy Site/Archaeological Park

On July 1st, the State of Israel re-asserted control over a significant and highly sensitive archaeological and holy  site – the Davidson Archaeological Park – located just outside of the walls of the Temple Mount/Haram Al-Sharif. The park, which includes most notably tunnels that run directly from the Western Wall plaza to the settler-run Davidson Center in Silawn – had been run by the Elad settler organization since 2018, when the State willingly transferred its authority to Elad to operate the park. 

In 2015 the Israeli NGO Emek Shaveh, which is made up of archeological experts,  filed a petition against Elad’s role at the park, arguing that “it is highly problematic to place the running or management of a holy site that is situated alongside the Western Wall foundations in the hands of a private and politicized organization.”  Emek Shaveh’s argument mirrored an opinion issued by Israel’s Attorney General which held that holy sites should be managed by the State.

Notably, the end of the state’s contract with Elad regarding the Davidson Park reduces but does not eliminate Elad’s role in managing key sites in Jerusalem. Elad continues to operate the nearby City of David archaeological park (just outside the Old City’s walls), where it has been advancing numerous settlement projects meant to strengthen its control over the area and displace Palestinians.

Emek Shaveh said in a statement: 

“We are pleased that the authorities have put an end to a highly problematic arrangement whereby a private right-wing organization is operating an important site situated in perhaps the most sensitive place in the region. We hope that in the future the State will take full responsibility for additional sites which it handed over to the settlers’ foundation. The City of David is, no doubt, the next site that ought to be returned to full management by the State. Emek Shaveh’s case regarding the tunnel linking the Davidson Center to Givati is still ongoing.”

Knesset Votes Down West Bank Annexation Bill, Condemns Ben & Jerry’s

In a July 28th preliminary vote the Knesset rejected, by a relatively slim margin (64 to 50), a bill to annex the entire West Bank. Members of Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s ruling party, Yamina, voted against the bill. The bill had been submitted by members of the Likud party, which is now in the opposition after 15 years of being the most powerful party in the country and having had the ability to pass such a bill if desired. One of the bill’s cosponsors, Miki Zohar, said after the vote:

“You promised again and again that you will take action to bring about sovereignty over Judea and Samaria and you once again broke your word,” Zohar said. “You once again proved that you have no ideology and that no values are holy for you except for keeping your cabinet seats.”

Justice Minister Gideon Sa’ar (New Hope) responded, saying:

“I heard MK Mikki Zohar relating to the fact that in the last administration, Netanyahu wanted to apply sovereignty but Blue and White prevented him from doing so. And I was just thinking to myself, ‘How far from the truth can you get?’…So you, MK Zohar, party whip for the Likud in the last Knesset, could have brought this bill up in the last Netanyahu government, during the Trump administration, during the amazing window of opportunity – you could have submitted the sovereignty bill and had a majority in the Knesset.”

Around the same time this bill was voted on, 90 members of the Knesset, including Yamina members, signed a letter calling on Ben & Jerry’s to reverse its decision to end sales in the occupied West Bank. The letter refers to settlements as “towns and cities in Israel” – a statement tantamount to a declaration of de facto – if not official – annexation. Notably, 6 MKs – from Labor and Meretz – subsequently removed their names for the letter, claiming that they signed on without seeing the final wording, and that the final wording does not reflect their views.

State Allows (& Funds) “Farming Outposts” to Graze Huge Tracts of West Bank Land

In response to a Peace Now inquiry, the Israeli Agricultural Ministry revealed that it has granted permits to unauthorized (i.e., illegal under even Israel law) agricultural outposts to use over 2,000 acres (8,500 dunams) of land in the West Bank for grazing, in a program which entrenches and expands the outposts’ illegal presence across the West Bank. 

Map by Peace Now

And if that wasn’t enough of a scandal, the Ministry confirmed that it provided sizable grants – totalling over $800,000 (2.6 million NIS) over the past few years – to at least three settlement organizations for the purpose of bringing volunteers to these outposts – which, again, are illegal even under Israeli law – to work the land. Notably, these settler organizations publicly boast about their farming activities with respect to a total of 50 farming outposts, suggesting that settlers are making use of far more than the 2,000 acres permitted by the Ministry (the Ministry clarified that it funds activities only related to the areas where settlers are authorized to work — so apparently they see no problem].

Peace Now said:

“The Ministry of Agriculture takes millions of Shekels of public monies and give them to associations which are intrinsically linked to illegal activity. If the government wants to stop more outposts such as “Evyatar” from existing, and to stop the small group of ideological settlers who allow themselves to set facts on the ground that determines the foreign and security policies for Israel, it must change its ways immediately and stop supporting outposts and illegal activities”.

Two of the outposts to which the Agricultural Ministry awarded grazing permits are located in the south Hebron hills, on land that is privately owned by Palestinians.  One of those outposts, established by a settler named Shavti Kohslaviski, has active demolition orders issued against it. A third outpost that received grazing permits is located near the Elon Moreh settlement, on a site that is partially privately owned Palestinian land that Israel has made inaccessible to its Palestinian owners but on which settlers regularly trespass . 

Israeli Army Let Settlers Stay at Abandoned Base Despite Knowing Plans for Illegal Outpost

Kerem Navot reports that on July 23rd, dozens of settlers were allowed to stay at an abandoned military base in the Jordan Valley with permission of the Israeli army. The Israeli Commander in charge of the area reportedly said that he granted permission for the settlers to hike in the area and spend one night at the army base – – despite the fact that the settlers openly declared their intent to establish a permanent presence there. The settlers left after two nights at the site, though a government source told Haaretz that the problem will continue to linger, saying “the minute the brigade commander allowed this one time, they will go up there regularly, when they feel like it, with or without permission, and the defense establishment will have to start dealing with it.” 

Kerem Navot reports:

“The organization that is behind this current takeover attempt is called “Nahala.” Nahala is the same group behind the takeover of Mount Sbeih south of the village of Beita, upon which the outpost of Eviatar was founded two months ago, and operates behind a fictional NGO (which we wrote about not long ago- https://bit.ly/3763yJW). Yes, you understood that correctly: The same people who broke the law when they established the outpost Eviatar, are advancing a new aggressive takeover of lands that do not belong to them, instead of standing trial. Welcome to the West Bank.”

Outpost Activity Continues in the South Hebron Hills

On July 25th, Palestinian media reported that settlers have begun reestablishing an outpost in the south Herbron hills, near the town of Yatta. Settlers had abandoned the outpost a few months ago under regular protests by Palestinians.

On July 27th, the Israeli government dismantled another outpost – called “Beit Dror” by settlers – in the south Hebron hills. There were seven families of settlers living at the outpost in pre-fabricated homes which were removed from the area by cranes. Following the evacuation, the settlers held a cornerstone-laying ceremony at the site, vowing to return and permanently build on the land. 

Bonus Reads

  1. “Over 140 Palestinians hurt after Israeli troops attack anti-settlement protesters” (The New Arab)
  2. “A water spring in the occupied Jordan Valley targeted for takeover by Israeli settlers” (WAFA)
  3. “Palestinian teenager killed by Israeli troops in West Bank” (The New Arab)
  4. “Ben & Jerry’s Is Shunning Israeli Settlements. The U.S. Should Too” (DAWN)