Settlement & Annexation Report: January 14, 2022

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

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January 14, 2022

Israeli Attorney General Supports Settler-Led Dispossession of the Sumreen Family in Silwan
Tender Published for 300 New Units in East Jerusalem Settlement of East Talpiyot
Israel to Advance Expansion of East Jerusalem settlement of Gilo
Israel Advances Plan that Will Pave Way for Expansion of East Jerusalem Settlement Enclave of Nof Zion
IDF Evacuates Oz Zion Outpost (Again)
Fight Over Homesh Outpost & Yeshiva Continues (Both Physically and Politically)
Settlers Seek Outpost Gains from Divided & Fragile Government (With Some Success)
Construction Begins on Key Stretch of the “Tunnels Road” for Settlements South of Jerusalem
Israel Gives U.S. Army Officers Tour of Hebron Led by Settlement Spokesman
Further Reading

Israeli Attorney General Supports Settler-Led Dispossession of the Sumreen Family in Silwan

On January 9th, Israeli Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit submitted a legal opinion to the Supreme Court arguing in support of the immediate eviction of the Sumreen family from their home of 60+ years in the Silwan neighborhood of East Jerusalem. The Supreme Court is expected to announce its next steps on the case in the coming days, which might include setting a new hearing date to again consider legal arguments from both sides (now that the Attorney General has weighed in).

Map by Peace Now (click to expand)

The case to evict the Sumreen family, spearheaded by the JNF, with the secret funding/backing of the Elad settler group, is a key test of the State’s use of the Absentee Property Law to seize Palestinian homes in East Jerusalem. If dispossessed of their home, the Sumreen family case sets a broader precedent for many other ongoing eviction cases in Silwan that could result in the mass displacement of Palestinians in favor of settlers.

In his opinion, the Attorney General did not address the broader political context of widespread dispossession of Palestinians in Silwan, or legally dubious actions on the part of the Elad settler group and the Jewish National Fund in having the property declared to be absentee (see a detailed history of that scandal here) in order to take control over it. Instead, the Attorney General decided simply that there is no new basis on which to overturn the 1999 ruling that legitimized the JNF’s ownership of the home, and that the Sumreen family does not have a legal right to reside there.

Peace Now said in a statement:

“Instead of intervening and doing justice, the Israeli government, through the Attorney General, becomes a direct partner in crime and unforgivable injustice. The Attorney General chooses to ignore the context and the injustice behind the eviction suit and dives into quasi-legal questions to help settlers take over another property in Silwan. The Government’s fingerprints are smeared all over the Sumerin case. This is a political move in which government mechanisms such as the Custodian of Absentee Property and the Israel Land Administration and the JNF have been utilized in order to dispossess Palestinians of their property in East Jerusalem and replace them with settlers.”

It’s worth noting that the Sumreen house is located only a very short distance from the Al-Aqsa Mosque (approximately 10 meters) at the entrance to the Silwan neighborhood, and is adjacent to the “City of David” visitors center built and operated by the Elad settlers. The home is also located in the middle of what today has been designed by Israel as “the City of David National Park.” The entire area is managed by the radical Elad settler organization, which for years has also been pursuing the eviction of Palestinians from the homes in Silwan. For nearly three decades, the Sumreen family has been forced to battle for legal ownership of their home, after the state of Israel, prompted repeatedly by the JNF, declared the Sumreen’s home to be “absentee” property, despite the fact that this was manifestly not the case. Under that designation – which was not communicated to the Sumreen family – Israeli law permitted the State to take over the rights to the building. The State then sold the rights to the home to the JNF in 1991. The JNF has pursued the eviction of the Sumreen family ever since. Israeli courts ruled in favor of the Sumreen family’s ownership claims to the home for years, until a September 2019 ruling by the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court granted ownership of the family’s home to the JNF, a decision the family immediately appealed to the Jerusalem District Court.

A full history of the saga involving the Sumreen family – which is similar to dozens of other Palestinian homes in Silwan that were declared Absentee Property in the 1990s – can be found on the Peace Now website here.

Tender Published for 300 New Units in East Jerusalem Settlement of East Talpiyot

On January 5th the Israel Lands Authority published a tender for the construction of 300 settlement units in the East Talpiyot settlement, located in East Jerusalem. Ir Amim reports the tender is scheduled to be opened for bids on February 14th.

The new units will expand the built-up footprint of East Talpiyot in the direction of the Palestinian neighborhood of Sur Baher, a neighborhood that is facing multiple new settlement plans that encroach on its historic land (including the Givat HaMatos, Har Homa, and Lower Aqueduct plans). Sur Baher has also been targeted by the Israeli Custodian General in its efforts to gain control over more land that was owned by Jews previous to 1948.

Israel to Advance Expansion of East Jerusalem settlement of Gilo

On January 10th the Jerusalem District Planning Committee convened to discuss two plans that would add 1,538 settlement units to the Gilo settlement in East Jerusalem. The plans are being advanced under the banner of “urban renewal” and will involve demolishing existing settlement units and replacing 470 existing settlement units with 2,008 new units (representing a net expansion of the settlement by 1,538 units). Ir Amim notes that, “while the plans will not necessarily enlarge Gilo territorially, it will increase the Israeli population in the settlement and hence the number of Israelis living in East Jerusalem.”

Israel Advances Plan that Will Pave Way for Expansion of East Jerusalem Settlement Enclave of Nof Zion

Map by Ir Amim (click to expand)

On January 11th, the Jerusalem District Planning Committee held a meeting to discuss public objections to a plan connected to the expansion of Nof Zion, a settlement enclave located inside the Palestinian East Jerualem neighborhood of Jabal Mukaber. One such objection was filed by Palestinian residents of Jabal Mukaber with assistance from Ir Amim. That objection argues that the plan is an affront to the planning needs of the local community and continues Israel’s systematic, city-wide discrimination against the housing, educational, and service-based needs of Palestinian neighborhoods. The Committee closed the meeting without reaching a decision, and has scheduled further private (closed to the public) continuation of its discussion of the plan.

The plan under consideration provides for the construction of a large, new Israeli police station on the border of Jabal Mukhaber neighborhood, on a plot of land that is across the street from the existing police station. The new station, according to Ir Amim, will “constitute a massive security headquarters and border police base, replete with detention facilities and laboratories.” Under the plan, after the new station is built the site of the current station will be designated for public buildings; however, Ir Amim warns that the land is currently allocated for the construction of hotels directly connected to plans to expand the Nof Zion settlement enclave. The relocation of the police station is a step towards the construction of those two hotels, which is part of the larger plan to expand Nof Zion to include the construction of commercial centers, educational institutions, and a sports field.

Ir Amim comments:

“In light of the dearth of public buildings and/or public spaces in the neighborhood, the objection [to the police facility plan] underscores the complete planning error and misuse of the respective plot of land. Rather than allocating the space to meet the dire public needs of the community, the authorities see it fit to utilize the land for a massive security base on the edge of the neighborhood. According to the objection [filed by Ir Amim and Palestinian residents], a plan of such magnitude implies that members of the community are seen as constituting a ‘threat’ rather than actual residents of Jerusalem entitled to equal socioeconomic rights and equitable access to municipal services. The depletion and appropriation of public spaces in East Jerusalem to serve Israeli interests and the expansion of setter enclaves in Palestinian neighborhoods not only erode the fabric of these communities, but severely impinge on Palestinian individual and collective rights and further entrench Israeli control of East Jerusalem.”

Israel has been working consistently to expand and entrench Nof Zion — which it should be underscored is an enclave located wholly inside a Palestinian neighborhood. On July 8, 2021 settlers and their allies held a cornerstone-laying ceremony to mark the beginning of construction on hundreds of new units in Nof Zion. The new construction is just preliminary work on a project that will triple the settlement in size and make it the largest settlement enclave in East Jerusalem.

As a reminder: In 2017, the Israeli government approved a plan to build a new synagogue and mikveh in Nof Zion on private Palestinian land that was expropriated from the Jabel Mukaber neighborhood in 2016. Then, in September 2017, rumors emerged that the government was set to issue 176 building permits for the already-approved project. According to Ir Amim, those permits were ultimately issued in April 2019.

IDF Evacuates Oz Zion Outpost (Again)

On January 10th, settlers sought to obstruct Israeli forces that were dismantling structures at the unauthorized outpost site called Oz Zion, located between Jerusalem and Ramallah. Settlers reportedly chained themselves to structures at the scene, and clashed with Israeli forces when they arrived to remove them.

Oz Zion has been dismantled by the IDF several times in the past (most recently in June 2021). Yet, the settlers – who have violently resisted Israeli forces carrying out the demolition – have repeatedly been allowed to reestablish it. It is one of the outposts for which a standing demolition order was recently re-issued by the IDF.

Fight Over Homesh Outpost & Yeshiva Continues (Both Physically and Politically)

On January 10th, settlers clashed with Israeli forces attempting to confiscate property from the illegal yeshiva settlers have established at the site of the evacuated settlement of Homesh — a yeshiva that the IDF continues to permit settlers to visit and operate. It’s worth recalling the great lengths to which the IDF has gone to offer protection for the settlers to access the yeshiva, at the cost of the freedom of movement and obstruction of normal life to entire nearby Palestinian villages.

In the wake of the killing last month of a settler connected to the illegal yeshiva, national furor – spearheaded by settlers protesting in front of the Prime Minister’s residence – has kept the heat on the government over the fate of the Homesh outpost and yeshiva. Key settler leaders are threatening to bring down the current coalition if the yeshiva is dismantled. While the government has not clearly signaled what it intends to do with the yeshiva, settlers and their political allies outside of the governing coalition are now aggressively pushing the government to undertake hugely consequential efforts on behalf of the settlements — including but not limited to re-establishing the settlement of Homesh and normalizing the status of the illegal yeshiva at the site — in order to prove it allegiance. See below for more details.

Settlers Seek Outpost Gains from Divided & Fragile Government (With Some Success)

As part of their campaign to push the government to authorize the Homesh yeshiva and reestablish the Homesh settlement, key settler leaders are raising at least two additional major initiatives in their aggressive push on the government to compensate the settlers in response to the recent death of settler Yehuda Dimentan.

Those two additional demands by the settlers – a contingent of whom are encamped in front of Prime Minister Bennett’s residence – are:

To pass a bill – or act unilaterally – to connect unauthorized outposts to the Israeli electric and water grids. To that end, Defense Minister Benny Gantz and Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked reportedly held a meeting on this topic on January 9th. The settler-run news outlet Artuz Sheva optimistically reports that dozens of outposts might meet Israeli criteria for being connected to Israeli infrastructure, and that Gantz would support the move if the Defense Ministry Legal Advisor gives it an OK. This has been a longtime demand of settlers, and has typically included the demand to connect outposts to Israeli water, sewer, power, garbage collection, and other municipal services. Doing so would further entrench the permanence of these outposts and furthers the de facto annexation of Palestinian land. It would also continue and expand on Israel’s long practice of copiously rewarding settlers for breaking Israeli law (by illegally building outposts), and directly incentivizing further settler lawbreaking.
To more aggressively police Palestinian construction in Area C of the West Bank (some 60% of the land). This demand is grounded in an Orwellian twisting of reality to treat Palestinian construction on Palestinian private land in Area C without permits required by Israel (permits Israel consistently refuses to issue) as theft of Israeli land. For more on this long running, and particularly pernicious, tactic of the settlement movement, see FMEP’s previous reporting.

Construction Begins on Key Stretch of the “Tunnels Road” for Settlements South of Jerusalem

Arutz Sheva reports (gleefully) that ground has been broken on a final stretch of the new tunnel road that will connect settlements to the south of Jerusalem (the Etzion settlement bloc) more seamlessly to the heart of the city. The tunnel is part of Highway 60, which Israel has already begun work to widen, which runs from Jerusalem all the way to the Kiryat Arba in Hebron.

In a deeply researched report on how infrastructure like roads is a means for settlement expansion and annexation, Breaking the Silence explains:

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

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

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

Israel Gives U.S. Army Officers Tour of Hebron Led by Settlement Spokesman

Raising many eyebrows, the secretariat of the Israeli Central Command reportedly arranged a settler-led tour of Hebron for a delegation of U.S. army officers. The full-day tour designed by the settlers included a visit to the Tomb of the Patriarchs/al-Ibrahimi Mosque and a visit to the settler-run museum (in the Beit Hadassah enclave). The visit empowered settlers to present their version of the religious, historic, geo-political, and security significance of Hebron (including with respect both to settlers/settlements, and presenting Palestinians through the settler lens). The U.S. delegation did not engage any Palestinians while in Hebron, creating an obvious and problematic imbalance in perspective on all matters.

Haaretz reports that the Israeli army has refrained from engaging the settlers for diplomatic tours of Hebron in recent years. In a statement to Haaretz about the tour, the IDF issued a bland statement saying:

“Last week, a few U.S. army officers came for a tour of the Tomb of the Patriarchs and Beit Hadassah led by the commander of the Central Command, for the purpose of learning about the history of the site. As part of the ongoing tours that are held regularly, the American delegation meets with various people in the State of Israel as well as in the Palestinian Authority. This is in order to learn about the area in the best way possible. Dr. Noam Arnon [a far-right-wing settler activist and spokesman for the Hebron settlements] was chosen to guide this tour. The tour was held according to the established regulations in the IDF.”

Israel Advances Plan for New East Jerusalem Settlement, “Givat HaShaked”

On Wednesday December 8th, the Jerusalem Local Planning Committee advanced a plan to build a new settlement, called “Givat HaShaked,” to be located on the southern perimeter of East Jerusalem – on the northwestern part of the Palestinian neighborhood of Beit Safafa. The plan would see construction of 473 settlement units, as well as schools. The plan also includes plots designated for two synagogues, the latter fact casting doubt on the Jerusalem Municipality’s assertion that “the Givat HaShaked plan is not necessarily designed for a specific demographic.”

Ir Amim reports that a portion of the land on which Givat HaShaked would be constructed is privately owned by Palestinian residents of Sharafat, which is a section of the Palestinian neighborhood of Beit Safafa on the southern end of Jerusalem. It should be recalled that Beit Safafa – which is suffering from an acute housing crisis that Israeli authorities have refused to address – is in the process of being completely surrounded by Israeli development (for Jewish Israelis) — most notably with final approval of the Givat Hamatos settlement plan, for which tenders were issued in January 2021.

Other parts of the land proposed to be used for the Givat HaShaked settlement plan are managed by the Israeli General Custodian – a fact Ir Amim calls “highly unusual and seemingly marks a new phenomenon.” The Israeli General Custodian is empowered by the State to act as a caretaker of land that has unknown ownership until the heirs are located. In an attempt to explain why the General Custodian has the authority to approve a plan for construction on land that the State does not own, the Israeli Justice Ministry told Haaretz that the plan for Givat HaShaked increased the value of the land and that “by law, the administrator general is obligated to care for the assets under his management in a way that will benefit their private owners.” [An answer that implies, bizarrely, that if and when Palestinian heirs are located, they will be somehow better off with their land having been used to build a settlement].

It must be remembered that in late 2020 the Israeli government initiated a registration process for land in East Jerusalem, including in the Sharafat area. At this time, it is unknown whether the land managed by the General Custodian in Sharafat (and designated for the new settlement) has been – or is in the process of being – registered. On that uncertainty, Ir Amim writes:

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

It should also be recalled that Israeli authorities undertook the secret registration of land for the benefit of settlers in Sheikh Jarrah. For further information on the highly sensitive and consequential land registration process in East Jerusalem, please see FMEP’s reporting here and Ir Amim’s reporting here.

Ir Amim said in a statement on the Givat HaShaked plan:

“As 2021 comes to a close, it has become more evident that although the current Israeli government is comprised of a broad coalition, it is unequivocally advancing a hardline rightwing agenda propelled by far rightwing politicians in strategic positions. Since the theoretical “government of change” came to power half a year ago, it has successfully undertaken systematic measures, which sabotage any remaining viability of a negotiated political resolution and carry severe ramifications on Palestinian human rights. Settlement advancements in the most sensitive locations in and around East Jerusalem have accelerated unimpeded, while heightened threats of mass Palestinian displacement from the city have soared to an unprecedented level.”

Terrestrial Jerusalem founder Daniel Seidemann tweeted:

“Atatrot, E-1, Sheikh Jarrah, Silwan and now Givat Hashaked reveal the Bennett Doctrine: ‘Leave no eye un-poked’.”

Israel Decides on a Last Minute (& Temporary) Delay of Atarot Settlement

At a hearing on December 6th, the Jerusalem District Planning Committee ordered an environmental study be completed before it advances a plan for the construction of the new Atarot settlement on the northern border of Jerusalem. The court-ordered study is expected to take about one year. Notably, in ordering the study, the Court made it clear that the environmental study is “standard practice” and expressed support for the underlying plan, saying it believes the plan represents a proper use of unutilized land reserves.

The decision to delay the advancement of the Atarot settlement plan came as a bit of a surprise, as Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett had assured settlers only last week that the plan would indeed be advanced at the meeting. However, Bennett has come under sustained scrutiny and pressure from the U.S. – most pointedly in a call on December 2nd with Secretary of State Antony Blinken. In the call, as reported by The Times of Israel, Blinken made it clear to Bennett that the U.S. would be unhappy if the plan was advanced, even if Israel committed that the construction would not move forward (as reports suggested was the preferred Israeli solution — one that the Israeli government likely thought would appease both settlers and the U.S.). Blinken is reported to have made it clear that any advancement of the project would be unacceptable. Notably, U.S. diplomats were in attendance at the December 6th hearing, which came one day after Thomas Nides presented his credentials to the Israeli government to serve as the U.S. Ambassador to Israel. Nides’ ceremony was originally scheduled for December 6th (the day of the hearing) but was reportedly rescheduled to not coincide with the Atarot hearing.

Meanwhile, Regional Cooperation Minister Issawi Frej (Meretz) is considering how to advance his own plan to build a new airport at the Atarot site, a plan which has the support of Israeli Transportation Minister Merav Michaeli (Labor).

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

Shaked Funds, Elevates Settler Municipal Council in Hebron

On December 1st, an Israeli news station reported that Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked allocated $158,000 to the settlers in Hebron for the “development of municipal services.” Al-Monitor reports that this is the first such allocation of funds for Hebron’s nascent settler municipal body, which Shaked was part of establishing in 2017, when she served as Justice Minister.

Prior to receiving permission to form a municipal body in 2017, the loose cluster of settlements located in Hebron’s city center (home to around 1,000 settlers) had technically fallen under the municipal jurisdiction of the Palestinian Authority, while for all practical purposes operating as an enclave under full Israeli control and authority.

Hebron Mayor Taysir Abu Sneineh warned that Israel has repeatedly stoked tensions in Hebron – citing Israel President Isaac Herzog’s recent Hanukkah celebration at the Tomb of the Patriarchs/Al-Ibrahimi Mosque. The Mayor believers that Israel is trying to replace the Palestinian-run Hebron Municipality with a settler organization, telling Al-Monitor:

“This is not to mention the daily attacks [by settlers] in the Tel Rumeida neighborhood and al-Shuhada Street. The city is sitting on a volcano, and things might explode at any moment.”

Karim Jubran, director of field research at the Jerusalem-based nonprofit organization B’Tselem, told Al-Monitor:

“Settlers are tightening the noose around the lives of half a million Palestinians in Hebron, especially those who live in the H2 area, as hostages of settlers and the Israeli army.”

Demolition of Palestinian Property in Area C Hit a Five Year High in 2020

According to data from the Israeli Civil Administration, Israel demolished 797 Palestinian-owned structures in Area C of the West Bank – marking a five year high. The data was obtained via a freedom of information request filed by the Israeli NGO Bimkom.

The soaring number of demolitions is congruent with the escalating, government-funded and government-equipped campaign run by settlers to more aggressively wield building laws against Palestinians in Area C, even as settlers continue building unauthorized outposts in violation of the same building laws, and rarely facing consequences. Just last month, settlers formed a new task force coordinating settler advocacy on the topic. In October 2020, the Israeli government allocated nearly $2650,000 to 14 settler councils in order to buy drones and hire policeman to patrol Palestinian construction in Area C. The government also set up a hotline for settlers to report illegal construction.

As a reminder, under the Oslo Accords, the West Bank was divided into 3 “areas” – Area A, B, and C – pending a permanent status Israeli-Palestinian agreement that would determine final control over all the land (an agreement that was supposed to have been reached by by May 1999). Area C – which accounts for around 60% of the West Bank – was to be (temporarily, until an agreement was concluded) under full Israeli control over Area C. However, throughout the 28 years since the Oslo Accords were signed (and with no peace agreement achieved or in sight), Israel has systematically expanded settlements and its control over lands in Area C, including by denying Palestinians in Area C permits to build “legally” (under Israeli law) on their own land. As a result, Palestinians have been forced to build without Israeli permits (i.e., “illegally” in the eyes of Israeli authorities), and Israel has responded by issuing wide-scale demolition orders and carrying out frequent demolitions.

In recent years, Israel has increasingly treated Area C as indistinguishable from sovereign Israeli territory, extending its laws and regulations to the area and its Israeli settler inhabitants. In parallel, settler groups – most notably the notorious “Regavim” – have lobbied Israeli authorities to crack down on “illegal” Palestinian construction, claiming that Palestinians are trying to “take over Israeli land”.

As part of these ongoing efforts — by settlers and the Israeli government — to entrench and expand Israel’s control over/de facto annexation of the entirety of Area C, in September 2020 the Israeli government allocated 20 million NIS ($6 million USD) for the newly created “Settlement Affairs Ministry.” That ministry was given the mission of surveying and mapping “unauthorized” (by Israel) Palestinian construction in Area C (the same construction which Israel has been aggressively demolishing). This funding further empowers a domestic Israeli body to exert extraterritorial sovereignty over Area C – in effect, treating the area as land already annexed by Israel.

The Knesset has also repeatedly hosted forums to discuss the alleged (by settlers and their allies/advocates) “Palestinian takeover of Area C.” This framing is predicated on the assertion that Area C belongs to Israel (an assertion that is not supported by the Oslo Accords) and must be defended against Palestinian efforts to “steal” it. Consistent with this framing, and under pressure from various outside groups, many members of the Knesset have criticized the Israeli government’s alleged failure to robustly “defend” Israel’s rights and interests in Area C (e.g., failure to prevent/destroy “illegal” Palestinian construction, failure to block foreign government-funded humanitarian projects that support Palestinians’ presence in the area; failure to clear out Palestinians from the area, expand settlements, and consolidate state-built settlement infrastructure; etc.).

Israel Escalates Intimidation of Activists Working in the South Hebron Hills

In two separate – but by all indications connected – actions over the past week, Israeli authorities detained and interrogated several Jewish Israeli activists (some of whom are American citizens) involved in Palestinian solidarity and anti-occupation efforts related to raising awareness around settler violence, land seizures, and firing zones in the South Hebron Hills.

In Jerusalem, police twice raided the home of several Jewish activists on allegations that some of the residents were involved in spraying graffiti on public property as part of an anti-occupation action. In the course of those two raids, police ransacked the house and photographed all the residents, later summoning them for interrogation about the allegations of graffiti and opening cases against some of them.

Later the same day, there was an incident in A-Tuwani, a Palestinian village in the South Hebron Hills. A settler jogging through A-Tuwani – a bizarre action by a settler given that A-Tuwani has been the target of intense settler attacks – was confronted by Palestinians. The incident was eventually resolved in the presence of Israeli police and Israeli activists staying in the village in solidarity with Palestinians. Subsequently, the IDF summoned three of the Israeli activists for questioning about the incident. Those three activists (plus another two) were then detained, interrogated, and charged — with charges ranging from obstructing justice, assault, and failure to prevent a crime. The charge of assault was later dropped; the charge of failing to prevent a crime is a novel charge, generally reserved for cases of murder. The activists were later conditionally released, some after accepting a 15-day ban on entering the South Hebron Hills. In parallel, Israeli Police raided two homes in A-Tuwani – one of the homes houses Israeli activists, the other is the home of a Palestinian family prominently involved in activism and documentation of settler violence in the area. The Israeli police confiscated (without a warrant) equipment owned by the activists and the Palestinian Al-Adra family, including cameras, computers, and a jeep – all of which are vital tools in documenting the ongoing settler terrorism.

Attorney Riham Nasra, who is representing the three activists who were charged, told +972 Magazine:

“It is clear that this arrest is an attempt to inflate accusations in order to intimidate and deter activists, to prevent them from continuing their important activities. They were turned into suspects only because they did not cooperate with the investigators’ attempts to indict them. From the hearing it is clear that the activists were never suspected of involvement in the attack. Their arrest is part of the attempts to keep the activists out of the South Hebron Hills, where they expose the atrocities of occupation and human rights violations.”

The actions come at a time when settler terrorism in the South Hebron Hills is a matter of growing international scrutiny, and come only a few short weeks after U.S. members of Congress visited Palestinians in the area. One of the members of Congress, Rep. Mark Pocan (D-WI), followed up his visit by tweeting, “Today ⁦@JamaalBowmanNY & I visited w/ Nasser of Susia in Palestine today to discuss Israeli settler violence to his village. We will be watching to make sure no violence occurs this weekend or anytime.”

For more insight and details on these arrests and the background of the South Hebron Hills, check out FMEP’s latest podcast featuring Oriel Eisner and Maya Eshel – two of the Israelis arrested in Jerusalem and the South Hebron Hills, respectively – entitled, “Israeli Government Escalates Pressure on Israelis Who Stand in Solidarity with Palestinians.”

Bonus Reads

“Israel, sans West Bank, officially joins EU’s huge flagship R&D program” (The Times of Israel)
“New Israeli Government’s Scorecard for Peace: Poor.” (Dahlia Scheindlin for The Century Foundation)
“How settler violence is fuelling West Bank tension” (The Guardian)
“The Temple Mount movement is soaring under Israel’s new government” (+972 Magazine)
“Israeli settlers have a new target, and it’s not in the West Bank” (+972 Magazine)
“Why Settlers Are Quietly Happy With Israel’s post-Netanyahu Government” (Anshell Pfeffer in 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.

December 3, 2021

Israel to Advance Atarot Settlement Plan
New Israeli President Kicks Off Hanukkah with Settlers in Hebron, Sparking Clashes and Raising Ire
Court OKs Demolition of Palestinian Homes in Wadi Yasul (Silwan)
“Day of Destruction” – Israel Demolitions in East Jerusalem & West Bank
Government Contradictions Delay Final Decision on Jerusalem Cable Car Project
Knesset Holds Hearing on Settler Terrorism
Bonus Reads

Israel to Advance Atarot Settlement Plan

At its upcoming meeting scheduled for December 6th, the Israeli Interior Ministry District Planning Committee is set to approve the Atarot settlement plan for public deposit.

The Jerusalem District Planning Committee previously signaled its intent to advance the Atarot settlement plan, most notably by placing it on the December 6th agenda. After apparent pushback from the Biden Administration, on November 25th the plan was suddenly removed from the December 6th agenda, reportedly in fulfillment of a promise to the U.S. to freeze the project. That removal, however, proved short-lived. On November 28th, the Atarot plan reappeared on the agenda, confirming earlier comments Bennett made to the settler-run news outlet Arutz Sheva saying that the plan will indeed be discussed on December 6th. Apparently settling the matter, an Israeli diplomatic source said that the government will act on the plan by approving it for deposit for public review, while at the same time offering the U.S. a rhetorical commitment (but nothing more) that there will be no further advancement in the planning process for at least a year.

Peace Now’s Hagit Ofran cautions:

“‘…please, don’t buy any ‘promise’ that ‘we will not build’ (anyway the planning process takes a while, and even if they work hard and fast they can’t start to build Atarot in less than 3-4 years), what we need is clear: Don’t promote the plan; Shelve it.’ Ofran separately told The Los Angeles Times, ‘As soon as [the committee] approve[s] it, it’s like a snowball.’”

Ir Amim also warns:

“While the Israeli authorities may attempt to relegate the upcoming discussion as a prosaic, bureaucratic step in a lengthy approval process, it is a necessary stage in the plan’s final approval and indeed advances the plan one step closer to full validation.”

For further information about the Atarot plan – and what has transpired over the past week – please see the following two podcasts:

“The Settlement That Wasn’t But Now Is” ft. Daniel Seidemann & Evan Gottesman (Terrestrial Jerusalem Podcast – 11/30/2021)
“Scorched Earth & Settlements in Jerusalem” ft. Daniel Seidemann and Kristin McCarthy (FMEP podcast – 12/2/2021)

New Israeli President Kicks Off Hanukkah with Settlers in Hebron, Sparking Clashes and Raising Ire

Isaac Herzog – the former head of the Jewish Agency who was sworn in as the new Israeli President in July 2021 – opted to make a highly political statement by attending a celebration of the first night of Hanukkah in Hebron, at the Tomb of the Patriarchs/al-Ibrahimi Mosque. Herzog’s choice is correctly understood to be an intentional embrace and legitimization of settlers in Hebron, and of the apartheid reality Palestinians experience everyday. In his speech at the event, Herzog emphasized recognition of “the historical affinity of the Jewish people to Hebron, to the Cave of the Patriarchs,” and spoke about the 1929 massacre of Jews in Hebron. He said nothing about Palestinian links to the city, the 1993 Hebron Massacre, or anything else related to Palestinian equities in the city.

Palestinian and Israeli activists protested the event, which led to clashes with the IDF.

The Palestinian Foreign Ministry responded:

“The Israeli government bears full and direct responsibility for this event…[this is] a defiant move aimed at embracing the settlement enterprise and a blatant violation of international law and the international effort to curb unilateral measures.”

MK Ayman Odeh (Joint List) tweeted:

“Herzog did not go to light the first candle, he went to light Hebron…Whoever celebrates with fans of the killer Goldstein cannot be the president of all the citizens of the country.”

Peace Now, commenting on Herzog’s activities, said:

“[Hebron is] the ugliest face of Israeli control over the territories..It is inconceivable that the president, who is supposed to be a unifying figure, would choose, of all places, to light a candle in a place that has become a stronghold of oppression and violence.”

Commenting on the IDF’s preventing protests of Herzog’s appearance, Peace Now also said:

“While the president lights a candle with Baruch Marzel and the Kahanists, security forces are preventing law-abiding citizens from exercising their right to protest”.

In speculating that Herzog’s appearance in Hebron is indicative of his higher political ambitions [to become Prime Minister], Israeli analyst Anshel Pfeffer writes:

“Herzog’s decision to light the first candle of Hanukkah on Sunday night with the settlers of Hebron, [Kahanist MK] Ben-Gvir’s core constituency, should come as no surprise to anyone. These were the kind of people he courted before being elected president and he’s not about to shun them now, or anytime… The visit to Hebron is not an afterthought or a symbolic gesture of ‘unity.’ This was the very first Hanukkah-lighting of Herzog’s presidency, and his choice of venue signals how he intends to build his political brand throughout his term and beyond.”

The Haaretz Editorial Board – in an editorial entitled “Herzog Decided He Wants to Be the President of the Settlements. It’s Not Too Late to Change It” – pleaded with Herzog to cancel his plan, writing:

“Of all the places in Israel, the president chose Hebron, the ultimate symbol of the ugliness and brutality of the occupation and the violence and domineering of the settlers.

“The visit by Israel’s No. 1 citizen to that place – most of whose Palestinian inhabitants have been forced to flee in fear of the settlers and abandon their homes and stores, turning the heart of Hebron into a ghost town – is tantamount to granting official legitimacy to the appalling injustices perpetrated there every day, both before and after Dr. Baruch Goldstein massacred 29 Arab worshipers in the mosque at the Tomb of the Patriarchs.

“In no other place in the West Bank is Israeli apartheid so horrifyingly flagrant: segregated streets on which Palestinians are prohibited from walking; vehicle entry barred to the Palestinians still living there; checkpoints at every turn – only for Palestinians, of course. Violence and humiliation are the daily fare of every Palestinian resident at the hands of the settlers and their children, as well as the army and Border Patrol personnel who are stationed on every corner.

“That is where Herzog believes he must go. His planned visit to Hebron is a gesture of recognition of and solidarity with the most violent settlers and additional proof that occupied Hebron has been annexed to Israel, at least de facto. Otherwise, the president has no reason to go there.”

Court OKs Demolition of Palestinian Homes in Wadi Yasul (Silwan)

Map by Ir Amim

On November 28th the Jerusalem District Court cleared the way for the immediate demolition of 58 Palestinian homes in the Wadi Yasul section of the Silwan neighborhood in East Jerusalem – adjacent to an area known as the “Peace Forest”. The basis for the order is the Israeli claim that the homes lack Israel-issued building permits. The Court rejected an appeal to continue freezing demolition orders, filed by Palestinian homeowners, ruling that demolition orders can no longer be justifiably suspended because there appeared to be no prospect of Israel legalizing the homes, despite a 15-year effort on the part of Wadi Yasul’s residents to advance planning schemes that could have enabled Israel to rezone the land and legalize the homes.

An attorney representing the Palestinian homeowners told Haaretz:

“The residents have spent millions of shekels on these plans, but in the end, [city officials] broke their promises, posed insurmountable obstacles and insist on implementing the demolition orders and throwing the families out onto the street with no alternative.”

The brutal outcome Israel is meting out to the Palestinian residents of Wadi Yasul stands in stark contrast to the Israeli State and judicial system’s treatment of illegal settler construction in the same area — a reality that underscores the systematic discrimination that characterizes Israeli planning policies and enforcement facing Palestinians in Jerusalem. While pursuing the demolition of Palestinian construction and refusing efforts to address the issue, FMEP reported in 2019 how the Israeli government is working hand-in-hand with Israeli settlers to pursue every avenue to secure the retroactive legalization of the Elad settler group’s illegal construction. Even more brazenly, Israeli officials have been working to rezone the “Peace Forest” [something it refuses to do for Palestinians] in order to allow the Elad settler group to build more infrastructure in the area, including a tourist zipline and a promenade meant to connect settlement enclaves in the area.

Haaretz previously explained how Jerusalem authorities have repeatedly assisted Elad in its illegal activities:

“At first the NGO simply trespassed and built illegal structures there [the “Peace Forest”]. But things changed and gradually various local and national bodies – including the Jerusalem Municipality, the Israel Land Authority, the Tourism Ministry and the JNF – began to grant Elad assistance. This assistance has included granting building permits retroactively, allocating land to the group without a proper bidding process, and generous funding to the tune of tens of millions of shekels… It has been sponsoring activities in the Peace Forest since 2005, despite the fact that it has no ownership rights there or permits from the ILA (the legal owner of the land, which was expropriated from private Palestinian owners).”

Ir Amim explains:

“The scope of settlement projects in the vicinity of Wadi Yasul – and the breadth and depth of state support awarded to Elad, including authorities’ overt efforts to retroactively legalize their own unpermitted buildings – illuminate the stark discrimination in planning that empowers the expansion of radical settlement inside Palestinian neighborhoods while putting their native residents at risk of displacement.”

In a 2019 report on Wadi Yasul, B’Tselem told the story of what’s transpiring there:

“The residents of Wadi Yasul built [their homes] adjacent to a forest, also located on privately owned land that was expropriated from its Palestinian owners in 1970. In 1977, the Jerusalem Municipality zoned the forest and the area where Wadi Yasul was later established as a green space, where construction is prohibited.

“In 2004, the neighborhood’s residents submitted a detailed plan to the District Planning and Building Committee for retroactive authorization of their homes. The committee rejected the plan in 2008, citing incompatibility with the Jerusalem 2000 Outline Plan, which states that the area where the neighborhood was built must remain a green space.

“At the same time, the municipality and the JNF (Jewish National Fund) – the body in charge of managing the forest – gave their approval to settler organization El-Ad to move forward with plans for group campgrounds, including building the longest recreational zipline in Israel. Some of the facilities have already been built in the forest, without building permits. While the city did issue demolition orders against them, it has refrained from following through.

“In contrast, over the last decade, the city has filed indictments with the Court of Local Affairs against all Wadi Yasul homeowners. The court then issued demolition orders for all of the homes and imposed heavy fines, fining each family tens of thousands of shekels. Three of the families appealed these decisions with the District Court. The appeals were dismissed in April on the grounds that “there are no clear and near planning prospects” for the approval of a plan that would see the appellants’ homes, or other homes in the neighborhood, approved. An appeal the families filed with the Supreme Court was also rejected. In late April, 47 other families filed a motion with the District Court seeking an interim injunction staying execution of the demolition orders. The court’s decision is still pending. Consequently, all of the homes in the neighborhood are still under immediate threat of demolition.

“Ever since 1967, planning policy in Jerusalem has been geared toward establishing and maintaining a Jewish demographic majority in the city. Under this policy, it is nearly impossible to obtain a building permit in Palestinian neighborhoods. The outline plans the city has prepared for these neighborhoods are largely aimed at restricting and limiting building opportunities in Palestinian neighborhoods. One way the plans do so is by designating vast areas as open green spaces, thereby barring Palestinians from building there. The resulting housing shortage forces Palestinian residents to build without permits.”

“Day of Destruction” – Israel Demolitions in East Jerusalem & West Bank

On November 23rd, Israeli forces carried out a demolition campaign targeting Palestinian homes in East Jerusalem and the West Bank, under the pretense that these homes lack Israeli-required Israeli-issued building permits (permits Israel systematically refuses to issue to Palestinians in East Jerusalem and in Area C). As a result of these demolitions, 22 people, including 15 children, were rendered homeless in a single day.

The demolitions included:

3 homes in the Wadi al-Hummus neighborhood of East Jerusalem. One of the buildings was a multi-unit apartment buildings;
1 home and a burial building (perhaps a funeral home) in villages in the South Hebron Hills;
1 tent and 3 livestock structures belonging to bedouin families living east of Ramallah;
An agricultural road near Nablus. The road was used by the residents of ‘Asirah al-Shamaliyah to reach their farmland and also connects the town to Nablus.

B’Tselem writes:

“The wave of demolitions expresses the perception of the Israeli regime, which holds that land is a resource intended primarily to serve the Jewish population. This regime uses a variety of administrative, planning and bureaucratic tools to implement this concept. Governments come and go, but the apartheid regime remains untouched.”

Government Contradictions Delay Final Decision on Jerusalem Cable Car Project

On November 28th, the Israeli High Court of Justice held what was scheduled to be the final hearing to determine the fate of the Jerusalem cable car project — a project which has been promoted by the government and the Elad settler organization until this point. But instead of reaching a decision, the Court ended up giving the Israeli government a 21-day extension, by the end of which the government must explain its position on the project.

The proximate cause of the Court’s action was Israeli Minister of Transportation Merav Michaeli’s (Labor) statement, delivered two days before the Court hearing, saying that “the cable car has no significant transportation role, and the harm will exceed the benefits.” That statement contradicts and completely undermines the rationale for the project that the government has put forward until this point — i.e., that the cable car will provide a legitimate transportation benefit. Given Michaeli’s statement, the Court issued its order for the State to clarify where it stands.

Commenting on the Court’s action, the Israeli NGO Emek Shaveh – which specializes in archaeology – said:

“We are pleased that after three years, the transport minister has said what we have been saying all along: that the Jerusalem cable car project is not a transportation project and is not an answer to the traffic issues near the Old City. We believe that its value for tourism has also been greatly misrepresented and although the plan is being advanced by the Jerusalem Development Authority and the Tourism Ministry it will primarily benefit a powerful interest group (the Elad Foundation) by transporting thousands of tourists to its hub at the City of David to the detriment of the historic city and its residents. We hope that the judges will rule that the approval process for the cable car plan severely undermined principles of good governance and on those grounds decide to put a stop to the plan.”

As a reminder, the Jerusalem cable car project is an initiative backed by the powerful, state-backed Elad settler group and advanced by the Israeli Tourism Ministry. The State of Israel – which has pushed the project forward in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic and despite commitments by the government to focus on public health matters only – was previously forced to publicly admit that the implementation of the cable car project will require the confiscation of privately owned Palestinian land in the Silwan neighborhood of East Jerusalem.

While public efforts to “sell” the cable car plan have focused on its purported role in helping to grow Jerusalem’s tourism industry or in serving supposedly vital transportation needs, in reality the purpose of the project is to further entrench settler control in Silwan, via archeology and tourism sites, while simultaneously delegitimizing, dispossessing, and erasing the Palestinian presence there. Notably, the cable car line is slated to terminate at the settler-run Kedem Center compound (Elad’s large tourism center, currently under construction at the entrance of the Silwan neighborhood, in the shadows of the Old City’s walls and Al-Aqsa Mosque).

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

Knesset Holds Hearing on Settler Terrorism

On November 22nd a group of Knesset members – all hailing from political parties considered to be part of the Israeli Left – convened a hearing on settler violence against Palestinians.

As part of the hearing, several experts were asked to testify, including Ali Awad, a journalist and anti-settlement activist in the South Hebron Hills. Awad testified regarding his experience growing up in Tuba (read about that here), saying:

“I grew up in Tuba in the South Hebron Hills, under the threat of settlers my whole life. The military and settlers are working to steal our resources, rob us of our freedom, and take our land. There is full cooperation between the settlers and the army” [paraphrased by Breaking the Silence]

Peace Now Executive Director Shaqued Morag also testified, and emphasized that unauthorized outposts radiate settler terrorism and violence, serving as a tool for settlers (and the state) to take over more and more land.

A group of retired Israeli commanders – called Commanders for Israeli Security – delivered a written testimony for the hearing, writing:

“Groups of settlers have been perpetrating deadly acts of violence against Palestinians — for the most part helpless villagers — in areas under our control…This is completely unacceptable from an ethical and humanitarian perspective, and it stands in contradiction to Israel’s Jewish values.”

The hearing was not without controversy, as it was held the one day after a Palestinian killed one Jewish Israeli and injured four others in a shooting attack in the Old City of Jerusalem. Right-wing members of the Knesset, including Kahanist MK Ben Gvir, asked for the hearing on settler violence to be cancelled altogether. When it was allowed to proceed, Ben Gvir used the podium to shout his criticism of the Knesset members who organized the hearing, eventually resulting in his removal from the hearing room.

Decrying the lack of participation of many MKs, Meretz Party Chairman Nitzan Horowitz said:

“Their silence and lack of interest is tantamount to the endorsement and encouragement of continued violence.”

Horowitz also said:

“Some people in the Knesset minimize its existence or even deny it entirely. I invite them to visit the area, to meet with the victims of this violence, and to see the photos and video clips they produce.’’

Bonus Reads

“Highway of hope and heartbreak” (Washington Post)
“The Gaza Bantustan – Israeli Apartheid in the Gaza Strip” (Al-Mezan Center for Human Rights)
“‘Hate crime’ attacks by Israeli settlers on Palestinians spike in the West Bank” (Washington Post)
“Democratic Lawmakers Warn Against ‘Doomsday’ Israeli Settlement Plan” (Haaretz)
“‘The occupation is trying to uproot us. Art can bring us back’” (+972 Magazine)
“Israelis attacked, car set on fire after entering Ramallah” (i24 News)
“The Long Reach of Restraint: For Israel’s Supreme Court, to exercise power might be to lose it.” (Jewish Currents // Elisheva Goldberg)

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

To subscribe to this report, please click here.

November 12, 2021

Settlers Secure Deal for Eventual Eviction of Another Sheikh Jarrah Family
Increasing Pressure on the Government, Settlers to Operationalize Plan to Increase Control Over Area C
JNF Stops Funding 18-Year Legal Battle Over Beit Bakri in Hebron
Demolitions in East Jerusalem Continue, Including in Al-Walaja
Settler Violence & Expansionism Continue to Escalate in the South Hebron Hills
Bennett Pledges Evyatar Outpost will be Legalized, Sparking Palestinian Ire & More Coalition Threats
Government Punts on Outpost Legalization Bill, Knesset Might Move Forward Anyway
Bonus Reads

Settlers Secure Deal for Eventual Eviction of Another Sheikh Jarrah Family

Israel Hayom reports that a Palestinian family in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood has reached a Court-approved “deal” with settlers to recognize settler ownership of their home (where they have lived since 1956), in exchange for being allowed to stay as paying tenants for a period of at least ten years. The “deal” follows the broad outline of a Court-authored compromise that was rejected last week by four other Palestinian families (the cases are separate, but not unrelated).

Israel Hayom additionally speculates:

“The compromise, which was given the force of a legal ruling in the Jerusalem Magistrates Court a few days ago, could serve as a precedent for other local Arab families and is seen as a blow to the Palestinian Authority and Hamas, which are both pressuring Arab residents of Sheikh Jarrah-Shimon HaTzadik to refuse any proposed deals to vacate the properties.”

Increasing Pressure on the Government, Settlers to Operationalize Plan to Increase Control Over Area C

In a closed meeting on November 10th, the heads of settler regional councils met to discuss their ongoing effort to get the Israeli government to annex Area C of the West Bank. According to Arutz Sheva (the settler media outlet), the meeting resulted in significant decisions that create a more unified settler operation on the matter, including the formation of a “joint command center” through which all of the councils will act together, and a commitment by all the regional leaders to form a unified front to pressure the government.

Following the meeting, the participants released a statement saying:

“This struggle is over whether we continue to exist or to fold. This is an existential battle involving the entire Nation of Israel. We are all committed towards working together in order to stop the hostile takeover of our lands and in order to preserve the future of Jewish life in Judea and Samaria.”

An op-ed published in Israel Hayom on November 11th – entitled “In Area C, the time has come to get off the fence” – seemingly making the case for such an effort, the settlement activist Sara Haetzni-Cohen writes:

“Efrat’s dedicated residents have established their own war room. They track every brick and every bit of cement that is spilled and report it to the authorities. They know every demolition order that is issued but not enforced, and they do not give up. But the state quite simply does not exist. The Civil Administration is failing at its task and by choice…We’ve reached a stage where there is no state on which to rely on major issues. Real leadership from leaders who will get off the fence is needed. Local leadership in Judea and Samaria, whether elected or civilian organizations, must get off the fence and protect state lands, settlement lands, our homeland. It should be done intelligently, responsibly, and in a law-abiding manner. We should not resort to violence or vandalism against the Arab population, but rather go about this in a positive way, by planting trees and working the land, by showing our presence on the ground. If we will not be for ourselves, who will be for us? There simply isn’t any choice. We must get off the psychological and physical fence and defend our land.”

As a reminder, under the Oslo Accords, the West Bank was divided into 3 “areas” – Area A, B, and C – pending a permanent status Israeli-Palestinian agreement that would determine final control over all the land (an agreement that was supposed to have been reached by by May 1999). The Oslo Accords gave Israel complete control over Area C, which accounts for around 60% of the West Bank. Throughout the 28 years since the Oslo Accords were signed (and with no peace agreement achieved or in sight), Israel has systematically denied Palestinians in Area C permits that would enable them to build “legally” (under Israeli law) on their own land. As a result, Palestinians have been forced to build without Israeli permits (i.e., “illegally” in the eyes of Israeli authorities), and Israel has responded by issuing wide-scale demolition orders and carrying out frequent demolitions. In recent years, Israel has increasingly treated Area C as indistinguishable from sovereign Israeli territory, effectively extending its laws and regulations to the area and its Israeli settler inhabitants. In parallel, settler groups – most notably the notorious “Regavim” – have lobbied Israeli authorities to crack down on “illegal” Palestinian construction, claiming that Palestinians are trying to “take over Israeli land”.

As part of these ongoing efforts — by settlers and the Israeli government — to entrench and expand Israel’s control over/de facto annexation of the entirety of Area C, in September 2020 the Israeli government allocated 20 million NIS ($6 million USD) for the newly created Settlement Affairs Ministry. That ministry was given the mission of surveying and mapping “unauthorized” (by Israel) Palestinian construction in Area C (the same construction which Israel has been aggressively demolishing). This funding further empowers a domestic Israeli body to exert extraterritorial sovereignty over Area C – in effect, treating the area as land already annexed by Israel.

The Knesset has also repeatedly hosted forums to discuss the alleged (by settlers and their allies/advocates) “Palestinian takeover of Area C” — framing predicated on the assertion that Area C belongs to Israel (an assertion that is not supported by the Oslo Accords) and must be defended against Palestinian efforts to “steal” it. Consistent with this framing, and under pressure from various outside groups, many members of the Knesset have criticized the Israeli government’s alleged failure to robustly “defend” Israel’s rights/ interests in Area C (e.g., failure to prevent/destroy “illegal” Palestinian construction, failure to block foreign government-funded humanitarian projects that support Palestinians’ presence in the area; failure to clear out Palestinians from the area, expand settlements, and consolidate state-built settlement infrastructure; etc.).

JNF Stops Funding 18-Year Legal Battle Over Beit Bakri in Hebron

The Jerusalem Post reports that the Board of the Jewish National Fund in Israel has decided to stop funding the legal costs of a group of settlers battling to win control over a contested home in Tel Rumeida, in the heart of downtown Hebron (and to that end, forging documents). Israeli Courts have ruled against the settlers’ claim to the home twice, most recently in December 2019, in a ruling which affirmed that the Palestinian Bakri family is the rightful owner (the house is known as “Beit Bakri”).

At the request of the settlers, the JNF has agreed to pay installments on a legal guarantee to Israeli courts in order to allow the settlers to avoid eviction while pursuing an appeal against the December 2019 ruling against them. Since 2019, the JNF has paid some $35,000 (110,000 NIS) towards the case.

The Palestinian homeowners – the Bakri family – temporarily fled their home under constant settler harassment during the Second Intifada, a time when Tel Rumeida could have been accurately described as an “urban battlefield.” While the family was gone, settlers broke into the house, damaged it, destroyed the Bakri’s property, and ultimately took up residence there.

The Bakri family has spent the past 18 years petitioning Israeli police and the courts to remove the settlers — cases the Bakri family repeatedly won. The settlers have managed to repeatedly delay their eviction by essentially exploiting every possible legal defense, no matter how absurd or contradictory. For example: At different points over the past 18 years, settlers argued in court that they had a rental agreement; that they purchased the home; that the plot of land was owned by a Jewish trust prior to 1948 and they are “reclaiming” the property; and that because they had invested so much money in improving the land since taking it over, under Ottoman Law it now legally belongs to them, regardless of the means by which they acquired it. When at one point some years ago the courts ruled that the settlers had to evacuate, the settler occupants of the Bakri home did, indeed, leave, only to be immediately replaced by other settlers — at which point the Israeli Attorney General told the Bakri family that they had to start eviction proceedings anew. For a detailed timeline of the Bakri family’s saga, see this report from Peace Now.

Throughout the course of this saga, the settlers’ effort to hold on to the Bakri home was aided by the State’s unwillingness to implement court orders against the settlers. Peace Now said in a statement:

“This is not only a matter of cruelty, deceit and theft of settlers who are not loathe to take control of assets that are not theirs, but also a matter of the lack of government accountability. For 18 years the government did not enforce the law against the invading settlers, and even assisted them and allowed them to continue to steal the house and terrorize their Palestinian neighbors in Tel Rumeida. Furthermore, it should be remembered that Hebron is under Israeli occupation and the Palestinian residents cannot remove the settlers from their homes by appealing to the Palestinian Authority. The power lies in the hands of the Israeli government, which does nothing to fulfill its responsibilities to protect abandoned Palestinian property.”

Demolitions in East Jerusalem Continue, Including in Al-Walaja

Over the past week the Israeli government has moved forward with demolitions in Palestinian neighborhoods across East Jerusalem, including:

The demolition of three Palestinian homes in the village of Al-Walajah on November 9th. For more on Israel’s systematic campaign to demolish homes in Al-Walajah – including its refusal to approve building plans initiated by Palestinians – see FMEP’s September 9, 2021 settlement report;
Israeli authorities delivered demolition notices to 10 Palestinian families (70 individuals) living in an apartment building in the al-Tur neighborhood. The notice ordered the families to self-demolish the four-story building within one week, or have Israeli forces demolish the building, with the cost of the demolition billed to the residents. The families reportedly began removing their belongings from the building on November 5th in anticipation of demolition;
Under coercive Israeli policies, a Palestinian family opted to self-demolish an apartment building in the Beit Hanina neighborhood;
Under coercive Israeli policies, a Palestinian family opted to self-demolish its house in the Jabel al-Mukaber neighborhood.

As is always the Israeli position, the State asserts that the homes being demolished and under threat of demolition have been built by Palestinians without the required Israeli permits (often on land that even Israel recognizes they privately own). Such permits are generally all but impossible for Palestinians to obtain; in the case of al-Walajah, they are literally impossible to obtain, since the area lacks the required Israeli-approved “outline plan,” without which permits are an impossibility. Facing the reality of having Israel demolish their homes and being required to pay excessive costs and fees associated with such demolitions, Palestinians sometimes choose to self-demolish their homes.

Settler Violence & Expansionism Continues to Escalate in the South Hebron Hills

On Wednesday, November 10th a group of settlers attempting to install a campsite and graze their flocks on land near the Palestinian village of Khilet al-Daba clashed with local Palestinians, who worried that the settlers were making an attempt to take over the land – an understandable concern giving the growing phenomenal of farming outposts as a means for settlement expansion. The clashes – which took place at night after a full day of building tensions – took a violent turn when settlers set a Palestinian agricultural structure on fire. The evening ended with two Palestinians being shot by settlers with live rounds, three Palestinians wounded by settlers throwing rocks, and damage to several cars owned by Palestinians.

The land on which the settlers were grazing their flocks and attempting to install a campsite was declared to be a firing zone by the Israeli government, making it illegal for Palestinians to build there or even enter. According to Haaretz, the Israeli state has plans to evict Palestinians who live in this area (who have ostensibly lived in the area prior to it being declared by Israel to be a firing zone).

The IDF, which had been at the scene intermittently during the day, eventually sought to separate the groups by declaring the area a closed military zone. South Hebron Hills activist Basil Al-Adraa explained how this practice works to allow settlers to accomplish their goals, saying:

“The army arrived, declared it a closed military zone and kicked us out. But they didn’t kick out the settlers or take down the tent they put up today.”

The South Hebron Hills is a hotbed for settler violence, and was the scene of a settler attack – a Jewish pogrom – in September. Earlier this week, settlers from a nearby outpost – aided by the IDF – temporarily blocked Palestinian access to a playground in the village of Susiya. In addition to settler violence, the Israeli government is also acting to significantly expand settlements and retroactively legalize outposts in the South Hebron Hills.

Notably, two U.S members of Congress – Mark Pocan (D, WI-2) and Jamaal Bowman (D, NY-16) – visited the village of Susiya in the South Hebron Hills on November 10th (prior to the outbreak of violence that night). They pair met with local Paelstinian activist where they were told of the violence settlers inflict on the local population.

In an interview with Jewish Currents in October 2021, Basil Al-Adraa explained how violence and land takeovers are two sides of the same coin in the South Hebron Hills,

“Settlers have long been attacking the communities here. The [Israeli] Civil Administration gives them land stolen from the Palestinians: They declared it state land so they can take it by force, for settlers to build settlements and outposts and farms. This year, the settlers have started these new sheep farms around the West Bank, where they bring volunteers to work on these farms. But the settlers aren’t content with the tens of thousands of dunams [one dunam equals 1,000 square meters] they’ve been granted: They bring their animals to our private fields, which the state can’t take from us. They bring them to our orange trees, to drink from our water systems—like the well where we collect rainwater—and to graze on our grass. And what’s been happening recently, especially since May, is they’ve been organizing big attacks on Shabbat and holidays because settlers don’t have much work to do on those days. Dozens of settlers will come masked, with hammers, machine guns, sticks, and stones. The army escorts them two or three kilometers from their settlements to our villages. They burn houses, cut down olive trees. If the army sees some Palestinian trying to defend themselves, then they will shoot at [that Palestinian] with live stun grenades, or tear gas, or rubber bullets. They use all the force. We are under army law as Palestinians in Area C, but the settlers are under civilian law, so the soldiers in the area can’t deal with the settlers, who are under the jurisdiction of the police. But the police take three or four hours to come, only after the attacks have finished. In my community, al-Tuwani, there have been at least seven organized attacks. A lot of people look at these as [isolated] incidents, and this time, there was more media attention to the issue because there was a three-year-old child who was wounded. But it’s part of a policy, in which settlers and the Israeli army don’t want us to feel safe where we live. Like the home demolitions, the blocking of roads, the cutting water and electricity networks, it’s all leading to one goal: They want to kick us out of this land, out of Area C toward Area A [areas under Palestinian administrative and police control, like Ramallah]. But our land is here, our life is here.”

Bennett Pledges Evyatar Outpost will be Legalized, Sparking Palestinian Ire & More Coalition Threats

In a press conference on November 7th, Prime Minister Bennet affirmed his commitment to granting retroactive legalization to the unauthorized outpost of Evyatar – which was built on a strategic hilltop named Mount Sabih, located just south of Nablus on land historically belonging to nearby Palestinian villages Beita, Yatma, and Qablan. Even before Bennett’s most recent statement, several members of his fragile coalition have spoken out to insist that the reestablishment of Evyatar is a redline that, if crossed, could bring down the coalition (FMEP covered a few such statements two weeks ago). In the wake of Bennett’s press conference, more continued to do so, which only adds to the growing public fracture in the coalition over outposts and settlement building more broadly.

Public Security Minister Bar Lev (Labor) pledged to block the legalization of Evyatar, said this week:

“There are enough ways to dissolve this agreement. The Evyatar community [outpost] was illegal and illegal communities should be evacuated.”

The Mayor of Beita predicts that Bennett’s pledge to legalize the outpost (coupled with the end of the olive harvest season, which consumed protestors’ time elsewhere) will spark renewed energy in Palestinian-led protests in the town of Beita. Since settlers struck a deal with the government to temporarily vacate the outpost back in July 2021, Palestinians have staged regular protests against Evyatar outpost, and against the continue denial of access to the land on which the outposts continues to exist (the area is a closed military zone, where Palestinians are denied the ability to access). The protests over the summer were particularly violent, resulting in the killing of at least five Palestinian protestors by Israeli soldiers.

An organizer of the protests, Amal Bani Shamseh, told The New Arab:

“the people in Beita can not stand the idea of a single settler moving back to Mount Sabih and are willing to intensify protests, and women are the first to affirm it.”

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

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

Government Punts on Outpost Legalization Bill, Knesset Might Move Forward Anyway

The Jerusalem Post reports that the Ministerial Committee on Legislation has decided to delay by four months its decision on whether to grant government backing to a bill that would grant retroactive authorization (i.e., legalize) nearly 70 West Bank settlement outposts that Israel has failed to find any other way to legalize (because they are built on land even Israel recognizes is privately owned by Palestinians). As a reminder, the Ministerial Committee on Legislation is composed of government Ministers, and decides whether or not the governing coalition will throw its support behind a bill in the Knesset – ensuring either its passage or defeat.

In response to this news, MK Orit Struck (Religious Zionist Party) — who is also a longtime Hebron settlement leader — said that she intends to bring the bill to the Knesset for an initial reading despite lacking government-backing. Struck believes a strong majority of Knesset Members, regardless of the government’s position, will support the bill. Members of the Knesset attempted to fast-track the passage of this same bill in May 2021, while Bennett and Lapid were in negotiations to form the current governing coalition.

The bill introduced in May 2021 included an explanatory text claiming that the proposed law is in line with a decision the Security Cabinet took in 2017, when it tasked a new committee – headed by notorious settler leader Pinchas Wallerstein – to prepare individualized plans for each outpost to gain retroactive legalization based on the passage of the Regulation Law and the recommendations in the Zandberg Report. Bills similar to this have been filed several times in the past, and the Israeli government has debated granting retroactive authorization to the outposts via a government decision – and came close to doing so in the waning days of the Trump Administration.

Bonus Reads

“Israeli Settlers Escalate Violence in West Bank” (Foreign Policy)
“Nearly 20 years on, Israeli barrier shapes Palestinian lives” (AP)
“Far-right protestors clash with cops in Jerusalem over settler teen’s death” (The Times of Israel)
“They should have been lawyers. Instead they’re at Israeli construction sites” (Basil al-Adraa in +972 Magazine)
“How the Occupation Harms Not Only the Palestinians, but the Planet Too” (Haaretz)
“Palestinians say no to work in settlements” (Al-Monitor)

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

To subscribe to this report, please click here.

October 22, 2021

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

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

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

Peace Now data

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

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

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

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

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

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

Settlement plans expected to be granted final approval include:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Ir Amim writes:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Israel Begins Construction on New Settlement in Downtown Hebron

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

Peace Now said in a statement:

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

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

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

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

Israel Advances “Silicon Wadi” Project in East Jerusalem

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

Ir Amim writes:

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

Recap: Israel Advances Settlement Plans Across Greater Jerusalem Area

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

The Givat Hamatos Settlement: On October 13th, the Jerusalem Local Planning Committee approved the expropriation of lands designated for public use in the Givat Hamatos area for the construction of roads, public buildings and the development of open space for the planned new settlement/neighborhood. For more on the Givat Hamatos settlement plan, please see here.
Map by Haaretz
The E-1 Settlement: The Israel Civil Administration moved forward with advancing plans for the construction of the E-1 settlement, setting a date for a third hearing to discuss public objections to the plan (now set for November 8th). The first hearing was held on October 4th, but Palestinians were denied the ability to participate in that hearing (which was held virtually, making it inaccessible to the many Palestinians affected by the plan who do not have internet access). As a result, the Court scheduled this 3rd hearing (to allow the participation of Palestinians). The second hearing was held on October 18th; at that hearing three objections were presented (one by the Palestinian village of Anata, a second by the Palestinian village of Al-Azariya, and a third joint submission filed by Ir Amim and Peace Now). Ir Amim reports that there was no substantive discussion of these objections, with the Civil Administration panel offering no questions or comments on them. For more on the E-1 settlement plan, please see Terrestrial Jeruaslem’s excellent and thorough reporting.
The Atarot Settlement: The Jerusalem District Planning Committee formally signaled that it will proceed with a hearing on the Atarot settlement plan – scheduled for December 6th – to build a huge new settlement on the site of the former Qalandiya airport (located at the northern tip of East Jerusalem). In its current form, the plan provides for up to 9,000 residential units for ultra-Orthodox Jews (assuming, conservatively, an average family size of 6, this means housing for 54,000 people), as well as synagogues, ritual baths (mikvehs), commercial properties, offices and work spaces, a hotel, and a water reservoir. If built, the Atarot settlement will effectively be a small Israeli city surrounded by Palestinian East Jerusalem neighborhoods on three sides and Ramallah to its north. Geopolitically, it will have a similar impact to E-1 in terms of dismembering the West Bank and cutting it off from Jerusalem. For more on the Atarot settlement plan, please see here.
The Pisgat Ze’ev Settlement: The Israeli government advanced plans for 470 new settlement units in Pisgat Ze’ev, the largest settlement located in East Jerusalem.

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

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

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

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

Terrestrial Jerusalem writes:

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

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

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

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

Emek Shaveh writes:

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

In conclusion, we wish to emphasize the following points:

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

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

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

Bonus Reads

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

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

To subscribe to this report, please click here.

August 13, 2021

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

Questions/comments? Email kmccarthy@fmep.org

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

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

The plans expected to receive final approval include:

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

Peace Now said:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Axios quotes an Israeli government official saying:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Atarot Settlement Plan to Be Discussed on December 6th

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

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

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

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

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

Bonus Reads

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

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

June 25, 2021

Defense Ministry Approves 31 New Projects in Settlements
Settlers Pressure Bennet Over Fate of (Illegal, even under Israeli law) Evyatar Outpost, Plan to Appeal to the High Court for Protection
Demolish “Oz Zion” Outpost
Gantz Orders Construction of Settler-Backed “Accessibility” Project at Tomb of the Patriarchs/al-Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron
Settlers Raid Homes of Prominent Activists in Sheikh Jarrah
Bonus Reads

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

Defense Ministry Approves 31 New Projects in Settlements

On Wednesday, June 24th – just two weeks after Naftali Bennett became Prime Minister – the Israeli Defense Ministry advanced the construction of 31 settlement zoning plans (with 18 receiving final approval), in settlements across the West Bank. This is the first time this particular subcommittee inside the Defense Ministry – which handles smaller settlement plans, while the Defense Ministry’s High Planning Council considers larger plans – has met since January 2021.

The plans which were advanced provide for the construction of public buildings, including a special needs school in the Elkana settlement, a new shopping mall in the Mishor Adumim settlement, and the Kfar Adumim and Karnei Shomron settlements both received approval for new synagogues and seminaries. As of the time of publication, final details of each plan are not publicly available.

The settler Yesha Council, led by David Elhayani (who had been publicly hopeful about the Bennett-led government), released a statement deriding the government for its failure to advance not just public buildings but also settlement housing units. The statement demands that Bennet convene the High Planning Council in order to issue more approvals.

The Joint List’s Ayman Odeh denounced the new government, including its left-wing members, over the settlement advancements:

“The government has existed for less than two weeks, and already, 31 construction plans have been approved in the settlements…the left is surrendering to the right and setting the diplomatic issue aside, but the right continues to sabotage the chances of peace and to deepen the occupation, repression, and dispossession of millions of Palestinians. Only the end of the occupation and a just peace will bring equality, democracy, and social justice to both peoples.”

Settlers Pressure Bennet Over Fate of (Illegal, even under Israeli law) Evyatar Outpost, Plan to Appeal to the High Court for Protection

New Israeli Foreign Minister (and Prime Minister in waiting) Yair Lapid has told press that the unauthorized outpost of Evyatar, located Palestinian land south of Nablus, will be razed as ordered by the Civil Administration. Yet, the dozens of settler families who are illegally squatting in approximately 50 buildings at the site are hoping to avoid that fate, and have until Monday June 28th to file an appeal with the Israeli Supreme Court or else face removal from the outpost barring political interference from PM Bennett (who is facing pressure from within his own party to save the outpost). The outpost continues to be a central flashpoint of violence in the West Bank over the past month, so far five Palestinians have been killed by IDF fire while protesting the land takeover.

Map by Peace Now

Late last week, the settlers submitted plans – which outlined 100 housing units in addition to land for parks, a synagogue, a daycare center, and a school – to the IDF’s Civil Administration, in hopes of gaining retroactive legalization for the structures they already illegally built on the land. The plan framed the outpost as an extension of the nearby (but not contiguous) Kfar Tapuah settlement. This tactic – issuing retroactive approval to outposts under the premise that they are new neighborhoods of existing settlements – has in the past proven effective, and is a tactic promulgated by the Israeli government. For a few examples, see the following cases: the Adei Ad outpost, the Har Homa E settlement, Shvut Rachel East, and New Migron.

Speaking about the settlers’ hopes of gaining retroactive legalization of Evyatar, prominent settler leader and head of the Samaria settler municipal council, Yossi Dagan, said:

“The Council only submitted a request to authorize construction for the town of Evyatar after establishing beyond doubt that it is not situated on privately held land. Rather, it is situated on state-held land, and only the lack of a clear decision on the part of politicians is preventing its authorization. After going through such a difficult period, the State of Israel should be mobilizing all its forces to take this step, which would be both moral and ethical – it should be strengthening the 50 families who live here and giving Evyatar equal legal status to any other town in the country.”

Nonetheless, the Civil Administration (the arm of the Israeli Defense Ministry responsible for running the West Bank) rejected the settlers’ plans, based on the fact that the outpost was built illegally in blatant violation of Israeli planning laws. The military has also said the outpost undermines “security [and] stability” in the area. Further, the authorities said that the plan was not “properly developed” and that settlers do not have rights to the land. Following the Civil Administration’s rejection of their plans, Evyatar settlers plan to appeal to the Israeli High Court of Justice to stop the demolition, which is set for June 27th.

Notably, the Civil Administration’s rejection of the settlers’ plans for Evyatar does not mean that the IDF recognizes Palestinian ownership of the land, even though aerial photos obtained by the NGO Kerem Navot show that Palestinians cultivated the land at least until 1980. Rather, the IDF is now investigating the status of the land, leaving open the possibility that the land may be declared “state land” – at which point (based on past practice) it is a near certainty it would be allocated for Israeli settlement.

Peace Now also provides a key insight on the settler group which is behind the creation of this new outpost, and why it matters, writing:

“The body behind the establishment of the outpost is the settler organization of Nahala, with the close assistance of the Shomron municipality and its mayor, Yossi Dagan (a central member of the Likud party). The Nahala organization and the main activists of the new outposts are not the mainstream old-guard settlers (like the Amanah organization who is behind many other settlements and outposts and gets much more support from the authorities), however they are not a small fringe. This outpost is an example of a rift that is being created within the Israeli right wing. The more extreme right, which is willing to challenge the system more strongly, and the old-guard settlers who continue the mentality of working ‘with’ the government as much as possible. On the partisan level we see this rift in the creation of two different parties: Yamina, headed by Naftali Bennet, and the Jewish Zionism, headed by Betzalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben Gvir. The challenge of the new outpost puts the new shaky government, which is a coalition of parties which don’t agree about many things, to face its first big political test. The extreme right is signaling that it is planning to continue to challenge the new government, like it had done in the flags march in East Jerusalem, and in yesterday’s settlers’ marches throughout the West Bank.”

Peace Now called for the outpost to be expeditiously demolished, saying:

“A small group of people is creating facts on the ground that effect dramatically Israel’s security and its foreign policy without any authority. The new government must not accept that. This outpost must be evicted not only because it is deepening the occupation of the Palestinians in the West Bank but because it is bad for the security of Israel and bad for the possibility of future peace for Israel”.

IDF Demolish “Oz Zion” Outpost

On June 23rd, the Israel IDF dismantled an illegal outpost – called “Oz Zion” by the settlers – located between Ramallah and Jerusalem. The Times of Israel reports that the IDF removed more than 20 settlers and demolished several structures. Seven settlers were arrested for throwing objects at Israeli soldiers. This particular outpost has been built by settlers, and then demolished by the IDF, several times previously.

Opposition MK Bezalel Smotrich railed against the new government for its demolition of the outpost, saying:

“As we feared, within days of the formation of the government the destruction of communities has begun… Arab construction is out of control in the Negev, Galilee and Judea and Samaria and Bennett and [Justice Minister Ayelet] Shaked are choosing to demolish for Jews.”

As a reminder, Naftali Bennet once served as the head of the settler Yesha Council – which is effectively the main body lobbying the Israeli government on behalf of the settlement movement. That fact does not sit well with Kahanist MK Itamar Ben-Gvir, who said in a statement:

“The person who was once the director of the Yesha Council is now leading the demolition and destruction of the settlements. It is amazing that without blinking, Bennett approved the demolition of a settlement, at a time when he and his friends are making sure that there won’t be demolitions in the Bedouin sector. There is one law for the Bedouin, and a different law for the Jews. What an embarrassment.”

Gantz Orders Construction of Settler-Backed “Accessibility” Project at Tomb of the Patriarchs/al-Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron

On June 10th, Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz gave instructions to COGAT – the body within the Defense Ministry which coordinates civilian affairs in the occupied territories – to issue a building permit and sign a contract for the construction of accessible infrastructure, including an elevator and wheel chair ramp, at the Tomb of the Patriarchs/al-Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron. The project, which required Israel to seize land that is owned by the Islamic Waqf, strengthens Israeli control over the site and its immediate surrounding area.

The orders from Gantz follow a decision by the Israeli High Court of Justice to dismiss a petition against the plan filed by the Palestinian-run Hebron Municipality. The petition argued that the plan violates agreements, including the Hebron Protocols, signed by Israel specifying that the Palestinian-led municipality has planning authority over the site.

Emek Shaveh – an Israeli NGO with expertise in archaeology and settlement planning – also filed a petition against the plan, describing the plan as “unprofessional” and “a farce.” Emek Shaveh said previously:

“One need not be an archaeologist or architect to review the council’s plan and understand that it is destructive in a manner which is unprecedented. We are convinced that the plan, as approved, would never have been promoted had it not been driven by political motives.”

Emek Shaveh has previously provided critical context as to why this plan is not really, or not fully, being advanced out of humanitarian concerns, explaining:

“Israel’s decision to seize responsibility for the site from the Hebron municipality and the Palestinians sends a clear political message that Israel is reneging on agreements that were signed with the Palestinians in Hebron. Beyond the precedent that will enable the settlers in the future to demand additional changes at the Tomb of the Patriarchs/Ibrahimi Mosque, this is also a precedent that could play out at other sites under the responsibility of the Islamic Waqf. Experience has shown us that what begins in Hebron percolates into other places including Jerusalem. It begins with a seemingly rational demand to benefit the disabled or the general public and evolves into a new status quo. The expected change in Hebron has not escaped the attention of members of the Temple movement and they will know how to present their demands to the government. If Israel can repudiate agreements with the Palestinians in Hebron and expropriate land from the Waqf, it would seem that accepting what appears to be the far more modest demands by the Temple movement to pray or to walk about the Temple Mount complex freely is not so far-fetched. In the reality of Hebron and East Jerusalem, a change involving only several meters at a historic or holy place is not free of political considerations and often it is part of long-term strategy. While it is necessary to tend to the needs and interests of persons with disabilities, the extremists who presume to speak on their behalf must be prevented from forging Israeli policy, even if it is only a matter of a lift and an access path.”

Read Emek Shaveh’s full analysis here: “Humanitarianism Hebron Style.”

Settlers Ramp Up Battle for Area C with Provocative West Bank Marches
In recent years, Israel has increasingly treated Area C as indistinguishable from sovereign Israeli territory. In parallel, settler groups – most notably Regavim – have lobbied Israeli authorities to crack down on “illegal” Palestinian construction, claiming that Palestinians are trying to use “illegal” construction to “take over” Israeli land.

In line with this effort, on June 21st, hundreds of settlers participated in marches throughout friction zones in the West Bank, in an effort to push the newly sworn-in Israeli government to increase their persecution of Palestinian construction in Area C of the West Bank. In advance of the march, settler leaders (excluding Yesha Council head David Elhayani) released a joint statement saying:

“It is our duty to do everything legally passive to stop the savage Arab invasion of Area C to stifle Jewish settlement and establish facts on the ground. Together we will head out to explore the area, to occupy the space with our feet and demand that the authorities enforce the law in the area out of a deep belief that this land is ours.”

Making clear that the settlers have no sense of irony, one of the settler marches was held near the unauthorized Evyatar outpost – which the settlers built illegally and over which they are now engaged in a struggle with the government to prevent Israeli law from being applied to their (Jewish Israeli) illegal construction.

As a reminder, Area C accounts for around 60% of the West Bank. The Oslo Accords gave Israel complete control over Area C, and Israel for years has systematically denied Palestinians in Area C permits that would enable them to “legally” build on their own land. As a result, members of these communities have been forced to build without Israeli permits, and then face Israeli demolition orders, and demolitions, for having done so.

Settlers Raid Homes of Prominent Activists in Sheikh Jarrah

On Tuesday, June 22nd, a group of settlers attempted to force their way into three homes belonging to the El Kurd, Diab, and Qasem families – all of which are living under imminent threat of forced displacement – in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of East Jerusalem. The families were able to prevent their entry.

Israeli MK Bezalel Smotrich and the head of Nahalat Shimon (the settler organization behind the campaign to displace Palestinians from their homes in Shiekh Jarrah) were among the group of settlers who tried illegally invade the homes and threatened the Palestinian occupants. Eventually, Israeli police calmly escorted the settlers away from the homes.

These home invasions followed one of the most violent days Sheikh Jarrah has seen in recent months. During protests against settler takeovers in the neighborhood on June 21st, 21 Palestinians were wounded including three who were hit with live bullets fired by the IDF and three Palestinians who were beaten. As a reminder – a recent investigative report revealed that a New York-based lawyer, Seymour Braun, is financially connected to settler efforts to displace Palestinians in Sheikh Jarrah.

Bonus Reads

“’Silent intifada’: West Bank is at boiling point” (Ynet)
“Israeli forces launch violent crackdown on protesters in Beita” (Middle East Eye)
“Reality of a West Bank Outpost: Four Dead Palestinians and a Drone Spraying Tear Gas” (Haaretz)
“Ariel University opens medical school in honor of Sheldon Adelson” (Arutz Sheva)
“ Israel Stops Its Nighttime ‘Mapping’ Raids, but Constant Surveillance of Palestinians Continues” (Haaretz)
“Amazon’s Investments in Israel Reveal Complicity in Settlements and Military Operations” (The Nation)
“The Photos Exposing What Israel Is Trying to Hide” (Haaretz)
“Israel’s Demographic Warfare Rages on Both Sides of Green Line. With One Difference” (Haaretz)
“The Trilemma of Power, Aid, and Peacebuilding in the Israeli-Palestinian Context” (Middle East Institute/Dr. Carol Kasbari)

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

April 29, 2021

Sheikh Jarrah Evictions Set for May 2nd; Protests & Diplomacy Ratchet Up
Resources for Understanding Recent Protests and Violence in Jerusalem
WZO Admits It Gave Palestinian Land to Settlers Without Written Agreements
Jewish National Fund Delays Decision on Formalizing Policy on West Bank Land Purchases
Ariel University Giving Academic Credit for Outpost Volunteers
IDF Stops Settler Attempt to Establish Yeshiva on Site of Dismantled Homesh Settlement
Settlers Celebrate Israeli Independence Day
Settler-Run Chamber of Commerce Planning a Hotel in Hebron in Partnership with Palestinian Businessman Ahsraf Jabari
Smotrich’s Party Files Bill for Outpost Legalization
Roundup of Settler Violence This Week
Human Rights Watch: Israel is Guilty of the Crime of Apartheid
Bonus Reads

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

Sheikh Jarrah Evictions Set for May 2nd; Protests & Diplomacy Ratchet Up

Over the past two weeks, activist groups have stepped up advocacy efforts to stop the impending dispossession of 8 Palestinian families (87 individuals) from their longtime homes in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of East Jerusalem in favor of settlers. The eviction of four families has been set by Israeli courts for May 2nd, and three more families face eviction in August.

The Times of Israel reports that Jordan – which was the governing authority in East Jerusalem from 1948 until 1967 – has also gotten involved, and is said to have found “documents proving that the [Jordanian] ministry of development that built these houses had in 1956 finalized lease agreements for homes in Sheikh Jarrah.” Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said that the documents are contracts between Jordan and the Palestinian tenants, and were certified at the time by UNRWA. Such documents might help Palestinians disprove the settlers’ contention that the homes were originally owned by Jews who fled during the 1948 war. Israeli law allows such Jews – and their descendants – to reclaim their lost properties in East Jerusalem and the West Bank, while denying Palestinians any such right to reclaim properties they were forced to abandon in 1967 or 1948 inside what is today Israel.

On April 22, 2021 a group of 500 Palestinian residents of Sheikh Jarrah and 191 organizational signers sent a letter to the International Criminal Court. The letter calls on the ICC’s Chief Prosecutor to publicly condemn the evictions and investigate what is happening in Sheikh Jarrah as part of the ICC’s larger investigation into the situation in Palestine. The families write:

“If the forced evictions move forward, we will be subjected to other Israeli policies that together make-up Israeli practices that result in the widespread and systematic transfer of the Palestinian Jerusalemite population. If we set up a tent outside our houses, the Israeli occupying forces will demolish it, as part of its widespread and systematic policy of demolition of Palestinian property. If we rent a home outside Jerusalem because we cannot afford to rent in Jerusalem, we will be at risk of having our residency status revoked and not be allowed to enter Jerusalem, pursuant to Israel’s residency revocation policy, which requires Palestinian Jerusalemites to constantly prove their “center of life” is in the city”

On April 16th, hundreds of protestors rallied in Sheikh Jarrah to bring attention to the pending mass displacement. At the protest, former Palestinian Authority Minister for Jerusalem Affairs Hatem Abd al-Qadir told the Times of Israel:

“These protests are an expression of our rejection of the decisions of Israeli courts in expelling the residents of Sheikh Jarrah. This is ethnic cleansing and expulsion at the barrel of a gun.”

Resources for Understanding Recent Protests and Violence in Jerusalem

Since the beginning of Ramadan, Israel’s decision to close the plaza in front of the Damascus Gate – the main gate used by Palestinians to access Jerusalem’s Old City – sparked an outbreak of violence in Jerusalem (Israel subsequently reopened the plaza, but the situation on the ground is still volatile). Several FMEP grantees, partners, and other notable sources have published resources that help contextualize and assess exactly what is happening. Below are resources and excerpts most relevant to settlement observers seeking understanding of how current events fit into the larger picture of Israeli intentions and actions in Jerusalem, including the aforementioned impending dispossessions in Sheikh Jarrah.

Ir Amim published an update under the subject, “Closure of Damascus Gate Plaza & Aggressive Police Measures.” In the brief Ir Amim summarizes exactly what is happening:

“Many of the incidents of friction and confrontation in the area stem from the closure of the Damascus Gate steps and unprovoked police aggression and use of excessive force towards Palestinians, which disrupt the peace and lead to escalation. Over the past week, Palestinian youth have protested the plaza’s closure. The Israel police dispersed them with disproportionate use of force. The police claim that there have been incidents of Palestinians throwing stones at police, and indeed Israeli vehicles were damaged amid the confrontations. However, during the last few nights, police forces have assaulted Palestinians in the Damascus Gate area with no prior provocation on their part, including the use of stun grenades and the deployment of mounted police charging into hundreds of Palestinians who were solely visiting the Old City for Ramadan…

In tandem, right-wing Jewish extremists and nationalist organizations have been exploiting the friction to further incite and call for retaliation (both on social media and mainstream media) against the Palestinian protests and isolated incidents of Palestinian harassment of Haredi Jews. On Monday, Knesset Members from the extremist rightwing Religious Zionism party went to Damascus Gate in a hostile and provocative call to “show Palestinians who’s boss.”

In recent days, large groups of nationalistic Israeli youth have rallied in West Jerusalem’s city center shouting “death to Arabs,” while hunting down and attacking Palestinian pedestrians, which has led to clashes between Jews and Palestinians. In contrast to the police’s aggressive operations at the Damascus Gate, serious measures by the police to disperse these groups or protect attacked Palestinians have not been observed. These groups have called to gather tonight in Jerusalem, marching from the City Hall Square to Damascus Gate and the Old City with the intent of clashing with Palestinians “to teach them a lesson.”

Emek Shaveh published a brief entitled “The Last Gate,” exploring how the state of Israel has spent the past several years asserting more and more control over key archeological sites in and around the Old City, and why the Damascus Gate is a hugely important part of that still unfolding story. Emek Shaveh writes:

“Over the past two decades, the Old City’s Historic Basin has undergone unprecedented development. The State of Israel has invested billions of shekels in tourism projects and archaeological excavations alone, whether in the neighborhood of Silwan, excavations of the Western Wall tunnels, or on the Mount of Olives, among other initiatives. As noted, Damascus Gate is just the latest in this chain of investments. Damascus Gate is the most convenient gate from which to enter the Old City. It has a broad entrance and does not require walking uphill, as with Jaffa Gate or Zion Gate. Moreover, it is close to the center of Jerusalem. While Israel claims that it aims to develop the area around the gate, it is effectively redefining its character, promoting tourism, and increasing Israeli presence so as to diminish or conceal the Palestinian character of the area. The recent clashes along the stone steps of Damascus Gate plaza should be considered in the context of this development boom. Perhaps the authorities’ concern with young Palestinians sitting on the steps was just another chapter in the struggle over identity, belonging, and sovereignty, as with many in the Old City’s Historic Basin. After so many changes to the gates of the Old City, Damascus Gate is one of the last bastions of this ongoing struggle.”

The PLO Negotiation Affairs Unit issued a policy brief entitled “Occupied Jerusalem Protests Apartheid,” in it, writing:

“Since the first day of the holy month of Ramadan, the Israeli occupying authorities have been intensifying their restrictive and oppressive policies against the Palestinians in occupied Jerusalem as part of their continuous attempts to ultimately alter the Arab and Palestinian character of the city in defiance of international legitimacy. Such cruel acts are part and parcel of Israel’s illegal policies and practices, mainly its colonial- settlement expansion, home demolitions, and forced evictions of Palestinian families, including in Sheikh Jarrah and Silwan, in addition to its current denial for Palestinians in Jerusalem from running as candidates or participating in the upcoming Palestinian elections. In this context, it’s imperative to point out that seven Palestinian families currently face the risk of imminent forcible eviction from their homes in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood by 2 May 2021. Seventy Palestinian families live in this part of Sheikh Jarrah, 34 of which are undergoing a battle in the occupying power’s legal system to confront the threat of forcible transfer, a war crime under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, which allows Israeli settlers to replace Palestinians and take over their homes. Israel’s illegal policies throughout occupied Palestine, particularly in Jerusalem, are rooted in an extremist ideology that enforces Jewish supremacy over the indigenous Palestinian population as articulated in the “Jewish Nation-State Law” of 2018 that legitimizes Israel’s institutionalized discrimination against the Palestinian citizens of Israel and turns a de facto reality on the ground to a de jure apartheid regime for all Palestinians in historic Palestine.“

WZO Admits It Gave Palestinian Land to Settlers Without Written Agreements

On April 26th, the Israeli High Court of Justice held a hearing on a petition filed by Palestinian landowners seeking the cancellation of a 1969 military seizure order which included a parcel of their land, and seeking the removal of settlers who have since been allowed by the State of Israel to live there and build a successful company growing date palms. The Palestinian landowners had previously filed a petition solely seeking the removal of the settlers, but the petition was denied by the High Court. The new petition seeks to cancel the underlying seizure of the land by the State.

To date, the Israeli government – along with the World Zionist Organization, to whom the State transferred the land in question – have not provided the Court with any documentation regarding the assignment of the land to the Israel settlers. Though the land was part of the military seizure order, a lawyer representing the WZO actually conceded that the land was given to the settlers without a written agreement, but suggested that it was approved by the Israeli Cabinet. Leading up to this admission, High Court President Esther Hayut rebuked Roi Shweika, the lawyer for the state, asking:

“How can it be that the state gives land to a person and there are no agreements and they don’t know for how long, especially when it’s not state land? Whoever heard of such a thing?…What efforts have you made to ask the people to produce the agreements that they have? If they don’t have agreements to produce, that raises a suspicion that there are no agreements.”

Haaretz also reported out a truly unbelievable intervention by the settler-owner of the date farm company, Ayala Smith:

Smith “To the best of my knowledge, the land has been worked since 1982, and more than 30 years went by before [the Palestinian owner] opened his mouth for the first time. I’m there every day, raising the best dates in the world, not him.”

Chief Justice Esther Hayut replied: “They weren’t given access to the land. They told him he couldn’t enter. Instead, they let you come in and you raised the best dates in the world. It borders on provocation to argue that.”

Jewish National Fund Delays Decision on Formalizing Policy on West Bank Land Purchases

The Chairman of the Jewish National Fund in Israel (JNF-KKL), Avraham Duvdevani, postponed a final vote by the Board of Directors – originally scheduled for April 22nd – on whether to formally adopt a policy of purchasing land in the West Bank for settlement construction. In anticipation of the policy’s adoption, the JNF-KKL Board voted in February 2021 to allocate nearly $12 million towards the purchase of land in the West Bank.

The decision to postpone the vote follows weeks of outcry from a Jewish organizations who donate to and promote the work of the JNF around the world. A new date for the vote has not yet been announced. As a reminder, the proposed policy is little more than a shift in public relations strategies. The JNF has long worked in support of settlements, but until this point has preferred to leave its settlement-related activities deliberately obscured.

Ariel University Giving Academic Credit for Outpost Volunteers

Haaretz reports that Ariel University, located in the Ariel settlement in the heart of the northern West Bank, is offering academic credit to students who volunteer as farmhands and security guards at unauthorized/illegal settlement outposts across the West Bank. The volunteer program is run through an organization called Hashomer Yosh (“Guardians of Judea and Samaria”), a group touted by the Chairman of Ariel University for its work against “those who want to disturb the right of the people of Israel to settle in the land and to develop agriculture.” The program was described on the Ariel University website as “linking the students with the national Zionist task of contemporary agriculture.””

Haaretz reports that the academic program placed five students at three outposts, including the Bar Yosef outpost which was founded by an individual who has been repeatedly filmed harassing Palestinians. Ariel University staff defended the program by arguing that the outposts in question are known to be built on “state land” (suggesting that their unauthorized status is a mere technicality). Of course, as is the case with all unauthorized outposts, these proto-settlements were built without formal permission or building permits in contravention of Israeli military law which governs the occupied West Bank, and are therefore illegal even under Israeli law.

Israeli attorney Eitay Mack has filed a complaint against the program, asking the Israeli Attorney General and the Israeli Council on Higher Education (which admitted Ariel University as a member in April 2019) to examine the legality of the program. The complaint has been assigned to Deputy Attorney General Raz Nizri.

Commenting on the program, Ariel University told Haaretz:

“In the framework of the law encouraging significant volunteering in the community, like other institutions, the university works with many and varied entities with expertise in placing volunteers in the community. In that framework, Hashomer Yosh received approval as an entity using volunteers for the current academic year.”

IDF Stops Settler Attempt to Establish Yeshiva on Site of Dismantled Homesh Settlement

On April 26th, the Israeli army removed settlers who had built a makeshift religious school (a yeshiva) and housing for students at the site of the dismantled settlement of Homesh in the northern West Bank. Undeterred, the settlers returned to the site the next day to hold classes.

According to the Jerusalem Post, the settlers brought in modular structures and plywood to build the housing, and used a large tent for the yeshiva itself. It is unclear how long the settlers had been allowed to remain at the site prior to their removal this week.

As a reminder: Homesh is one of four settlements in the northern West Bank that Israel dismantled in 2005 under the Disengagement Law, which primarily removed all Israeli settlers from the Gaza Strip. After Israel removed settlers from these four sites, the IDF issued military orders barring Palestinians from entering the areas, let alone building in them. At the same time, settlers have regularly entered the areas and even repeatedly built a yeshiva at the Homesh site. Settlers have been openly obsessed with the desire to re-establish Homesh, hosting religious events and protests at the site of Homesh, some of which have been attended by Israeli MKs and politicians.

Settlers Celebrate Israeli Independence Day

Settlers celebrated Israeli Independence Day with continued efforts to advance the Greater Israel cause – and to remind the Palestinians who is in charge – across the West Bank, including:

Northern West Bank: Settlers continue to agitate for the reconstruction of the Sa-Nur settlement in the northern West Bank, which Israel removed settlers from and dismantled as part of the 2005 Gaza withdrawal along with three other nearby settlements (Homesh, Ganim, and Kadim). On Israeli Independence Day, April 15th, thousands of Israeli settlers visited the site of the evacuated Sa-Nur settlement, an area which – despite removing the settlers from – has not been returned by Israel to Palestinian control, but instead maintains a military closure of the area. The festive event, which included performances and crafts, was organized by the Samaria Regional Council, in violation of the military closure. Instead of enforcing the order, the IDF allowed settlers to freely come and go via pre-arranged shuttles. Arutz Sheva reports that the event was the largest gathering of Israelis at the event since 2005.

Jordan Valley: In the Jordan Valley, settlers held a parade of cars and armed guards near the Palestinian village of Tubas – an event which caused panic amongst school children. I

Southern West Bank: Settlers living in tiny enclaves in the center of Hebron held celebrations that included a huge fireworks show (something Palestinians would likely never be allowed to do).

Settler-Run Chamber of Commerce Planning a Hotel in Hebron in Partnership with Palestinian Businessman Ahsraf Jabari

A settler leader in the city center of Hebron, Hillel Horowitz, is hatching a plan to build a hotel near the Tomb of the Patriarchs/Al-Ibrahimi Mosque, and he is seeking financial investment from Palestinian businessman Ashraf Jabari. Jabari is known for co-founding the Judea and Samaria Chamber of Commerce (JSCC) alongside settlers, and for his tight embrace of the Trump “Peace to Prosperity” plan. Jabari has been widely criticized by his peers and family.

Hillel pitched the idea while attending an iftar dinner at Jabari’s home in Hebron, an event organized by the JSCC. The Jerusalem Post reports that the pitch was greeted with applause from all in attendance.

Smotrich’s Party Files Bill for Outpost Legalization

Though participating in a mandate-less government, a member of MK Bezalal Smotrich’s Religious Zionist party filed a bill in the Knesset to grant unilateral authorization about 70 outposts in the West Bank that were built without the necessary permissions from the state of Israel. The Jerusalem Posts reports that there are enough votes to pass the bill, but given the state of continuous elections and coalition talks in Israel it is unclear if the Knesset will remain in session long enough to bring the bill to a vote.

The Jerusalem Post reports that an explanatory text of the bill claims that the proposed law is in line with a decision the Security Cabinet took in 2017, when it tasked a new committee – headed by notorious settler leader Pinchas Wallerstein – to prepare individualized plans for each outpost to gain retroactive legalization based on the passage of the Regulation Law and the recommendations in the Zandberg Report.

Bills similar to this have been filed several times in the past, and the Israeli government has debated granting retroactive authorization to the outposts via a government decision – and came close to doing so in the waning days of the Trump Administration.

Settler leaders offered their support for the bill. Gush Etzion Regional Council Head Shlomo Ne’eman said:

“We trust that all the right-wing factions and the government will support this law, and will authorize these communities quickly.”

Mateh Binyamin Regional Council head Israel Ganz said:

“The time has come to complete the work and give the tens of thousands of residents sent by the Israeli governments basic rights.There is no need to wait for the formation of a new government. The Knesset can and must do so now.”

Round-up of Settler Violence this Week

Violence is a key tool settlers use to take over and control more land across the West Bank. Many instances of settler violence towards Palestinians made headlines this week, including:

“Soldier shoots and kills Palestinian protestor during dispersal of weekly protest against illegal outpost” (B’Tselem)
“Israel settlers set fire to cars in Jerusalem chanting ‘May your village burn’” (MEMO)
“Palestinian cars set on fire in Beit Iksa in apparent Jewish attack” (i24 News)
“Israeli settler attacks on Palestinians spike to 210 so far this year, says UN” (The Nation)

Human Rights Watch: Israel is Guilty of the Crime of Apartheid

In a new report, entitled “A Threshold Crossed: Israeli Authorities and the Crimes of Apartheid and Persecution,” Human Rights Watch declared that Israel’s policy towards Palestinians – defined in the report as “to maintain the domination of Jewish Israelis over Palestinians and to discriminate against them” – amounts to crimes against humanity, specifically the crimes of apartheid and persecution. Settlements, settlers, and annexation figure heavily into the facts and analysis that lead to the report’s conclusion.

You can read the full report here.

You can read a helpful Q&A about the report here.

For reaction to and analysis of the report, see coverage in FMEP’s daily news roundup from April 27th (date of the report’s publication), 28th, and 29th. You can subscribe to FMEP’s daily news round up here. Highlights include:

“One system, one policy’: Why Human Rights Watch is charging Israel with apartheid” (+972 Magazine // Amjad Iraqi interviews Omar Shakir)
“Say Israel is committing apartheid? It’s not a decision we reached lightly.” (The Forward // Eric Goldstein)
“Israel Has No Place Left to Hide” (Medium // Sam Bahour)
“B’Tselem on Human Rights Watch report: an urgent wake-up call” (B’Tselem press release)
“US dismisses apartheid accusations against Israel” (Al Anadolu)
“Even ‘apartheid’ doesn’t capture fullness of our Palestinian suffering. But it helps.” (The Forward // Mohammed Shehade)
“We Can Keep Lying to Ourselves on ‘Apartheid,’ but Israel Has Crossed the Line” (Haaretz // Gideon Levy)
“US Disagrees that Israel Carrying out ‘Apartheid’” (Ashraq Al-Awsat)

Bonus Reads

“The Master Plan for Building in Jerusalem? Preserve a Jewish Majority” (Haaretz)
“Foreign Ministry: Palestine waiting for a strong US position against settlements” (Jerusalem Post)
“’Death to Arabs’: Palestinians Need International Protection From Israel’s Racist Jewish Thugs” (Haaretz)
“Israeli Settlements Could Be Headed for Self-destruction, and It Has Nothing to With the Occupation” (Haaretz)
“Israeli Settler Slapped a Palestinian Activist. A Jerusalem Court Slapped Her Back” (Haaretz)
“’Like Spy Agencies’: Inside East Jerusalem’s Jewish Settlement” (Haaretz)
“What Is Israel Planning, Expulsion by Bus or by Truck?” (Haaretz)
“To Jaffa Arabs, Sales of ‘Absentee Ownership’ Properties Aim to Expel Them From the City” (Haaretz)
“Israel Using Drones to Tear Gas Palestinian Demonstrators in West Bank” (Haaretz)

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

March 4, 2021

ICC Opens Investigation Into Palestine
JNF Board Approves $11.5 Million for Settlement Expansion
Report: Netanyahu Offered Construction of Atarot Settlement in Return for Votes
In Hebron, Economic “Coexistence” Group Reportedly Working on Plan for New Hospital
Bonus Reads

Comments or questions? Contact Kristin McCarthy (kmccarthy@fmep.org)

ICC Opens Investigation Into Palestine

On March 3, 2021, International Criminal Court (ICC) Chief Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda formally opened an investigation into the “Situation in Palestine,” an investigation which is expected to look at war crimes committed by Israelis involved in the settlement enterprise (as well as other alleged war crimes committed by both Israelis and Palestinians). Notably, Bensouda is leaving her post in June 2021; her replacement, U.K. prosecutor Karim Khan, will have the ability to end the investigation if he so chooses (which Israel hopes is a real possibility).

Bensouda’s move to open an investigation comes after almost five years of considering doing so. Over that time, Bensouda oversaw a lengthy pre-investigation inquiry (Bensouda announced in December 2019 that this inquiry had found grounds to open an investigation), and a special pre-trial chamber ruling, issued on February 5, 2021, that affirmed the ICC’s jurisdiction over crimes committed in Palestine.

According to Haaretz, the ICC is expected to send formal notification of its decision to open an investigation to the leaders of Israel and the Palestinian Authority. Israel and the PA then have a 30-day window within which to tell the Court if they intend to investigate the alleged criminal activities within their own judicial systems. If they inform the Court that they will do so, Bensouda will need approval from the Court to proceed with the ICC’s investigation. It’s unclear how much of this can be expected to happen prior to Bensouda’s departure from the Court in June.

Assuming the investigation does go forward, it is expected to take years to complete, and will reportedly look at bringing charges against both Israeli and Palestinian individuals involved in the commission of crimes — including the crime of genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and the crime of aggression — in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip, going back to 2014 up to the present day. This could include the prosecution of Israeli officials involved in establishing settlements in the occupied territory – which is illegal under international law.

For a rich discussion of this case and the complexities involved in it, watch this recent FMEP webinar, ”Israel-Palestine at the International Criminal Court: What Next?”

In response to the ICC’s announcement, the U.S. Department of State issued a statement saying the Biden Administration “firmly opposes and is deeply disappointed by this decision.”

Reiterating his prior assertion that the ICC investigation is antisemitic, Prime Minister Netanyahu said in a video message: “The decision of the International Court to open an investigation against Israel today for war crimes is absurd. It’s undiluted antisemitism and the height of hypocrisy.”

Palestinian Prime Minister Shtayyeh called the ICC’s decision a “victory for justice and humanity, for the values of truth, fairness and freedom, and for the blood of the victims and their families.”

A coalition of Palestinian civil society groups – Al-Haq, Al Mezan Center for Human Rights, the Palestinian Centre for Human Right and Al Dameer – said in a statement:

“This investigation represents a critically important step towards ending impunity and upholding the international rule of law, while ensuring the dignity of the Palestinian people who continue to be denied their right to self-determination and who are subjected to a criminal regime of apartheid, forced displacement, population transfer, extensive destruction and appropriation of property, pillage, wilful killings, and persecution, amongst other crimes within the jurisdiction of the Court. Investigating war crimes related to the settlement enterprise in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, as well as Israel’s subjection of Palestinian civilians in Gaza to the inhumane closure and brutal military offensives, and apartheid as a crime against humanity, will require the Court to engage both with the conduct of individual soldiers and military commanders, and the entire military and civilian hierarchies embedded in and advancing the Israeli occupation.”

JNF Board Approves $11.5 Million for Settlement Expansion

Immediately following the March 23rd elections in Israel, the Jewish National Fund will hold a vote on whether to adopt a new policy explicitly supporting the purchase of West Bank land for the purpose of settlement expansion. Despite that vote not yet having been taken, on February 25th, the Israeli Board of the Jewish National Fund (JNF-KKL) voted to allocate $11.5 million (38 million shekels) towards the purchase of land in the West Bank in order to expand settlements. The Jerusalem Post reports that proponents of the new policy might have used the funding vote to “strong arm” the organization into moving forward with the policy prior to a final vote.

A group of JNF Board members who oppose the new policy has filed a petition demanding that the February 25th funding allocation vote be annulled, citing alleged malpractice by the Board Chairman. The petition says that the Chair, Avi Duvdevani, “muted certain members on the Zoom meeting and prevented others from answering questions before rushing the vote” and deliberately withheld legal opinions critical of the new policy.

The day prior to the vote on funding allocation, Israeli attorney Shachar Ben-Meir sent a legal analysis of the proposed policy to the JNF Board. In it, Ben-Meir argued that the JNF would need approval from the Israeli Justice Minister (currently Benny Gantz) in order to make a necessary amendment to the organization’s founding agreements to allow for activity in the West Bank.

Pushing in the other direction, Israeli MK Bezalel Smotrich wrote to the JNF Board Chairman to demand that the new policy avoid limiting the JNF’s settlement dealings to Area C, arguing that the JNF ought to be buying land throughout the West Bank, especially in Hebron.

Notwithstanding the significant controversy the JNF’s potential explicit embrace of settlements has provoked, the reality is that the JNF has long worked in support of settlements. What is different now is that, where in the past the JNF preferred to leave its settlement-related activities deliberately obscured, under the new policy the JNF would openly claim and promote its support for settlements. As such, the shift under consideration is not so much in policy as in public relations (a public relations approach that does not shy away from blatant racism, evidenced by the JNF Chairman’s recent TV appearance in which he said that the JNF’s goal is to stop land from ending up in Arab hands).

Report: Netanyahu Offered Construction of Atarot Settlement in Return for Votes

In early January 2021, Netanyahu allegedly attempted to secure a merger of parties to his right by offering to advance the construction of the Atarot settlement – a planned settlement to be located just north of Jerusalem on the site of the former Qalandiya airport – which has been designated for ultra-Orthodox housing. According to reporting, the deal was not agreed to, though that does not mean Netanyahu will not advance the plan (in December 2020 the plan for the Atarot settlement was reportedly ready to be scheduled for discussion, an early phase in the planning process).

According to Jerusalem expert Daniel Seidemann of Terrestrial Jerusalem, the plan faces significant legal obstacles and he predicts that the plan will not come to fruition “anytime soon.” It’s worth noting, Israel is well underway with other settlement projects in the area, most notably construction of a new bypass tunnel road that will go underneath the Qalandiya checkpoint which is immediately adjacent to the area where the Atarot settlement is planned for.

The Atarot settlement plan dates back to 2007; it was pursued by the Israeli government in 2012 but shelved under pressure from the Obama administration. The plan came back into consideration in April 2017 (a few months following the inauguration of President Trump) when it was rumored to be included on Netanyahu’s master blueprint of settlements for which he was seeking U.S. approval. In February 2020, following the publication of the Trump Plan – which designated the area that would be used for the settlement as a “special tourist zone” for Palestinians – the Atarot settlement plan was formally introduced.

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

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

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

In Hebron, Economic “Coexistence” Group Reportedly Working on Plan for New Hospital

According to a glowing profile and interview in the Jewish News Syndicate, a right-wing media outlet, Palestinian businessman Ashraf Jabari is in talks with the settler leaders in Hebron to open a new hospital as a joint project. The new JNS interview provides fascinating insights into Jabari’s acceptance of Israeli settlements and settlers as a permanent feature in the West Bank, and into his dismissal of the prevailing formulation of a two-state solution. Jabari even suggests that Palestinians would prefer to live under full Israeli control, for economic reasons.

As a reminder, Jabari has long been the darling of settlers and Greater Israel advocates. He publicly welcomed and participated in Trump’s “Deal of the Century” (he was the only Palestinian on-stage at the “Peace to Prosperity’ summit convened by the Trump Administration in June 2019) and has been actively working with settlers to establish “joint” economic initiatives in the West Bank through a group called the Judea and Samaria Chamber of Commerce (JSCC). For his role in the JSCC and his close ties to the Trump Administration, Jabari has been slammed as a traitor by the Palestinian Authority, shunned as a pariah by his fellow Palestinian business people, and disowned by his family.

As FMEP has repeatedly explained, economic “coexistence” initiatives like the Judea and Samaria Chamber of Commerce (JSCC) seek to normalize, entrench, and reward Israeli settlements while perpetuating Israel’s economic exploitation of occupied territory (including the local workforce, land, and other natural resources). Congressional support for such initiatives could mean U.S. taxpayer dollars going directly (and publicly) to the settlements.

Bonus Material

“Can Silwan’s rekindled protests beat back Israel’s eviction threats?” (+972 Magazine)
“The road to nowhere: Israel tarmacs over peace with the Palestinians” (The Prospect // Donald Macintyre)
“Not Just a Few Bad Apples, Violent Settlement Outposts Pose a Danger to Israel” (Haaretz)
“Jewish Groups Call to Reverse Trump Policy of Labeling Settlement Products ‘Made in Israel’” (J Street)
“Israel Is Recreating the Nakba, Without Putting Palestinians on Trucks” (Haaretz)
“Trump’s $3 billion Abraham Fund may be tapped out before staking a dime” (The Times of Israel
“Al-Haq Field Report on Human Rights Violations in 2020” (Al-Haq)
“Judge, Jury, & Occupier” (War on Want)

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

October 23, 2020

Trump Admin Recognizes Israel’s De Facto Annexation of the Settlements
U.S. Takes Another Step to Recognize Israeli Sovereignty Over All of Jerusalem
Israel to Issue Tenders for 31 Settlement Units in the Heart of Hebron — Despite Pending Court Case
Israel Advances Planning for Settler-Backed Cable Car Project in Jerusalem — Despite Ongoing Legal Case
Settlers Push Bibi to Authorize All Outposts As Compensation for Delay in De Jure Annexation
Bonus Reads

Comments/questions? Contact Kristin McCarthy (kmccarthy@fmep.org)

Trump Admin Recognizes Israel’s De Facto Annexation of the Settlements

On October 28th, U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman signed an amendment to several scientific agreements, removing geographical restrictions limiting the application of the agreements to inside the Green Line. In practice, those restrictions barred Israeli educational institutions located in West Bank settlements and in the Golan Heights (outside of Israel’s recognized borders) from participating in the U.S. taxpayer-funded science programs. This amendment, in effect, confers U.S. recognition of Israeli sovereignty over settlements, defining settlements as a part of the sovereign state of Israel.

Regarding the behind the scenes moves leading up to this change, Axios reporter Barak Ravid says:

“This is a substantial shift in U.S. policy. Until today the U.S. government was not allowed to spend tax payers money in the Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. The new agreements will allow it…Israeli official told me this U.S. policy shift was led by U.S. ambassador to Israel David Friedman. The official said Friedman wanted to make this move as a gesture for Netanyahu & the settlers after [West Bank] annexation was halted as part of the normalization deal with the UAE.”

FMEP’s Lara Friedman commented in a tweet, cited by the Jerusalem Post:

“To be clear: this is, in effect, the Trump admin[istration’s] official recognition of Israeli sovereignty over [the] West Bank.”

Hanan Ashrawi declared the move:

“a clear recognition of Israel’s annexation of Palestinian territory.”

Putting it rather succinctly, Kohelet Forum scholar Euguene Kontorovich – who has been arguing for the legality of Israel’s settlements for years – told the Washington Post:

“This historic international agreement cements U.S. policy that Israeli settlements are not illegal, and puts money behind it.”

The agreements were signed by Amb. Friedman and PM Netanyahu at a ceremony held in the Ariel settlement – the location of a new medical school funded largely by U.S. casino magnate and Trump mega-supporter Sheldon Adelson, (who was reportedly also behind the push to amend the agreements). Israel has already de facto annexed the university, as a matter of Israeli law, through a drawn out process over the past three years which culminated in Ariel’s university being treated, under Israeli law, as exactly the same as a university located inside the Green Line. The signing of the amendments this week means that the medical school will be able to receive U.S. funding to participate in U.S.-Israeli cooperative projects. It is also worth recalling that the Ariel settlement is located in the heart of the northern West Bank, reaching literally to the midpoint between the Green Line and the Jordan border. The future of Ariel has long been one of the greatest challenges to any possible peace agreement, since any plan to connect Ariel to Israel will cut the northern West Bank into pieces.

In a statement, the U.S. Embassy gloated over the significance of removing geographical restrictions, saying explicitly:

“These geographic restrictions are no longer consistent with U.S. policy following (i) the Administration’s opposition to the provisions of United Nations Security Council Resolution 2334, (ii) the Administration’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and moving the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, (iii) the Administration’s recognition of Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights, and (iv) the Administration’s announcement that the U.S. will no longer consider that the establishment of civilian settlements in the West Bank is per se inconsistent with international law.”

At the signing ceremony – which many settler leaders who have been critical of the Trump Plan were not invited to – Amb. Friedman added yet another rationale for expanding the agreements to include the settlements, saying that the Trump Administration places:

“great value on academic, cultural, commercial and diplomatic engagement as the best path to peace, whether between Israel and its neighboring states, or between Israel and the Palestinians.”

This “economic peace” rationale was lauded by U.S. Senator James Lankford, who has been pushing U.S. legislation that will fund joint Israeli-Palestinian business projects in the West Bank. See FMEP’s Lara Friedman response to Lankford’s reasoning here. As FMEP has explained many times, economic “coexistence” initiatives are in fact efforts to normalize, entrench, and reward Israeli settlements while perpetuating Israel’s economic exploitation of occupied territory (including the local workforce, land, and other natural resources). Congressional support for such initiatives could mean U.S. taxpayer dollars going directly (and publicly) to the settlements.

Though U.S. recognition of de fact Israeli annexation of its settlements is hugely significant, a key member of the Trump team, Avi Berkowitz, reminded Army Radio that the Trump Administration also supports de jure annexation – at a later time. Berkowitz said:

“annexation is not off the table, just pushed off for now.”

U.S. Takes Another Step to Recognize Israeli Sovereignty Over All of Jerusalem

On October 29th, the U.S. State Department announced that the Embassy will begin allowing U.S. citizens born in Jerusalem to list Israel as their country of birth on their passports, in effect recognizing Israeli sovereignty over all Jerusalem (even settlements in East Jerusalem). The U.S. will now allow individuals to choose whether to have “Jerusalem” or “Jerusalem, Israel” – but not “Jerusalem, Palestine” – listed on their U.S. passports. This is no small matter, evidenced by the decades of lobbying in the U.S. in support of exactly this policy change.

This change builds upon the Trump Administration’s December 2017 recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

Jerusalem Deputy Mayor Fleur Hassan-Nahoum told the Jerusalem Post:

“We are happy that today the US has kept its promise to Israel and completed the process of recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. American citizens born in our capital city will finally be able to have Israel written as their country of birth. It is long overdue, and we are grateful to President Trump and Ambassador Friedman for their leadership on this.”

Israel to Issue Tenders for 31 Settlement Units in the Heart of Hebron — Despite Pending Court Case

Israeli authorities have informed the Jerusalem District Court that they intend to issue tenders in the coming days for the construction of 31 new settlement units on Shuhada Street in downtown Hebron, despite the fact that the Court ordered a stop on the settlement project until a pending egal challenge is resolved. The Court’s next hearing regarding the petition is scheduled for January 31, 2021.

If built, the units would create a new settler enclave in the city (in effect, a new urban settlement, disconnected from already existing settlements in the city). It will be the first new settlement construction approved in downtown Hebron – where Palestinians already live under apartheid conditions – since 2002.

Defending the move, Israeli authorities claim that they are able to issue the tenders without violating the Court order because the order only bars actual construction (not preparations for it). It should be noted that award of tenders is considered a point of not return in the pre-construction process, since tenders involve third-party financial interests (meaning that canceling them can mean lawsuits from developers and individuals).

Map by Haaretz

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

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

Peace Now said in a statement:

“The state was quick to issue the building permit even though the court has explicitly ruled that work should not start until the… hearing takes place….The attempt to squeeze in this construction of 31 settlement units before the U.S. election is an unscrupulous act that threatens Israel’s national interest and relations on the world stage.”

Israel Advances Planning for Settler-Backed Cable Car Project in Jerusalem — Despite Ongoing Legal Case

On October 25th, the Israeli-run Jerusalem Development Authority — a joint agency of the government and the Jerusalem Municipality — held the first of two meetings for developers interested in bidding on a settler-backed project to build a cable car in East Jerusalem, despite the fact that the Israeli Supreme Court has not yet issued a final ruling on whether or not the state is permitted to expropriate the privately owned Palestinian land that is needed to carry out its construction (for background, see recent reporting in the Settlement Report). A second meeting for prospective developers is reportedly scheduled for next week.

The High Court is actively considering the cable car case, having ordered the state to offer a factual explanation for how the cable car line will boost tourism in the city – an explanation that the state has struggled to articulate convincingly. In response, the State recently submitted an 81-page explanation of the project regurgitating the same arguments it has previously made. The Court is now awaiting response from the petitioners to the State’s latest filings.

Settlers Push Bibi to Authorize All Outposts As Compensation for Delay in De Jure Annexation

The Jerusalem Post reports that settler leadership is pressuring Prime Minister Netanyahu to immediately grant retroactive approval to the hundreds of Israeli outposts in the West Bank that are illegal under Israeli law (and for which Israel has been unable, despite an all-out effort, to find a way to legalize, short of simply declaring that rule of law is irrelevant). The Knesset Land of Israel Caucus is also preparing legislation to achieve this end.

The Post reports that settlers, having impatiently waited as the government has delayed action on many outpost authorizations — as successive elections and then the U.S. promise of annexation have come and gone (for now) — are upping the pressure on Netanyahu to act in a decisive manner on the outposts. Peace Now notes that, despite the settlers’ allegations of foot-dragging, over the past two years the Israeli government has managed to grant retroactive legalization to 21 outposts. with 9 more in process. Instead of considering each outposts’ legal status in a piecemeal manner, the settlers want Netanyahu to grant authorizations in one swift and blanked act – regardless of the facts of each outpost (like private Palestinian ownership of the land on which some outposts have been constructed).

Settlers apparently view this as urgent, given the fact that the Trump Plan leaves around 15 outposts as enclaves within the borders of what is envisioned as a future Palestinian non-state entity. Settlers also view this as just, asserting that Netanyahu owes the settler movement this as “compensation for his failure to to fulfill his annexation pledge.”

The Jerusalem Post article also does a surprisingly great job of explaining Israeli efforts over the past two decades to approve these outposts, which entered a new phase in 2017 with the passage of the Settlement Regulation Law – passed by the Knesset to allow provide a new legal basis by which the government can grant outpost approvals. FMEP has also comprehensively tracked [Table #3] Israel’s efforts over the past two years to retroactively legalize the outposts.

Bonus Reads

“US amb. to Israel: Change of administration can damage Abraham Accords” (Jerusalem Post)
“The Annexation That Was and Still Is” (B’Tselem)
“Muslim Pilgrimage to Haram al Sharif/the Temple Mount: Tinkering with Explosives” (Terrestrial Jerusalem)
[Thread] “The issue of the ultra-Orthodox sector, which recently caught the public’s attention again in light of the corona crisis, demands discussion about what is happening with the ultra-Orthodox community in the context of the settlements, for two reasons” (@nabothVin)
“In East Jerusalem, the settler project is expanding underground“ (+972 Magazine)
“Israelis Who Pillage Palestinian Olive Harvesters Are Not My Brothers” (Haaretz)

Israeli Attorney General Supports Settler-Led Dispossession of the Sumreen Family in Silwan

Tender Published for 300 New Units in East Jerusalem Settlement of East Talpiyot

Israel to Advance Expansion of East Jerusalem settlement of Gilo

Israel Advances Plan that Will Pave Way for Expansion of East Jerusalem Settlement Enclave of Nof Zion

IDF Evacuates Oz Zion Outpost (Again)

Fight Over Homesh Outpost & Yeshiva Continues (Both Physically and Politically)

Settlers Seek Outpost Gains from Divided & Fragile Government (With Some Success)

Construction Begins on Key Stretch of the “Tunnels Road” for Settlements South of Jerusalem

Israel Gives U.S. Army Officers Tour of Hebron Led by Settlement Spokesman

Further Reading

Israel Advances Plan for New East Jerusalem Settlement, “Givat HaShaked”

Israel Decides on a Last Minute (& Temporary) Delay of Atarot Settlement

Shaked Funds, Elevates Settler Municipal Council in Hebron

Demolition of Palestinian Property in Area C Hit a Five Year High in 2020

Israel Escalates Intimidation of Activists Working in the South Hebron Hills

Bonus Reads

Israel to Advance Atarot Settlement Plan

New Israeli President Kicks Off Hanukkah with Settlers in Hebron, Sparking Clashes and Raising Ire

Court OKs Demolition of Palestinian Homes in Wadi Yasul (Silwan)

“Day of Destruction” – Israel Demolitions in East Jerusalem & West Bank

Government Contradictions Delay Final Decision on Jerusalem Cable Car Project

Knesset Holds Hearing on Settler Terrorism

Bonus Reads

Settlers Secure Deal for Eventual Eviction of Another Sheikh Jarrah Family

Increasing Pressure on the Government, Settlers to Operationalize Plan to Increase Control Over Area C

JNF Stops Funding 18-Year Legal Battle Over Beit Bakri in Hebron

Demolitions in East Jerusalem Continue, Including in Al-Walaja

Settler Violence & Expansionism Continues to Escalate in the South Hebron Hills

Bennett Pledges Evyatar Outpost will be Legalized, Sparking Palestinian Ire & More Coalition Threats

Government Punts on Outpost Legalization Bill, Knesset Might Move Forward Anyway

Bonus Reads

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

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

Israel Begins Construction on New Settlement in Downtown Hebron

Israel Advances “Silicon Wadi” Project in East Jerusalem

Recap: Israel Advances Settlement Plans Across Greater Jerusalem Area

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

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

Bonus Reads

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

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

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

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

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

Atarot Settlement Plan to Be Discussed on December 6th

Bonus Reads

Defense Ministry Approves 31 New Projects in Settlements

Settlers Pressure Bennet Over Fate of (Illegal, even under Israeli law) Evyatar Outpost, Plan to Appeal to the High Court for Protection

IDF Demolish “Oz Zion” Outpost

Gantz Orders Construction of Settler-Backed “Accessibility” Project at Tomb of the Patriarchs/al-Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron

Settlers Raid Homes of Prominent Activists in Sheikh Jarrah

Bonus Reads

Sheikh Jarrah Evictions Set for May 2nd; Protests & Diplomacy Ratchet Up

Resources for Understanding Recent Protests and Violence in Jerusalem

WZO Admits It Gave Palestinian Land to Settlers Without Written Agreements

Jewish National Fund Delays Decision on Formalizing Policy on West Bank Land Purchases

Ariel University Giving Academic Credit for Outpost Volunteers

IDF Stops Settler Attempt to Establish Yeshiva on Site of Dismantled Homesh Settlement

Settlers Celebrate Israeli Independence Day

Settler-Run Chamber of Commerce Planning a Hotel in Hebron in Partnership with Palestinian Businessman Ahsraf Jabari

Smotrich’s Party Files Bill for Outpost Legalization

Round-up of Settler Violence this Week

Human Rights Watch: Israel is Guilty of the Crime of Apartheid

Bonus Reads

ICC Opens Investigation Into Palestine

JNF Board Approves $11.5 Million for Settlement Expansion

Report: Netanyahu Offered Construction of Atarot Settlement in Return for Votes

In Hebron, Economic “Coexistence” Group Reportedly Working on Plan for New Hospital

Bonus Material

Trump Admin Recognizes Israel’s De Facto Annexation of the Settlements

U.S. Takes Another Step to Recognize Israeli Sovereignty Over All of Jerusalem

Israel to Issue Tenders for 31 Settlement Units in the Heart of Hebron — Despite Pending Court Case

Israel Advances Planning for Settler-Backed Cable Car Project in Jerusalem — Despite Ongoing Legal Case

Settlers Push Bibi to Authorize All Outposts As Compensation for Delay in De Jure Annexation

Bonus Reads