Settlement Report: May 10, 2018

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

To receive this report via email, please click here.

May 10, 2018

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

REACTIONS to Zandberg: Some Celebrate, Others Sound the Alarm

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[Updated post-publication with new statements]

Efrat Becomes First Settlement to Acquire Private Drone to Police Palestinians

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

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

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

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

Financing Occupation: World Zionist Organization Offers Cheap Rent in Settlements

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Bonus Reads

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

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

To receive this report via email, please click here.

April 20, 2018

Israeli Police Assist Settlers in Taking Over Three Palestinian Apartments in East Jerusalem
Palestinians Petition Civil Administration to Evacuate Squatting Settlers from Hebron Compound
Bibi Govt Proceeds with Effort to Strip High Court of its Powers
IDF Aids Settlers in Closing Off Key Road to Palestinians
$120 Million Investment into Jordan Valley Communities, Including Settlements
Settlers Assault IDF & Terrorize Palestinians in Nablus Area
Americans for Peace Now: “From Creeping to Leaping: Annexation in the Trump-Netanyahu Era”
Bonus Reads

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

Israeli Police Assist Settlers in Taking Over Three Palestinian Apartments in East Jerusalem

On April 9, 2018, Israeli police officers assisted settlers in evicting three Palestinian families from apartments in the Silwan neighborhood of East Jerusalem, making way for the settlers to move in. The take-over seemed to have happened prematurely, since the family that owns the apartment units – the Ruweidi family – filed an appeal with the Court that had not yet been heard. The High Court ordered a temporary delay on the eviction order, but the delay was issued too late and the settlers had already emptied out the apartments. According to Haaretz, the apartments will remain empty until further notice from the Court.

In February 2018, the Jerusalem District Court ruled that the property rightfully belongs to the radical settler group Elad, which claims to have bought it from one member of the Ruweidi family, Raziq Ruweidi. The Ruweidi family disputes the court’s decision, saying that the properties were jointly owned by six other family members and therefore could not have been lawfully sold. The matter wound up in court after Raziq Ruweidi was murdered three years ago, leaving debts that the Israeli courts had to settle.

As documented in previous editions of the FMEP settlement report – here, here, here, and here – the Elad settler group frequently works with the Israeli government and the courts to accomplish its goal of erasing the Palestinian presence in East Jerusalem in favor of Israeli Jews, including cooperation on major projects like the touristic Kedem Center in Silwan and the cable car line that will service it.

Palestinians Petition Civil Administration to Evacuate Squatting Settlers from Hebron Compound

Three weeks after settlers broke into and took up residence in the “Zaatari Compound” in Hebron, the Palestinian al-Zaatari family filed an appeal this week with the Israeli Civil Administration to have the law-breaking squatters evacuated. The settlers – who were reportedly given permission to enter the property by the IDF and Defense Minister Lieberman – claim to have legally purchased the properties. A lawyer representing the al-Zaatari family wrote in the petition that claim “has no basis in reality, since my clients and/or their representatives never sold their ownership rights in their homes.” The court has

Like hundreds of Hebronites, the al-Zaatari family was forced to leave the home during the Second Intifada due to the IDF’s suffocating restrictions on the freedom of movement of Palestinians in and around the Old City of Hebron, conditions which persist today.

Peace Now released a statement saying:

“The ink has not yet dried in the High Court of Justice’s decision to evacuate the Abu Rajab House, where settlers also broke into and squatted, yet the settlers dare to break into another house without the same approval they lacked in that case. The government must evict the trespassers immediately; the settlers have not proven any ownership. The behavior of the government and recent statements by the defense minister raise the suspicion that this home invasion was carried out in coordination with the defense ministry, and that the government lent a hand to breaking the law and stealing. Instead of protecting the landowner’s rights, the government is helping robbers seeking to take possession of the property without allowing the current owners their rightful legal avenue to prove ownership. The establishment of a new settlement house in the heart of Hebron is a severe blow to the fragile situation in Hebron and is liable to cause new restrictions on the movement of Palestinians.”

Bibi Govt Proceeds with Effort to Strip High Court of its Powers

It was decided by the the Israeli government’s ruling coalition this week that the next Knesset – which opens on April 29 – will vote on legislation aimed at stripping the High Court of its power to strike down laws passed by the Knesset. At the weekly cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Netanyahu and Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon agreed to form a “small ministerial committee” to try to bridge various proposals to restrict the High Court’s power to overturn laws – a move that could impact the fate of (among other things) the Regulation Law.

Notably, Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit was permitted to attend the cabinet meeting to present his opposition to most serious of the proposed versions — the Netanyahu-backed model, according to which laws could be overturned only by a unanimous vote in the High Court; Kahlon’s issue-specific formulation, seeking to allow the Knesset to overturn the High Court decision vis-a-vus a single piece of legislation, related to African asylum seekers; and a version, backed by Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked and Education Minister Naftali Bennet, allowing the High Court to be overruled by a simple majority vote in the Knesset. Mandelblit recommended his own version — one that would require a super-majority vote by the High Court (7 of 9) to strike down a law, and would allow the Knesset to overturn such a decision by the High Court by a super-majority of 70 votes.

Netanyahu and Transportation Minister Levin (Likud) rejected Mandelblit’s proposal, and said that the High Court should only be able to strike down laws by a unanimous vote (meaning that it would be highly unlikely that the Court would ever succeed in striking down any law). Following the cabinet meeting, Levin also specifically took issue with Khalon’s version of the bill (which seeks to create a unique exception for the Knesset to overturn the High Court’s ruling against a law related to the detention and deportation of African asylum seekers). Making clear his real objectives and concerns (and making explicit the connection to settlements), Levin told reporters that this version is:

“significantly erroneous and will lead to striking down laws, including the Regulation Law (legalizing Israeli outposts in the West Bank).”

You can follow the key events regarding the progression of this legislation via FMEP’s recently published resource, “Israel’s Creeping Annexation Policies.”

See this Haaretz overview for more even more detail.

IDF Aids Settlers in Closing Off Key Road to Palestinians

Haaretz reports that the IDF is contributing to the efforts of settlers from Halamish, a settlement located north of Ramallah, to restrict Palestinian access to a critical highway along which the settlers recently established a new unauthorized outpost.

Map by Kerem Navot

According to testimonies collected by Haaretz, IDF soldiers at two military roadblocks near the settlement and the new outpost have been conducting prolonged searches of Palestinian vehicles and buses headed for Ramallah via road 450. The vehicles and their passengers are regularly delayed and harrassed. One Palestinian recounts a soldier reportedly admitting that the actions are meant to incentivize Palestinians to take a detour around the area of the settlement and outpost (which is a longer route). In addition, settlers have repeatedly posted – and the IDF has repeatedly removed – a sign on the road that reads:

“The area where you are now is under the control of the Jews. Entry by Arabs to this area is completely prohibited, danger of death!”

Months ago, Halamish settlers started a Saturday morning prayer event in the middle of the road (between the settlement and the outpost on the other side). In cooperation with the settlers, IDF soldiers have been shutting down all Palestinian traffic and guarding the settlers during the prayer event.

The settlers intent has long been clear. By sealing off Palestinian access to the road, it will become an interior road between the settlement and the new outpost, effectively expanding the boundaries of Halamish at the cost of Palestinians.

The Halamish settlers established the outpost – which they call “Yad Ahi” or “My Brother’s Hand” – in July 2017, following the brutal murder of four of the settlement’s residents by a Palestinian attacker. Since then, the settlers have worked determinedly to fortify and expand the settlement to include the outpost and more, as extensively documented by the Israeli NGO Kerem Navot.

$120 Million Investment into Jordan Valley Communities, Including Settlements

The office of the Prime Minister announced a $120 million grant program for infrastructure projects in Israeli communities in the Jordan Valley. According to The Times of Israel, the budget earmarks $7 million to “help local farmers acquire more agricultural land and locate additional water sources and to build affordable homes for first-time buyers through the Housing Ministry Program.” One Israeli business news outlet reports that this is an “aid program for settlements in the Dead Sea area coping with the problem of sinkholes.”

Some 11,000 settlers and 65,000 Palestinians live in the Jordan Valley – the latter facing severe restrictions on land use and freedom of movement, and lack of access to municipal services like water and electricity.The current Israeli government has publicly and repeatedly demanded complete Israeli sovereignty over the Jordan Valley in the context of any peace agreement (meaning that any future Palestinian state would be entirely encircled by Israel, having no international border with any other nation). One Likud MK, Sharren Haskel, recently unveiled a bill to annex the Jordan Valley. Haskel is seeking government backing for the bill before formally introducing it in the Knesset.

A recent report by B’Tselem documents how Israeli settlers were allowed to establish two new outposts in the Jordan Valley last year. In recent months, Israel has delivered eviction notices to entire Palestinian communities near Israeli settlements in the Jordan Valley. Simultaneously, settlers have been allowed to continue construction on a tourist project – a car race track built in a closed military zone (land expropriated from Palestinians ostensibly for security purposes), despite a court ordered stop-work order.

Settlers Assault IDF & Terrorize Palestinians in Nablus Area

Three settlers were arrested for throwing stones at IDF soldiers engaged in the evacuation of an unauthorized outpost near the Itamar settlement, south of Nablus. The outpost – called “Rosh Yosef” by the settlers – has been evacuated several times before, but settlers have repeatedly re-occupied the hilltop site. The settlers, one of whom is a minor, were released a day later and put under house arrest.

The evacuation comes against the backdrop of frequent attacks perpetrated by Israeli settlers in the Nablus area recently. Last week, settlers allegedly set the entrance to a mosque on fire and spray painted the building with anti-Arab, anti-Muslim threats. On April 18th, settlers destroyed at least two dozen olive trees and spray painted hateful words on houses in the village of Urif. The Ynet news outlet reports that the radical and violent “Hilltop Youth” settler group is responsible for most of these crimes, noting that its members are increasingly outraged by outpost demolitions, fixated on calls for “revenge” against Palestinians following terrorist attacks, and resentful of recent criminal punishments levied against their members as a result of the Shin Bet’s crackdown on the group’s criminal activities.

Americans for Peace Now: “From Creeping to Leaping: Annexation in the Trump-Netanyahu Era”

Americans for Peace Now published a new policy paper analyzing how “the Israeli right has launched an unprecedented drive to annex the West Bank, piecemeal or in its entirety” since the inauguration of President Donald Trump. The paper “lays out the recent developments that present a quantum leap in Israeli annexation efforts, analyzes these moves against the historical backdrop of Israel’s 50-year occupation of the West Bank, examines the ramifications of the transition from ‘creeping’ to ‘leaping’ annexation, and considers why this transformation is happening now.”

FMEP’s recently published resource, “Israel’s Creeping Annexation Policies” is being updated to include several items from APN’s excellent work.

Bonus Reads

“Israel and Annexation by Lawfare” (Michael Sfard, The New York Review of Books)
“How Israel’s Government is Aiming to Outweigh the Supreme Court” (Haaretz)
“Attempts to ‘bypass’ Israel’s High Court will create a ‘tyranny of the majority’ ” (+972 Mag)
“As Israeli pushes for West Bank railway, Palestinians brace for more land grabs” (Middle East Eye)

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

To receive this report via email, please click here.

January 25, 2018

Israeli Attorney General Supports Legalization of Radical Havat Gilad Outpost
Settler Population Growth Rate Continues to Shrink, But Still Outpaces Growth Rate Inside the Green Line
In a First, U.S. Embassy Invites Settlers to VP Pence’s Knesset Speech
Bonus Reads

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

Israeli Attorney General Supports Legalization of Radical Havat Gilad Outpost

Over the weekend, Israeli cabinet ministers declined to debate Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman’s proposed resolution to advance the retroactive legalization of the Havat Gilad outpost at the weekly cabinet meeting. The settler-run Arutz Sheva media outlet is reporting that even though the resolution was not debated, Ministers did discuss Havat Gilad and pressured Netanyahu to “regulate” it (i.e., make it legal) as part of the government’s response to a terror attack earlier this month which killed a resident of the outpost.

After the meeting, Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked announced via a tweet that Israeli Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit has given his support for a second resolution to retroactively legalize the Havat Gilad outpost, signaling that there is no legal impediment to moving forward with the plan. If true, this means the Attorney General has found a way to get around a growing body of historical documentation that should – under current Israeli law and precedent as it is understood – preclude the outpost from being retroactively legalized.

The history of the outpost, as documented and adjudicated by the Israeli government, should disqualify it from meeting the standards for retroactive legalization set out in the Regulation Law, a law passed in early 2017 that gives the Israeli government leeway to regulate settlement units and outposts that were built in good faith or with the consent of the state, and if Palestinian landowners are compensated. These condition do not appear to apply with respect to Havat Gilad, which was first established in early 2002, evacuated by the government of Israel (for being illegal) in October of that same year, only to be re-established nearby less than a year later. As detailed in a post by Dror Etkes, founder of the Israeli NGO Kerem Naboth, aerial photographs from 2001-2002 show that “the area over which the outpost currently spans was divided into dozens of plots that were well-cultivated,” clearly indicated privately-owned land.

Hence, the Regulation Law cannot be the legal underpinning on which Attorney General Mandelblit is relying on to support the retroactive legalization of the Havat Gilad outpost.. However, it is worth recalling that Mandelblit argued against the Regulation Law (which is expected to be struck down by the High Court of Justice) – not because he in principle opposed legalizing outposts, but because he believed there was a better, alternative legal mechanism to achieve the same goal that would pass High Court scrutiny. It is also worth recalling that shortly after submitting his argument against the Regulation Law, Mandleblit issued two key legal opinions: one in favor of the retroactive legalization of an access road to the Haresha outpost; and the second to support the retroactive legalization of the Ofra settlement sewage plant (which was “mistakenly” built on Palestinian land).

Though Mandelblit’s legal logic for supporting any of the cases remains unclear (and what that logic portends for the 70 other outposts that the government is seeking to legalize), it is clear that there are new avenues opening up to convert even the most far-flung, radical, and brazenly illegal outposts into permanent West Bank settlement facts-on-the-ground, at the expense of Palestinian landowners and the contiguity of a future Palestinian state.

Settler Population Growth Rate Continues to Shrink, But Still Outpaces Growth Rate Inside the Green Line

According to the Times of Israel, new Israeli government data (covering 150 West Bank settlements and outposts, but not East Jerusalem) shows that the settler growth rate has decreased for the sixth consecutive year, from 3.9% in 2016 to 3.4% in 2017 (the growth rate hit a high in 2008, at 5.8%). Even with this decline, the 3.4% settler population growth rate still outpaces Israel’s national average, which comes in at 2%. Moreover, the data show that settler population is far younger than the population inside the Green Line, with 47% of settlers being below the age of 18, compared to 27% of Israelis inside the Green Line.

A statement from the Yesha Council (the umbrella organization of municipal councils of Jewish settlements) blamed for the declining growth rate on what it called a “quiet freeze” on settlement construction in 2017, despite the fact that Peace Now chronicled an alarming acceleration of settlement activity in 2017.

In a First, U.S. Embassy Invites Settlers to VP Pence’s Knesset Speech

The U.S. Embassy sent out personal invitations to several prominent settler leaders to attend Vice President Mike Pence’s speech in the Israeli Knesset. Invitees included senior officers of the Yesha Council (he umbrella organization of municipal councils of Jewish settlements, which acts as the de facto lobby for the settlers). The Speaker of the Knesset, Yuli Edelstein, invited additional settlers to attend the speech as well.

In his speech, VP Pence did not mention the occupation or settlements, but only called on Palestinian leaders to return to the negotiating table.

Bonus Reads

“How David Friedman is Putting His Right Wing Stamp of U.S. Foreign Policy Towards Israel” ( The Forward)

FMEP has long been a trusted resource on settlement-related issues, reflecting both the excellent work of our grantees on the ground and our own in-house expertise. FMEP’s focus on settlements derives from our commitment to achieving lasting Israeli-Palestinian peace, and our recognition of the fact that Israeli settlements – established for the explicit purpose of dispossessing Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem of land and resources, and depriving them of the very possibility of self-determination in their own state with borders based on the 1967 lines – are antithetical to that goal.

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

To receive this report via email, please click here.

December 8, 2017

Israeli High Court Orders Government to Submit Second Defense of the “Regulation Law”
Yesh Din Petitions for a New Hearing on the Amona Outpost Case
Ofra Settlement Moves to Retroactively Legalize Intentional and “Accidental” Land Theft
B’Tselem: “Made in Israel – Exploiting Palestinian Land for Treatment of Israeli Waste”
U.N. Database Documenting Businesses Operating in Settlements Nears Completion
U.S. Official: Trump Proclamation Does Not “Change” U.S. Policy on East Jerusalem Settlements
Jared Kushner’s Pro-Settlement Involvement: The Story Is Still Unfolding
Bonus Reads

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

Israeli High Court Orders Government to Submit Second Defense of the “Regulation Law”

Following Israeli Attorney General Avichai Mandleblit’s problematic argument against the constitutionality of the “Regulation Law” submitted to the court last week, the Court has now ordered the State to submit a new defense of the law by February 25, 2018. In light of the Attorney General’s opposition to the law, the government has hired a private attorney to defend it. The State’s attorney, Harel Arnon, has already submitted one defense of the law in August of this year, but now he must submit a second response explaining why the law should not be struck down on constitutional grounds.

While the court hears arguments, it has extended a temporary injunction against the use of the Regulation Law, which has been frozen since August. The “Regulation Law” seeks to provide a legal basis for retroactively legalizing outposts and settlement structures that were built without permission or permits from the Israeli government. Peace Now estimates that the Regulation Law could pave the way for the legalization of 55 Israeli outposts, 4,000 illegally constructed settlement units, through the seizure of thousands of dunams of Palestinian agricultural land.

Yesh Din Petitions for a New Hearing on the Amona Outpost Case

In October 2017, Israeli courts finally published the legal opinion behind a 2016 ruling against a plan to relocate the Amona outpost to a nearby plot of privately owned Palestinian land. Though the court ruled against the legality of the plan, the argument articulated in the freshly published document appears to show the Court accepting, for the first time, the argument that Israel can seize Palestinian private lands for the exclusive use of Israeli settlers. This argument is now being recycled in many other cases of illegal construction in the West Bank, including in the decision to retroactively legalize an access road leading to the Haresha outpost that was built on land that is proven to be privately owned by Palestinians.

In response, Yesh Din (which filed the original petition against the Amona plan) launched a new petition this week asking for a new hearing, arguing:

The reasoning of the Amona plan verdict establishes that the Military Commander has the authority to make temporary use of private Palestinian, even if such use serves the Israeli population exclusively, and that the Supervisor of Abandoned Property in the Civil Administration may initiate dissolution of partnership proceedings for Palestinian land, despite being a temporary trustee of this land only.

Evidence that these are precedent setting rulings came about a week after the reasoning was issued. Attorney General Avihai Mandelblit’s opinion regarding the access road to the outpost of Haresha noted that until the verdict, Palestinian land could not be expropriated for the benefit of Israelis alone, but that following the judgment, such a move became possible.

In late November 2017, Yesh Din petitioned the High Court on behalf of Palestinian landowners who challenged the Amona plan, asking for a further hearing by an extended panel in the judgment issued by Justice Salim Joubran, to decide on these two issues.

Ofra Settlement Moves to Retroactively Legalize Intentional and “Accidental” Land Theft

Based on the ruling in the Haresha case, Israel is moving to retroactively legalize a sewage treatment facility near the Ofra settlement that was built on land privately owned by Palestinians. The Civil Administration will consider advancing plans to that affect during a hearing of the High Planning Committee on December 6th [no news as of publication on 12/7].

The history of the Ofra sewage treatment plant is rife with scandal, including the public admission by the head of the powerful Binyamin Regional Council, Pinchas Wallerstein, that he knew the plant was being built on land owned by Palestinians. When Avi Roeh succeeded Wallerstein as the head of the Binyamin Regional Council, Roeh was caught issuing falsified building permits for the construction of the plant (the Binyamin Regional Council does not have the authority to issue building permits). Wallerstein and Roeh were later sued by the Palestinian land owners for trespassing; neither man denied the allegation and both were fined (minimally) by the High Court of Justice for their actions related to the sewage plant.

The Israeli NGO Yesh Din has led two petitions against the construction of the Ofra sewage plant. In the first, filed in 2009, Yesh Din asked the court to demolish the plant and return the lands to the Palestinian owners; the court partially accepted the demand and said that the plant cannot be operated until all legal proceedings are resolved. It also ruled that the plant must serve both the Ofra settlers and nearby Palestinian communities. The second petition, filed in 2014, challenged the Court’s decision to only fine rather than prosecute Wallerstein and Roeh for an offense they admitted to: trespassing. The Court rejected this petition, ruling the fines were sufficient.

As a reminder, the Ofra settlement is also battling to retroactively legalize the use of land inside of the settlement they “mistakenly” seized from its Palestinian owners.

B’Tselem: “Made in Israel – Exploiting Palestinian Land for Treatment of Israeli Waste”

In a timely report (see above), B’Tselem has published documentation of how Israel exploits its position as an occupying power to build waste treatment plants that treat Israeli-generated waste in the occupied West Bank, where environmental regulations are less strict. This is done in contravention of international law. The report observers:

Like other countries, Israel has a system in place for treating the waste generated in its territory. However, as this report reveals, a significant portion of this system is located outside Israel’s sovereign borders, in the West Bank. Abusing its status as an occupying power, Israel has set out less stringent regulations in industrial zones in settlements and even offers financial incentives such as tax breaks and government subsidies. This policy has made it more profitable to build and operate waste treatment facilities in the West Bank than inside Israel…

Israel is effectively having it both ways: seemingly increasing the amount of waste it treats, it actually does so by diverting the risks and pollutants onto Palestinian land and people…

Waste treatment in the West Bank is simply one more facet of the exploitative policy Israel has practiced consistently for fifty years now, using Palestinian space and people to further its own interests. As part of this policy, Israel treats the West Bank – and particularly Area C, where it retained full control under the Oslo Accords – as an area meant to serve its needs exclusively, as if it were its sovereign territory.

U.N. Database Documenting Businesses Operating in Settlements Nears Completion

With the passage of UN Resolution 2334, member states voted to uphold a legal distinction between Israel and the occupied territories. That important vote necessarily brought renewed attention to the way trade, business, banking, and other bilateral relationships with Israel must be examined in order for member states to comply with their own legal obligations and principles. In the words of the resolution, member states voted to “distinguish in their relevant dealings, between the territory of the State of Israel and the territories occupied since 1967.”

In parallel, at the beginning of 2018 the UN is due to release a database (which may turn out to be merely a report) looking at businesses that operate in settlements, in contravention of international law. The creation of the database is the result of a resolution taken by the United Nations Human Rights Council on March 24, 2016. Its purpose is to assist member states in complying with their legal obligations under international law. Israel and the United States are fighting tooth-and-nail against the publication of the database, labeling it an anti-Israel “blacklist.” U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley has often used the database to bludgeon the UN, calling it an anti-Israel forum and threatening to leave the UN Human Rights Council if it isn’t reformed. However, as international legal scholar Valentina Azarova explains:

The UN database is a mechanism to document, report, and engage primary interested parties. It does not have the mandate to adjudicate the responsibility of concerned parties, nor to act as a coercive tool of law enforcement. Thus, commentators who refer to it as a “blacklist” misrepresent it and undermine its legitimacy.

This week prominent Israelis mobilized in support of the databases’ publication, saying:

[we] believe that the international community has a crucial and urgent role to play in order to redress the Israel/Palestine fast deteriorating conflict. We believe that to serve that end, it is essential that the international community will act against the settlement policy of the Government of Israel, which bars any resolution of this conflict.

U.S. Official: Trump Proclamation Does Not “Change” U.S. Policy on East Jerusalem Settlements

The following exchange happened during the 12/7/17 State Department Daily Briefing with Acting Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs:

QUESTION: Thank you. What is the current policy of the U.S. administration towards Israeli settlements in East Jerusalem?

AMBASSADOR SATTERFIELD: As – this decision had no impact on any issue other than the recognition or acknowledgment of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

QUESTION: No. But so could you —

AMBASSADOR SATTERFIELD: I’ve answered your question.

QUESTION: Could you follow up what the policy therefore is, even though it has not been enacted?

AMBASSADOR SATTERFIELD: I’m not going to restate the policy at this point.

QUESTION: Well, can I just ask you then are you accepting the premise of the question that construction in East Jerusalem is settlement activity? I don’t believe that it’s (inaudible).

AMBASSADOR SATTERFIELD: What I am stating is an affirmative. The President’s decision was a recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. The President made clear issues that touch upon the boundaries of sovereignty or final status issues are not addressed by his decision.

QUESTION: I get it. The question is one of terminology.

AMBASSADOR SATTERFIELD: Fine.

QUESTION: You called construction in the West Bank settlement activity, but not necessarily construction in East Jerusalem. That’s just construction. It hasn’t traditionally —

AMBASSADOR SATTERFIELD: The President’s decision did not touch on those issues.

To date, the U.S. has not publicly commented on East Jerusalem settlements, even though there have been massive, game-changing, new settlement announcements made by the Netanyahu government in the most sensitive areas of East Jerusalem. The only public statement the U.S. has made on settlements (and repeats whenever the occasion arises) is that the U.S. does not believe settlements are an impediment to peace, but that settlement construction is not helpful in achieving that goal. As reported by FMEP in late October, the U.S. policy on Israeli settlements is rumored to be a 4-part “don’t surprise us” understanding; point #4 stipulates that there is no limit to construction on East Jerusalem settlements as long as the U.S. is given advance notice and the new construction is adjacent to existing settlement units.

Jared Kushner’s Pro-Settlement Involvement: The Story Is Still Unfolding

The news broke this week that Jared Kushner, son-in-law and senior advisor to President Donald Trump, failed to disclose his executive leadership of an organization that supported the construction of a yeshiva (a Jewish religious school) in the Beit El settlement. Kushner is currently leading the Trump administration’s efforts to restart Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations.

Kushner served as co-Director of the Charles and Seryl Kushner Foundation from 2006 to 2015, during which time the foundation gave at least $38,000 towards the construction project in Beit El. The settlement is the same one that U.S. Ambassador David Friedman has long supported (Friedman was the longtime president of the American Friends of Bet El; according to the organization’s website, he “resigned from all his positions and involvement with Bet El on March 23, 2017, upon accepting his position as US Ambassador to Israel”).That same Kushner foundation also donated $15,000 to Etzion Foundation and $5,000 to Ohra Stone Foundation (both of which operate in settlements), in addition to $298,600 donated to the Friends of the Israeli Defense Forces.

In other news, it was discovered that another Kushner family charity, Kushner Companies Charitable Foundation, donated at least $18,000 to the American Friends of Beit El gala dinner this week. While this charity is “solely controlled” by Charles Kushner, Jared’s father, FMEP’s Lara Friedman notes,

Under normal circumstances you would expect someone who has a background of activism related to Israel to be working very hard to take a step back from that to show that he can be a credible mediator. Not only is that not the case, it’s the opposite.

This week also revealed that during the time of the Trump transition period (election day to inauguration day), Kushner unsuccessfully worked to convince Russia to oppose U.N. Resolution 2334, on which the Obama Administration abstained (enabling it to pass) in December 2016. Some suggest that in doing so, Kushner and others working with him may have violated the Logan Act – which prohibits unauthorized citizens from interfering in foreign policy against the interests of the United States. Kushner’s involvement in these efforts was revealed (or confirmed, rather) in connection with the ongoing Special Counsel’s investigation into collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russians.

Yossi Alpher of Americans for Peace Now said it best:

In historical perspective, we will look back and recall that the settlements cause, already a disastrous symbol of Israel’s decline as a Jewish and democratic state, was also sullied by being caught up in a host of illegal, unethical and plain outrageous acts of collusion with Russia by Trump and his entourage.

Bonus Reads

“Could Settlers Stay in a Future Palestinian State?” (Al-Monitor)
“Israel Arrests 20 Palestinians in Fracas with Hiking Settlers” (Times of Israel)
“Secret amendment of Israeli order could cost 300 Palestinians their homes (Al-Monitor)
Statements by FMEP grantees on President Trump’s announcement on Jerusalem (FMEP)

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

To receive this report via email, please click here.

November 30, 2017

Israeli Attorney General Argues Against “Regulation Law,” But Endorses its Goal
One Structure Demolished in the Netiv Ha’avot Outpost, But Will Others Follow?
Interior Ministry Pushes Plan for a New Settlement City in West Bank “Seam-Line” Region
Ir Amim & Bimkom Report – “Deliberately Planned: A Policy to Thwart Planning in the Palestinian Neighborhoods of Jerusalem”
UPDATES: Bedouin Communities Fight Eviction; Jerusalem “Supermajority” Bill Advances
Bonus Reads

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

Israeli Attorney General Argues Against “Regulation Law,” But Endorses its Goal

On November 22nd, Israeli Attorney General Avichai Mandleblit issued his much-anticipated response to a petition before the Supreme Court challenging the constitutionality of the “Regulation Law,” a law passed by the Knesset in February 2017 paving the way for the retroactive legalization of 55 Israeli outposts, 4,000 illegally constructed settlement units, and seizure of thousands of dunams of Palestinian agricultural land. Two petitions were filed against the law, one by a group of Israeli NGOs (ACRI, Peace Now, and Yesh Din),the second by a group of Palestinian NGOs including Al-Mezan and Adalah.

In a 72-page opinion, AG Mandleblit said the law is “a sweeping and injurious arrangement that does not meet the test of proportionality,” adding it “will also cause severe discrimination against the Palestinian population in the region.” At the same time, Mandelblit’s underlying argument – consistent with his actions and words in recent weeks – effectively endorsed the goal of retroactively legalizing the illegal construction and land seizures through other legal means.

The Palestinian NGOs sharply criticized the AG’s opinion, saying:

Although Israeli Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit maintains that the law should be repealed, his position is still problematic from the standpoint of international law. In parallel to his opposition to the law, the AG noted that “validating” the settlements is a worthy act and that the State of Israel now has a number of other tools at its disposal that allow it to “validate” Israeli construction on private Palestinian land that was transferred to a settlement “in good faith.”

In the AG’s response, he authorizes use of these tools including, amongst other measures, expropriation of Palestinian land for “public needs,” such “regulating” the construction of an access road to an illegal Israeli settlement outpost.

Adalah, JLAC, and Al Mezan emphasize that the AG’s position clashes directly with international law explicitly forbidding the construction of settlements and the transfer of the occupying power’s civilian population into occupied territory – this is considered a war crime. International law specifically bans harm to Palestinian property in the West Bank for the purposes of development and expansion of settlements.

Peace Now, ACRI, and Yesh Din also issued a joint statement criticizing the Attorney General for his support for retroactive legalization by means other than the Regulation Law, saying:

…despite opposing the “Regularization Law”, Mandelblit has recently approved other legal steps to allow for the takeover of privately owned Palestinian land. During the past two weeks, the AG issued two legal opinions, one concerning land near the Haresha outpost and another in Ofra, in which he approved expropriation of private Palestinian land for the sole benefit of settlements.

In his legal opinions Mandelblit fails to recognize that any takeover of private Palestinian land for the purpose of settlements stands in violation of IHL, specifically the laws of occupation that apply to the West Bank.

The undersigned organizations [ACRI, Peace Now, and Yesh Din] will continue to work against any government initiative, whether through legislation or by form of legal opinions, which violates human rights of Palestinians in the West Bank.

One Structure Demolished in the Netiv Ha’avot Outpost, But Will Others Follow?

On November 29th, the Israeli army razed an illegally-built structure in the unauthorized outpost of Netiv Ha’avot, near the Elazar settlement south of Jerusalem. Dozens of settlers protested the demolition by barricading themselves inside, forcing the Israeli army to remove them one-by-one against their protests before demolishing the building.

As FMEP reported in October, the Supreme Court upheld a 2016 decision ordering the demolition of 17 structures in Netiv Ha’avot that were built on privately owned Palestinian land. The structure razed on November 29th was the second to be demolished in accordance with this ruling, following the razing of a memorial statue earlier this year. The remaining 15 structures are residential homes and must be demolished by March 2018, according to the court order.

Map by Haaretz

However, Haaretz reports that Israeli Attorney General Avichai Mandleblit will soon decide whether to save six of the remaining structures from complete demolition by issuing building permits for the sections of the homes that were built (without permits) on Israeli state land. The six structures – unlike the remaining nine – were built mostly on land that has not been proven to be privately owned by Palestinians (allowing Israel to seize it as “state land”). As FMEP reported last month, the Supreme Court has already dismissed a similar petition submitted by the settlers arguing for partial demolitions; the AG’s issuance of building permits would circumvent the court’s decision.

The Netiv Ha’avot settlers are also fighting to retroactively legalize the entire unauthorized Netiv Ha’avot outpost (not only the 17 structures that have been ordered to be demolished), which was built without permission from the Israeli government. In October, the High Planning Council advanced plans to build homes for Netiv Ha’avot residents in an alternate, ostensibly permitted, location; however, the plans specified a parcel of land that is also problematic under Israeli law because it is outside of the borders of any “legal” settlement. Indicative of how the settlement planning process often rewards illegal settlement activity with more settlement activity, the Council sought to address this challenge by ordering the borders of the nearby Alon Shvut settlement to be expanded to incorporate the land where the structures are planned to be built.

Interior Ministry Pushes Plan for a New Settlement City in West Bank “Seam-Line” Region

Map by WINEP

The Israeli Interior Ministry has reportedly recommended creating a new Israeli [settlement] city in the West Bank that unites four West Bank settlements – Etz Efraim, Sha’arei Tikva, Oranit and Elkana – allowing for increased construction on the land between them. The four settlements are all located in the “seam-line” zone, the area created by the weaving route of the Israeli separation barrier that was built to keep many settlements on the Israeli side of the barrier despite being east of the 1967 Green Line.

FMEP will report more details on this story as it develops.

Ir Amim & Bimkom Report – “Deliberately Planned: A Policy to Thwart Planning in the Palestinian Neighborhoods of Jerusalem”

A new report by Ir Amim and Bimkom shines a harsh spotlight on the discriminatory urban planning process in East Jerusalem, as well as the increasing rate of home demolitions that, coupled with settlement expansion, are undermining the future of the Palestinian community there. In three case studies, the report’s authors look at how Israel deliberately blocks applications for planning and building in Palestinian neighborhoods in East Jerusalem, making it impossible for Palestinians to build legally.

Ir Amim & Bimkom write

This discrimination in planning is the product of a policy driven by demographic considerations – in particular, the objective of increasing the Israeli population while reducing the Palestinian population, with the underlying goal of ensuring Jewish demographic superiority….

The outcome of this policy has a devastating impact at both the individual and community levels. Barriers to legal building push many Palestinians to build without permits. Each year, the Jerusalem Municipality (herein, Municipality) and the District Planning Bureau (formerly under the auspices of the Interior Ministry and now the Finance Ministry), demolish dozens of housing units constructed without permits in the Palestinian neighborhoods of East Jerusalem; in 2016 alone, the authorities demolished 123 housing units. The psychological and economic ramifications of this reality are profound. Moreover, inadequate planning prevents the construction of schools and the development of public spaces and employment and commercial zones, thereby weakening the community as a whole.

This treatment is clearly discriminatory, particularly when contrasted with the fact that the Israeli government continues to approve and fast-track approvals both for settlement planning in construction in major settlement neighborhoods of East Jerusalem and in settlement enclaves located in the heart of Palestinian neighborhoods. For details see this recent report from Peace Now.

UPDATES: Bedouin Communities Fight Eviction; Jerusalem “Supermajority” Bill Advances

Over 100 Palestinians joined residents of Jabal al-Baba to protest the Bedouin community’s imminent eviction from the E-1 settlement area just east of Jerusalem. The Jabal al-Baba community, which has lived in the area since it was expelled from the Negev in 1948, was given an eviction notice earlier this month demanding that it leave the area and stating that all structures there will be demolished. Jabal al-Baba is one of the many Bedouin communities located near Israeli settlements in Area C that are facing the imminent threat of eviction; the Khan al-Ahmar community (also located in the Maale Adumim/E-1 area) and two Jordan Valley bedouin villages have also been ordered to leave their land. The European Union has called on Israel to halt the planned demolitions. The EU statement also highlighted the impending demolition of Susiya, a Palestinian city in the South Hebron Hills. Both Susiya and Khan al-Ahmar were the subject of concern of a recent letter to Prime Minister Netanyahu, signed by 10 U.S. Senators, demanding the demolitions be canceled and articulating serious concerns about the settlement enterprise, saying, “these communities are currently facing the imminent threat of evacuations and demolitions, and have been targeted by settlement movement activists seeking to entrench the Israeli occupation and prevent the ultimate creation of an independent Palestinian state.”
The Knesset’s Constitution, Law & Justice Committee voted to advance a bill that, if passed into law, will require a supermajority of votes in the Knesset to approve any deal that transfers sovereignty of any part of Jerusalem to a foreign power. This law would in effect give a minority in the Knesset veto power over any future peace deal with the Palestinians. The bill is now set for two final votes in the Knesset before becoming law. Ir Amim provides valuable analysis of the bill, and points out that the language is careful to differentiate between territorial concessions and municipal changes, a distinction that is apparently intended to support other pending legislation that would bureaucratically excise some Palestinian neighborhoods from Jerusalem – a move that the Knesset is also considering in order to manufacture and preserve a Jewish majority in the city.

Bonus Reads

“UN Settlement Business Data Can Stem Abuse” (Human Rights Watch)
“Border Homes, in Jerusalem but Not, Face an Existential Deadline” (New York Times)
“Why Won’t Israel Let Me Mourn My Father?” (New York Times)
“US Ambassador David Friedman Drops Out of West Bank Memorial Ceremony for Murdered US Citizen” (Jerusalem Post)

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

To receive this report via email, please click here.

November 22, 2017

Israeli AG Support for Land-Grab Paves Way for Legalization of [at least] 13 Outposts
Israeli AG Approves Retroactive Legalization of “Mistaken” Land Theft
Israeli AG to Present Argument on the “Regulation Law” This Week
Threatened Eviction of Another Palestinian Bedouin Community in E-1
Israel Fast-Tracks Jerusalem Cable Car Project Despite Political Concerns
Settlers Fight for the “Right of Return” to Illegal, Inaccessible West Bank Settlements
Bonus Reads

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

Israeli AG Support for Land-Grab Paves Way for Legalization of [at least] 13 Outposts

Map by Haaretz

The far-reaching implications of the legal opinion issued last week by Israeli Attorney General Avichai Mandleblit, in the context of a case dealing with the Harsha outpost, are becoming alarmingly clear. Haaretz reports that the opinion will pave the way for Israel to retroactively legalize 13 unauthorized outposts, many of which are deep inside of the West Bank. The 13 outposts (and many others) were all built without Israel’s permission on pockets of state land, surrounded by privately owned Palestinian land. Roads leading to these outpost – without which the outposts cannot be fully planned and legalized – were (or will be), by necessity, built on land owned by Palestinians. This opinion paves the way (pun intended) for that to happen.

Dror Etkes, founder of the anti-settlement group Kerem Navot, notes that the impact of the decision is actually far greater than reported by Haaretz: “The real number of [affected] outposts is over 60.” Etkes adds,

The story [is] that the settlers are striving to resolve, with Mandleblit’s help, involves hundreds (yes hundreds!) of roads that have been illegally paved for decades around settlements and outposts, on land that even Israel recognizes as privately-owned. Now, with a little creativity and a lot of nerve, a legal mechanism has been invented to enable settlers to retroactively authorize the road system, without which the national land grab enterprise championed by Israel in the West Bank, can’t function.

Notably, several outposts that spun off from the Itamar settlement are among those that could benefit from this new legal precedent. Near Nablus, Itamar’s hilltop outposts form a contiguous land bridge – with roads connecting them – from Itamar to the Jordan Valley. Itamar’s residents are notorious for their ultra-nationalism.

Israeli AG Approves Retroactive Legalization of “Mistaken” Land Theft

Attorney General Mandleblit has endorsed an argument, made for the first time since 1967, in a legal brief submitted this week in Court by the Israeli government, that paves the way for Israel to expropriate privately owned Palestinian land inside the Ofra settlement, and potentially in other places as well. The land in question was “mistakenly” included as part of the settlement. The State filed the brief this week in response to a legal challenge to the Ofra settlement’s Master Plan.

Map by Haaretz using Google Maps

The case centers on a “mistake” which happened when the Ofra settlement master plan was approved; Israel argues that at the time it did not know that some of the land in the area had not been declared “state land” (suggesting, at best, extraordinarily faulty due diligence in the planning process, and at worst, a policy of treating Palestinian land ownership claims as irrelevant). In 2016, the State acknowledged Palestinian claims to the land and announced its intention to rectify the problem by re-drawing the settlement’s master plan.

With this new argument, the State, backed by the Attorney General, has reversed the 2016 commitment and is instead moving to formally expropriate the Palestinian plots, arguing that the Ofra settlers acted in good faith based on the government’s approval of the Master Plan (i.e. that settlers should not be punished for the State’s mistake). Earlier this year, AG Mandleblit suggested this exact argument (that land stolen by mistake, in good faith, could be legalized as long as the Palestinian owners were compensated) as an alternative law for the Knesset to pass instead of the Regulation Law, which he opposed.

Commenting on the AG’s opinion, Tawfiq Jabareen, the lawyer representing the Palestinian petitioners, told Haaretz:

Attorney General Mandelblit is continuing to destroy the status of the rule of law and severely undermine Palestinian property rights in the occupied territories.

Israeli AG to Present Argument on the “Regulation Law” This Week

On Nov. 23rd, Attorney General Avichai Mandleblit is expected to present his argument on the “Regulation Law” to the Supreme Court. As we reported previously, Mandleblit was staunchly opposed to the Regulation Law, arguing that the law is unconstitutional and refusing to defend the law against legal challenges mounted by several civil society groups earlier this year. At the time the law was being considered, Mandleblit proposed an alternative legal strategy to accomplish the same goal: the retroactive legalization of Israeli settlement activity in the West Bank.

Map by Peace Now

Mandleblit has been expected to argue forcefully against the law, which provides a new legal basis for the retroactive legalization of outposts and agricultural land seizures, with Palestinian owners provided “compensation” (but no choice in the matter). Following the opinion Mandleblit issued last week regarding the Harsha outpost case (implications of which we detail above), and given his recent support for the retroactive legalization of land theft for the benefit of the Ofra settlement (detailed above), it is quite possible that his opposition to the retroactive legalization of land seizures has softened.

If upheld, the Regulation Law can be used to retroactively legalize 55 outposts and 4,000 unauthorized settlement structures by expropriating over 8,000 dunks of privately owned Palestinian land.

Threatened Eviction of Another Palestinian Bedouin Community

The wave of IDF-ordered evictions continued this week, with the Jabal al-Baba bedouin community only the latest to be affected. The approximately 300 residents were ordered to leave their encampment near the Maale Adumim/E-1 settlement area east of Jerusalem within 8 days. The Jabal al-Baba community has been living in the area since 1948, after it was expelled from the Negev.

The Jabal al-Baba community is the second bedouin community in the Maale Adumim/E-1 area to be faced with eviction this year. In August, Israel escalated its longstanding threat to forcibly relocate the Khan al-Ahmar bedouin community to a site near the Abu Dis garbage dump – a move that B’Tselem warns will constitute a war crime. FMEP has covered the story in detail, including as it relates to the prospects for the construction of the doomsday E-1 settlement.

Israeli actions to remove Palestinian bedouin communities from Area C are not confined to the Jerusalem area. On November 1st, the Israeli army ordered the eviction of an entire bedouin community in the northern Jordan Valley.

Israel Fast-Tracks Jerusalem Cable Car Project Despite Political Concerns

Haaretz reports that Israeli planning authorities are moving ahead with plans to build a controversial cable car line in East Jerusalem, despite growing opposition. As FMEP reported in July, the planned cable car line is designed to facilitate tourism to Jewish sites in East Jerusalem while preventing tourists from encountering Palestinians. It features a stop at the settler-run Kedem Center, which was built in the Palestinian East Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan.

Jerusalem expert Daniel Seidemann explained

There are four worrisome aspects to this project. Without reference to political matters or religious sensitivities, this is a crime against Jerusalem. Disrespect for the unique value of the city and another example of the ‘disneyfication’ of Jerusalem under [Mayor Nir] Barkat. Someone who loves Jerusalem could not conceive of such a project. [The idea that] someone can send a cable car 150 meters away from the Al Aqsa Mosque is smoking the wrong thing….[the project] is another example of how the public interest and the interests of Jerusalemites are being subverted for the good of the settlers of Silwan, with the final station shamelessly at the Kedem Center, serving the narrow ideological interests of the settlers….[the project is] a clumsy attempt to unify the divided city by means of engineering gimmicks.

Settlers Fight for the “Right of Return” to Illegal, Inaccessible West Bank Settlements

Israeli settlers are angling to return to four settlements – Ganim, Kadim, Sa-Nur and Homesh – that were dismantled in 2005, as part of Ariel Sharon’s disengagement plan. Settlers have long insisted they will “return” to the sites.

In this latest effort, they are focusing on the argument that the land has not been used since they abandoned it. Falling in Area C, and therefore under the full authority of Israel’s Civil Administration, the former settlements remain vacant despite Palestinian desire to develop it. The Jenin Municipality, which has nominal jurisdiction over the location, reportedly wants to develop the areas but has not yet applied for the necessary Israeli permits; applying to do so, in any case, would almost certainly be futile, given that Israel issues virtually no permits for Palestinian construction in Area C. In the meantime, the sites have become a garbage dumpsites.

Two or the sites – Ganim and Kadim – can only be accessed by driving through the Palestinian city of Jenin, raising security issues that make their redevelopment into settlements a remote possibility. Sa-Nur and Homesh, in contrast, are easily accessible by settlers. Earlier this year settlers and supporters, including right-wing Israeli lawmakers, gathered at the site of Sa-Nur demanding that the government let them return. At the site of Homesh, radical settler youth are already squatting, have established a yeshiva (religious school) and actively prevent Palestinian access.

Bonus Reads

“How Israeli settlers turn archeological sites into political tools” (Al-Monitor)
“Ombudsman: Settlement council doctored tenders to reward right-wing NGOs” (Times of Israel)

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

To subscribe to this report, please click here.

November 17, 2017

Building Permits Issued for 240 More Settlement Units in East Jerusalem
Israel to Displace Palestinians in the Jordan Valley & the Northern West Bank for Settlement Expansion
Supreme Court & Attorney General Permit State to Seize Private Palestinian Land for Settlers
New Ir Amim Policy Paper: “Bills and Government Plans for Destructive Unilateral Measures to Redraw the Borders of Jerusalem”
New Peace Now Report: “Escalation in Israel’s Settlement Policy: The Creation of De-Facto Annexation”
Bonus Reads

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

Building Permits Issued for 240 More Settlement Units in East Jerusalem

On November 8th, the Jerusalem Planning and Building Committee issued building permits for 240 new settlement units in East Jerusalem – 90 units in Gilo and 150 units in Ramat Shlomo. The new building permits add to an ever-growing tidal wave of settlement activity in East Jerusalem affecting the viability of the two-state solution, while tightening the screws on the local Palestinian population.

In addition, the committee also approved permits for 44 new units for Palestinians in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Beit Hanina. These permits are an anomaly: for the past 50 years Israel has systematically discriminated against Palestinian building rights, with only about 7% of building permits issued in Jerusalem going to Palestinians (who represent 37% of the population). Bimkom, an Israeli organization that monitors planning and building in Jerusalem, estimates that 20,000 units in East Jerusalem lack permits while an additional 10,000 more units are needed by Palestinians.

Jerusalem expert Danny Seidemann recently explained

Since 1967, the Government of Israel has directly engaged in the construction of 55,000 units for Israelis in East Jerusalem; in contrast, fewer than 600 units have been built for Palestinians in East Jerusalem, the last of which were built 40 years ago. So much for (Jerusalem Mayor Nir) Barkat’s claim ‘we build for everyone.’

In Beit Hanina, as in Palestinian neighborhoods across East Jerusalem, Israeli demolitions of buildings – based on the argument that they lack permits – only add to the misery. The most recent demolition in Beit Hanina happened last month.

Israel to Displace Palestinians in the Jordan Valley & the Northern West Bank for Settlement Expansion

For the first time, the Israeli army appears to be preparing to evict Palestinians from their land through the use of a 2003 military order meant to handle the evacuation of unauthorized Israeli outposts. Palestinians living in the northern Jordan Valley discovered the eviction order affecting around 136 acres of their land – which sits near several Israeli settlements.

A lawyer representing the Palestinians in this case submitted a petition to the Israeli Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) to stop the implementation of the order. The lawyer, Tawfiq Jabareen, argues, “This is a mass expulsion order against the Palestinian population that violates international law.”

The Haaretz Editorial Board powerfully rebutted the Israeli army’s argument that the order does not, in fact, actually call for the evacuation of the Palestinians, but will only demolish structures built without Israeli permission. The Editorial Board writes,

Whatever legal proceeding ensues, the fact is that this declaration is an escalation of the pressure on the local Palestinians and part of the declared Israeli intent to evict as many Palestinians as possible from Area C, which is under total Israeli control, including from the Jordan Valley.

It’s no coincidence that near Ein al-Hilweh [one of the targeted areas] are two expanding unauthorized Jewish settlement outposts whose residents periodically threaten the shepherds and try to scare them away from grazing lands in the area. This trend can and must be stopped, because it’s illegal, unjustified and dangerous.

Map by B’Tselem

Israel is also moving to seize land near the city of Shufah in the West Bank, southeast of the Palestinian city of Tulkarem. Palestinian news sources report that the IDF notified residents that Israeli intends to take the land in order to build roads and recreational facilities for a nearby settlement, Avnei Hefetz. Earlier this year, Israel seized land from the Shufah village in order to build a power plant and industrial area for the settlement. In October 2017, the Israeli government advanced plans for 135 new units in the Avnei Hefetz settlement.

Supreme Court & Attorney General Permit State to Seize Private Palestinian Land for Settlers

Israeli Attorney General Avichai Mandleblit released a legal opinion this week asserting Israel’s right to confiscate privately owned Palestinian land for the exclusive benefit of Israeli settlers in the West Bank.

This new opinion concurs with a Supreme Court ruling issued last month that held Israeli settlers are a part of the “local population” of the West Bank, and can be the beneficiaries of state land seizures for “public use.” It also builds on a precedent set earlier this year in the case of the Amona outpost, when the Court ruled that Israel has a duty to care for Israeli settlers forced out of their homes (because those homes were built illegally on privately-owned Palestinian land). The Court ruled that the state has the authority confiscate “abandoned” Palestinian land to do so (Palestinians are systematically denied the right to access lands that are near settlements, Israeli roads, military bases, firing zones, etc., rendering them “abandoned”).

Map by Peace Now

According to the original Amona ruling, the state’s obligation was to provide temporary housing for the affected settlers; according to the subsequent ruling, the state is obligated to care for the settlers by paving roads, without regard to privately owned Palestinian land that would need to be taken. That ruling upheld the state’s confiscation of privately owned Palestinian land in order to legalize an access road to the illegal outpost of Haresha.

Located near Ramallah, the Haresha outpost was established in 1995 without government approval. In January 2010, the State responded to a petition filed by Peace Now and Yesh Din by announcing its intention to retroactively legalize Haresha; less than a year later, in August 2011, Israel seized the land the outpost was built on by declaring it as “state land.” Haresha was approved to become an official settlement in 2015 (Netanyahu legalized 24 other outposts at the same time), but the outpost still needed to submit plans in order to legalize the individual structures. That a planning process has not yet happened – in part because, as Haaretz notes, there is no legal road leading to the outpost. With the access road moving towards legalization, the outpost is set to follow suit.

Speaking to the significance of the decision on the Haresha outpost access road, Israel Justice Minister Shaked said “The attorney general has issued a legal opinion permitting the expropriation of privately owned Palestinian land to permit an access road to [Haresha] that permits the regulation [legalization] of the entire [settlement].” The anti-settlement watchdog Peace Now is expected to appeal the decision upholding the theft of privately owned land for the legalization of the access road. Peace Now issued a statement saying,

Confiscating the land would constitute a severe violation of international humanitarian law and of the Palestinians’ right to own property. The Attorney General’s legal opinion regarding the access road might lead to additional confiscations of private Palestinian lands, strengthening Israel’s stronghold over Palestinian territory. The Attorney General seeks to allow the confiscation of lands owned by Palestinians, who have no voting rights in Israel for the benefit of Israeli settlers with full rights. If the Netanyahu government will continue down this path it will lead us towards a one state reality, based on discrimination and theft.

New Ir Amim Policy Paper: “Bills and Government Plans for Destructive Unilateral Measures to Redraw the Borders of Jerusalem”

The Israeli NGO Ir Amim this week released a new policy paper analyzing the devastating ramifications of Israeli efforts to gerrymander a Jewish-majority in Jerusalem. In addition to essential background on Jerusalem’s environs and analysis of the two pieces of pending Jerusalem-related legislation, Ir Amim provides new analysis of the humanitarian, political, and urban consequences that will follow if these measures are implemented.

Looking at the impacts of the Knesset bill intended to excise two Palestinian East Jerusalem neighborhoods from the Jerusalem municipality, creating new Israeli municipalities to govern them, Ir Amim writes:

The bills and plans currently in circulation seek to displace Palestinian residents living in Jerusalem from the city, and to artificially add to Jerusalem Israeli residents from outside of it. Beyond obvious political implications, these moves can be expected to have serious humanitarian ramifications….

Should practical steps be taken to cut off the neighborhoods beyond the Barrier or a sweeping revocation of their residents’ permanent residency status implemented, we can expect another wave of migration to the East Jerusalem neighborhoods within the Barrier, already strained by a serious lack of infrastructure, services, educational institutions and affordable housing. Living conditions and infrastructure in the East Jerusalem neighborhoods inside the Barrier will decline even further. In this scenario of increasing housing shortages and infrastructure collapse, an upsurge in the number of Palestinian residents who rent or buy apartments in Israeli neighborhoods/ settlements such as Pisgat Ze’ev, Armon Hanatziv and French Hill can be expected. These phenomena, which will occur under conditions of acute uncertainty and anxiety, can be expected to significantly elevate friction and the potential for eruptions of violence in the city. Many other thousands of Palestinians – currently residents of Jerusalem – will remain beyond the Separation Barrier, now administratively displaced from their city and transferred to contrived regional authorities, only exacerbating their distress. Even should they be completely separated from Jerusalem, Israel will not be able to escape accountability for the dire political, urban and humanitarian crisis – and the fertile ground for escalating hostility – it has created.

New Peace Now Report: “Escalation in Israel’s Settlement Policy: The Creation of De-Facto Annexation”

In a new report, Peace Now details the dangerous flood of settlement activity and the de-facto annexation of Area C in the West Bank that the Netanyahu government has pursued without restraint in 2017. The report covers:

A significant increase in the promotion of plans (6,742 units advanced) and issuance of tenders (3,154 tenders issued) for settlements across the West Bank. This includes the approval of the first new government-backed settlement in 25 years – Amichai.
The increase in road construction in the West Bank aiming to integrate the settlements into Israel proper, attract more construction and residents in the settlements, and create settler-only highways across the West Bank – all done by expropriating more Palestinian land.
A dangerous escalation of anti-Palestinian, pro-settlement activities in East Jerusalem including: the simultaneous settlement approvals and eviction of Palestinians from the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood, the imminent approval of tenders for the Atarot and Givat Hamatos settlements, the expansion of settlement enclaves inside of Palestinian East Jerusalem neighborhood of Jabal al-Mukaber, and the several legislative efforts to gerrymander the borders of the Jerusalem municipality to secure a Jewish majority in the city.

In conclusion, Peace Now writes

All of the abovementioned developments attest to a quantum leap in the promotion of annexation and the blocking of the possibility of a two-state solution. With the speed of developments all across the West Bank and East Jerusalem—and as red lines are being crossed—we are approaching the final stretch before a two-state solution will be almost impossible, and the anticipated situation will be the long years of bloody conflict of Israeli rule over the Palestinians without hope for change. Thus even with the lack of a final status agreement in sight, it is our duty today to prevent silent annexation efforts and to assure the possibility of a two state solution on the ground.

Bonus Reads

“World Zionist Organization Gave Private Palestinian Land to West Bank Settlers” (Haaretz+)
“In first, Israel Prize to be Given for Promoting Settlements” (Times of Israel)
“Palestinian Lawyer Attempted to Report Being Attacked by Settlers. Then He Was Detained Over Back Taxes” (Haaretz)
“Settler leader revels in Left’s embrace as proof of movement’s power” (Times of Israel)

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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 9, 2017

Netanyahu Writes $57 Million Check for West Bank Settlement Roads
Israel Moves to Expand Karnei Shomron Settlement
State-Funded NGO Moves to Legalize Outpost
Knesset Holds Special Hearing on Jerusalem Annexation and Gerrymandering Plans
Netanyahu Takes His Case for Settlements to London
Bonus Reads

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

Netanyahu Writes $57 Million Check for West Bank Settlement Roads

Two weeks into a hunger strike led by settlers demanding government funding for security and infrastructure projects, on November 6th Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu delivered a check for $57 million (USD) to fund the fortification of settler-only bypass roads in the West Bank. Peace Now has detailed reports on the five bypass roads, four of which service settlements deep inside the West Bank at the acute expense of Palestinians, that are part of Netanyahu’s promise to improve security infrastructure for the settlers over the next two years.

The payment is, in principle, advance installment on a $939 million budget Defense Minister Liberman has promised for settler security projects through 2019. Under escalating pressure from settlers who have lost family members in attacks, n Oct. 25th Netanyahu had promised that $228 million of the funds would be invested in 2018. Unsatisfied with that commitment, settlers launched a hunger strike – producing $57 million in immediate results.

Israel Moves to Expand Karnei Shomron Settlement

Israel has begun clearing nearly 2,200 landmines from West Bank land near the Karnei Shomron settlement in preparation for building 1,200 new units. Deputy Defense Minister Eli Ben-Dahan said that the new units will bring “a million Jews who will live in Judea and Samaria in the future.”

Map by B’Tselem

The Karnei Shomron settlement is located east of Qalqilya, a large Palestinian city that is literally surrounded on three sides by Israel’s separation barrier. A checkpoint restricting the town’s only outlet to the West Bank and the separation barrier cuts the village off from its historic agricultural lands. Earlier this year, settler leaders and the Knesset killed a plan promoted by PM Netanyahu and Defense Minister Liberman to permit the construction of 14,000 new homes in Qalqilya for Palestinians.

Israel has repeatedly confiscated land between Qalqilya and Karnei Shomron by declaring it as “state land.” In January 2016, Israel expropriated 104 dunams from Qalqilya in order to build a bypass road to Karnei Shomron. In November 2015 Israel seized 30 dunams of land near Karnei Shomron in order to retroactively legalize settlement structures built there previously. The 2015 declaration was the first time in over a year that Israel used the maneuver to expropriate land.

Landmines are buried across the West Bank, many being relics of pre-1967 conflicts. This mine-clearing effort, explicitly designed for the expansion of a settlement, is the first-ever governmental effort to address the issue since 1967. Indeed, mine-clearance experts note that “Clearance in the West Bank is largely constrained by political factors, including the lack of authorization granted by Israel for Palestine to conduct or oversee mine clearance operations.” They also note that the impact of these mines is substantial – specifically:

In addition to posing a risk to civilians, mines affect the socio-economic development of Palestinian communities. All mined areas are located in, or close to, populated areas, mostly on privately owned agricultural and grazing land or along roads used daily by communities; and are either poorly marked or not marked at all. Yet they are accessible to the population, and in some cases, are even under cultivation.

State-Funded NGO Moves to Legalize Outpost

The Israeli Education Ministry established and funds a non-governmental organization located in an unauthorized outpost known as ”Hill 387,” located near Maale Adumim. The ostensible purpose of this NGO, known as “Jewish Shepherd,” is to rehabilitate the so-called “Hilltop Youth” — extremists who themselves are responsible for erecting illegal outposts. This week, Haaretz reporting revealed that the state-funded group has launched a petition to have the Hill 387 outpost retroactively legalized, even as the constitutionality of such moves are being challenged in the Israeli High Court.

The Hill 387 outpost is currently facing demolition orders against its structures and access road – orders that the Civil Administration (the organization that is effectively the Israeli sovereign body in the West Bank) has not yet mplemented. The outposts’ structures were all built without permits, against Israeli law. Dror Etkes, founder of the anti-settlement monitor Kerem Navot, provided the Civil Administration with aerial photos showing that the access road leading to the outpost was built on land owned privately by Palestinians.

Knesset Holds Special Hearing on Jerusalem Annexation and Gerrymandering Plans

The three proposals to alter the borders of Jerusalem (details here) were the subject of a special Knesset hearing this week featuring Ze’ev Elkin, the Israeli Minister of Jerusalem Affairs. Elkin authored one of the bills under consideration (his version would require a supermajority in the Knesset to approve any deal that cedes land in Jerusalem to a foreign power – almost certainly blocking any future peace agreement).

During the hearing, Elkin backed a second Jerusalem bill that would, in effect, cut some Palestinian neighborhoods out of Jerusalem and place them under a new Israeli municipality, separated from the city by the Israeli barrier. This ethnic gerrymandering would decrease the Palestinian population of the city. Elkin argued these bills are the best way to handle the “demographic challenge” the Palestinian population poses to preserving a Jewish majority in Jerusalem.

Netanyahu Takes His Case for Settlements to London

During a week of anniversaries – the 100th anniversary of the Balfour Declaration and the 22nd anniversary of the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin – Netanyahu once again vowed to protect Israeli settlements from future evacuation or any other demands of a peace deal.

In his speech at the venerable Chatham House, while celebrating the Balfour Declaration in London, Netanyahu said that removing Israeli settlers from the West Bank would constitute “ethnic cleansing.” This is not the first time Netanyahu has employed this argument; writing a year ago, FMEP’s Lara Friedman took apart the “ethnic cleansing” argument here.

Netanyahu’s speech also challenged the conception of sovereignty, positing that Palestinians can only be given a state with something less than full sovereignty. He said, “it’s time we reassessed whether the modern model we have of sovereignty, and unfettered sovereignty, is applicable everywhere in the world.”

In an interview with the BBC, Netanyahu called settlements a “side issue” and dismissed the idea of a one-state solution. When asked if he supports full sovereignty for a Palestinian state, Netanyahu quipped vaguely, “I think they should have all the powers to govern themselves and none of the powers to threaten us.”

Bonus Reads

“Don’t Mess with Jerusalem” (Naomi Chazan, Times of Israel)
“Legalizing the Annexation of Jerusalem” (Al Jazeera)

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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 2, 2017

Netanyahu Delays Cabinet Vote on the “Greater Jerusalem [Annexation] Bill”
More Settlement Approvals in East Jerusalem: Ramat Shlomo & Ramot Plans to Advance
Settlers Continue Protests for Immediate “Security Package” Funding
Israel Appoints Settler Leader to Craft Legal Cases to Retroactively Authorize Outposts
Bonus Reads

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

Netanyahu Delays Cabinet Vote on the “Greater Jerusalem [Annexation] Bill”

At the last minute, Prime Minister Netanyahu postponed the Israeli Cabinet’s consideration of the highly controversial “Greater Jerusalem [Annexation] Bill,” scheduled to take place on Oct. 29th. In the words of the bill’s author, the purpose of the legislation is to guarantee a Jewish majority in Jerusalem by annexing over a dozen settlements into the Jerusalem Municipality. You can find a detailed explanation of the bill, including key resources from anti-settlement watchdogs, in last week’s Settlement Report.

Map by Peace Now

Despite sustained, strong international condemnation of the annexation bill, the Trump administration’s eleventh hour intervention is what convinced Netanyahu to delay the bill from advancing. Ynet News reports that Saudi Arabia’s prodding is what ultimately convinced the U.S. to intervene against the bill, rather than concerns of the U.S. itself (pro-settler media reports that the U.S. knew about the bill for months and never expressed criticism).

An unnamed U.S. official commented, “It’s fair to say that the U.S. is discouraging actions that it believes will unduly distract the principals from focusing on the advancement of peace negotiations. The Jerusalem expansion bill was considered by the administration to be one of those actions.”

Though tabled for the time being, the “Greater Jerusalem [Annexation] Bill” could resurface anytime. One of the bill’s authors, Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz, has already announced that he is redrafting the bill and expects the Knesset to pass during it during the current winter session. The new draft will not extend Israeli sovereignty to the prescribed settlements, but will still count the settlers as Jerusalem voters.

Map by Haaretz

The “Greater Jerusalem [Annexation] Bill” is not the only active Israeli effort to redraw the borders of Jerusalem in ways that seek to secure Jewish majority in the city. As we reported last week, a second bill that similarly aims to gerrymander a Jewish majority in Jerusalem is still in play. This bill will cut out some 100,000 Palestinians in East Jerusalem from the Jerusalem Municipality, creating a new Israeli regional council for them – and only them – instead. And a third bill, the so-called “Jerusalem Supermajority,” is also in play. This bill will required 80 out of 120 votes in the Knesset to approve any deal transferring parts of Jerusalem to a foreign entity.

Ir Amim writes,

These dangerous unilateral initiatives disregard the wishes and interests of the Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem, treating them as a pawn to be moved around at will. Such plans will bring neither peace nor stability to Jerusalem.

More Settlement Approvals in East Jerusalem: Ramat Shlomo & Ramot Plans to Advance

Another 700 highly controversial East Jerusalem settlement units are set to be promoted by the Jerusalem Planning and Building Committee this week. The plans are for 500 units in the Ramat Shlomo settlement and 200 units in the Ramot settlement. The Ramat Shlomo and Ramot announcements follow a month of alarming settlement advancements made by the High Planning Council and last week by the Jerusalem Planning Council, both of which include highly sensitive plans in East Jerusalem.

Map by Ir Amim

The plans for Ramat Shlomo and Ramat are particularly noteworthy, not just for their location in Palestinian East Jerusalem but also in light of very recent history. A vote on the plans was scheduled in December 2016 on the same day that U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in Israel to give a major speech on U.S. peace principles. Israel cancelled the vote in light of U.S. anger. In 2010, tenders were issued for units in Ramat Shlomo while Vice President Joe Biden was in Israel, leading the Vice President to issue sharp words against Israel while on the ground. Henceforth the plans for Ramat Shlomo that were advanced in 2010 have been dubbed “The Biden Plan.”

The promotion of these plans comes in the context of an opening of the settlement floodgates in Jerusalem, starting at the beginning of July. For details, see this comprehensive timeline of East Jerusalem settlement-related developments (July 1 – Oct 30), published by Jerusalem expert Danny Seidemann. Seidemann notes:

The intensity of the government initiatives in Jerusalem in the last four months is unprecedented, whether in regard to the scope and implications of the settlements announcements, to the nature of the legislative initiatives, or to the political assault against all those daring to challenge the occupation and the government narrative in Jerusalem.

Settlers Continue Protest for Immediate “Security Package” Funding

Settlers staged another protest in front of Netanyahu’s home to demand immediate funding for infrastructure projects across the West Bank. In early October, Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman promised a $939 million “settler security package” as part of the 2019 budget. A week later, Netanyahu promised that $228 million will be made available in January 2018 for settler infrastructure projects. Not trusting Netanyahu at his word, settlers insist that the money be allocated immediately.

Peace Now has detailed information and maps showing the 5 bypass roads that will be funded in 2018 as specified by Prime Minister Netanyahu in a letter to settler authorities. Peace Now points out the 4 out of 5 bypass roads serve settlements deep inside the West Bank, one near the Nablus and another near Hebron.

Peace Now writes,

The projects…have far-reaching implications in terms of reaching a two state solution as on the one hand expansion of settlements connected to the roads is expected to accelerate and on the other hand the possibility for Palestinian development will be limited or eliminated in those areas.

In addition to the bypass roads, the funds will also cover projects to install cell phone service towers, street lights, and to increase the number of armored buses services settlers across the West Bank.

Israel Appoints Settler Leader to Craft Legal Cases to Retroactively Authorize Outposts

A top settler advocate has been appointed to lead a new government committee that was formed in the wake of the Amona outpost evacuation in order to protect unauthorized Israeli outposts from similar actions. The appointee, Pinchas Wallerstein, has an extensive history representing settlements, and last year he admitted to lying to the Israeli government about the construction of the Amona outpost, which was later proven to have been knowingly built on privately owned Palestinian land.

In response to Wallerstein’s appointment, Dror Etkes – who heads the settlement watchdog Kerem Navot – commented:

In a normal, healthy society Mr Wallerstein, who is involved in countless number of criminal actions of land grab and dispossession, would likely be writing his memoir from jail right now; but in 2017…he is treated as a culture hero.

The work of the outpost defense committee is set to begin in the coming weeks, but the work should ostensibly be on hold under an injunction against the so-called “Regulation Law.” The law was passed by the Knesset earlier this year to provide a legal basis for the retroactive legalization of outposts constructed without Israeli authorization. The injunction was issued by Israeli Attorney General Avichai Mandleblit in August, to allow the High Court to hear arguments on two petitions that civil society groups launched to challenge the law’s constitutionality. In September, the Knesset asked the Court to reject the petitions; the Court has not rejected the petitions. Arguments were expected to be heard in October, but have not yet been scheduled.

Peace Now found that 55 outposts (out of approximately 100 across the West Bank) and 4,000 outpost units stand to be retroactively legalized if the Regulation Law survives the pending challenges (in addition to legalizing the unauthorized seizure of large areas of West Bank land being used for settler agriculture).

Bonus Reads

“Jewish Federations Donated Millions to Israeli Settlements Over Four Years” (Haaretz)
“Creeping Annexation” (J Street)
“FIFA will not take action on Israeli settlement teams” (Al Jazeera)
“Israel Denies Entry to Amnesty USA Staff Member” (Amnesty International)

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

To receive this report via email, please click here.

October 12, 2017

Bibi Approves Major Expansion of Settlements
DETAILS: Thousands of Settlement Units to Advance Next Week with Netanyahu’s Permission
U.S.: No Comment, No Change in Talking Points
Bonus Reads

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

Bibi Approves Major Expansion of Settlements

This week, the Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu announced imminent approval of major new settlement construction across the West Bank, including in some especially sensitive/controversial areas.

How major? There has been debate and disagreement in the Israeli press about the number and what they exactly mean. Haaretz reports that, while Netanyahu listed plans totalling 3,736 settlement units, only 600 of those units will actually be approved for immediate construction (the rest are part of plans that are in earlier stages of the approval process). However, the Times of Israel counts 1,941 units being advanced, of which 1,197 units will receive final approval. The Peace Now Settlement Watch Project counts 3,400 units up for advancement, and tenders (the final step before construction) expected for 296 units.

This debate over the numbers should not obfuscate the fact that Netanyahu is orchestrating an acceleration of settlement growth, the totality of which we will have definitive knowledge of only after the High Planning Council meets next week.

Please note, there is no benign stage in the settlement planning process. No matter the stages of the planning process involved, Netanyahu’s announcement this week represents a huge wave of forthcoming settlement construction.

As Terrestrial Jerusalem’s founder Daniel Seidemann wrote in 2015,

There is no such thing as a “window of opportunity” in stopping settlement planning/approvals. When the world objects to settlement approvals, the answer from Israeli officials, invariably, is either, “It’s too early, it’s just a plan – what are you objecting to?” or “It’s too late, this was approved long ago – why are you bothering us now?” In truth, settlement plans can be stopped at almost any point on the road to implementation, and the earlier a plan is stopped, the lower the political costs.

With that in mind, we cover the plans expected to be advanced in detail below.

DETAILS: Thousands of Settlement Units to Advance Next Week with Netanyahu’s Permission

Prime Minister Netanyahu has publicly announced his permission for the High Planning Council to advance 3,736 of settlement units during the Council’s meeting next week (Oct. 17-18). If all of the reported plans are approved, the total number of settlement units promoted so far in 2017 will reach 6,500 by the end of the month, a significant increase compared to 2,629 for all of 2016, and 1,982 for all of 2015, according to Peace Now data. One Israeli official has promised the settlement numbers will reach 12,000 by the year’s end, bragging that the amount is four times the total promoted in 2016.

Graphic by Haaretz

Of the thousands of units slated for advancement, several plans are at the final stage of planning and will likely receive the green light to start construction. These plans fulfill specific promises to settlers Netanyahu has made over the years (and address some of his most acute domestic political pressure points). The following plans – all of which are in settlements located deep inside the West Bank and beyond the separation barrier – are expected to receive building permits, as reported by Haaretz:

31 units for the settlement enclave on Shuhada Street, in the heart of downtown Hebron. This is the first plan for new settlement units in downtown Hebron in the last 12 years; the Hebron Municipality is expected to mount a legal challenge against the plan’s implementation. Peace Now explains, “alongside additional developments in Hebron, including the creation of an independent administration and the entry to the Abu Rajab House, this can be seen as another effort by the government to strengthen the radical settlement in the heart of Hebron.”
296 units in the Beit El settlement, which are part of Netanyahu’s promise to compensate for the settlers evacuated from the Ulpana outpost in 2012.
86 units in the Kochav Yaakov settlement which are part of Netanyahu’s promise to compensate for the settlers evacuated from the Migron outpost also in 2012. The evacuation of the Migron outpost has lead to the construction of not one but two new settlements as compensation.
146 units in the Nokdim settlement, where Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman lives.
9 units in the Psagot settlement.

The Times of Israel reports additional units expected receive final approval:

459 units in Ma’ale Adumim.
102 units in the new settlement of Amichai, which was approved earlier this year as payoff for settlers evacuated from the unauthorized outpost of Amona. Haaretz suggests that construction of these units will remain stalled as the State responds to a petition filed against the Amichai settlement by the Israeli NGO Yesh Din, arguing that the settlement’s borders annex land that is privately owned by Palestinians. As reported in detail in past editions of the FMEP Settlement Report, Amichai is the first new settlement to receive government authorization in the past 25 years. It is to be located deep inside the Shilo Valley in an area that cannot, under any conceivable two state arrangement, be included inside the borders of an Israeli state in a way that preserves the territorial contiguity of a Palestinian state.

The High Planning Council will also consider depositing for public review (a last step before final approval) plans for 30 units in the Elon Shvut settlement that will expand the settlement borders to build the homes in order to compensate residents in the unauthorized outpost of Netiv Ha’avot, an outpost where the government is appealing to the High Court to save settlement homes that were partially constructed on land that is proven to be privately owned by Palestinians. The Court has ordered that the outpost be razed by March 2018.

To see all of the plans expected to be addressed next week, see Peace Now’s data table (link near the middle of this page). Peace Now issued an accompanying statement saying,

The government has gone wild with settlement plans deep in the West Bank for thousands of new settlers, whom Israel will have to evacuate in a two state solution agreement. Faced with the growing pressures and investigations, Netanyahu goes out of his way to prove how radical he is, without considering the consequences of massive settlement expansion on the future of the two state solution. The plans for Hebron and Nativ Ha’avot are particularly enraging, as they indicate to settlers that the rule of law does not apply to them and illustrate the government’s deteriorating legal standards when it comes to settlement expansion.

U.S.: No Comment, No Change in Talking Points

The Trump Administration has issued no statement regarding Netanyahu’s brazen settlement advancements. Instead, unnamed White House officials repeated the same talking points that have defined the Trump Administration’s settlement stance, saying,

President Trump has publicly and privately expressed his concerns regarding settlements, and the administration has made clear that unrestrained settlement activity does not advance the prospect for peace. At the same time, the administration recognizes that past demands for a settlement freeze have not helped advance peace talks.

Hagit Ofran, Director of Peace Now’s Settlement Watch Program, told the Washington Post, “This year is looking to maybe even be a record year… It’s without a doubt due to the fact that there have been changes in the White House.”

Bonus Reads

“By Backing ‘Greater Jerusalem’ Bill, is PM leaning towards annexing settlements?” (Times of Israel)
“The Transformation of Jerusalem” (Arab American Institute)
“The Bedouin village where compassion ends” (+972 Magazine)