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

July 24, 2020

1. Annexation Watch: Gantz Pushes for Status Quo, Bibi Hints at New Elections
2. 2020 is on Track to Be Record Year for East Jerusalem Settlement Growth
3. A Bump in the Road for Plans to for Settler Yeshiva in Sheikh Jarrah
4. IDF Demolishes Outpost (After it was Relocated Near to Israeli Army Base)
5. Israel Starts Construction to Expand the Ibei Hanachal Outpost
6. Israeli Plans for Wadi Al-Joz in East Jerusalem, Including the “Silicon Wadi” Project, Expected to Advance
7. Israel “Recovers” Religious Relic from Palestinian Village
8. Greenblatt: Trump Plan has 60-80 Pages of Conditions on/for a Future Palestinian “State”
9. Bonus Reads

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

---

Annexation Watch: Gantz Pushes for Status Quo, Bibi Hints at New Elections

Three weeks after July 1 – the date when it officially became open season for Israel to annex West Bank land – there has still been no movement toward a formal act of annexation by the Israeli government (though de facto annexation continues unabated). This week, two reports further churned up the “will it happen/won’t it happen” speculation machine.

First, a July 19th report suggests that Benny Gantz, Israel’s Alternate Prime Minister and Defense Minister, is pushing Netanyahu to delay annexation plans in order to focus all of the government’s efforts on combating the resurgence of the coronavirus across the country. The report further suggests Gantz is appealing for the government to focus on expanding existing settlements and building infrastructure that serves settlers (and theoretically Palestinians as well, though such projects serve to entrench the presence of settlers) — in effect, setting aside de jure annexation to pursue de facto annexation more energetically.

Second, reports on July 22nd circulated the rumor that Netanyahu intends to go to elections in November – a move which would collapse any cooperation with Gantz and potentially could hinder Netanyahu’s ability to advance annexation. On the other hand, such a move could also free Netanyahu from the constraints of the unity deal, as well as from the U.S. (alleged) condition that Gantz must consent to Netanyahu’s annexation plan before receiving a U.S. greenlight. Netanyahu denied this report later in the week.

2020 is on Track to Be Record Year for East Jerusalem Settlement Growth

Ir Amim published a review and analysis of official settlement data from the first six months of 2020, showing that a total of 3,514 settlement units were advanced for settlements in East Jerusalem. If this pace continues, Ir Amim reports that 2020 will set a new record for East Jerusalem settlement activity (the current record is held by 2012, the year Palestine was recognized as a non-member state by the United Nations General Assembly and Israel retaliated by accelerating its de facto annexation of Palestinian land via settlement growth, including in East Jerusalem).

Notably, the plans advanced so far this year include many of the most controversial settlements on the drawing board – like Givat Hamatos, E-1, and new enclaves within Palestinian East Jerusalem neighborhoods like Beit Hanina. 

In Amim writes:

“The scope and significance of the plans that were advanced in the last six months shows Israel’s determination to consolidate its control – both in terms of demography and territory – over the whole of East Jerusalem and further into Greater Jerusalem. This is seen especially as settlement construction increases in the areas connecting East Jerusalem and Greater Jerusalem (ex: Har Homa E and Givat Hamatos) and the creation of massive facts on the ground such as in the case of the E-1 plans. Thus, Israel is laying the groundwork for the official annexation of Greater Jerusalem. In parallel, these facts on the ground serve to entrench the detachment of East Jerusalem from the West Bank and further fracture the Palestinian space in and around Jerusalem. Combined, these steps threaten to deal a death blow to Palestinian aspirations in Jerusalem, the possibility for two capitals in the city, and a two-state solution…[the number of settlement advancements] signal a leap in settlement advancement in East Jerusalem, both in terms of quantity of housing units as well as in the advancement of new settlements in the most sensitive areas where, for years, Israel had to refrain from doing so due to international pressure.”

See the paper for  details on the plans advanced so far in 2020. The paper concludes with this brief recap of 2020 settlement activity:

• A tender for construction of 1,077 housing units in the new settlement Givat Hamatos was published.
• Master plans for adding 6,100 housing units in new settlements of Har Homa E and Givat Hamatos. For 500 of these housing units, a detailed outline plan was also advanced at the District Committee.
• Two detailed outline plans with a total of 144 housing units in two settlement compounds in the Palestinian neighborhood Beit Hanina were approved for deposit as well as a dormitory for dozens of Yeshiva students in Sheikh Jarrah.
• Nine detailed outline plans were advanced with a total of 2,870 housing units inside the built-up area of East Jerusalem settlements.

A Bump in the Road for Plans to for Settler Yeshiva in Sheikh Jarrah

Ir Amim reports that on July 21st, the Jerusalem District Planning Committee unexpectedly delayed making a final decision on settler plans for a new Jewish religious school (yeshiva) and dormitory – named the Glassman Campus project – at the entrance of the Palestinian neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah, located in East Jerusalem. The Committee was expected to make a final decision on the plan at this meeting, but instead ordered a new report assessing the needs of the neighborhood, to be prepared within 60 days. The Court’s order comes after groups, including Ir Amim, submitted objections to the plan that detaied the classroom shortage in Palestinian neighborhoods, due in part to the lack of available land to build on.

The plan to build the yeshiva and dormitory (which would house dozens of young religious settlers), as well as another project for a 6-story building in the same area, aim to strengthen Israeli settlers’ hold on the neighborhood. Once built, settlements will literally flank both sides of the road leading into Sheikh Jarrah, advancing the settlers’ goal of cementing the presence of the settlement enclaves inside of Sheikh Jarrah by connecting them more seamlessly to the neighborhood’s periphery and to West Jerusalem.

Ir Amim writes:

“This unexpected decision is of great importance. It creates a significant obstacle to the approval of the Yeshiva plan and requires the Municipality to describe in detail the needs of the Palestinian neighborhood. Also, the decision is a clear expression of the fact that settlements in East Jerusalem come directly at the expense of the basic needs of Palestinians in the city.”

Located just north of Jerusalem’s Old City, Sheikh Jarrah has endured years of aggressive settlement activity by radical settlers via various means, including using Israel’s court system to strip Palestinians of their ownership rights. Sheikh Jarrah’s plight was featured in a 2013 film by Just Vision, “My Neighborhood.” Just Vision also produced “Home Front,” a series of video interviews with the Palestinian residents and Israeli activists fighting together against settlement expansion in Sheikh Jarrah. For more on Sheikh Jarrah and the protest it sparked, 972+ Magazine has a compilation of resources online here.

IDF Demolishes Outpost (After it was Relocated Near to Israeli Army Base)

Following media reports about the IDF’s complicity in establishing an illegal outpost on privately owned Palestinian land near Nablus (FMEP reported on this last week),  on July 19th the settlers relocated their outpost to an area declared by Israel to be “state land” next to an Israeli army base. While Israeli security forces had spent weeks tolerating and even assisting in the establishment of the new outpost when it was located on Palestinian land, after it was moved to the new site near the IDF base , the IDF moved to promptly demolish it on July 21st.

The settler who is behind this new outpost, Yedidya Meshulami, is well known for his eccentric, illegal, and dangerous (and, if committed by a Palestinian, undoubtedly arrest-worthy) acts. In 2019, Meshulami nearly flew his helicopter into an IDF transport plane conducting a training exercise in the Jordan Valley (he was charged with several crimes involved with illegally flying his helicopter and endangering lives in West Bank airspace, which is controlled by the Israeli military). A former IDF reserve pilot, in March 2018 Meshulami attempted to take control of the Qalandiya checkpoint in Ramallah by landing his helicopter nearby, declaring “I don’t care what they do to me, I’ll take it [the checkpoint] over.” Following his arrest and release to house arrest, the IDF confiscated two helicopters and an ultralight plane from Meshulami’s personal airstrip, which he built illegally in an outpost near the Itamar settlement, south of Nablus.

Meshulami lives in an unauthorized outpost called “Alumot” near the settlement of Itamar, south of Nablus. Meshulami helped establish the outpost in 1996 after serving in the Israeli Air Force and, despite lacking permits, he personally built an airstrip in the outpost in 2013. According to reports this week, Israeli security forces had previously revoked Meshulami’s pilot license for flying over the West Bank without a permit.

Israel Starts Construction to Expand the Ibei Hanachal Outpost 

Middle East Eye reports that Israel – in the midst of fighting a surge of coronavirus cases, deciding on annexation, and possibly heading to elections again this fall – has begun clearing land for the expansion of the Ibei Hanachal outpost, located between Hebron and Bethlehem in the southern West Bank. Palestinian leaders from the village of Kasin, to which the land the outpost is built on historically belonged, told reporters that settlers have already moved caravans into the newly razed land and that new electricity poles have been recently installed. 

Ibei Hanachal was established illegally by settlers in 1999, but was granted retroactive approval as a neighborhood of the Ma’ale Amos settlement by the Israeli government in August 2019. Declaring illegal outposts to be neighborhoods of settlements – even outposts that are not contiguous with the built up area of the settlement, as is the case with Ibei Hanachal – is one of the legal mechanisms that Israel has found to retroactively “legalize” illegal outposts – that in effect creates new settlements.

Israeli Plans for Wadi Al-Joz in East Jerusalem, Including the “Silicon Wadi” Project, Expected to Advance

In a new paper, Bimkom provides details on the status of two major projects Israel is advancing for the Wadi Al-Joz neighborhood of East Jerusalem.. 

The “Silicon Wadi” project – which made it into Israeli headlines a few weeks ago – is at a “conceptual phase” at this point, with little official data available. But it is known that the plan is being advanced as a Master Plan, a planning avenue that does not permit the public to offer objections. Master Plans also do not require the government to specify an exact number of units to be built, leaving open the possibility of further construction. This project is located in the northern section of Wadi al-Joz.

The second project being advanced in Wadi al-Joz is referred to as the “Eastern Business District,” to be located near the Old City walls. This project is in a much more advanced stage of the planning process, and Bimkom expects it to be deposited for public review in the near future. This project is in the heart of the Palestinian city center, and calls for awarding 80% of all planning rights in the area for commercial, tourism, and business development. The plan also grants legalization to unauthorized structures in the area, but does not allow for further residential development. On this, Bimkom explains:

“This ratio of mixed use is problematic because it does not address the housing crisis in Palestinian East Jerusalem, and moreover, it does not address the basic interest of citycenter planning: the creation of a balanced mixed-use environment, in which housing development is generally considered as an important stimulus for development. In other parts of the Jerusalem today, along the route of the light rail, a 50-50 ratio is the accepted policy.”

Explaining the significance of the two plans in context of Israel’s settlement activities across the city, Bimkom writes:

“The abovementioned plans, alongside other large scale plans currently under consideration for East Jerusalem (such as the plan for development alongside the American Road, see here), demonstrate the current Israeli Planning Policy in East Jerusalem: public uses are being addressed — and huge areas are being allotted for commerce and business — while residential needs are being left unanswered (if they are addressed they are generally unimplementable).”

Israel “Recovers” Religious Relic from Palestinian Village

In a covert pre-dawn operation on July 20th, the Israeli Civil Administration entered the Palestinian village of Tuqu’ and took a Byzantine-era baptismal font. The font was allegedly stolen by antiquity thieves in the year 2000 from an archeological site next to the Tekoa settlement (which was built on lands historically a part of Tuqu’), and retrieved in 2002 by Palestinian residents of Tuqu’. The font has been on open display next to the village Mayor’s home for the past 18 years, with Israel taking no interest in the matter until now.

Emek Shaveh explains important context of the Civil Administration’s sudden interest in the font:

“This operation follows on the heels of increased complaints by the settlers that the Civil Administration is not doing enough to prevent what they claim is systematic and ideologically driven antiquities theft. The settlers have been claiming that traces of a Jewish past in the area are being destroyed and that all antiquities sites should be placed under Israeli control. Emek Shaveh and the Mayor of Tuqu’ have written to the Civil Administration with a demand to return the antiquity to the village and its residents. The Civil Administration is responsible for the protecting the interests and welfare of the Palestinian residents of the West Bank and is not meant to act as an agent on behalf of the settlers who believe they should be the sole custodians of the areas’ antiquities.”

Adding to settler efforts described by Emek Shaveh, a  new settler group calling itself “Shomrim Al Hanetzach” (“Guarding Eternity”) recently began surveying areas in the West Bank that Israel has designated as archeaological sites in order to call in Israeli authorities to demolish Palestinian construction in these areas. The new group communicates its findings to the Archaeology Unit in the Israeli Civil Administration (the military body by which the government of Israel regulates all planning and building in the West Bank). The Archaeology Unit, playing its part, then delivers eviction and demolition orders against Palestinians, claiming that the structures damage antiquities in the area. As a reminder, in 2017, Israel declared 1,000 new archaeological sites in Area C of the West Bank. The new group is, not coincidentally, an offshoot of the radical Regavim organization, which among other things works to push Israeli authorities to demolish Palestinian construction that lacks Israeli permits (permits that Israel virtually never grants). 

The new group has also raised public alarm about the Trump Plan, alleging that hundreds of biblical sites in the West Bank are slated to become Palestinian territory. The group’s leaders accuse the Palestinian Authority of mismanaging the sites and they accuse Palestinians of looting them. The group is demanding that Israel annex all the sites.

In response to the theft of the font from Tuqu’, PLO Spokeswoman Hanan Ashrawi released a statement saying:

“A hallmark of Israel’s system of colonial occupation and oppression has been its disdainful attempts to erase Palestinian presence, culture and heritage, including the illegal appropriation and theft of heritage sites and artifacts. This systemic policy of plunder is a war crime that must not go unpunished. In the past weeks, Israel has taken other illegal steps targeting Palestinian heritage sites, including sealing off the entrance of Jabal Al-Fureidis (or so-called Herodium) in the Bethlehem District to restrict the access of Palestinians to the site, which Israel has illegally appropriated as an “Israeli National Park”. Israel has also repeatedly targeted other historical and archaeological sites, including UNESCO Heritage sites in Palestine such as the Old City of Jerusalem, the Battir terraces in Bethlehem, and the Ibrahimi mosque in Hebron. Israel must be held accountable for its egregious war on Palestinian heritage and its attempt to appropriate our history and pillage historical artifacts that are an integral part of Palestinian and world history. UNESCO and its Director General, Ms. Audrey Azoulay, have a moral and official duty to speak out and protect Palestinian heritage. Their continued silence in this regard is an unacceptable abdication of responsibility.”

Greenblatt: Trump Plan has 60-80 Pages of Conditions on/for a Future Palestinian “State”

In a new interview with Army Radio, former U.S. negotiator Jason Greenblatt proudly touted the fact that the Trump Plan has 60-80 pages of stipulations Palestinians must agree to and satisfy before it could meet the U.S. conditions for recognizing Palestine as a “state.” It’s always worth reiterating: the Trump Plan in no way provides for a real state in any sense of the term; it at best offers the Palestinians a conditional non-state entity over which Israel would enjoy almost total control. Greenblatt said:

“[the] phrase we used in the peace efforts is a realistic Palestinian state that complies with 60-80 pages of important criteria. [This criteria is what] differentiates the peace plan we released from the past efforts. There’s a lot of criteria for them to establish a state, as there should be.”

Bonus Reads

1. “Two Palestinian Cyclists Injured in Alleged Assault by West Bank Settlers” (Haaretz)
2. “B’Tselem investigation: Settlers assault Palestinians and file false reports against them; military arrests the victims” (B’Tselem) 

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

To subscribe to this report, please click here.

January 10, 2020

1. ICC Opens Formal Investigation into Israeli War Crimes, Including Israeli Settlements
2. Israel to ICC: You Do Not Have Jurisdiction & You Will Not Stop Us from Advancing Settlements and Annexation
3. Following ICC Announcement, Israel Advances Plans for Nearly 2,000 Settlement Units
4. Following ICC Announcement, Israel Begins Planning Jordan Valley Annexation
5. Plans Advance in East Jerusalem, Part 1: New Settlement Enclave in Palestinian Neighborhood
6. Plans Advance in East Jerusalem, Part 2: Reports on Har Homa & Rumors on Givat Hamatos
7. Plan Advance in East Jerusalem, Part 3: Israel Approves Plans for Two More Settler-Run Tourist Sites in East Jerusalem
8. Plans Advance in East Jerusalem, Part 4:  Tenders for Pisgat Zeev and Gilo
9. For Second Time, Israeli Court Rules Against Settler Claim to Bakri House in Hebron
10. Peace Now Wins Interim Decision Against Secretive Public Funding to Amana
11. Israeli Court Dismisses Palestinian Landowners’ Petition Against the Ofra Settlement
12. Bennett Launches Initiative to More Aggressively Police Palestinians in Area C
13. Bennett Appoints Key Settler Ally to Lead New Government Task Force on Area C Annexation Plans, Immediately Announces Plan to Legalize Settlements
14. Following ICC Announcement, Pompeo Says Israel Has “Fundamental Rights” to Land
15. Pro-Settlement Legal Forum Conference Draws Big Names, Big Promises
16. Bonus Reads

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

---

ICC Opens Formal Investigation into Israeli War Crimes, Including Israeli Settlements

On December 20, 2019 the Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) Fatou Bensouda announced that the court has found a reasonable basis upon which to open an investigation into Israeli war crimes against Palestinians in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza. Bensouda said that the preliminary investigation, launched five years ago, established sufficient evidence of war crimes, citing Israeli settlements and Israel’s conduct during its 2014 incursion into the Gaza Strip, which Israel gave the title “Operation Protective Edge”. The statement said that the Court found evidence that Hamas and armed Palestinian groups also committed war crimes during the 50 days of hostilities in 2014.

Before proceeding with a formal investigation, Bensouda requested a pre-trial chamber to rule on the Court’s territorial jurisdiction, as outlined in the Rome Statute, over the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza Strip. Bensouda requested a ruling on the matter within 120 days. Bensouda has previously articulated her opinion on the matter, suggesting that questions regarding Palestinian statehood do not necessarily need to be resolved because Palestine acceded to the Rome Statute and formally became a “State Party” to the court. 

Israel to ICC: You Do Not Have Jurisdiction & You Will Not Stop Us from Advancing Settlements and Annexation

Prior to Bensouda’s announcement on December 20th that the ICC will proceed with an investigation into Israeli war crimes in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza, Israeli Attorney General Avichai Mandleblit published a 34-page legal opinion arguing that the Court does not have jurisdiction over those territories because Palestine does not meet the criteria for statehood, and non-sovereign entities cannot confer jurisdiction to the Court. Notably, that opinion doesn’t address (let alone dispute or challenge) the assertion that Israeli actions might constitute war crimes.

Going beyond Mandleblit’s legal arguments, Netanyahu launched a disingenuous attack on Bensouda’s criticism of Israeli settlements, saying:

“[Bensouda] says it is a crime, a war crime, for Jews to live in their homeland, the land of the Bible, the land of our forefathers.”

Netanyahu later said:

“This will not deter us — not in the slightest”

Netanyahu is riding a wave of defiant, ultra-confident language following his Dec. 27th victory in the Likud primaries, after which he promised to secure U.S. recognition for Israeli sovereignty over the Jordan Valley and all settlements in the West Bank. In his victory speech, Netanyahu laid out a 6-point plan he will implement if he goes on to win the March 2020 elections:

“First, we will finalize our borders; second, we will push the US to recognize our sovereignty in the Jordan Valley and the northern Dead Sea; third, we will push for US recognition of our extension of sovereignty over all the communities in Judea and Samaria, all of them without exception; fourth, we will push for a historic defense alliance with the US that will preserve Israeli freedom of action; fifth, stop Iran and its allies decisively; and sixth, push for normalization and agreements that will lead to peace accords with Arab countries. The opportunities are within reach.”

Demonstrating that Netanyahu means what he says, shortly following the ICC’s announcement his government advanced plans for nearly 2,000 settlement units and launched the planning process for annexing the Jordan Valley. Both of these items – in addition to several other significant settlement advancements which were not explicitly linked to the ICC’s announcement – are covered in detail below.

Following ICC Announcement, Israel Advances Plans for Nearly 2,000 Settlement Units 

Over the course of a two-day meeting Jan 5-6, 2020, the Israeli Civil Administration’s High Planning Committee approved plans for 1,936 settlement units, of which 786 units received final approval for construction. The Israeli Civil Administration is the body of the Defense Ministry which regulates all construction in the West Bank, both Palestinian and Israeli settler.

 The Civil Administration granted final approval to the following plans:

• A plan for 258 units in the unauthorized Haresha outpost, located east of Ramallah, to take them to the final stage of the approval process. If granted final approval, the plan will have the effect of retroactively legalizing the Haresha outpost. This outpost has been one of several test cases for the Israel government’s evolving legal justifications for granting retroactive approval to unauthorized outposts built on privately owned Palestinian land. In the case of Haresha, an outpost built on an island of “state land” surrounded by privately owned Palestinian land, then-Israeli Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked issued a new legal opinion in December 2018 outlining a legal basis for temporarily seizing the private Palestinian land for the construction of a tunnel road underneath it (essentially holding that Palestinian land rights – which can be temporarily infringed upon at any time for the sake of the settlements – do not extend below the ground’s surface). The tunnel road has not yet been constructed, an important qualification that Israel, to this point, has generally required outposts to meet prior to legalization. 
• 147 units in the Mitzpe Yericho settlement, located just west of the Palestinian city of Jericho in the Jordan Valley. The plan will have the effect of retroactively legalizing existing illegal construction in the settlement.
• 120 units in the Karnei Shomron settlement, located in the northern West Bank east of the Palestinian village of Qalqilya. Israel is planning to continue expanding Karnei Shomron with the stated goal of bringing 1 million settlers to live in the area surrounding the settlement.
• 107 units in the Elon Moreh settlement, located east of Nablus.
• 100 units in the Halamish settlement, (where settlers have built a strategic outpost, with the protection of the IDF, in order to further restrict Palestinian access to the area);
• 25 units in the Peduel settlement, located in the northern West Bank and part of a string of settlements and unauthorized outposts – most notably Ariel – extending from the Green Line into the very heart of the West Bank and on towards the Jordan Valley.
• 12 units in the Ariel settlement, located in the central West Bank.
• 10 units in the Etz Efraim settlement, located in the northern West Bank, one of several settlements slated to become a “super settlement” area.
• 7 units in the Rechelim settlement, located east of the Ariel settlement and south of Nablus, in the heart of the West Bank.

The Civil Administration advanced the following plans:

• 224 units in the Talmon settlement, located west of Ramallah.
• 204 units in the Shilo settlement, located in the central West Bank.
• A plan for 180 units in the unauthorized Mitzpe Danny outpost, located east of Ramallah. If approved, the plan will have the effect of retroactively legalizing the outpost, which was built without Israeli permission in 1999 in an area that includes privately owned Palestinian land. The Binyamin Regional Council – a settler body acting as the municipal government for settlements in the central West Bank – has been angling to retroactively legalize Mitzpe Danny for some time. As part of that effort, the regional council successfully lobbied for approval of a plan to build an educational campus for settlers that will create a territorial link between the Maale Mikhmash settlement (which has official recognition from the government) and the outpost. That plan received final approval in January 2019.
• 160 units in the Kochav Yaakov settlement, located between Jerusalem and Ramallah.
• 92 units in the Tzofim settlement, one of the settlements that flank the Palestinian city of Qalqilya in the northern West Bank.
• 91 units in the Almon settlement, located northeast of Jerusalem.
• 136 units in the Givat Zeev settlement, located south of Ramallah.
• 63 units in the Maale Adumim settlement, located just east of Jerusalem.
• A plan for 204 new units in the Shvut Rachel settlement, which only recently became an authorized settlement area when Israel extended the jurisdiction of the Shiloh settlement to include it as a “neighborhood” (along with three other outposts). 

Peace Now said in a statement: 

“Despite lacking a clear mandate, for this caretaker government it’s business as usual – Continue the massive promotion of harmful and unnecessary construction in occupied territory and in places that Israel will have to evacuate. Netanyahu continues to sabotage the prospects of peace, dragging Israel into an anti-democratic one-state reality resembling apartheid.”

The Yesha Council, an umbrella group representing all the settlements, celebrated the approvals, saying in a statement:

“To our delight, construction in Judea, Samaria and the Jordan Valley is commonplace and we are pleased to see that every few months plans are up in the Supreme Planning Council. The time has come for extremist Leftist organizations to accept that the U.S. has also declared that settling in Judea, Samaria, and the Jordan Valley is not contrary to international law and that applying Israeli sovereignty is a consensus in the State of Israel. After eight years of unprecedented construction freeze, the government regularly approves construction and we strengthen the hands of the Prime Minister and Defense Minister on their blessed work. We need more and more construction to promote the prosperity and growth of settlement.”

The head of the Binyamin Regional Council, Yisrael Gantz, spoke happily about the settlement advancements but also kept focused on the settlement movement’s ultimate demand: annexation.  Gantz told Arutz Sheva:

“This is undoubtedly an important and significant step. I hope we will soon be able to applaud the application of full Israeli sovereignty and the closure of the Civil Administration in order to truly develop the regions of our amazing country, in the same way that it is possible in the entire State of Israel.”

Despite the celebratory remarks, settlers were disappointed with the final number of settlement units, which fell short of the 3,000 units Netanyahu promised to advance on the eve of the Likud primary leadership vote (which went in Netanyahu’s favor). When promising the 3,000 units, Netanyahu also promised:

“We are going to bring [secure] US recognition for our sovereignty in the Jordan Valley [and] in all the settlements, those in the blocs and those that are beyond it.”

Following ICC Announcement, Israel Begins Planning Jordan Valley Annexation

On January 5th, the inter-ministerial committee created to plan the annexation of the Jordan Valley held its first meeting, in an effort to prepare an official proposal for how Israel can annex the Jordan Valley. The committee – dubbed the “Sovereignty Committee” – is headed by the Prime Minister’s Office Director General Ronen Peretz and includes representatives from the Foreign Ministry, the Israel Defense Forces, and the National Security Council. 

The meeting took place despite (or perhaps because of) reports that Netanayhu put Jordan Valley annexation plans in a “deep freeze” following ICC Chief Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda’s announcement on Dec. 20th that the Court will open an investigation into war crimes committed by Israel in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza. Following those reports, the head of the Yesha Council, the settler umbrella group, David ElHayani spoke to Netanyahu on the phone to gain reassurance that the annexation plan was not frozen, which Netanyahu reportedly gave him. 

Haaretz reports:

“Sources familiar with the establishment of the inter-ministerial committee told Haaretz that the insistence on moving forward with the discussions are mainly to show that the idea has not been abandoned due to international pressure.”

Plans Advance in East Jerusalem, Part 1: New Settlement Enclave in Palestinian Neighborhood

On January 8th the Jerusalem District Planning Committee granted final approval to a new 75-unit settlement compound to be built in the heart of the Palestinian East Jerusalem neighborhood of Beit Hanina. If built, it will be the first-ever authorized settlement project in Beit Hanina, located north of the Old City. 

The Beit Hanina settlement plan – as FMEP has previously reported – is backed and promoted by settlement impresario Aryeh King, and it provides for the construction of a total of 150 new units in the southern end of the Beit Hanina neighborhood. The land slated for the 150 units is privately owned,  53% of the land is owned by an Israeli who is supportive of the plan, and 47% by a Palestinian company who objects to the plan and has fought against it. Because the land has not been surveyed to demarcate the split ownership, Israeli planning authorities decided that the settlement plan is designated for the entire property, with construction rights split evenly between the parties, meaning the 75 units granted final approval on January 8th represent the Israeli-controlled half of the project. 

Ir Amim notes the larger picture of Isreali settlement activity north of the Old City:

“In close proximity to Ramat Shlomo to the southwest and Pisgat Zeev to the northeast, construction of this new compound may signal the beginning of a move to create contiguity between the two settlements, while fracturing the contiguous space between Bet Hanina and Shuafat. As exemplified by the ring of state-sponsored settlement strongholds throughout the Old City Basin, the establishment of a settler enclave in the midst of Beit Hanina will not only impact the fabric of this community, but will further erode opening conditions for a political solution to the conflict based on two capitals in Jerusalem.”

Ir Amim explains essential context:

“the plan will enable an ideologically driven settler outpost in the heart of Beit Hanina, a neighborhood located on the northern perimeter of East Jerusalem that has remained relatively untouched by Israeli settlement within its limits. Since the land in question is not far from Ramat Shlomo to the south-west and Pisgat Zeev to the north-east of it, its construction may mark the beginning of a far sweeping move to create contiguity between the two settlements, while driving a wedge between Bet Hanina and Shuafat.”

Plans Advance in East Jerusalem, Part 2: Reports on Har Homa & Rumors on Givat Hamatos

On January 7th, the popular Isareli broadcaster network Kan reported that the Prime Minister’s office has blocked a plan to build 2,000 new settlement units in the settlement of Har Homa, citing “diplomatic difficulties.” In response to an inquiry, the office did not deny the report, but issued the following statement:

“Israel has built in Jerusalem, is building in Jerusalem and will continue building in Jerusalem — while exercising judgment.”

Jerusalem expert Daniel Seidemann raised a key question and larger concerns about the reports concerning Har Homa, saying:

“The construction potential at Har Homa has been exhausted, and it’s not possible to build anything near 2,000 units. So what are they talking about? Something is clearly going on. Three possibilities come to mind, all problematic…Possibility no. 1: the nearby planned doomsday settlement of Givat Hamatos, which is awaiting tenders. Possibility no. 2: Hirbet Mazmoriyya, to the northeast of Har Homa. The lands owned by Palestinians that will have to be expropriated. Not likely. Too complicated and controversial. Possibility no. 3: the area wedged betw. Mar Elias Monastery, the Hebron Road,  the 300 Checkpoint, dubbed Bethlehem Gate or Har Homa West. The land is ownership is a mixture of Palestinian &Church lands, along with settlement developers.”

Ir Amim notes that, while reportedly stalling the Har Homa plan, Netanyahu is – in fact – simultaneously facing mounting pressure to issue tenders for the construction of the Givat Hamatos settlement, the site for which is the northern border of Har Homa. Ir Amim writes:

“Last week, rightwing groups launched a coordinated campaign to exert pressure on Prime Minister Netanyahu to advance construction in the area of Givat Hamatos, which has been essentially frozen for the past six years. While the approval of the plan for 2,610 housing units in the area was formally published in 2014, there has been no announcement of tenders since then. This has been largely attributed to international opposition, namely from the United States and Germany. Likely attempting to ratchet up pressure on Netanyahu in lead-up to the upcoming elections in March, the campaign has been spearheaded on a public level by rightwing organizations. Several prominent rabbis known for supporting the settler movement penned a letter to the Prime Minister calling on him to announce the tenders for Givat Hamatos, while rightwing media outlets have published daily articles demanding an ‘end to the freeze.’ A rightwing institute likewise published a lengthy paper on the significance of establishing a new settlement in the area as a means of thwarting any potential future division of Jerusalem within the framework of a resumed peace process.”

Plan Advance in East Jerusalem, Part 3: Israel Approves Plans for Two More Settler-Run Tourist Sites in East Jerusalem 

On December 25, 2019 the Jerusalem Local Planning approved two significant settler-backed schemes in East Jerusalem:

1. The committee approved the Israeli government’s plan to seize land in the Palestinian East Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah, in order to establish a park adjacent to the infamous Shepherd Hotel, an historic/iconic building that was taken over by the radical Ateret Chohanim settler organization in 2011. The new park – called “Hakidron Park” has been discussed and considered by Israeli governments for the past 15 years.
2. The committee also approved the Israeli government’s plan to confiscate land in the Ras al-Amud neighborhood of East Jerusalem, for the purpose of opening a tourist and religious services center on the Mount of Olives, adjacent to the Jewish cemetery. The Jerusalem Municipality hired an architect, Arie Rahamivov, who is also employed by the radical Elad settler group for the planning and construction of their crown jewel: the Kedem Center in Silwan. The new center in Ras al Amud will be yet another tourist center under the management of Elad, which already operates another visitors center on the Mount of Olives.

Ir Amim writes:

“Approval of the aforementioned land expropriations would signal intent to begin construction at both sites and will help to further solidify the settlement ring around the Old City Basin. While both plans can be posited as innocuous municipal initiatives to serve local residents and visitors to the areas, such touristic projects play an integral role in expanding the scope of settlement strongholds in the area and creating a more contiguous Israeli space, while diffusing the political agenda behind these efforts.”

Plans Advance in East Jerusalem, Part 4:  Tenders for Pisgat Zeev and Gilo

Ir Amim reports that the Israel Lands Authority published construction tenders for the following East Jerusalem settlements in early January:

• 3 tenders for a total of 461 new settlement units in the Pisgat Zeev
• 1 tender for commercial buildings in the Gilo settlement, located 

For Second Time, Israeli Court Rules Against Settler Claim to Bakri House in Hebron

On December 23rd, the Jerusalem District Court ruled that the Palestinian Bakri family are the rightful owners of a disputed property in Hebron. This ruling should deal a final blow to the 18-year long legal battle settlers have waged to gain control of the Bakri family house (“should”, not “will”, because the settlers have repeated been dealt defeats in court and each time are able to manufacture a new claim or appeal) .

The ruling – which affirmed a March 2019 ruling by the Magistrate court, which the settlers had appealed – called for the immediate evacuation of the settlers whom Israel has permitted to illegally squat in the house while the legal processes were ongoing. For a full history of the Bakri house saga, see here.

Following the ruling, Peace Now said:

“[the] court again ruled that the settlers had forged [documents] and lied all along… We hope that after [almost] two decades of violence, lies and terror, justice will be carried out and the invaders will be evicted.”

Peace Now Wins Interim Decision Against Secretive Public Funding to Amana 

In response to a Peace Now petition, on December 31st the Israeli High Court issued an interim decision that requires state bodies to request approval from the court before transferring funds to Amana, a settlement body which is known to undertake illegal settlement activities across the West Bank. Peace Now filed the petition after discovering that state bodies have been secretly funneling money to Amana. 

Peace Now said in a statement: 

“Amana is the most significant organization operating in the settlements. For decades, it has overseen the establishment of dozens of illegal outposts and neighborhoods with the help of massive budgets, some of which have been transferred from Israeli taxpayer money through local settlement authorities in violation of the law. The judges’ decision is a dramatic yet necessary step that limits, for the time being, this illicit transfer of funds to illegal projects in the settlements and outposts. We hope that in this spirit, the court will rule that public funds should no longer be transferred to Amana via subsidy procedures. This situation in which the State of Israel backs illegal activities with public funds is unconscionable, and we urge the Israeli government to put an end to it.”

Israeli Court Dismisses Palestinian Landowners’ Petition Against the Ofra Settlement

On January 6th, the Israeli High Court of Justice dismissed a petition filed by Palestinian landowners challenging the legality of the Ofra settlement. The petition was based on the fact that the settlement is partially built on privately owned Palestinian land. The court ruled that the majority of the settlement had been built on land expropriated by Israel, and that the minority of land that Palestinians claim ownership over was not enough to invalidate the entire Master Plan for the settlement. Further, the court stated that the settlement structures built on the privately owned Palestinian land were built by settlers “in good faith,” under the mistaken belief that land had also been expropriated by the Israeli government. 

This High Court ruling does not fix the legal status of Ofra settlement buildings, but it is nonetheless significant because it continues to deny Palestinians their property rights. Likewise, it gives a green light to  the use of the “market regulation” principle to expropriate land in order to retroactively legalize the structures. As a reminder, the “market regulation” principle – which was invented by the Israeli Attorney General – holds that if settlers acted “in good faith” when they built on privately owned Palestinian land, the state can expropriate that land, thereby making what was illegal before, now perfectly legal.

The Ofra settlement’s legal situation has long been an issue that the Israeli government has tried to fix.  Ofra was first established by settlers on land that the Jordanian government had expropriated in 1966, in order to build a military base (which was never built). The Israeli government used this pretext to expropriate the land in 1977, in order to recognize the Ofra settlement, which had been established illegally but with tacit cooperation of the government on the site two years earlier. However, the settlers built the majority of the Ofra settlement on land that was not expropriated by Israel in 1977 —  land that was in fact registered to Palestinians from the nearby village of Ein Yabroud. In light of the legal status of the land, no Israeli government has since found a way to fix the legal status of these homes (not for lack of trying) – meaning that the majority of the structures in Ofra were built without permits, making them illegal under Israeli law. 

Peace Now elaborates on what is at stake in the Ofra settlement case:

“Most of the houses built in Ofra (approximately 413 out of 625) were built on an area of ​​550 dunams of privately owned Palestinian land. In addition, hundreds of dunams of Palestinian private land were seized for roads in Ofra, as well as infrastructure and agricultural lands for the settlers. The only way to regulate the theft of these lands would be to expropriate them from the Palestinian landowners for the benefit of the settlers, in complete contradiction to the positions of previous Israeli governments and legal advisors, and contrary to binding rulings of the High Court. Although the current legal advisor (Avichai Mandelblit) allowed land expropriation in some places for settlement purposes (for example, in Haresha), in the regulation of massive land theft such as in Ofra the Israeli government would be crossing a new red line.”

FMEP documents the government’s efforts to expropriate Palestinian land for the settlements in its Annexation Policy Tables.

Bennett Launches Initiative to More Aggressively Demolish Palestinian Construction in Area C

Making the most of his appointment as Israeli Defense Minister in the current caretaker government, Naftali Bennett is pushing an initiative to annex Area C and to aggressively demolish Palestinian construction in the area (reminder: Area C constitutes nearly 60% of the West Bank; it is land that under Oslo II was supposed to have been “gradually transferred to Palestinian jurisdiction”).

As part of his efforts, Bennett has launched legal research into how Israeli can bring settlement building in Area C under the direct authority of the Justice Ministry, cutting out the Civil Administration. This Civil Administration, it should be recalled, is the arm of the Israeli Defense Ministry which acts as the sovereign power over the West Bank, in a system of governance Israel created based on its recognition of the different legal status of the area.  Bennett has called for that system to be disbanded (in addition to annexing Area C). To be clear: transferring the construction and planning processes in Area C to domestic Israeli jurisdiction would by any definition constitute the Israeli state extending its sovereignty over area — an act of annexation.

Bennett has requested that Defense Ministry officials present several legal options for how Israel can bring planning processes under the Justice Ministry (integrating the settlements into the normal planning process). The settler-run Arutz Sheva outlet attributes the following quote Bennett in a private meeting:

“We are in essence discussing applying procedural sovereignty only. Full sovereignty is under the authority of the political echelon, but this is a step in the right direction. There is no reason that residents of Judea and Samaria should continue being discriminated against. We must stop this. Residents of Beit El and Ariel are no less Zionist than residents of Kfar Saba and Tel Aviv. They pay taxes and serve in the army, and they need to receive the same services from the government.”

Bennett is also advancing several initiatives that will empower and compel the Civil Administration to more aggressively enforce demolition orders against Palestinian construction in Area C (based on Israel’s policy of not granting permits to Palestinians in Area C, nearly every Palestinian structure in this territory has a demolition order pending against it). Bennett is also eyeing ways to combat what he considers illegitimate and nefarious funding from the European Union to Palestinian communities living in Area C. Israel Hayom reports:

“Bennett’s plan to stop the Palestinians from chipping away at Area C demands action in four areas: Operational, economic, legal, and PR. He wants to change enforcement priorities to put an emphasis on eradicating illegal buildings in strategic locations rather than by numbers. For example, home demolitions would be carried out in accordance with Israeli interests, prioritizing illegal buildings next to roads or settlements. Bennett also instructed the Central Command and the Civil Administration to work more closely to implement his plan and asked that the Civil Administration report to him monthly to update him on progress. Meanwhile, the defense minister is weighing the possibility of allocating more resources to the Civil Administration for enforcement, which would entail hiring more personnel. Bennett also wants to take steps to stop the flow of European money that funds the illegal Palestinian construction in the first place, allowing the “Fayyad Plan” to flourish.”

Bennett Appoints Key Settler Ally to Lead New Government Task Force on Area C Annexation Plans, Immediately Announces Plan to Legalize Settlements

In addition to his new initiative targeting Palestinian construction in Area C, Israeli Defense Minister Naftali Bennett announced that he has created an inter-ministerial taskforce to develop settlement and annexation plans for the future of Area C in the West Bank.

Bennett’s chief of staff, Itay Hershkowitz, has been in weeks-long consultations with key settler leaders to decide what items to act on immediately. Haaretz reports their agenda includes:

1. Allowing Jews to privately purchase land in the West Bank. [See here for a detailed explanation of this complicated matter]
2. Connecting unauthorized outposts to water and electricity.
3. Granting official recognition to unauthorized outposts that are located near established settlements by recognizing them as “neighborhoods” of the settlement. 
4. Repealing a military order that empowers the Civil Administration to evict settlers from privately owned Palestinian land with or without a Palestinian-initiated petition to have the settlers removed.
5. Legalizing 30 sheep farms in the West Bank that are under pending demolition orders. 

On Thursday, Bennett announced that he has appointed West Bank settler Koby Eliraz to lead the new taskforce. Calling Eliraz a “bulldozer,”Bennett said:

“The territorial future of the Land of Israel is at stake. The State of Israel has simply not been up to the task of stopping [Palestinian construction]. We are changing direction and embarking on a battle that Israel must win… The defense establishment will fight for this territory, and it is essential for someone to lead this campaign.”

Eliraz previously served as Netanyahu’s settlement advisor, but was fired by the Prime Minister in June 2019 reportedly because he was believed to be allied too closely to Netanyahu rival Avigdor Liberman, who Netanyahu also dismissed. At the time of Eliraz’s firing, settler leaders were outraged and published a letter asking Netanyahu to reverse Eliraz’s firing, suggesting that Eliraz’s absence will hinder government efforts to retroactively legalize outposts. The letter noted:

“Kobi has taken care of Israeli settlement and its residents with great professionalism. He is credited for many advancements [on our behalf] in the fields of construction, infrastructure development, security and more.”

The Times of Israel observed, significantly, that the Yesha Council was able to get every single settlement Mayor to sign the letter in support of Eliraz, explaining:

“The Yesha Council in recent years has struggled to get all of its members on board with its initiative, but the umbrella group’s ability to gather the signatures of every Israeli mayor beyond the Green Line is testament to the broad respect that Eliraz holds among settler leader.”

Following ICC Announcement, Pompeo Says Israel Has “Fundamental Rights” to Land

At a press briefing on December 22nd, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo did not specifically address the ICC announcement, but made lengthy comments regarding statements from European countries and the European Union that were critical of the new U.S. position on settlements (that they are not “per se illegal” under international law). Pompeo’s comments hold relevance to the U.S. position on the ICC case and more generally on the U.S. approach to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict:

“First, the legal analysis that the EU performed [on settlements] we just think is wrong. We think they have an improper analysis of the international law surrounding this. So as the technical legal matter, [EU Foreign Minister] Ms. Mogherini just – she’s just wrong. And so we are doing our level best to demonstrate to them our legal theory, our understandings, and why it is that we’re convinced that under international law these settlements are not per se illegal. So we’re working that element of it as well. But at another level, and perhaps at the level that will lead to the right outcome, which is why we did this, this has to be resolved through political means, and we hope that all nations, including member nations inside of the EU and the EU itself and countries all over the world, will come to recognize the fundamental rights that the Israeli people have to this land, to this space. There are real security needs. The risk that is presented from the world as anti-Semitism is on the rise, we hope that every nation will recognize that and weigh in on this conflict in a way that is constructive, that will ultimately lead to the peace that is so desperately needed.” [Emphasis added by editor]

Pro-Settlement Legal Forum Conference Draws Big Names, Big Promises

The Kohelet Policy Forum, a right-wing advocacy organization that has enormous influence with senior Israeli – and increasingly American – government figures, hosted a “Conference on the Pompeo Doctrine” in Jerusalem, Jan. 7-8, 2020. The conference served as a gleeful celebration and forward-looking projection of what the new U.S. settlement policy towards settlements means for Israel. The conference drew participation from all the leading Israeli politicians and several senior members of the Trump Administration, including Secretary of State. Pompeo. Key quotes from the conference speakers are copied below.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo:

 “We’re recognizing that these settlements don’t inherently violate international law. That is important. We’re disavowing the deeply flawed 1978 Hansell memo, and we’re returning to a balanced and sober Reagan-era approach. “In doing so, we’re advancing the cause of peace between Israelis and Palestinians.” 

U.S. Ambassador David Friedman:

“…when we came into office the lingering issues included three of significant importance: the status of 1) Jerusalem, 2) the Golan Heights and 3) Judea and Samaria. We have approached them in ascending order of complexity…I thank God that President Trump had the courage and the wisdom to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and move our embassy to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv…In recognizing Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights, President Trump, evaluating the continuous malign and barbarous threats posed by Syria, concluded that no northern boundary for Israel would be secure except a boundary that incorporated the Golan. He acted well within the language of 242. [Judea and Samaria] is certainly the most complicated of the issues because of the large indigenous Palestinian population. Over the years before we came into office, it’s only gotten more complicated and more challenging. The proverbial goalposts have moved and moved – to the point today where they are no longer even on the field….The Pompeo Doctrine does not resolve the conflict over Judea and Samaria. But it does move the goalposts back onto the field. It does not obfuscate the very real issue that 2 million or more Palestinians reside in Judea and Samaria, and we all wish that they live in dignity, in peace, and with independence, pride and opportunity. We are committed to find a way to make that happen. The Pompeo Doctrine says clearly that Israelis have a right to live in Judea and Samaria. But it doesn’t say that Palestinians don’t….it calls for a practical negotiated resolution of the conflict that improves lives on both sides.”

Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu said:

“I will not let any settlements be uprooted in any diplomatic plan. This idea of ethnic cleansing… it won’t happen. There is a window of opportunity. It opened, but it could close…There was no West Bank separate from the rest of the land. It was seen as the heart of the land. We never lost our right to live in Judea and Samaria. The only thing we lost temporarily was the ability to exercise the right. When Israel returned to the West Bank We didn’t return to a foreign land. That is a distortion of history. Jews lived in Jerusalem and Hebron for thousands of years consecutively…The Pompeo declaration about the status of the towns [in Judea and Samaria] establishes the truth that we are not strangers in our land. In a clearly defensive war, we returned… to the land where our forefathers put down roots thousands of years ago…Unlike some in Europe who think the Pompeo declaration distances peace, I think it will promote peace, because peace must be based on truth, not lies. Settlements are not the root of the conflict. We are standing with justice and the truth. It is a great struggle.”

Israeli Defense Minister Naftali Bennett on Area C annexation and his initiatives in that regard:

“Our aim is that within a decade a million Israeli citizens will live in Judea and Samaria” and later “Our objective is that within a short amount of time, and we will work for it, we will apply [Israeli] sovereignty to all of Area C, not just the settlements, not just this bloc or another. We are embarking on a real and immediate battle for the future of the Land of Israel and the future of Area C. It started a month ago and I am announcing it here today. A month ago, I convened a meeting and I explained the clear directive, the State of Israel will do everything to ensure that these territories [Area C] will be part of the State of Israel.”

Likud MK and former Mayor of Jerusalem Nir Barkat said:

“I am confident that Secretary Pompeo’s statement is an integral part of the American plan and is closely linked to Jared Kushner’s proposal advanced in Bahrain promoting significant economic investment in the Palestinian economy…Now is a perfect opportunity to similarly grow the communities throughout Judea and Samaria at a pace like never before. This declaration is a recognition of the legal and historic right of the Jewish people to live wherever we wish. This is how it should be in other parts of the world and certainly here in the Jewish State. This declaration is therefore an exceptional opportunity for Israel to ensure our continued growth and expansion throughout these areas. Israel needs to set a goal for the settlement of two million people in Judea and Samaria within fifty years. This is a commitment which requires that we already now lay the framework to make that possible and this is an investment which will also benefit the Palestinian people” [Editor’s note: Barkat has been working with Harvard Professor Michael Porter to promote an economic peace scheme, most recently speaking at Harvard about the plan in December 2019]

Eugene Kontorovich, Director of International Law at the Jerusalem-based Kohelet Policy Forum and a key shaper of anti-BDS/pro-settlement legislation in U.S. Congress and across state governments, said: 

“American Policy is now clearer than ever, Jews living in Judea and Samaria is not a crime. For decades, the obscure Carter-era memo was used as justification for anti-Israel policies despite the fact that its conclusions were rejected by subsequent administrations. Sec. Pompeo’s statement at the Kohelet conference today makes clear the U.S.’s wholesale rejection of the legal theory that holds that international law restricts Israeli Jews from moving into areas from which Jordan had ethnically cleansed them in 1949.”

Bonus Reads

1. “The Atarot Exception? Business and Human Rights Under Colonization” (Marya Farah in Jerusalem Quarterly)
2. “The Decade Israel Erased the Green Line” (+972 Magazine)
3. “Settlers are seizing ‘empty’ land. The Palestinian owners are fighting back” (+972)
4. “Israeli Right Wants to End Peace with Jordan” (Haaretz)
5. “Security official says police, courts scuttling efforts to curb settler violence” (The Times of Israel)

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

To subscribe to this report, please click here.

December 5, 2019

1. In The Heart of Hebron, Israel Begins Starts Planning New Settlement
2. Targeting East Jerusalem (Center): Israel Begins Work to Triple Size of Nof Zion Settlement
3. Targeting East Jerusalem (South): Moving Ahead with 3 Plans to Expand Gilo
4. Targeting East Jerusalem (North): Plans Readied for New Settlement on Ramallah’s Outskirts
5. Jerusalem’s Settler-Backed Cable Car Project Challenged in High Court
6. Settler Leaders’ Endorse Netanyahu…and Netanyahu Govt Approves New Funds for Settlers
7. Israeli Government Funnels Nearly USD $270 Million of Surplus Taxpayer Funds to Settlements Each Year (in addition to regular budgets)
8. Joint U.S.-Israel Research Project Will Include Ariel Settlement University
9. Not the Onion: Israeli Govt Sold Palestinian Land to a Settler Org & Now Pays Rent to the Settlers
10. Settler-Run Business Council Asks US Congress to Fund Settler-Palestinian Projects
11. Bonus Reads

Questions/comments? Contact Kristin at kmccarthy@fmep.org

---

In The Heart of Hebron, Israel Begins Starts Planning New Settlement

On December 1st, acting Defense Minister Naftali Bennet announced that he had ordered the start of the planning process for a new settlement in downtown Hebron that will double the number of settlers living there. The plan calls for the demolition of the historic Palestinian wholesale market – consisting of shops belonging to Palestinians who hold the properties under what Israel has, until now, recognized as protected tenancies.

Under the plan, the historic Palestinian market will be replaced with new structures that will include 70 new settlement units located above the new ground floor. Bennet boasted the the project will double the number of Israeli settlers living in Hebron. The site of the planned  settlement is located on Shuhada Street in the heart of Hebron, a street that serves as the perhaps the clearest example of Israel’s apartheid-like military administration of the city, as detailed in a recent report by B’Tselem.

In announcing the directive, Bennett made clear the strategic and symbolic importance of the new Hebron settlement, saying it:

“will create a territorial continuation from the Cave of the Patriarchs to the Avraham Avinu neighborhood, and double the number of Jewish residents in the city.”

The plan to build a settlement at the site of the Palestinian wholesale market – which Israel closed 25 years ago following the 1994 Baruch Goldstein massacre of Palestinians worshipping at the Al-Ibrahimi Mosque (detailed history here) –  is not new. In fact, it has been a goal of settlers for years, the realization of which has been because previous Israeli governments were less willing to brazenly reverse Israel’s longstanding recognition of the tenancy rights of the Palestinian-run Hebron Municipality (which built the market) and the Palestinian vendors who rent market stalls from it. 

Such calculations changed following the election of President Trump and his administration’s open support for the settlers and their agenda. In November 2018, Avigdor Liberman and Ayelet Shaked (at the time the Defense Minister and the Justice Minister, respectively) worked together to issue a new Defense Ministry legal opinion, which argues that, based on claims of Jewish ownership of the land prior to the 1929 Hebron riots and massacre of Jewish residents, the state of Israel has the authority to override the tenancy rights of the Hebron Municipality to build a settlement. This legal opinion paved the way for Bennet’s announcement – long awaited by settlers – this week. In this context, the vague commitment Bennet offered as part of his decision to promote the settlements plan – in which he promised that the rights of Palestinians on the ground floor “will be preserved as they are today” – rings hollow.

Bennet and Shaked’s plan marks a significant expansion of the government’s use of the legal principle that allows Jewish Israelis to reclaim properties that were owned by Jews prior to 1948, as an extension of the Jewish right of return. Peace Now writes:

“The basis of the settlers’ demand for the establishment of a settlement in the wholesale market is that the land was owned by Jews before 1948… If the Israeli government accepts the claim of the landowners to right to return to their land taken in 1948, it will undermine the Israeli claim that the Palestinians’ right of return inside Israel need not be implemented.”

Upon Bennet’s announcement this week, former Justice Minister Shaked reminded Israelis of her role in changing Israeli legal interpretations in order to build the new settlement:

“As justice minister I worked for two years to free the land from a legal entanglement in which it was for many years, and the neighborhood had waited about a year for the defense minister’s approval. Bennett’s courageous decision will boost the Jewish community and develop the city.”

In reaction to Bennet’s order, Peace Now said in a statement:

“This is very bad news for Israel: bad morally, bad for the security, and bad in terms of the political chances for peace. The settlement in Hebron is the ugliest face of Israel’s control in the Occupied Territories. In order to maintain the presence of 800 settlers among a quarter of a million Palestinians, entire streets in Hebron are closed to Palestinians, denying them freedom of movement and impinging on their livelihoods.”

Targeting East Jerusalem (Center): Israel Begins Work to Triple Size of Nof Zion Settlement

On November 8th, the Israeli government began construction work to expand the settlement enclave known as Nof Zion, located in the middle of the Palestinian East Jerusalem neighborhood of Jabal al-Mukaber. The project will add 182 homes to Nof Zion, tripling its size and turning Nof Zion into the largest settlement enclave inside a Palestinian East Jerusalem neighborhood (surpassing the Ma’ale Zeitim settlement in Ras al Amud, on the Mount of Olives).

Ir Amim writes:

“Establishing and expanding state-backed settler enclaves like Nof Zion within Palestinian neighborhoods not only erodes the fabric of these communities, but further reinforces Israeli control of East Jerusalem and foils the possibility of a future political resolution on the city. This phenomenon is exemplified by the acceleration of settlement initiatives in the Old City Basin aimed at further embedding Israeli sovereignty of this area through a constellation of state-sanctioned residential and touristic settlement sites, as illustrated by Ir Amim’s map, ‘Settlement Ring around the Old City.’ “

Though the Nof Zion settlement currently has 91 units built, in 1994 the Israeli government originally approved plans for a total of 395 units. However, the first phase of construction bankrupted the developer and the remaining building permits were never issued. A drama ensued over the fate of the project, after a Palestinian-American made a bid to buy the development rights. His winning bid was ultimately blocked by right-wing Israelis [with a key role played by Jerusalem settler impresario Aryeh King], who objected to the sale of the property – in a Palestinian neighborhood – to an Arab. Plans then stalled. 

In September 2017, rumors emerged that the government was set to issue 176 building permits for the already-approved project. According to Ir Amim, those permits were ultimately issued in April 2019.

Targeting East Jerusalem (South): Moving Ahead with 3 Plans to Expand Gilo

According to Ir Amim, the Jerusalem District Planning Committee has approved an outline plan to build 290 new units in the Gilo settlement, located in southern Jerusalem between the isolated Palestinian East Jerusalem neighbrohood of Beit Safafa and the West Bank city of Bethlehem. Ir Amim reports that the proposed new units will be built within an already built-up area of the settlement, meaning that this plan (unlike the Gilo southeast plan and/or the Har Gilo west plan) will not expand the footprint of the Gilo settlement.

According to Ir Amim:

“The plan is designated for an area in Gilo directly along the planned route of the Jerusalem Light Rail’s green line currently under construction, which will significantly ease access between the neighborhood/settlement and West Jerusalem.”

In approving the outline plan, the Jerusalem District Planning Committee dismissed objections to the plan by a Palestinian family that had fought to prove their ownership of the land. In fact, the committee did not even consider the petition, ruling instead that the question of ownership was beyond the court’s purview – demonstrating yet again  the culpability of Israeli courts in the ongoing dispossession of Palestinians.

Additionally, on November 27th, the Local Planning Committee discussed two more plans to expand the Gilo settlement. The first plan, calls for the construction of 1,444 new settlement units in the northern part of the Gilo settlement adjacent to Beit Safafa. The second plan calls for the construction of 110 units and would, if implemented, expand the footprint of the Gilo settlement eastwards towards the West Bank city of Beit Jala. Ir Amim reports the plan is being pushed by a private company.

Ir Amim comments:

“Together all three plans will significantly increase the number of Israelis living over the Green Line in Gilo, while also extending the settlement territorially. These plans are being promoted in tandem with the massive road infrastructure developments in the area, including expansion of Route 60 as well as work on the planned route of the Jerusalem Light Rail’s green line. Road infrastructure projects are part and parcel of the settlement enterprise and are used to lay the groundwork for future settlement expansion. Not only will these developments expedite traffic between Gilo and West Jerusalem, but it will ease access between the Gush Etzion settlement bloc and Jerusalem.”

Targeting East Jerusalem (North): Plans Readied for New Settlement on Ramallah’s Outskirts

On November 28th, the news outlet Israel Hayom reported that the Minister of Construction and Housing is preparing a plan to build a new settlement in East Jerusalem at the site of the disused Atarot airport. The site is located just north of the Palestinian neighborhood of Beit Hanina and extends to the southern border of Ramallah. The plan reportedly outlines 11,000 new settlement units. If implemented, this plan would be the first new government-backed settlement established in East Jerusalem since the construction of Har Homa in the 1990s.

The Atarot airport site is an important commodity and it was previously  promised to the Palestinians for their state’s future international gateway. Developing the site into a settlement would deprive a future Palestinian state of the only airport in the West Bank, dismember Palestinian neighborhoods in the northern part of the city, and sever East Jerusalem from a Palestinian state on this northern flank of the city (acting like E-1 on Jerusalem’s northeast flank, and like Givat Hamatos on Jerusalem’s southern flank).

The Atarot settlement plan dates back to 2007; it was pursued by the Israeli government in 2012 but shelved under pressure from the Obama administration. The plan came back into consideration in April 2017 (a few months following the inauguration of President Trump) when it was rumored to be included on Netanyahu’s master blueprint of settlements for which he was seeking U.S. approval. It was expected to be announced in May 2017 on the occasion of the Jerusalem Day celebration, but was not.

Commenting on the plan when it was under discussion in 2012, Peace Now’s Hagit Ofran observed:

“Not only that this plan might severely harm the future Palestinian State, destroying the only airport in the West Bank, but it will also cut between East Jerusalem and Ramallah at the heart of many Palestinian neighborhoods: Shu’afat and Beit Hanina in the South, Bir Nabala, Al Judeira, Al Jib, Rafat and Qalandia in the West, Ar-Ram, Dahiyat al Bareed and Jaba’ from the East, and Qalandia Refugee Camp, Kafr ‘Aqab and Ramallah from the North. It seems that what the Givat Hamatos plan is meant to do in the South of Jerusalem (to cut between Bethlehem and East Jerusalem), this plan will, god forbid, do at the North of it. The goal of this plan is clear: to prevent the possibility of a Palestinian State in the West Bank, and thus to kill the two states solution.”

Jerusalem’s Settler-Backed Cable Car Project Challenged in High Court

Led by the Israeli NGO Emek Shaveh, a coalition of architects, archeologists, and other professionals has filed an appeal to Israel’s High Court of Justice seeking the withdrawal of a settler-promoter plan to build a cable in East Jerusalem. The plan received approval from the Israeli Housing Cabinet on November 4, 2019.

Emek Shaveh explains the nature of this appeal:

“Our Claims: The plan was approved by a transitional government which was not authorized to do so; This alleged transportation plan was not assessed according to the Ministry of Transportation’s accepted standards; The decision was made based on misleading simulations…Since the High Court of Justice is unauthorized to discuss planning issues, other than the legality of the procedure, the points that were discussed in the public objection, signed by 450 people including 70 public figures, is not included in the appeal…The cable car is a grotesque idea and catastrophic for a unique city such as Jerusalem. It is unclear why the Israeli government needed to approve an irregular, controversial project at the cost of hundreds of millions of shekels in its last days. The fact that senior professionals from all the relevant fields – architects, historians, geographers, tourism specialists and archaeologists – need to turn to the High Court of Justice to prevent it shows, more than anything, that the process of approving the project was unprofessional.”

Though the appeal is limited to a procedural challenge – based on the jurisdiction of the High Court over such matters – Emek Shaveh’s objections to the plan relate to the design of the plan and the negative impact that will result if the plan is implemented. As FMEP has repeatedly covered, this Jerusalem cable car project is an initiative of the Elad settler organization (which is building a massive tourism center – the Kedem Center – in the Silwan neighborhood, which will be a stop along the cable car’s route). The scheme is intended to further entrench settler control, via archeology and tourism sites, inside the Silwan neighborhood of East Jerusalem, while simultaneously delegitimizing, dispossessing, and erasing the Palestinian presence there. Non-governmental organizations including Emek Shaveh,  Who Profits, and Terrestrial Jerusalem have repeatedly discredited the government’s contention that the cable car serves a legitimate transportation need in Jerusalem, and have clearly enumerated the obvious political drivers behind the plan, the archeological heresies it validates, and the severe impacts the cable car project will have on Palestinian residents of Silwan.

Settler Leaders’ Endorse Netanyahu…and Netanyahu Govt Approves New Funds for Settlers

On December 1st, the Israeli Cabinet approved a USD $11.5 million security package for the settlements. According to Haaretz, USD $9.9 million of the funds are allocated as a one-time grant to regional settlement councils; the remaining $1.6 million is reportedly earmarked for the construction of “first aid stations.”

In a meeting with Yesha Council leaders prior to the approval of the funds – during which the Yesha Council leaders offered their continued endorsement of Netanyahu amidst the ongoing Israeli political upheaval (in which Netanyahu is fighting for his political life and, likely, to stay out of jail) – Netanyahu promised:

“We are continuing to strengthen the settlement movement and help it. They won’t uproot us from here.”

Shortly after the cabinet’s vote, MK Ayman Odeh sent a letter to Israeli Attorney General Mandelblit requesting an inquiry into the constitutionality of the move, commenting that the sequences of events:

 “raise[s] a grave suspicion of a budget allocation [was made] in exchange for a political favor.”

MK Odeh asked whether the security package had been properly reviewed by government professionals. Condemning the disbursal of funds, Odeh said:

“Netanyahu has done the two things that he loves, at the same time, is appropriating public funds for his personal benefit and expanding the settlement enterprise in order to deepen the occupation. It is unconscionable for the head of a transitional government to use the money belonging to all of us to buy the support of the heads of the Yesha Council of settlements for his public battle against the legal system. I demand that the allocation be canceled and its funds directed into the program to curb domestic violence, which has been waiting for funding since its approval in 2017.”

Israeli Government Funnels Nearly USD $270 Million of Surplus Taxpayer Funds to Settlements Each Year (in addition to regular budgets)

According to data from the Israeli Finance Ministry, obtained and analyzed by Peace Now, the Israeli government is using its surplus funding to invest in the growth and entrenchment of settlements — to the tune of nearly $270 million each year. The figure does not include regular funding that goes towards the normal maintenance and security of the settlements. 

The data shows:

•  There has been a 50% increase in surplus funding for the settlements since 2017 (i.e. the inauguration of President Trump). 
  • 2017 expenditure: NIS 1.650 billion
  • 2018 expenditure: 1.4 billion
  • The first quarter of 2019 data indicate another increase.
• The settlements receive ~12% of all Interior Ministry’s grants to all local authorities (including Israel proper), despite representing less than 5% of the total Israeli population. 

The Israeli government produces these figures (which, ironically, make a hard distinction between Israel proper and the settlements – a policy of differentiation which the government is very much trying to fight) to comply with a U.S. condition on loan guarantees set in 1990s by Republican President H.W. Bush. At the time, the U.S. administration made an effort to penalize Israel for its settlement activity by deducting the amount spent by Israel for non-security-related settlement costs from the total value of U.S. loan guarantees available to Israel. The condition therefore required the Israeli government to calculate and inform the U.S. every few months regarding its settlement-related expenditures. Peace Now reports in detail on how the Israeli government makes that calculation (spoiler: it’s an estimate) and what is included in it (spoiler: it does not include all of the ways the Israeli government directly funds the settlement enterprise).

 Importantly, Peace Now notes that:

“as of September 2018, following the recognition of the Trump administration in annexing the Golan Heights, the Finance Ministry stopped reporting to Americans on investment in Israeli communities in the Golan Heights. At the same time, the first quarter figures for 2019 indicate record expenditures in the settlements, with NIS 390 million (between January – March 2019), compared with an average of NIS 354 million in each quarter in 2018 (including the Golan).”

Commenting on the figure, Peace Now said in a statement:

“State figures themselves show that Israel continues to invest huge capital in developing settlements at the expense of development within Israel. The government’s decision this week to add another NIS 34.5 million in grants unique to the local authorities in the settlements indicates that the government has lost all self-regard for serving the Israeli public at large. With a transitional government on the verge of new elections and close to the end of the fiscal year, the government finds it appropriate to add millions of shekels to the indulgence that is already being given to settlement authorities that receive, according to Treasury figures, close to three times the proportion of their population.”

Joint U.S.-Israel Research Project Will Include Ariel Settlement University

Israeli Minister of Science and Technology Ofir Akunis is reportedly expected to sign an historic agreement in the coming weeks that will establish a new joint research project between American  and Israeli universities which will, for the first time, include an Israeli university located in a settlement – Ariel University.  Minister Akunis told told the Israeli news outlet Israel Hayom (owned by Sheldon Adelson, who not coincidentally is a key financial backer of Netanyahu, Trump, and Ariel University) that the new agreement:

“is a direct result of the American recognition of Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights and Secretary of State Pompeo’s declaration that the settlements in Judea and Samaria do not violate international law.”  

For more analysis of the recent announcement by the Trump Administration, see last week’s Settlement Report. 

Not from the Onion: Israeli Govt Sold Palestinian Land to a Settler Org & Now Pays Rent to the Settlers

Peace Now reports that the Israeli government sold unofficially expropriated (i.e., stolen) land in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood  to the radical Amana settler organization for $262,000 (a fraction of its value). But the story gets better: the Israeli government is now paying $224,000 per year in rent to Amana – the settler organization – for use of a single floor of a building built on the land.

The details of this Kafka-esque story – laid out below – show yet another means by which the Israeli government not only assists settlers in acquiring privately owned Palestinian land, but continues to line the pockets of settlement groups working to take more land from Palestinians. 

Regarding the land Amana is now renting to the government, Israel intended to expropriate the land in question from the Palestinian Abu Ta’ah family following the 1967 war. However, the government went ahead and gave the land to the Amana settler organization, and Amana began construction on it, before the process of expropriation was complete – in effect giving the settlers what was still, legally, private Palestinian land. In order to complete the expropriation of the land from the Abu Ta’ah family – which remained the legal owner of the land and fought against the expropriation and Amana’s construction there – the government had to actually retroactively change how the plot of land was registered and sign a retroactive expropriate order.

Peace Now told Haaretz:

“After it received the land that was expropriated in a dubious process without a tender, Amana is profiting in three ways: It built a luxurious office building for itself in the midst of a Palestinian neighborhood; it also strengthens the settlement it built by bringing in Israeli visitors to the welfare office inside the Palestinian neighborhood; and has treated itself to a nice income of about a million shekels a year at our expense and with the help of state and municipal institutions.”

Settler-Run Business Council Asks US Congress to Fund Settler-Palestinian Projects

Ashraf Jabari and Avi Zimmerman, the Palestinian and Israeli co-founders of the Judea and Samaria Chamber of Commerce, recently met Members of Congress while in Washington, D.C.  Their goal: to seek support and funding for their joint projects in the West Bank, in the name of supporting peace and coexistence. 

Zimmerman said of the trip:

“we now embark on the implementation process by welcoming private and public investments to partner with the businesses that are generating impact for generations to come. Representatives from both Houses and parties were highly responsive, and impressed that we have already begun with strategic planning for private investments.”

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

Zimmerman and Jabari were hosted on Capitol Hill by Heather Johston, the Executive Director of the US-Israel Education Association (USIEA). The USIEA is a American evangelical group deeply involved in supporting and normalizing settlements, working in partnership with the Israeli government. It is also works with the Family Research Council to lead Congressional delegations to Israel and runs a bible camp in the Ariel settlement. Boasting of her warm relations on Capitol Hill, Johnston recently spoke to the press about her work to promote the JSCC in Congress:

“Just about everyone on Capitol Hill accepts and recognizes the unique relationship between the U.S. and Israel. It is critical that members of Congress and the Senate have a clear and all-encompassing picture of reality in Israel and how the country and its citizens relate to their neighbors. This visit by Zimmerman and Jabari to Capitol Hill not only introduces members of Congress and the Senate to a phenomenon that is not widely known about but also to untapped opportunities of advancing prosperity and stability in the Middle East.”

Commenting on Jabari and Zimmerman’s recent meetings on Capitol Hill, Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) – who led an August 2019 Congressional delegation funded by USIEA, which was hosted by Jabari in his Hebron home –  told The Hill:  

“Sheikh Ashraf Jabari told us the economic relationship between Palestinians and Israelis is basic, strong, and can’t be separate. In a strong bipartisan way, we should be supporting the grassroots movement for economic cooperation between Israelis and Palestinians. It’s foundational to achieve peace in the region.”

McMorris Rogers and her delegation are not the only Members of Congress who have been warming up to the concept of peace through joint economic “coexistence” schemes like the JSCC. In early March 2019, U.S. Senator James Lankford incorrectly suggested that Congress had already allocated funding for the Judea and Samaria Chamber of Congress. Despite the error, his statement signalled that there are concerted, ongoing conversations in Congress regarding economic peace schemes. 

In addition to Members of Congress, Jabari and Zimmerman enjoy close and warm relations with U.S. Ambassador David Friedman, who has repeatedly met with and promoted the JSCC’s work. Amb. Friedman’s support first came into public view in October 2018 when Amb. Friedman attended an event convened by the Judea and Samaria Chamber of Commerce. Then, in February 2019, Amb. Friedman spoke about economic co-existence initiatives at a conference hosted by the JSCC and US-Israel Education Association. Speaking to the press at conference, Ambassador Friedman said the goal of the forum is to “encourage business development in Judea and Samaria, encourage the prosperity of people who live there, most of them Palestinian residents.” 

Bonus Reads

1. “Israel Limits West Bank Farmers’ Access to Lands Near Green Line” (Haaretz)
2. “Forbidden: The West Bank land Israel locks away from Palestinians.” (Middle East Eye)
3. “100-plus Democrats sign letter criticizing new US stance on Israeli settlements” (JNS)
4. “ Israel Limits West Bank Farmers’ Access to Lands Near Green Line” (Haaretz)

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

To subscribe to this report, please click here.

April 5, 2019

1. Israel Expected to Advance Nearly 5,000 Settlement Units
2. Glassman/Or Sameach Yeshiva Project at Entrance of Sheikh Jarrah Neighborhood Approved for Public Deposit
3. Also in Sheikh Jarrah, The Sabbagh Family Receives Another Eviction Notice
4. New Settler Bypass Road Gets Go-Ahead After Deadly, Disputed Incident at Huwwara Interchange
5. Settlers Are Cultivating Palestinian Farmland Taken by the Construction of Israel’s Separation Wall
6. Transportation Ministry Voices New Concern About Elad’s Zipline Project in East Jerusalem
7. Yesh Din Issues Authoritative Report on Israel’s “Racist Endeavor” to Retroactively Authorize Outposts
8. Al-Haq Report: Israel Appropriated ‘Ein Fara Spring; TripAdvisor Now Promotes It as an Israeli Tourist Destination
9. Settler Leader: “Settlements are a Bridge to Socio Economic Peace”
10. Bonus Reads

Questions/comments? Email kmccarthy@fmep.org

---

Israel Expected to Advance Nearly 5,000 Settlement Units

According to reports last week, Israeli planning bodies were expected to meet and advance plans for nearly 5,000 new settlement units at a meeting on April 1st. However, that meeting appears to have been delayed.

Nonetheless, it is worth reviewing the leaked details of the settlement plans slated to be advanced, of which 1,427 are reportedly set to receive final approval from the High Planning Council, including

• 603 new units in the Ma’aleh Adumim settlement just east of Jerusalem;
• 325 new units in the Alon settlement, near the disputed Palestinian village of Khan al-Ahmar east of Jerusalem;
• 108 new units in the Etz Efraim settlement, in the northern West Bank, one of several settlements slated to become a “super settlement” area;
• 110 new units in the Givat Ze’ev settlement just north of Jerusalem;
• 281 new units in the Beitar Illit settlement.

A subcommittee of the Israeli Civil Administration was also set to meet on April 1st (no press reports indicate that the meeting actually happened), and was expected to advance plans for 3,474 new settlement units for public deposit, an earlier stage of the settlement planning process (reminder: all stages of the settlement planning process are significant, as each step through the publication of tenders is a political act of the Israeli government). The plans slated to be approved for public deposit include plans in settlement across the West Bank, reportedly include the following settlements:

• Elon Moreh, located east of Nablus in the central West Bank;
• Karnei Shomron, in the northern West Bank;
• Elkana and Oranit, which along with Etz Efraim, are slated to become a part of a “super settlement” area;
• Ariel in the central West Bank;
• Beit Aryeh northwest of Ramallah;
• Shiloh in the central West Bank;
• Talmon north of Ramallah.
• Peduel, in the northern West Bank but on the Israeli side of the separation barrier; and,
• Mitzpeh Yericho, just west of Jericho.

Glassman/Or Sameach Yeshiva Project at Entrance of Sheikh Jarrah Neighborhood Approved for Public Deposit

On April 2nd, the Jerusalem District Planning and Building Committee approved the Glassman/Or Sameach yeshiva project for public deposit. The plan, as FMEP has repeatedly covered, seeks to build a Jewish religious school (a yeshiva) at the entrance of the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of East Jerusalem. The yeshiva is one of several settlement projects set to flank the road leading into the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood, designed to strengthen Israeli settlers’ hold on the neighborhood and seamlessly connect the growing settler enclave in Sheikh Jarrah with West Jerusalem.

Ir Amim warns and explains:

“[The Glassman/Or Sameach yeshiva] plan should be seen as an alarm bell in the context of Israel’s ramped up efforts to deepen its circle of control around the Old City Basin. The plan (Plan No. 68858)  calls for construction of an eleven-story building with eight levels above ground and three below, including a dormitory for hundreds of students and housing for faculty, to be located at the mouth of Sheikh Jarrah. It was submitted by the Ohr Somayach Institutions, to which the Israel Land Authority has already allotted land without a transparent tender process, and approved for deposit by the District Planning and Building Committee in July 2017.​”

In a detailed report on the Glassman yeshiva project, Terrestrial Jerusalem described it as:

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

Also in Sheikh Jarrah, The Sabbagh Family Receives Another Eviction Notice

On March 31st, the Palestinians Sabbagh family was handed another eviction notice, weeks after Israeli authorities rejected the family’s latest petition to reconsider the legal authority by which settlers are seeking to evict them from their home of 60+ years. Peace Now reports that the Sabbagh family is still attempting to delay their eviction, but is unlikely to succeed.

In a comprehensive briefing on the Sabbagh family’s protracted legal struggle, Ir Amim and Peace Now write:

“Increasingly, settler initiated, state-backed evictions of Palestinian families are being used as a strategy to help cement Israeli control over the area. Given their strategic location as gateways to the Old City, Sheikh Jarrah to the north of the Old City and Silwan to the south are the two neighborhoods under greatest pressure from Israeli settler groups. Some 150 families in these two areas alone are under threat of eviction…The Sabbagh family is only the latest family threatened with eviction in the Kerem Alja’oni section of Sheikh Jarrah. If evicted, their home will be the tenth to be seized by settlers. Roughly 30 Palestinian families are under threat of eviction and at least eleven have open court cases. Those cases were suspended pending the Supreme Court decision on the Sabbagh case; the recent removal of that stopgap could usher in a wave of new evictions. On the other side of Nablus road, in the Um Haroun section of Sheik Jarrah, an additional 40 or so families face the threat of eviction.”

New Settler Bypass Road Gets Go-Ahead After Deadly, Disputed Incident at Huwwara Interchange

The Israeli Defense Ministry announced that it approved the construction of a new bypass road to divert settler traffic around the Palestinian village of Huwwara. The new road will allow settlers to avoid the Huwwara interchange, a perpetually congested section of the main West Bank highway, Route 60, and an area that has been a site of Palestinian violence against the settlers, including a recent incident where a settler shot and killed a Palestinian teenager allegedly attacking the settler. Dubbed the “Huwwara Bypass,” the new road will be built on land historically a part of the Palestinian villages of Huwwara and Beita, which Israel seized for security reasons.

This road is one of five new bypass roads that Prime Minister Netanyahu promised to build under immense pressure from the settler lobby, known as the Yesha Council. It was one part of a massive security package that the Netanyahu government funded to the tune of $228 million in 2017. Peace Now detailed each of the five bypass roads slated for construction, and wrote:

“The planned roads…are meant to serve settlements located deep in the West Bank, which will not be a part of Israeli in the framework of an agreement according to the Geneva Initiative’s proposed border.Historically, the paving of bypass roads has led to an acceleration of the development of the adjacent settlements…Additionally, paving new roads in the West Bank entails the confiscation of private Palestinian lands. All of the roads are built due to needs of settlers rather than the needs of the Palestinians. In certain cases the roads can also be useful for Palestinians, but the majority of these roads are hardly used by Palestinians at all. This fact puts into question the Israeli legal argument behind the confiscation, as according to international law, the confiscation of lands must serve the local population, meaning the Palestinians.”

Transportation Ministry Voices New Concern About Elad’s Zipline Project in East Jerusalem

An official from the Israeli Transportation Ministry voiced reservations regarding the Elad settlement organization’s request to re-zone the “Peace Forest” as a “public use space” in order to allow for the construction of its zipline project there. At a meeting on April 1st (a previous meeting was covered by FMEP last week) to consider the request, a transportation official expressed concern that the project is a private commercial endeavor, not a public use project – meaning that the project might not be legal even if the forest were to be re-zoned for public use. The official said:

“[A zipline] constitutes commercial use: It’s not going to be operated by the municipality or a youth group. This alone is a reason not to approve the plan.”

The Haaretz report on the April 1st meeting also provides historical context on Elad’s illegal activities in the “Peace Forest” (which was established by the Jewish National Fund on privately owned land in East Jerusalem following the 1967 war) over the past 14 years. Haaretz writes:

“At first the NGO simply trespassed and built illegal structures there. But things changed and gradually various local and national bodies – including the Jerusalem Municipality, the Israel Land Authority, the Tourism Ministry and the JNF – began to grant Elad assistance. This assistance has included granting building permits retroactively, allocating land to the group without a proper bidding process, and generous funding to the tune of tens of millions of shekels…Most of Elad’s current focus is on managing and developing the City of David National Park in the Palestinian neighborhood of Silwan, and purchasing homes for Jews from the Arabs living there. But the NGO isn’t neglecting its other projects: It has been sponsoring activities in the Peace Forest since 2005, despite the fact that it has no ownership rights there or permits from the ILA (the legal owner of the land, which was expropriated from private Palestinian owners). These activities are essentially expanding Elad’s reach from Silwan into the entire historic basin of Jerusalem’s Old City, from the Mount of Olives to the Armon Hanatziv promenade (which actually consists of several different walkways, projects of the Jerusalem Foundation).”

Settlers Are Cultivating Palestinian Farmland Taken by the Construction of Israel’s Separation Wall

For the past six years, Israeli farmers have been farming Palestinian land that was left on the Israeli side of the separation barrier, an area Palestinian landowners are largely barred from entering.

When the separation wall was constructed in the early 2000s, it confiscated 35,000 acres (140,000 dunams) of Palestinian land as a result of its circuitous route that snakes deep inside of the West Bank. The land between the wall and the 1967 Green Line is commonly referred to as the “seam zone.”

Kerem Navot founder Dror Etkes – who obtained aerial photography documenting settler activity in the area – explained:

“One of the same plots to which landowners are barred from entering is located west of the Palestinian village of Nuba, about 15 kilometers northwest of Hebron. Nearly half of the village’s land was lost in 1948 because it remained west of the Green Line, and with the construction of the separation barrier in the area from 2005-2006, residents lost another 1,000 dunams that remained on the other side of the barrier. Although there’s an agricultural gate on site that was supposed to be used by landowners to reach their territory to the west, their entry has not been possible since the barrier was constructed. This ‘vacuum’ was identified by the ‘Mateh Yehuda Agricultural Association,’ which cultivates vast swaths of land that were transferred to Israeli moshavim in the area, including those west of the Green Line. After a few years in which the villagers didn’t access their land, the Agricultural Association decided that it was time to take over of one of the wadis in the area.”

Etkes separately told Haaretz:

“This story allows a peek into the jungle Israel created in areas left between the barrier and the Green Line. This area, called ‘the seam’ by Israel, is gradually becoming a looting ground for anyone who can grab a plot while exploiting a reality in which tens of thousands of West Bank residents are unable to reach their lands. All this proves that the route along which the barrier was built passes mostly through the West Bank, serving political interests, as anyone with eyes in his head saw and understood as the barrier was being built.”

Yesh Din Issues Authoritative Report on Israel’s “Racist Endeavor” to Retroactively Authorize Outposts

In a new report, the Israeli NGO Yesh Din analyzes the legal pretexts Israel has created to systematically legalize outposts across the West Bank that were built in contravention of Israeli law and on privately owned Palestinian land.

The report reviews and rebutts the findings of the “Zandberg Report”  – which (approvingly) outlined various legal tactics and tools the state can use to save those outposts.

Yesh Din found that the Zandberg Report’s recommendations allow for 99% of all unauthorized outposts to be retroactively approved within 2-3 years, anticipating that the government will declare 20 new settlements in the process.

Yesh Din’s report also examines how Israel has already undertaken the first step in this effort, by introducing the “market regulation” principle into the courts. If validated by the courts, the “market regulation” principle will provids legal cover to ‘regularize’ 2,700-3,000 illegal structures built on privately owned Palestinian land.

Yesh Din writes:

“The Zandberg Committee aids a racist endeavor whose essence is the dispossession of Palestinians from their land on the basis of ethnicity. The euphemisms used in the report and the legal terminology it employs do nothing to hide the fact that the ‘Regularization Committee’ report is, in fact, an expropriation report which provides the government more methods for normalizing and deepening the iniquity of Israel’s settlement policy: one area, the West Bank, with two populations – privileged Israeli citizens and Palestinians living under military rule, dispossessed and oppressed.”

Analyzing the Zandberg Report as an alternative to the settlement “Regulation Law,” Yesh Din states:

“The Zandberg Committee seemingly offers a more restrained framework for ‘regularization’ or retroactive authorization that purports to be less injurious than the ‘Regularization Law’ and relies on legal doctrines. In truth, however, the report cloaks landgrab, dispossession and expropriation on an extremely large scale – approaching that of the Regularization Law – in a shroud of legality.”

Al-Haq Report: Israel Appropriated ‘Ein Fara Spring; TripAdvisor Now Promotes It as an Israeli Tourist Destination

Al-Haq, the preeminent Palestinian human rights group, published a report documenting Israel’s appropriation of the ‘Ein Fara spring, located on the lands of the Palestinian village of Anata northeast of Jerusalem. The spring historically served as the primary source of drinking water and agricultural water for Anata and several surrounding villages.

Since 1967, Israel has appropriated the spring and its waters, and built five settlement on the surrounding land.

Israel renamed the spring the “En Prat Nature Reserve” and promotes religious tourism at the site, as does TripAdvisor.

Al-Haq writes:

“The appropriation of village lands, confiscation of water resources and continued denied access to Palestinians violates the right to self-determination, further breaches the prohibition of discrimination, the right to life including the duty to ensure access to water, the right to water, the rights of freedom of movement, the right to a livelihood, and cultural rights related to the integral use of the ‘Ein Fara spring to communal village life. Al-Haq reminds that Trip Advisor is advertising ‘En Prat Nature Reserve’ a settler tourism service, on its internet platform. Al-Haq stresses that Trip Advisor is providing an economic service for the benefit of Israeli settlements, which may amount to an involvement in settlement related activities.”

Settler Leader: “Settlements are a Bridge to Socio Economic Peace”

Writing in the Jewish News Syndicate, Yochai Dimri (chairman of Har Hevron Regional Council) makes a pitch for the Israeli public and elected officials to drop hopes of a “peace deal” in favor of socio-economic “co-existence” initiatives that normalize the settlements.

As FMEP has documented, this message lines up exactly with the activities and priorities of the Trump Administration, particularly with Amb. David Friedman who has been in partnership with the Har Hevron Regional Council to promote the Judea and Samaria Chamber of Commerce as an Israeli-Palestinian business cooperative.

In a piece entitled – “Settlements are a Bridge to SocioEconomic Peace” – Dimri writes:

“The Barkan Industrial Park near Ariel is an outstanding model for collaboration between Jews and Arabs, and is the wellspring of local employment for both populations. A similar industrial area in Har Hevron is currently in the planning stages, and flourishing businesses and factories are expected to be established there to benefit the residents of Har Hevron and the Negev…The need of the hour is to expand collaborations to include health, education and other necessary areas as well—not through international initiatives, but through Israeli ones. Once Israel learns to view the settlement communities in Judea and Samaria as an asset and not a liability, as an impetus for change and not a roadblock, it will discover that they are not an obstacle to peace, but rather a bridge to achieving economic and social peace.”

FMEP’s Lara Friedman reacted to this notion in a recent op-ed:

“Last October, Friedman participated in a public event convened in the settlement of Ariel. The event, which featured Israeli settlers and a handful of Palestinians, promoted the view that the key to peace is not political agreements or negotiations. Rather, peace would come from economic and business cooperation between Palestinians (living under Israeli occupation, governed by Israeli military and military law designed to promote the interests and needs of Israel, entirely disenfranchised from the powers that control their lives) and settlers (living in settlements built on land taken from Palestinians, enjoying all the entitlements and protections of Israeli citizenship and law, and with representatives and allies at every level of Israeli government). This approach, not coincidentally, exemplifies a vision of ‘peace’ based on promises of improved quality of life for individual Palestinians, de-coupled from any pretense of helping Palestinians end an occupation that the United States no longer believes to exist, or achieve national self-determination that the United States no longer supports. Tweeting about that event, Friedman suggested that this kind of cooperation was precisely the kind of opportunity that the Palestinian people truly want and could have, if only their leadership would listen.”

Bonus Reads

1. “How Israel is Working to Remove Palestinians from Jerusalem” (The National)
2. “Annexation Will Free Israel from the Fake Commitment to Liberty and Equality” (Haaretz)

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

To subscribe to this report, please click here.

March 29, 2019

1. Report: U.S. & Israel Are Discussing Annexation “Scenarios” Including  Ariel, Ma’aleh Adumim, and Etzion “Settlement Blocs” [And AIPAC Stuff]
2. Israel Gives Final Approval to Arieh King Settlement Project in Sheikh Jarrah
3. Jerusalem Planning Authorities Advance Legal Cover for Hasty Approval of Settler Zip Line Project in East Jerusalem
4. Updated Jerusalem Map by Ir Amim
5. Bonus Reads

Questions/comments? Email kmccarthy@fmep.org

---

Report: U.S. & Israel Are Discussing Annexation “Scenarios” Including  Ariel, Ma’aleh Adumim, and Etzion “Settlement Blocs” [And AIPAC Stuff]

According to anonymous sources, Israel and the U.S. are in discussions regarding Israel’s annexation of the Ariel, Ma’aleh Adumim, and Etzion “settlement blocs” shortly after the upcoming Israeli elections, scheduled for April 9th. The Times of Israel report suggests that officials are discussing a scenario where Netanyahu could move to unilaterally annex those areas – or promise to annex those areas in order to shore up right-wing support during the election – with “some degree of American backing.” [Note: The term “settlement bloc” generally refers to loose groupings of settlements, usually but not always along the Green Line or separation barrier. However, since the term has no legal or formal definition, its meaning is elastic and constantly expanding.]

Attention to Israel’s possible (and increasingly likely) formal annexation of territory in the West Bank (some or all) has caught a strong tailwind from the U.S. recognition of Israel’s annexation of the Golan Heights – which President Trump first tweeted and then formalized by signing a declaration while Netanyahu was by his side at the White House on March 25th. Celebrating the new U.S. acceptance of annexation, Netanyahu said outright:

“Everyone says you can’t hold an occupied territory, but this [U.S. recognition of Israeli sovereignty over the Golan] proves you can. If occupied in a defensive war, then it’s ours.”

New York Times coverage of Netanyahu’s remark noted:

“Still, Mr. Netanyahu’s argument reflected how much the diplomatic context for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has shifted. With the Trump administration unilaterally acting in defiance of longstanding international consensus on the status of Jerusalem, Palestinian refugees and now the Golan Heights, it has become possible to speak openly of annexing the West Bank in a way that was not considered acceptable a few years ago.”

The signing took place during the course of the annual AIPAC national policy conference – where U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman delivered a speech seeming to urge Netanyahu to quickly seize the opportunity for West Bank measures while Trump is in office. Friedman said:

“How can we kick the can down the road and leave this to our successors? Sure, that would be easier. That doesn’t make it right. Can we leave this to an administration that may not understand the existential risk to Israel if Judea and Samaria are overcome by terrorism in the manner that befell the Gaza Strip after the IDF withdrew from this territory? Can we leave this to an administration that may not understand the need for Israel to maintain overriding security control of Judea and Samaria and a permanent defense position in the Jordan valley?”

Commenting on Friedman’s speech, an American source told The Times of Israel:

“the next [Trump] tweet will be to recognize Israel annexing the settlement blocs.”

At a meeting convened on March 27th,  14 of 15 members of the United Nations Security Council made speeches condemning Trump’s recognition of Israeli sovereignty over the Golan (the U.S. was the lone supporter). The five European countries that who sit on the the council (France, Germany, Poland, Britain, and Belgium) issued a joint statement criticizing the U.S. declaration and noting the dangerous message it sends regarding West Bank annexation. The statement reads:

“In line with international law, and relevant Security Council resolutions, notably Resolutions 242 and 497, we do not recognize Israel’s sovereignty over the territories occupied by Israel since June 1967, including the Golan Heights, and we do not consider them to be part of the territory of the State of Israel. Annexation of territory by force is prohibited under international law. Any declaration of a unilateral border change goes against the foundation of the rules-based international order and the UN Charter. We raise our strong concerns about broader consequences of recognizing illegal annexation and also about the broader regional consequences.”

A recent poll conducted by Haaretz found that 42% of Israelis support the idea of annexing West Bank territory – with 19% backing full annexation without giving Palestinians political rights; 8% backing total annexation but giving Palestinians rights; and 12% supporting annexation of Area C alone.

Israel Gives Final Approval to Arieh King Settlement Project in Sheikh Jarrah

Ir Amim reports that on March 19th, the Jerusalem Planning & Building Committee give final approval to two plans for a total of 13 new settlement units in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of East Jerusalem.

The planning for these units was previously fast-tracked by the committee in December 2018, and because the plans were initiated by private parties (the settlers), the plan will not have to go through the public tender process, meaning that building can start quickly. The last thing delaying construction is the court proceedings to evict five Palestinian families who live in a building that the plan calls to demolish.

Ir Amim explains:

“These are two of the plans that were unfrozen in the surge of 2,000+ plans promoted in the summer of 2017, which also saw the Shemasneh family eviction. In Um Haroun, some 45 Palestinian families are living under threat of eviction. There are at least nine families with eviction cases pending in court and an additional five that have received warning letters attached to eviction claims. Two families have already been displaced and their homes taken over by settlers. City Councilor Arieh King has promised to put 400 new families on the ground in Sheikh Jarrah in the next 10 years.”

Jerusalem Planning Authorities Advance Legal Cover for Hasty Approval of Settler Zip Line Project in East Jerusalem

Ir Amim reports that on March 25th, the Jerusalem District Planning and Building Committee revisited a plan for a zipline park project in East Jerusalem promoted by the radical settler group Elad, for which the committee had already issued a building permit to Elad in March 2018.

As FMEP reported last year, the process by which the committee issued the building permit was highly unusual — and, it turns out, illegal because the area in question is designated as a forest in Israel’s master plan for national forests. In hopes of finding a legal path around the national forest master plan, the Jerusalem Municipality stepped in to submit a request to the Jerusalem District Planning and Building Committee to designate the area as an “open public space” (which would allow building).

Ir Amim explains the committee’s actions this week:

“The request was submitted by the Jerusalem Municipality, creating the appearance of a legitimate municipal initiative as opposed to a settler promoted plan while signaling municipal backing of Elad.”

If the project is implemented, it will be Israel’s longest zipline – coming in at 2,570 feet – and will travel over the Palestinian neighborhood Jabal al-Mukaber. The zipline will connect two popular tourist sites in Jerusalem, the Armon Hanatziv promenade and the Peace Forest in the Abu Tor neighborhood.

Ir Amim, writing about the totality of settler-run tourist sites across East Jerusalem, writes:

“The privatization of project management to nationalist settler organizations enables the Israeli government to exploit tourism as a tool for reinforcing settlement initiatives in the Old City and its environs, erasing the significant Palestinian presence there, promulgating the idea of the entire area as an Israeli environment, and imposing a nationalistic Israeli character that blurs the multi-religious and multi-cultural nature of the space, primarily to the detriment of the Muslim sites and presence. Ultimately, this use of national parks and tourist sites serves the goal of transforming the Palestinian neighborhoods in and around the Old City – including Silwan, A-Tur, Ras al-Amud and Sheikh Jarrah – from a densely populated Palestinian area into one sprawling tourist site that bolsters Israeli control of the area and access to it.”

Updated Jerusalem Map by Ir Amim

Ir Amim published updates to its 2019 map of Jerusalem of the settlement ring around Jerusalem’s Old City, along with detailed, comprehensive notes.

Bonus Reads

1. “On a Clear Day in the West Bank, You Can See the Israel You Lost Forever” (Haaretz)
2. “Stop Israel’s Coming Annexation” (Haaretz)
3. “My Palestinian Family’s Land was Stolen. Then It Showed Up on AirBnB” (Huff Po)
4. “The Dark Reality of the Jordan Valley” (Mondoweiss)
5. “The Golan Heights First” (Haaretz)

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

To subscribe to this report, please click here.

March 8, 2019

1. Settlers Take Over Two Palestinian Homes in the Muslim Quarter of Jerusalem’s Old City
2. Jerusalem Planning Authority Nullifies Only Way Palestinians Can Prove Land Ownership in East Jerusalem
3. Report: Jerusalem City Council to Approve Plan to Build Two New Settlements, Expand Others
4. Israeli Court Rejects Another Petition to Stop the Eviction of the Sabbagh Family from their Home in Sheikh Jarrah
5. Ambassador Friedman Takes Over Palestinian Relations & Settlement Reporting
6. Congressional Funding for Settler Business Council?
7. UNHCR Delays (Again) Publication of Database Identifying Businesses Operating in Settlements
8. Bonus Reads

Questions/comments? Emailkmccarthy@fmep.org

---

Settlers Take Over Two Palestinian Homes in the Muslim Quarter of Jerusalem’s Old City

On March 6th, settlers, in coordination with Israeli security forces, moved into a house in the Muslim Quarter of Jerusalem’s Old City. The settlers have elected to name the house after slain American-Israeli settler Ari Fuld, who was killed in a knife attack perpetrated by a Palestinian in September 2018.

The house in question was acquired by  the radical Ateret Cohanim settler organization last year. The sale of the home, which is just 100 meters from the Dome of the Rock/Al-Haram al-Sharif,  sparked intense controversy in the local Palestinian community and political factions, leading to the arrest and alleged torture of the Palestinian-American who was responsible for the transaction, Issam Aqel, by the Palestinian Authority.

An attorney for Ateret Cohanim told Haaretz:

“Happily another house in the Old City was redeemed. The racist Palestinian Authority, which uses terror against Arabs who dare sell a house to Jews, suffered another defeat today.”

Knesset Member Moti Yogev (Habayit Hayehudi) visited the new settlement house and said:

“the house was purchased by Jews and will house Jewish residents, despite efforts by the Palestinian Authority, which tortured Aqel and manufactured forged documents showing ownership of the house, while imposing terror within sovereign Israeli territory, at the heart of our eternal capital Jerusalem.”

In an unrelated report, Maan News reports that settlers have evicted the al-Halabi family from its home and taken over their property in the Muslim Quarter of Jerusalem’s Old City. Settlers reportedly used pepper spray against Palestinians who attempted to prevent them from entering the apartment while the al-Halabi family was out shopping; five Palestinians were detained by the Israeli forces. The home is in a 4-unit building in which, according to Ma’an, Israeli settlers have succeeded in acquiring a majority ownership from its Palestinian owners.

According to OCHA-OPT, there are 20 Palestinian families (74 adults and 30 children) living in Jerusalem’s Old City under threat of eviction. FMEP recently reported on two families under imminent risk of eviction at the behest of settlers.

Jerusalem Planning Authority Nullifies Only Way Palestinians Can Prove Land Ownership in East Jerusalem

In what appears to be a significant change in Israeli policy in governing East Jerusalem – where Palestinians live under Israeli domestic law but are not citizens and do not the same rights as citizens –  the Jerusalem Planning and Building Committee annulled the long-standing Israel-accepted procedure which was the only means by which Palestinians could document their land ownership claims in East Jerusalem. Known as the “mukhtar protocol” under this procedures Palestinian East Jerusalemites could document/prove ownership by collecting signatures from local Palestinian leaders acknowledging that the land in question was, indeed, owned by the claimant. The longstanding policy was developed by the Israeli government as an alternative to the formal land-registration process, which has been frozen in East Jerusalem since 1967, after the Six-Day War.

With this shift in policy, the Jerusalem Planning and Building Committee reportedly denied 20 applications for building permits submitted by Palestinians at a meeting in early March 2019, where the applications relied on the “mukhtar protocol.”

Mohammed Abu Ghanem, an architect whose plan for 12 homes in the Silwan neighborhood was rejected this week, called the shift in Israeli policy a “catastrophe,” saying:

“we have no other ownership documents to present, and 90 percent of the land is not registered.”

Haaretz reports that settlement impresario Aryeh King is reportedly behind the campaign for the government to stop recognizing Palestinian land ownership based on this procedure.

In May 2018, Israeli Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked announced funding for a new initiative to start the process of registering land in East Jerusalem as a means of consolidating Israeli claims to Palestinian neighborhoods (and undoubtedly find more “unowned” land for the settlers). At the time, Israel’s Minister of Justice Ayelet Shaked said:

“the start of land settlement of title and registration in East Jerusalem [is] a step toward promoting Israeli sovereignty and control over the city….[t]he day before the strengthening of Jerusalem through the transfer of the American embassy to Jerusalem, and after decades of Israeli sovereignty in eastern Jerusalem, we are strengthening the city and actually applying sovereignty through the program of land regulation in East Jerusalem.”

The Palestinian human rights group Al-Mezan responded:

“This policy violates Palestinian rights and breaches international humanitarian law, whereas this situation almost always results in the conversion of lands into ‘state property’ due to lack of availability of ‘proof of ownership’ by Palestinian current landowners. This will also allow the re-implantation of the Absentee Property Law, which allows the state to seize, manage, lease, transform, and sell the properties of Palestinians who are declared ‘absentees’.”

Report: Jerusalem City Council to Approve Plan to Build Two New Settlements, Expand Others

The settler-run news outlet Arutz Sheva reports that the Jerusalem City Council is preparing to approve a huge plan for new construction in both East and West Jerusalem. If implemented, the plan will allow the construction of two brand-new settlements in East Jerusalem. One, called “Ramot 07,” will consist of 2,000 units built north of the existing Ramot settlement; the second, called “Moradot Neve Ya’akov,” will also consist of 2,000 new units built between the settlements of Pisgat Ze’ev settlement and Neve Ya’akov. Both new settlements are specifically for ultra-orthodox (Haredi) Israelis.

Jerusalem expert Daniel Seidemann notes that the Arutz Sheva report – specifically in regards to the large scale settlement construction in East Jerusalem – which has not been confirmed by other outlets, might not be accurate. Seidemann tells FMEP:

“The report sounds highly questionable. Large scale construction can take place only within the boundaries of the expropriated lands, and the potential there has all but been exhausted. I am unaware of other sites where building of this scale or anything like it is possible elsewhere, and I doubt such sites exist.”

Israeli Court Rejects Another Petition to Stop the Eviction of the Sabbagh Family from their Home in Sheikh Jarrah

On March 3rd, the Israel Law Enforcement and Collection Authority, a support unit for the courts under the Ministry of Justice, dismissed a petition objecting to the eviction of the Sabbagh family from its home of 60+ years in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of East Jerusalem at the behest of Israeli settlers.

The ruling puts the 45-member Sabbagh family, once again, at imminent risk of eviction.

The Sabbagh family has been struggling against eviction proceedings initiated by the settler organization Nahalat Shimon, which was awarded ownership rights of their house through use of the “Legal and Administration Matters Law,” which allows Israeli Jews (but not Palestinians) to reclaim property lost/abandoned during the 1948 war. Nahalat Shimon managed to find the Jewish Israeli family who owned the home prior to the war and convinced that family to hand over their ownership rights.

The Norwegian Refugee Council writes:

“The risk of imminent forced eviction of the Sabbagh family in Sheikh Jarrah; the eviction of the Abu Asab family in the Old City and its replacement by Israeli settlers in mid-February; and the progress of settler compounds and touristic settlement in Silwan indicate a bolder intent to further entrench and tighten Israeli control over key locations across East Jerusalem, including through altering the demographic composition of the territory.”  

There have been weekly protests in Sheikh Jarrah against the eviction of the Sabbagh family.

Peace Now writes:

“This is part of an organized and systematic campaign of settlers, with the assistance of government agencies, to expel entire communities in East Jerusalem and to establish settlements in their stead. Dozens of other families face the risk of eviction by legal proceedings in which settlers and government officials exploit discriminatory laws that allow Jews to return to pre-1948 assets yet forbid Palestinians from doing the same. In this way, settlers seek to create a buffer inside the Palestinian neighborhood and make it difficult to reach a territorial compromise in Jerusalem so essential to a two-state solution.”

Ambassador Friedman Takes Over Palestinian Relations & Settlement Reporting

On March 4th, the U.S. Consulate General in Jerusalem was formally closed, and a new “Palestinian Affairs Unit” began operating under the supervision of U.S. Ambassador David Friedman, as part of the U.S. Embassy to Israel, recently established in Jerusalem by the Trump Administration.

The U.S. has been represented in Jerusalem by a Consulate General since 1844; from the start of the peace process in the 1990s until this week, the Consulate served as the de facto U.S. diplomatic mission to the Palestinians, and was a central player in advancing U.S. efforts to broker a negotiated end to the conflict.

Explaining the significance of the closure – and batting down headlines that suggest the consulate was merely “merging” with the new Embassy – Jerusalem expert Daniel Seidemann tweeted:

“No, the Consulate (the de facto US mission to Palestine) will NOT ‘merge’ with the Embassy. It will be subsumed into the Embassy to Israel. This is no mere technicality, and precisely reflects current US policies: all things Palestinian are subservient to Israeli interests.”

Notably, the Consulate General in Jerusalem reported directly to Washington, covering not only Palestinian affairs but also, notably, all issues related to settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem (consulates in nearly all other cases are subsidiaries of the U.S. embassy in a given country, and any reporting they do flows through the embassy and the Ambassador). Now, all that reporting will be overseen by U.S. Ambassador David Friedman.

Friedman, it should be recalled, is a long-time and unabashed settlements supporter. In addition to personal donations to the settlements, prior to his appointment as Ambassador, Friedman served as the President of a U.S. organization dedicated to fundraising for the Beit El settlement. Friedman recently declared to the press that he is a proud “right-wing” defender of Israel. According to reports, Friedman has tried to eliminate the words “West Bank” from the State Department’s lexicon in favor “Judea and Samaria” (the term used by settlers), and, n a departure from longstanding U.S. policy, frequently visits the settlements.

All of this suggests that Friedman – who has made clear that he regards the settlements as part of Israel, does not oppose settlement construction, and that he does not believe the U.S. should or will ask Israel to withdraw from settlements in the context of a peace “plan” or negotiations with the Palestinians – will likely stem the flow of information to Washington regarding settlements, and re-focus it in support of a pro-settlement political agenda.

Notably, in his capacity as Ambassador, Friedman has publicly embraced and promoted economic co-existence initiatives -between settlers and Palestinians – as a core U.S. priority on the ground (FMEP has repeatedly explained the perversity of labeling Israel’s economic exploitation of occupied territory, including the local workforce, land, and other natural resources, “coexistence,” or suggesting that it brings to the Palestinians benefits they should welcome.

Regarding the consulate closure, the PLO said in a statement:

“The decision of the American administration to close the American consulate in Palestine, which was opened in Jerusalem in 1844, as of this morning and merge it with the US embassy in Israel after moving it from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and operating a special unit for Palestine in the embassy reflect the level of audacity of the American administration in striking the international decisions, which it has contributed to writing, and a denial of the historic rights of our people and the international conventions and laws that support the right of our people to end the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories started in 1967, the establishment of the independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital and the right of return for refugees as per United Nations resolution 194. This decision is the implementation of the policy and decision of the colonial settlements council in the West Bank.”

Hanan Ashrawi, a member of the PLO central committee, said that the merger:

“is not an administrative decision. It is an act of political assault on Palestinian rights and identity.”

Congressional Funding for Settler Business Council?

U.S. Senator James Lankford created confusion recently by suggesting that a new U.S. law provides a funding for the “Judea and Samaria Chamber of Congress,” a purported group of Israeli and Palestinian businesspeople cooperating on new ventures in the settlements for the benefit of both peoples (a claim which, as FMEP has repeatedly explained, is ultimately aimed at normalizing and entrenching the exploitative nature of Israel’s occupation and settlement of the West Bank).

The confusion stems from the fact that Sen. Lankford’s suggestion appears to be factually incorrect – Congress has not approved any such funding. One bill which U.S. congresspeople might use for this purpose, the Palestinian Partnership Fund (HR 7060/ S. 3549), was introduced in the last Congress, but has not yet been moved in the new Congress. The bill’s authors intended (and ostensibly continue to intend) to provide funding for people-to-people exchanges that bring Palestinian and Israeli civil society together, with the understanding that such programming is an important complementary track to good-faith peace negotiations.

If and when (and with whatever motive) the U.S. Congress acts on HR 7060/S. 3549, or introduces any legislation relating to financing these economic coexistence endeavors, it will be reported and analyzed by FMEP President Lara Friedman in her weekly legislative roundup (subscribe here).

UNHCR Delays (Again) Publication of Database Identifying Businesses Operating in Settlements

On March 5th, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet announced that the Human Rights Council has once again delayed the publication of a database listing companies that do business inside of Israeli settlements. In a letter, Bachelet committed to publishing the database “in coming months.”

The UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) adopted a resolution on March 24, 2016 mandating the creation of the database listing the business enterprises that “have, directly and indirectly, enabled, facilitated and profited from the construction and growth of the settlements.” The database is meant to assist UN member states in complying with their legal obligations under international law. International legal scholar Valentina Azarova explained:

“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.”

Human Rights Watch issued a statement regarding the latest delay, saying:

“Israeli authorities’ brazen expansion of illegal settlements underscores why the U.N. database of businesses facilitating these settlements needs to be published,” Bruno Stagno Ugarte, an advocacy director for Human Rights Watch, said in a statement. “Each delay further entrenches corporate involvement in the systematic rights abuses stemming from illegal settlements.”

Israel and the United States have fought tooth-and-nail against the publication of the database, labeling it an anti-Israel “blacklist.”

Bonus Reads

1. “Are Palestinian Police Protecting Settlers?” (Al-Monitor)

2. “One Israeli’s Journey from Ultra-Orthodox Settler to Peace Activist” (NBC News)

3. “At West Bank High School, Knesset Candidates’ Discuss Future of Pupils’ Home” (Times of Israel)

4. “What Netanyahu’s Election Strategy Shows About How Settlers Vote” (Times of Israel)

5. “By Force of Forgery: How Settlers Claim Palestinian Homes” (Middle East Eye)

 

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.

February 15, 2019

1. Israel Announces Plan to Retroactively Legalize Settlement Units Built on Privately Owned Palestinian Land
2. Jerusalem Planning Authorities Are Quietly Advancing Sensitive Settlement Projects in East Jerusalem
3. Peace Now Files Appeal Against Settler Land Grab for New “E-2/Givat Eitam” Settlement
4. Peace Now Petitions High Court to End Flow of Public Funds to Settler Organization
5. AG Paves Way for Ariel Medical School to Open, Despite Rejection by Key Committee
6. Following Expulsion of International Observers, Emboldened Settlers Attack Palestinians
7. Yitzhar Settlers Attack Palestinian School, So IDF Restricts Palestinian Access to Roads to Allow Yitzhar Settler Protests
8. NEW: Ir Amim Publishes 2019 Map of Settlement Projects In and Around Jerusalem’s Old City
9. Bonus Reads

Questions/comments? Email kmccarthy@fmep.org

---

Israel Announces Plan to Retroactively Legalize Settlement Units Built on Privately Owned Palestinian Land

On February 10th, the Israeli government informed the Jerusalem District Court that it plans to invoke the “market regulation” principle in order to retroactively legalize four structures in the Alei Zahav settlement – structures built on land that even Israel acknowledges is privately owned by Palestinians.

According to Haaretz, a 2016 land survey conducted by the Israeli Civil Administration discovered the existence of privately owned Palestinian land in the settlement, which older Israeli maps had marked as “state land.” After the discovery, settlers went to court to sue the World Zionist Organization (which was allocated the land by the Israeli government), the Israeli Defense Ministry, and the contractor who built the settlement demanding that they fix the situation. The state’s response to the Jerusalem District Court this week freezes the settler’s petition while the government’s plan is implemented.

The “market regulation” principle was identified by Israeli Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit as an alternative to the settlement Regulation Law (the controversial law passed by the Knesset that, in effect, lets the Israeli government suspend the rule of law to seize privately owned Palestinian land for the benefit of settlers). Both the Regulation Law and the “market regulation” principle are designed to give Israel legal cover to retroactively legalize outposts and settlement structures that, because they are built on land that Israel acknowledges is privately owned by Palestinians, the State had been unable legalize under existing Israeli law (despite great efforts to do so). The “market regulation” principle holds that Israeli settlement construction can be retroactively legalized if it was carried out “in good faith” with government support on land that was later discovered to be privately owned by Palestinians.

The Israeli High Court is already considering a petition against the constitutionality of the “market regulation” principle, a case stemming from the State’s first attempt to implement it in order to retroactively legalize the Mitzpe Kramim outpost.

If allowed to proceed on the basis of the “market regulation” principle, the state will first have to publish an official planning scheme for the area, and allow the public (including the Palestinian landowners, as recognized by Israeli) to object. Attorney Alaa Mahajna, who is representing the Palestinian landowners involved in the case, said:

“Even without making use of the vilified expropriation law [aka the Regulation Law], the state still finds ways and uses other routes to attain the same goal, giving its legal imprimatur to robbery of land, with residents who are protected under international law.”

FMEP tracks the ongoing legislative, political, and legal transformations happening in the Israeli government to justify the expropriation of Palestinian land for the settlements in its Annexation Policy Tables.

Jerusalem Planning Authorities Are Quietly Advancing Sensitive Settlement Projects in East Jerusalem

Ir Amim reports that  East Jerusalem settlement planning authorities are advancing sensitive settlement projects in East Jerusalem through secretive and expedited processes, thereby limiting the opportunity for stakeholders and the public to challenge the plans.

For example, on February 5th, the Jerusalem Local Planning and Building Committee discussed public objections filed against two settlement plans in Sheikh Jarrah. Both of the plans are being promoted by East Jerusalem settlement impresario and city council member Aryeh King. The committee did not notify those objecting to the plan that these proceedings were planned, and so no one objecting to the plan was present in the February 5th discussion. The plans, which would allow for the construction of two new buildings – one with 10 units and the other with 3 units – would involve the eviction of 5 Palestinian families from buildings that would be demolished.

On February 17th, the Jerusalem District Planning and Building Committee will consider the Glassman Yeshiva project – a plan to build a Jewish religious school, including dormitories, at the entrance to the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood. Ir Amim reports that it is unclear what the committee will do in considering the plan, since authorities have advanced the plan outside of the normal planning process, even succeeding in have land allocated for the yeshiva despite the fact that the plan was never deposited for public review (meaning stakeholders and the public have had no opportunity to object).

Ir Amim writes:

“Despite their tremendous political and environmental sensitivity, plans are now being fast tracked, some outside of appropriate planning channels and with limited public participation, in service to decidedly political considerations and with the prominent involvement of settler associations. The new map and accompanying map notes detail the numerous projects and eviction cases now advancing.”

For an explanation of how East Jerusalem settlement planning/approval is supposed to work under Israeli law and practice, see Terrestrial Jerusalem’s presentation here.

Peace Now Files Appeal Against Settler Land Grab for New “E-2/Givat Eitam” Settlement

On February 7th, the settlement watchdog group Peace Now and dozens of Palestinian landowners filed a petition with the Israeli Custodian of Government and Abandoned Property demanding the annulment of the allocation of “state land” for the sole declared purpose of building the new “E-2/Givat Eitam” settlement. Rather than challenging Israel’s classification of the land as “state land,” the petition asks that the land be allocated instead for Palestinian use, challenging Israel’s discriminatory allocation of “state land” for the settlements. It builds on recent revelations that since 1967, Israel has allocated a jaw-dropping 99.8% of state land in the West Bank to settlements and just 0.2% for Palestinians.

The petition argues that the allocation of state land for the exclusive use of settlements/settlers is illegal both under the Hague Conventions and under domestic anti-discrimination laws in Israel.

Regarding the new petition, Peace Now says:

“Since the 1979 Elon Moreh ruling, no petition has succeeded in undermining the legal infrastructure that enables the ongoing expansion of the settlement enterprise. This initiative and the surrounding public struggle aims to undermine the prevailing view that “state land” in the occupied territories effectively constitutes land available for Israeli use, and to obligate the Supreme Court and the Israeli public, to address this fundamental question.”

Israel announced on December 26, 2018 that it will draft plans to build as many as 2,500 new settlement units at the Givat Eitam outpost site, creating a new settlement on a strategic hilltop that will cut off Bethlehem from the southern West Bank, completing the encirclement of Bethlehem by Israeli settlements.

The Givat Eitam outpost has been nicknamed “E-2” by settlement watchers for for its resemblance, in terms of dire geopolitical implications, to the infamous E-1 settlement plan. Located east of the separation barrier on a strategic hilltop overlooking the Palestinian city of Bethlehem to its north, the site of Givat Eitam/E-2 is within the municipal borders of the Efrat settlement but is not contiguous with Efrat’s built-up area. As such, Givat Eitam/E-2 would effectively be a new settlement that, according to Peace Now, would:

“block Bethlehem from the south, and prevent any development in the only direction that has not yet been blocked by settlements (the city is already blocked from the North by the East Jerusalem settlements of Gilo and Har Homa, and from the West by the Gush Etzion Settlements) or bypass roads (that were paved principally for Israeli settlers). The planned building in area E2 would likely finalize the cutting off of Bethlehem city from the southern West Bank, delivering a crushing blow to the Two States solution.”

Peace Now Petitions High Court to End Flow of Public Funds to Settler Organization

The settlement watchdog group Peace Now has filed a petition with the High Court of Justice to stop public funding flowing to the radical Amana settler organization, which is a private, for-profit entity engaging in various illegal activities to establish and expand Israeli settlements and outposts across the West Bank.

The new petition is based on Peace Now’s investigative work revealing the substantial amount of money that has been secretly funneled to Amana through settlement regional councils. The settlement regional council budgets obtained by Peace Now revealed that money allocated to support non-profit public welfare groups was instead being used to fund Amana. Funding for Amana in this manner violates Israeli Interior Ministry policies prohibiting public subsidies for private, for-profit entities – and it is this funding that Peace Now is petitioning the High Court to end.

Peace Now’s work is backed up two separate reports of the Israeli Comptroller’s office, one from November 2017 and another from July 2018, which detailed the extent to which the Binyamin Regional Council – the largest settlement regional council – secretly funneled money to organizations engaged in illegal settlement construction. The July 2018 report revealed that the Binyamin Regional Council funneled $10 million to Amana between 2013-2015 alone.

Peace Now said in a statement:

“This grave phenomenon in which taxpayers’ money is transferred to an organization that has specialized in construction violations for decades, is against the law and regulations; an organization that works tirelessly to change reality by illegally establishing unauthorized facts on the ground, is dire and must be stopped. Only a complete cessation of this cash flow will prevent further construction rampages throughout the West Bank, and retain the opportunity for a future agreement.”

AG Paves Way for Ariel Medical School to Open, Despite Rejection by Key Committee

On February 13th, Israeli Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit announced that the vote last week by the Planning & Budgeting Committee of the Council for Higher Education in Israel is a non-binding recommendation, and that the fate of the Ariel settlement’s new medical school will be determined by a final vote to be held by the council’s main body. In so doing, Mandelblit made it possible for the main body of the Council for Higher Education in Israel to vote against its own professional subcommittee, contrary to the normal practice. Indeed, Haaretz columnist Or Kashti even called it “unreasonable.”

Mandelblit said that the Council for Higher Education in Israel should reconvene to vote within the next two months in order to give the medical school, its faculty, and its students, adequate time to prepare. Haaretz reports that Education Minister Naftali Bennett – who serves as the Chairman of the Council for Higher Education in Israel – is expected to delay the vote until he is confident that he has enough votes in favor of approving the medical school.

In addition, Mandelblit also allowed the West Bank arm of the Council for Higher Education – a settler body which oversees and promotes educational institutes located in West Bank settlements (i.e. outside of sovereign Israeli territory) – to take vote on the matter. Unsurprisingly, on Feb. 13th the settler body voted unanimously to approve the medical school. It did so in a vote that was held in the final hours before that settler body was absorbed by Council for Higher Education in Israel,  following a law passed by the Israeli Knesset in Feb 2018 that extends the jurisdiction of the Council for Higher Education in Israel to include schools in the settlements (an act of de facto annexation).

Weighing in on the debate, the Haaretz Editorial Board noted that supporters of the Ariel medical school – including Naftali Bennett – lobbied for the settlers’ own Council for Higher Education to be permitted to vote on the matter in an attempt to overrule the Planning & Budgeting Committee’s unfavorable decision. The Board writes:

“In a country governed by the rule of law, the [Planning & Budgeting] committee’s latest vote should have settled the matter. But Ariel University and its supporters, above all Education Minister Naftali Bennett, have ways to circumvent the committee. We will soon find out whether Mendelblit will approve this move, enabling Ariel to overcome the professional objections of the Planning and Budgeting Committee, the opposition of the other universities and Wadmany Shauman’s conflict of interest. This hasty resort to the Council for Higher Education in Judea and Samaria – which has never dealt with budgetary issues, only ideological ones – should set off alarm bells. After the Planning and Budgeting Committee’s previous vote, approving the med school, no one demanded reaffirmation from the council. That’s not how the higher education system should operate. The Planning and Budgeting Committee steers its course, including the disbursal of its 11 billion shekel ($3 billion) annual budget.”

As FMEP has previously reported, Ariel University became an accredited Israeli university in 2012, following significant controversy and opposition, including from Israeli academics. It has since been the focus of additional controversy, linked to what is a clear Israeli government-backed agenda of exploiting academia to normalize and annex settlements. In 2018, the settlement broke ground on the new medical school, with significant financial backing from U.S. casino magnate, settlement financier, and Trump backer Sheldon Adelson. In February 2018, in an act of deliberate de facto annexation, the Israeli Knesset passed a law extending the jurisdiction of the Israeli Council on Higher Education over universities in the settlements (beyond Israel’s recognized sovereign borders), ensuring that the Ariel settlement medical school (and its graduates) would be entitled to all the same rights, privileges, and certifications as schools and students in sovereign Israel.

The Ariel settlement is located in the heart of the northern West Bank, reaching literally to the midpoint between the Green Line and the Jordan border. The future of Ariel has long been one of the greatest challenges to any possible peace agreement, since any plan to attach Ariel to Israel will cut the northern West Bank into pieces.

Following Expulsion of International Observers, Emboldened Settlers Attacks on Palestinians

In the week since Israeli Prime Minister announced that he would not renew the mandate of the Temporary International Presence in Hebron (TIPH) – in effect, expelling international observers from the city – radical, violent settlers have repeatedly harassed and attacked Palestinians, including school children. Thus far the Israeli military has failed to intervene to stop the encounters.

Following the expulsion of the observers, who previously escorted Palestinian school children on their daily commute near settlement enclaves in downtown Hebron, Palestinians formed a volunteer group to escort and protect the children. On February 10th, alarming video footage shows settlers harassing and attacking this new group as it was escorting children. In response, the Israeli army issued an order on Feb. 13th that declared the area as a closed military zone, barring the volunteers from escorting the students.

On the evening of February 12th, a group of settlers attacked Palestinian homes on Shuhada Street, the main street in downtown Hebron which Israel has “sterilized” by preventing all Palestinian vehicles, limiting Palestinian pedestrians, and relegating Palestinian foot traffic to a specific area. One Palestinian resident reported that a settler jumped onto his roof and broke into his home; the IDF had to escort the settler out, and disperse the group of settlers who were chanting anti-Palestinian threats. Video footage captured the scenes.

Yitzhar Settlers Attack Palestinian School, So IDF Restricts Palestinian Access to Roads to Allow Yitzhar Settler Protests

On February 10th, dozens of settlers from the Yitzhar settlement descended from their hilltop neighborhood to violently attack a high school in the Palestinian village of Urif. According to reports, high school students clashed with IDF soldiers who were providing protection for the raiding group of settlers. Ten students reportedly required medical care for tear gas inhalation.

The next day, on February 11th, the Israeli IDF sealed off several roads near the Yitzhar settlement to allow the settlers to assemble to protest against “the deteriorating security situation in the West Bank.”

The anti-settlement  group Yesh Din recently published a report, entitled “Yitzhar – A Case Study,” chronicling the violence of the Yitzhar settlement, and how that violence is used as a strategic means to take over Palestinian land.

NEW: Ir Amim Publishes 2019 Map of Settlement Projects In and Around Jerusalem’s Old City

Ir Amim released an updated map showing settler activities around Jerusalem’s Old City.

Announcing the new map, Ir Amim writes:

“Ir Amim’s latest map, ‘Settlement Ring around the Old City, 2019,’ graphically illustrates the accelerated, intensifying chain of new facts on the ground in the most historically contested and politically sensitive part of Jerusalem: the Old City and adjacent ring of Palestinian neighborhoods. In addition to a mounting number of state-sponsored settlement campaigns inside Palestinian neighborhoods – settler initiated evictions of Palestinians, takeovers of their homes, and the expansion of settler compounds – touristic settlement sites function as key points along a ring of tightening Israeli control….These projects – including promenades, national parks and visitor centers – serve manifold purposes: They connect otherwise isolated and relatively small settlement compounds inside Palestinian neighborhoods, creating a contiguous ring of settler controlled areas; They fracture the Palestinian space, disrupting freedom of movement and breaking large neighborhoods into smaller, easier to police enclaves;While the number of ideologically driven settlers living inside Palestinian neighborhoods may still be relatively small, tens of thousands of non-ideological Israeli tourists visiting these sites serves to strengthen the Jewish presence inside Palestinian areas of the city.”

The map can be downloaded here and accompanying detailed notes here.

Bonus Reads

1. “Why Residents of Jerusalem’s Sheikh Jarrah Face Eviction” (Al-Monitor)
2. “Imminent Eviction of Palestinian family in East Jerusalem” (OCHA)
3. “Two Jewish Groups’ Disagreement Over Jewish Law Might Dash Jerusalem’s Dreams (Haaretz)
4. “What Kind of Occupation do Israelis Want?” (Ynet)

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

To subscribe to this report, please click here.

January 25, 2019

1. A 45-person Palestinian Family Will Be Evicted from Home in Sheikh Jarrah for the Benefit of Settlers
2. Bidding War Between Settlers and Palestinians Drives $3.27 Million Price for Sheikh Jarrah House
3. Settlers Impose Sabbath Closure on Palestinian Residents of Silwan; High Court Asks: Why?
4. Israel to “Examine” Two Cases of lllegal Outpost Construction
5. MK Bezalel Smotrich – A Radical Settler – Elected to Lead National Union Party
6. European Union Statement Lambasts “Givat Eitam/E-2” Settlement Plan
7. Bonus Reads

Questions/comments? Email kmccarthy@fmep.org

---

A 45-person Palestinian Family Will Be Evicted from Home in Sheikh Jarrah for the Benefit of Settlers

With the Israeli Supreme Court’s decision to refuse consideration of new information in the Sabbagh family eviction case, the Court has given a greenlight for Israeli settlers and their allies to not only evict the Sabbaghs but to continue pursuing the large-scale eviction of Palestinians from their homes in East Jerusalem based on the discriminatory “Legal and Administrative Matters Law of 1970.”  The Sabbaghs were ordered to vacate their home by January 23, 2019; as of publication, there have been no news about the status of the Sabbagh’s. United Nations officials Jamie McGoldrick (Humanitarian Coordinator), Gwyn Lewis (Director of West Bank Operations for UNRWA), and James Heenan (Head of OHCHR in the occupied Palestinian territory) released a statement calling on Israel to halt the eviction of the Sabbagh family “to prevent further displacement of these refugees, cease settlement construction, and abide by their obligations as an occupying power under international humanitarian law and international human rights law.”

According to Peace Now, the Sabbagh family is one of 175 Palestinian families in East Jerusalem that face eviction under the discriminatory law: 75 families in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood and 100 families in the Silwan neighborhood (specifically in the Batan al-Hawa section, where several Palestinian residents were recently handed eviction notices). What’s more, the Sabbagh family was believed to have the best chance at escaping eviction based on historic Ottoman documents relating to the land obtained by the family’s lawyer. These are the documents that Supreme Court Chief Justice Esther Hayut declined to consider this week. The Sabbagh family lawyer told Haaretz:

“Once again, families from Sheikh Jarrah are facing eviction and a second refugeehood. In Israeli courts, which refrain from hearing the residents’ just and substantive arguments, people are sentenced to refugeehood on procedural grounds.”

In advance of the Sabbagh’s eviction, protests erupted, and have continued for a second straight day, in support of the family and against Israeli settlement activity in East Jerusalem. Israeli and international protestors marched from the center of Jerusalem to Sheikh Jarrah, where they were joined by Palestinians in front of one of the homes where Palestinians are facing eviction. Daniel Roth, one of the protestors told +972 Mag:

“At the core of this whole thing is the idea that all people have a right to a home, and what’s going on here is that the powers that be are taking homes from some people because of their national identity, period. What we’re looking at is racist policy and action around people’s very homes, and that should wake people up to stand up with these folks.”

Under the “Legal and Administrative Matters Law of 1970,” which is being used to evict the Sabbagh family,  Jewish owners are afforded a legal avenue to reclaim property that they owned prior to the 1948 war which, as a result of the war, came under Jordanian rule. It should be noted that Palestinian refugees from that same war – who lost property in what became Israel – are not afforded an equivalent right to reclaim their abandoned property, creating a dual legal system in which ethnicity is the sole determinant factor when it comes to rights.

Exploiting the special standing granted to historic Jewish property owners, the settler group “Nahalat Shimon” has undertaken a campaign to track down the Jewish owners of coveted land in East Jerusalem that was under Jordanian rule, in order to purchase from them the property rights and then evict Palestinian tenants, most of whom have lived in these properties for more than 50 years. This is the context against which the 45-member Sabbagh family (who are themselves refugees of the 1948 war, but are not allowed to legally reclaim their family property in Jaffa) is being forced to leave their home of 60+ years. Following the Supreme Court’s January 10th decision to refuse the family’s request to consider new evidence in the case (based on the argument that it was too late), Israeli authorities delivered an eviction notice telling the family to leave before January 23rd.

Peace Now writes:

“This is part of an organized and systematic campaign of settlers, with the assistance of government agencies, to expel entire communities in East Jerusalem and to establish settlements in their stead. Dozens of other families face the risk of eviction by legal proceedings in which settlers and government officials exploit discriminatory laws that allow Jews to return to pre-1948 assets yet forbid Palestinians from doing the same. In this way, settlers seek to create a buffer inside the Palestinian neighborhood and make it difficult to reach a territorial compromise in Jerusalem so essential to a two-state solution.”

Bidding War Between Settlers and Palestinians Drives $3.27 Million Price for Sheikh Jarrah House

A bidding war erupted over a house in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of East Jerusalem, pitting the Palestinian family living in the building against Aryeh King, a radical settler impresario behind many  settlement schemes across East Jerusalem. When the price hit $3.27 million (12 million shekels), King decided to withdraw his bid – allowing the Palestinian Abdel Razeq family to purchase the home, should they be able to raise the necessary funds.

If the family is able to raise the funds to buy the house, this would be a rare, albeit astronomically expensive, victory for Palestinians fighting to remain in their homes against an ongoing campaign by Israeli settler groups to “reclaim” Jewish property in East Jerusalem that was abandoned during the 1948 war.

As discussed above, under Israeli law, Jewish property owners are entitled to reclaim property in East Jerusalem that was abandoned during the war, while Palestinians who lost property in what became Israel have no similar right. King and other pro-settler activists take advantage of this law by tracking down Jews who owned property in sensitive areas of East Jerusalem prior to 1948 (Sheikh Jarrah being a key target), and convincing the owners (or their heirs) to sign over the property rights – all in order to evict current Palestinian tenants and move in Israeli settlers.

The case involving the Abdel Razeq family’s house did not go according to the settlers’ script.  A dispute broke out between members of the Jewish family who, under Israeli law, are heirs to the property. The case went to a Family Court, which ruled that the house should be sold through a public bidding process, with the proceeds to be split amongst the heirs.

Explaining his decision to drop out of the bidding, King took to social media to attack the Jewish family that is selling the property, saying:

“[it is] a black day for the Jewish people. A Jewish family is negotiating with the enemies of the Jewish people to sell a property that the family’s grandfather purchased a hundred years ago in East Jerusalem….I am full of shame that people act this way about a place that their grandfather bought out of Zionist motives and a place where soldiers paid with their lives and were wounded, and they sell it just to make another profit.”

King’s perspective on this – in essence, that Jews should sell only to other Jews – is notable, given recent controversy over a Palestinian who sold property to settlers. Israel and many supporters of Israel were outraged at what they saw as the anti-Semitic demand that Palestinians not sell property to settlers. In this latest case, the seller was arrested by the PA, leading the U.S. Ambassador to Israel, David Friedman, to tweet: “The Pal Authority has been holding US citizen Isaam Akel in prison for ~2 months. His suspected ‘crime’? Selling land to a Jew. Akel’s incarceration is antithetical to the values of the US & to all who advocate the cause of peaceful coexistence. We demand his immediate release.”

Settlers Impose Sabbath Closure on Palestinian Residents of Silwan; High Court Asks: Why?

On January 16th, the Israeli High Court of Justice ordered the Israel Nature and Parks Authority (INPA) and the radical Elad settler group to defend its practice of closing parts of the “City of David National Park” – a name that Israel has applied to an area that includes a large Palestinian residential section of Silwan – on the Jewish Sabbath, evenings, and on Jewish holidays. The closures deny Palestinians, including residents of Silwan, access to parts of the neighborhood.

As FMEP has repeatedly covered, the radical Elad settler group has managed the City of David National Park on behalf of the INPA since 2001. This arrangement that gives the settler group authority over not only areas controlled by settlers – whose interests Elad shares and promotes – but also thousands of Palestinians, to whom Elad has no legal responsibility and whose very presence is part of a “demographic balance” Elad is working actively to flip.

The petition which prompted the Court’s order was filed by the residents of Silwan and the Israeli nongovernmental archaeological group Emek Shaveh. Explaining the situation caused by Elad’s mismanagement of the City of David National Park, Emek Shaveh writes:

“The City of David National Park is situated at the heart of a populated, urban space. Extensive areas in the park are public spaces in a neighborhood that suffers from a chronic deficiency of such spaces. In 2015, the Elad Foundation placed gates and closed archaeological areas known as Area E and Area G (No. 6 and 7 and No. 3 on the map). These public spaces had been open to the residents at least as far back as the British Mandate. The gates that were placed are locked at closing time, thus blocking passage between two neighborhoods within the village. The site closes on the Sabbath and on Holidays as the Elad Foundation observes the Sabbath, thus restricting the local residents’ freedom of movement and use of public spaces. As most of Silwan’s residents work in West Jerusalem, Shabbat (Saturday) is their day of rest, yet it is on this day that the nearby green public areas are closed off to them.” 

Elad and the INPA have previously tried to defend the park closures on security grounds – citing alleged incidents of vandalism on park grounds. That defense was rejected by the Israeli Attorney General, who noted that no formal complaints about vandalism had been filed, and neither the Israeli police nor the Israel Antiquities Authority had be informed about the problem or Elad’s decision to close the park on religious occasions. Following the January 19th court order, Elad and the INPA have 60 days to submit a new defense.

Israel to “Examine” Two Cases of Illegal Outpost Construction

In response to petitions filed by Peace Now, on January 7th the State of Israel announced that it will “examine” two specific cases of illegal (under Israeli law) outpost construction: the Kerem Reim case and the Hayovel case, both located in the area controlled by the Binyamin Regional Council (the Israeli government-funded settlement municipal authority in charge of the area located north of Jerusalem stretching to north of Ramallah). The examination will be led by a police anti-fraud unit and the State Prosecutor’s Office.

As summarized in a recent report, Peace Now has previously filed numerous complaints and has provided evidence to the State Prosecutor’s office regarding the involvement of the Binyamin Regional Council and the Amana settler organization in the illegal construction of outposts and settlement structures.

Given the State’s demonstrated refusal to promptly respond to the complaints by opening an official investigation into the criminal activity, Peace Now cautions that this latest move to “examine” the cases is problematic, saying:

“an examination is an ambiguous, non-legal term that comes in lieu of a proper, legal investigation. An ‘examination’ may just be the state’s tactic to mollify the High Court by showing that it is serious looking into the matter, though without actually taking any substantive action.”

In addition to Peace Now’s documentation, the Israeli State Comptroller’s office published a July 2018 report exposing the criminal involvement of the Binyamin Regional Council and the Amana settler organization in illegal settlement construction.  

Peace Now also released an official statement saying:

“For 50 years now, a handful of settlers have been using public funds through the settlement councils and Amana to put facts on the ground that affect the future of all of us in violation of the law and of the government’s decisions. The hesitation of the State Prosecutor’s Office and the police to investigate the organized crime of illegal construction in the settlements is tantamount to granting immunity to the offenders and shows a lack of respect for the rule of law. The message the government is sending to the settlers is that they are above the law.”

In 2017, Peace Now published a comprehensive report outlining how government and private entities are systematically using Israeli taxpayer money to establish new settlements and outposts.

MK Bezalel Smotrich – A Radical Settler – Elected to Lead National Union Party

MK Bezalel Smotrich has been elected to take the reins of the extreme right-wing nationalist political faction, called the National Union Party. With leadership secured, Smotrich aims to next be chosen to lead Habayit Hayehudi – an umbrella group which unites the far-right factions into a single voting bloc – following Naftali Bennett’s decision to leave Habayit Hayehudi and form a new political party alongside Ayelet Shaked.

Smotrich currently lives in the Kedumim settlement, but his house is located inside of an enclave of privately owned Palestinian land that is not included in the settlement’s Master Plan, making it illegal even under Israeli law.

Smotrich is a co-founder of Regavim, a radical settler group that works to dispossess Palestinians of their land and property in the West Bank by “helping” the Israeli government to enforce planning and building laws. Like Smotrich, many of Regavim’s key staff live in illegally built settlement units, but instead of seeking to enforce Israeli law against their own illegal building, Regavim and Smotrich are working to retroactively legalize their own homes through legislation.

Beyond the headlines, Smotrich has been an extremely active member of the Knesset, and is behind many of the boldest and most brazen legislative attempts at annexation. Some of Smotrich’s recent efforts include:

1. Introducing the “Young Settlements Bill,” which would direct the government to treat 66 illegal outposts built on privately owned Palestinian land as legal settlements, while giving the government 2 years to find a way to retroactively legalize those outposts. The bill would also freeze any/all legal proceedings against the outposts and requires the government to connect the outposts to state infrastructure including water and electricity; provide garbage removal; and approve budgets for them. The law also allows the finance minister to guarantee mortgages for settlers seeking to buy units in these outposts, even before the legal status of the land is resolved (a remarkable state-directed violation of normal practices in the mortgage industry). The bill received government backing on December 16, 2018, and will next need to be introduced in the Knesset, where it must pass three readings to become law.
2. Calling for the Israeli Civil Administration to be disbanded, in a scheme that would annex the entire West Bank to Israel, leaving the Palestinians bantustans to be governed by “Regional Liaison Committees.”
3. Leading the charge for the Knesset to fund a new municipal body for Israeli settlers in Hebron, despite a court injunction freezing government plans to create such a body.
4. Introducing a bill that would hand over more land in Area C of the West Bank to the World Zionist Organization.

European Union Statement Lambasts “Givat Eitam/E-2” Settlement Plan

On January 22, 2019, the European Union presented a statement at the United Nations Security Council Open Debate representing the view of its member states that:

“Today there is a risk of further escalation that would move Israelis and Palestinians further away from an end to the conflict. This risk is compounded by the advancement in December 2018 of Israeli plans for over two thousand settlement units and renewed plans to “legalise” West Bank outposts. The allocation of an area south of Bethlehem for the purpose of planning a new settlement (Givat Eitam) constitutes a serious blow to the viability of a two-state solution. The European Union’s position on Israeli settlement policy – including eviction of Palestinians – for example in Sheikh Jarrah – and related activities in the occupied Palestinian territory is clear and remains unchanged: all settlement activity is illegal under international law and it erodes the viability of the two-state solution and the prospects for a lasting peace – as reaffirmed by UNSCR 2334.”

For FMEP reporting on the Givat Eitam/E-2 settlement, see the January 4th edition of the Settlement Report.

Bonus Reads

1. “The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict is Not a Bankruptcy Sale” (Lawfare Blog)
2. “When Freud Visits Israeli Civil Administration in the West Bank” (Haaretz)
3. “A Guided Tour of Hebron, From Two Sides of the Occupation” (The New Yorker)
4. “Another Step Toward the Annexation of the West Bank” (Haaretz)
5. “Israel’s Apartheid Road is About More Than Segregation” (+972 Mag)

 

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

To subscribe to this report, please click here.

December 7, 2018

1. Looming Mass Eviction in Silwan, Part 1: High Court Rules that Settler Organization Can Pursue Eviction of 700 Palestinians in Batan Al-Hawa Section of Silwan
2. Looming Mass Eviction in Silwan, Part 2: Elad Settler Org Wins Eviction Case Against Palestinians in Wadi Hilweh Section of Silwan
3. Israel to Fast-Track Two Settlement Plans in Sheikh Jarrah
4. Justice Ministry Finalizes Legal Opinion to Retroactively Legalize the Haresha Outpost
5. Three Illegal Outposts (& Ariel) Are Now “National Priority Areas” Eligible for Government Subsidies
6. High Court Rules the Jewish National Fund is the Legal Owner of Land South of Bethlehem
7. Israel Seizes Jordan Valley Land Owned by the Catholic Church
8. Israeli Civil Administration Report Criticizing Yitzhar Settler Violence Leads to Renewed Calls to Annex the West Bank
9. After IDF Killed Two Palestinians, Civil Administration Grants Settlers Victory in Struggle Over Hilltop
10. The New Mayor of Jerusalem, Moshe Lion, On Settlements
11. Al-Shabaka Policy Paper: “The EU & Jerusalem”
12. Breaking the Silence Report – “Occupying Hebron: 2011-2017”
13. U.S. Chatter on Economic Coexistence Initiatives (Which Normalize Settlements/Occupation) Provokes Strong Palestinian Response
14. Bonus Reads

Questions/comments? Email kmccarthy@fmep.org

---

Looming Mass Eviction in Silwan, Part 1: High Court Rules that Settler Organization Can Pursue Eviction of 700 Palestinians in Batan Al-Hawa Section of Silwan

On November 22nd, the Israeli High Court of Justice ruled that the settler organization Ateret Cohanim can continue to pursue the eviction of 700 Palestinians from their homes in the Batan al-Hawa section of the Silwan neighborhood in East Jerusalem. This would be the largest displacement of Palestinians from East Jerusalem since 1967.

The High Court’s ruling did not decide the central issues in the case, which call into question Ateret Cohanim’s ownership of the land through its control of an historic Yemenite land trust (the Benvenisti Trust). The High Court reserved those issues for the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court to decide as part of its consideration of individual eviction cases.

In its ruling, the High Court criticized of the government’s involvement in the case, specifically calling out the role the government played in transferring ownership of the land to Ateret Cohanim without properly informing the Palestinian residents. The High Court ruling said:

“We can’t continue without expressing surprise at the state’s assumption that a decision so significant to the lives of hundreds of people – ‘liberating’ the property on which they have lived for many years [and transferring it] to other hands – isn’t the kind of thing that ought to be publicized through reasonable means. Even the precise identity of the property’s residents wasn’t known, and that’s the interpretation kindest to the state…Evicting people who have lived on this land for decades – some of them without even knowing that the land belongs to others – creates a human problem. Especially when it’s done without compensation or any other solution. It seems the state would do better to consider providing a solution, in appropriate cases, for those evicted from their homes. Property rights are important, but it’s also important to defend people’s homes.”

B’Tselem commented:

“The judgment proves, yet again, that the Israeli High Court gives its seal of approval to almost any infringement of Palestinians’ rights by the Israeli authorities.”

Ateret Cohanim has waged a years-long eviction campaign against Palestinians living in Silwan, on property the settler NGO claims to own, based on its control of the historic Benvenisti Trust, which oversaw the assets of Yemenite Jews who lived in the neighborhood in the 19th century. Palestinians have challenged the legitimacy of the Benvinisti Trust’s claims to the currently existing buildings, saying that the trust only covered the old buildings (none of which remain standing) and not the land. Despite ongoing legal challenges, in October 2018 the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court ruled in Ateret Cohanim’s favor in one of the cases connected to the Benvenisti Trust’s claim to the buildings there – resulting in the eviction of the last remaining Palestinian tenants (the Abu Sneina family) from a building in area of Silwan known as Batan al-Hawa.

The ruling this week does not give a final decision to the underlying questions of ownership, but it allows Ateret Cohanim to proceed – from a strengthened position – in its legal efforts to evict Palestinians from their homes.

Looming Mass Eviction in Silwan, Part 2: Elad Settler Org Wins Eviction Case Against Palestinians in Wadi Hilweh Section of Silwan

On December 5, 2018 the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court upheld the eviction of a Palestinian family – the Siyams – family their home in the Wadi Hilweh section of Silwan, in East Jerusalem, just 820 feet from the southern wall of Al-Aqsa Mosque. Like Ateret Cohanim (see above), the Elad settler organization has been waging a years-long legal battle to take control homes in Silwan, including a 20-year battle to take control of the Siyam family home, which Elad insists legally purchased it.

The Court ruling this week was the first ruling in the settlers’ favor. The Siyam family announced plans to petition the ruling to the Jerusalem District Court.

In response to the ruling, Peace Now said:

“This case is an example of how the settlers manage to take control of Palestinian property in East Jerusalem by combining manipulations, money, forgery and significant aid from the Israeli authorities. It is not a regular case between equal sides, but a story of David and Goliath, and the settlers are the Goliath. There is a settlers organization with almost unlimited financial resources and enormous political power against an ordinary Palestinian family that has been forced into court for more than 20 years, to invest tremendous resources in legal defense and to deal with various and varied purchase claims. This way the settlers are causing great damage to Israel when they harm the delicate fabric of life in Jerusalem and the possibility of compromise in Jerusalem and a two-state solution.”

Israel to Fast-Track Two Settlement Plans in Sheikh Jarrah

Ir Amim reports that the Jerusalem District Planning and Building Committee will meet on December 23rd to fast-track the approval of two plans for a total of 13 new settlement units in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of East Jerusalem. The plans put approximately 5 Palestinian families at imminent risk of eviction.

On December 23, the Committee will discuss public objections to plans for the two settler building (one for 10 units and one for 3 units), which if approved, will result in the eviction of 5 Palestinian families.

Ir Amim further explains:

“The two plans in Sheikh Jarrah are being pushed by city councilperson and settler leader Arieh King, a close ally of Jerusalem’s just inaugurated mayor, Moshe Leon. King has recently joined the new mayor at several public events and is said to be eyeing a deputy mayor position in the new administration.”

+972 Magazine has an excellent piece on the resumption of evictions and settlement takeovers in Sheikh Jarrah, which have been stalled since 2009, in part due to international pressure. A prominent figure in the Sheikh Jarrah resistance movement, Saleh Diab, said:

“Ever since Trump said last year that Jerusalem belongs to the Jews, we have been feeling the change. The settlers are working quickly to evict us before the American administration changes…How will we go back to the days of protests? The police today are like the police in [apartheid] South Africa. Israelis who stood alongside us were fired from their jobs because of their views…Like in Khan al-Ahmar, they are trying to expel an entire community and turn us into refugees for a second time.”

PLO Spokeswoman Hanan Ashrawi released a statement saying:

“Since the beginning of the year, Israel has accelerated and intensified its efforts to entrench its colonial military occupation, especially in and around occupied Jerusalem…Israel’s extremist, racist government coalition headed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is deliberately and systematically working to complete the total annexation and isolation of Jerusalem from its Palestinian environs and surrounding areas, as well as the distortion of the occupied city’s demographic, historical and cultural character…These measures pose a strategic threat to Palestinian human and national rights, especially through the imposition of new and ‘permanent’ realities on the ground that deliberately undermine the achievement of Palestinian statehood…At a time when the rights-based international system is under threat, the reality and future of Jerusalem is a litmus test for the world and the integrity of its legal and political system. It is our hope that the global community and people of conscience will rise to the challenge and defend the universality and indivisibility of human rights. The world must not fail Jerusalem.”

Justice Ministry Finalizes Legal Opinion to Retroactively Legalize the Haresha Outpost

On December 6, 2018, Israel Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked announced a new legal opinion that permits the Israeli government to proceed with its plan to retroactively legalize the Haresha outpost by building an access road through privately owned Palestinian land.  According to the new opinion, the Israeli government is permitted to “temporarily seize” the privately owned land to build a tunnel underneath it leading to the outpost, though it leaves open the possibility for the government to permanently expropriate the land in the future. The lack of an access road has until now prevented the Israeli government from retroactively legalizing the entire Haresha outpost; once the access road is deemed legal, the government is expected to act quickly to legalize it and pursue plans to build more settlement units there. 

Israeli Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit – who signed off on the new Justice Ministry opinion – in November 2017 released a different legal argument in favor of permanently expropriating the land to legalize the access road, arguing that settlers are part of the “local population” of the West Bank and are therefore eligible to be the sole beneficiaries of land seized for “public use” (the access road is not open to Palestinian traffic). The opinion released this week, which cites Mandelblit’s previous opinion, finds yet another way to accomplish the same goal, by temporarily seizing the land to build a permanent tunnel for the settlers underneath it.

Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked said:

“From the beginning of my current term I have set a goal of normalizing the lives of the residents of Judea and Samaria and normalizing as many communities as possible. We have gone from a discourse of eviction to a discourse of normalization. These actions are in addition to the strengthening of the communities by other means, such as the transfer of authority in matters of Judea and Samaria from the Supreme Court to the Administrative Affairs Court in Jerusalem, as well as the equalization of legislation for Judea and Samaria…I will continue to work for the normalization of additional communities in Judea and Samaria. I thank Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit, Deputy Attorney General (Erez) Kaminitz and the Legal Advisor for the Judea and Samaria Area for their important activity on the issue.”

Peace Now told the Times of Israel:

“This move is a mockery of justice. Since the Regulation Law is tied up in court, the Ministry of Justice is yet again using every crooked justification it can concoct to expropriate private Palestinian land in order to dissect the West Bank with settlements until they have achieved their one-state apartheid agenda.”

Dror Etkes, founder of the anti-settlement watchdog group Kerem Navot, wrote:

“the outpost of Haresha, comprised of about 100 illegal structures, is of course not the story here. The story that the settlers are striving to resolve, with Mandelblit’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.”

Three Illegal Outposts (& Ariel) Are Now “National Priority Areas” Eligible for Government Subsidies

On November 26th, Israeli Housing Minister Yoav Gallant announced that three illegal outposts – Kerem Reim, new Migron, and Shvut Rachel – will be considered “national priority” areas for development, marking the first time that illegal outposts are eligible for significant government subsidies to encourage growth.

In order to include the outposts, the Israeli Housing Ministry wrote and adopted a new criteria to make “neighborhoods located far from a ‘parent town’ that do not rely on the infrastructure of said town” eligible for priority status. For the purposes of the government subsidies plan, Kerem Reim is considered a “neighborhood” of the Talmon settlement, New Migron is considered a “neighborhood” of the Kochav Yochav settlement, and Shvut Rachel is considered a “neighborhood” of the Shilo settlement.

Though the Israeli government has rewritten its laws to consider these “children” outposts as “neighborhoods” of existing, government-approved settlements, they are, in fact, independent settlements. This fact is underscored by the Housing Ministry’s new criteria which admits that the outposts do not share the same infrastructure systems as the settlements of which they are considered a part (and, indeed, rewards that fact).

The Ariel settlement was also re-designated as a national priority area (having been previously selected and then later removed from the list), among a total of 583 communities from both sides of the Green Line. The selected communities, settlements, and outposts will benefit from massive government subsidies, including at least 50% of infrastructure costs for the construction of new housing. Israelis seeking to purchase a home in the selected communities will receive government loans and forms of assistance.

Haaretz reports Housing Minister Yoav Gallant remarked:

“it is a social and national duty to prevent negative migration from distant towns and to enable them to thrive and prosper.”

The Jerusalem Post quotes Gallant as saying that the decision to include the outposts:

“is a clear statement by the government that it will continue to develop and strengthen the settlements.”

High Court Rules the Jewish National Fund is the Legal Owner of Land South of Bethlehem

On November 28, 2018 the Israeli High Court of Justice ruled that the Jewish National Fund is the legal owner of 130 acres of  land south of Bethlehem, ending a 22-year legal battle over ownership claims. Palestinians from a nearby village challenged the validity of the sale of the land to the Jewish National Fund when the organization moved to register its ownership of the land with the Israeli Civil Administration in 1996.

This week, the Court held that the Jewish National Fund (via its subsidiary company, Himnuta) had legally purchased the land in 1944 from its original Palestinian owners. The ruling will allow the settlers to move forward with plans for building more settlement units on the land, which is already home to one settlement, Rosh Tzurim, and to the headquarters of the Gush Etzion Regional Council.

The head of the Gush Etzion Regional Council, Shlomo Ne’eman, celebrated the ruling, saying:

 

“the task of expanding the lands of Gush Etzion is a national mission. The Supreme Court’s ruling gives us optimism that the court’s position will benefit the Jews and Jewish land in Judea and Samaria and will not automatically rule in favor of the thieving claims of the Arab intruders.”

Israel Seizes Jordan Valley Land Owned by the Catholic Church

On November 27, 2018, the Israeli Civil Administration announced that it is seizing 66 acres of land in the northern Jordan Valley that is owned by the Catholic Church. The Civil Administration said the land was needed for “military purposes.”

The Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem responded to the seizure in a statement, saying:

“The Patriarchate is looking into the aspects of this decision in order to address it in the appropriate manner, have it contested and to stop further damage.”

Israeli Civil Administration Report Criticizing Yitzhar Settler Violence Leads to Renewed Calls to Annex the West Bank

An Israeli news outlet, Kan 11 news, revealed the existence of a new Civil Administration report that criticizes the Yitzhar settlement. According to Kan 11, the report states that Yitzhar is a source of violence that “undermines governance and the rule of law.”

In addition to documenting the violence perpetrated by Yitzhar residents against Palestinians living nearby, the report also documents incidents of Yitzhar settlers attacking Israeli forces. The report calls on the IDF Commander Maj. Nadav Padan to punish the Yitzhars settlers by scuttling plans to build a new kindergarten and by ceasing to guard dangerous roads around the settlement and its many outposts.

In response, Yossi Dagan (head of the Samaria Regional Council, a settlement municipal body) called for the author of the report to be fired, saying:

“Officials in the Civil Administration are torpedoing the approval of security elements which could have prevented terrorist attacks in threatened settlements such as Itamar, and in the Barkan industrial zone before the attack, as well as narratives of the Palestinian Authority and radical left-wing organizations.This is an example of the evil in the civil administration. I call on the head of the Civil Administration to remove the clerk … who acts like a politician and not as is required. This report is malicious and false. The Yitzhar leadership is leading the community in a good and positive direction, and this report has nothing but lies. This is the total loss of control of the Civil Administration. While murderers with the blood of Israelis on their hands, the Civil Administration refrains from punishing the sources of terror out of statements that this is collective punishment, and now they want to create collective punishment for the Jews. The head of the Civil Administration and the deputy defense minister should call this clerk for a hearing before his dismissal.”

In response to the report’s recommendations, MK Bezalel Smotrich (HaBayit HaYehudi) called for the entire Civil Administration to be disbanded. Smotrich announced that he will seek government backing for a bill to achieve that end during the next meeting of the Israeli Cabinet, scheduled for December 9th. Under the bill, Israeli settlers in the West Bank will come under the full sovereignty of domestic Israeli institutions, while Palestinians will be ruled by “Regional Liaison administrations.” The bill would effectively annex the entire West Bank to Israel.

Smotrich said:

“The Civil Administration must be shut down now. This document reflects a political agenda that is hostile to the settlement enterprise and to the local residents, [an agenda] which unfortunately is expanding in this unnecessary body…This is the same Civil Administration that for years has pushed for a policy of separation between Arabs involved in terrorism and the rest of the Arab population. Now it suddenly remembers to use collective punishment against Jewish residents…for years now, the residents of Judea and Samaria, who are equal citizens who serve in the army and in the reserve and who pay taxes, are not entitled to equal rights and receive inferior service from the Civil Administration instead of receiving optimal service from government ministries like all citizens of Israel. The time has come to fix that.”

After IDF Killed Two Palestinians, Civil Administration Grants Settlers Victory in Struggle Over Hilltop

On November 29th, Haaretz reported the tragic story of two Palestinians who were shot and killed by Israeli forces while protesting attempts by Israeli settlers to take over a hilltop belonging to the Palestinian village al-Mazra’ah al-Qibliyah, just north of Ramallah. Following a clash on October 26th, in which the IDF opened fire on Palestinian protesters – killing the two men – the IDF issued a military order closing the hilltop  – known as Khirbet Na’alan – to Palestinians on Fridays. As Haaretz notes, the military order was a victory for the settlers, who have been aggressively trying to take over the hilltop since July 2018.

The residents of al-Mazra’ah al-Qibliyah have fought against the increasing encroachment of the Talmon settlement and its seven illegal satellite outposts, which collectively surround the village. Having seen several outposts take over their land illegally and under the protection of the IDF, Palestinians began actively trying to prevent the takeover of the Khirbet Na’alan hilltop. The settlers waged their own campaign to harass and intimidate the village, often entering the village at night to paint hateful messages and damage Palestinian property. Each Friday, the settlers would go pray at the site.

In response to petitions filed by Palestinians, the Israeli Civil  Administration issued an order barring the settlers from accessing the hilltop. On the same day the villagers found out about the order, they watched 10 settlers from the Kerem Reim outpost (which was recently selected as a “national priority area” to encourage growth, see above) approach the hilltop with heavy IDF protection. It was on this day that the IDF opened fire on a group of Palestinians protesting the incursion, killing two and wounding many others.

Video of the bloody incidents shows the IDF opening fire at an incredibly close distance, and at least 10 Palestinians falling down amidst gunfire.

The New Mayor of Jerusalem, Moshe Lion, On Settlements

In a thorough analysis of the recent Jerusalem Municipal elections, Terrestrial Jerusalem’s Danny Seidemann shared key insights into what may be in store for settlement activity under Jerusalem’s new mayor, Moshe Lion. Seidemann writes:

“Lion emerged from the ranks of the less ideological elements in the Likud. However, support for East Jerusalem settlements and settlers is so deeply ingrained even in this segment of the party as to be second nature. Lion never mentioned the Palestinians of East Jerusalem in his campaign, and actively cooperated with Aryeh King, who represents the right-wing fringe of the East Jerusalem settlers. Consequently, it is highly likely that Lion will continue to do the bidding of the settlers in East Jerusalem, and to neglect the Palestinian sector. Nothing in his world view or the way he understands his political interests suggests otherwise.”

Al-Shabaka Policy Paper: “The EU & Jerusalem”

Al-Shabaka analyst Yara Hawari published a new paper exploring options for European Union member states to push back on U.S. policy and Israel’s annexation of Palestinian land. Hawari writes:

“The US embassy move has accelerated and legitimized a process of de-Palestinianization of Jerusalem that began over seven decades ago. In the absence of concrete pressure, Israel will continue to violate the fundamental rights of the Palestinian people in Jerusalem and the rest of historic Palestine, with the full support and encouragement of the Donald Trump administration as well as its far-right allies within Europe and in Latin America. Despite the inaction described above and the global political shift to the right, there remains potential for the EU to pressure Israel and pursue Palestinian human rights. This is due to strong European popular support for Palestinian rights and sovereignty that has allowed grassroots solidarity networks to grow, as well as the fact that the EU is premised on international law and human rights…”

Breaking the Silence Report – “Occupying Hebron: 2011-2017”

Breaking the Silence released a new compilation of testimonies from Israeli soldiers who served in the Hebron area. Breaking the Silence writes:

“The Israeli settlement in the heart of the city of Hebron marked its 50th anniversary this year. Its story is a microcosm of the occupation: contempt and disregard for the rule of law, daily violence, deprivation of Palestinian residents’ basic rights, and a military system that preserves all of the above. This booklet of testimonies intends to offer the public a glimpse of the reality in Hebron from our perspective as soldiers deployed there. These testimonies were given by soldiers who served in the city from 2011-2017. They reveal the violence and discrimination that have become an inextricable part of life in Hebron, and their impact on the lives of Palestinian residents.”

The online portal for the report also has an interactive map, where users can see where each incident took place against the backdrop of Hebron’s closed streets, religious sites, and settlement enclaves.

U.S. Chatter on Economic Coexistence Initiatives (Which Normalize Settlements/Occupation) Provokes Strong Palestinian Response

Top U.S. negotiators have continued hinting about a major economic element to the yet-to-be-unveiled “deal of the century.” As FMEP has documented to this point, Ambassador David Friedman has met with Israeli and Palestinian businessmen in a bid to promote joint projects in the Occupied Territories in a way that normalizes Israeli settlements and annexation bids.

On  November 28th, Ambassador Friedman was interviewed by the Christian Broadcast Network. Part of the transcript of the interview reads:

Question: “One of the aspects of the peace plan seems to be a relationship between Palestinian businessmen and Israeli businessmen. Some would say you crossed a red line when you crossed the green line into Ariel officially. What was the importance of that meeting?”

Friedman: “On a practical level, I met with, I don’t know, maybe 8 or 10 Palestinian business leaders and, to a person, they all said to me, ‘let’s do business, let’s get going. We want to work with Jews; we want to work with Israelis.’… I try to look at everything from a lens of what is best for the United States. That’s my job. I represent the United States. But look, we are a nation under God; we’re built on Judeo-Christian values. Much as I try I cannot help but see the majesty of God’s work and all the miracles that happen in this incredible country.”

U.S. Special Representative for International Negotiations, Jason Greenblatt, wrote an op-ed also emphasizing, among of myriad of accusations against the Palestinian Authority, that the U.S. is hoping to jump-start economic development, separate from its “plan” to resolve core issues. The article reads:

“While waiting for a possible political solution, it is high time to build the Palestinian economy and provide Palestinians with the opportunities they deserve…We know that the Palestinians are not interested in mere economic peace. The Trump Administration continues to strive for a peace agreement, but the Palestinians need economic help now – with or without a peace agreement. The technology sector in the West Bank and Gaza has great potential and can be developed without treading into the politically contentious core issues of the conflict…I continue to meet with ordinary Palestinians and what is striking is that, although they complain about the Trump Administration’s policies, they remain focused on their economy…Palestinians are a proud people and want to create and earn on their own. They believe, as I do, that Palestinians should be allowed to improve their economy without worrying about whether they will give up on their national cause…Let’s be real – 136,000 Palestinians commute to work with Israelis every day because the opportunity is there. Anti-normalisation is a failed policy that only hurts the Palestinians. Let’s allow Palestinians to thrive in the way they are educated, capable of and deserve. We won’t tire of trying to resolve the political conflict (and certainly Palestinians won’t either), but we must focus on helping the Palestinian economy where we can, before it is too late.”

Palestinians reacted strongly to Greenblatt’s screed. Saeb Erekat, chief Palestinian negotiator, wrote in response:

“…economic desperation is seen by the Trump administration as an opportunity to force Palestinians to normalise Israel’s occupation, to legitimise its settlements and its whole system of oppression. The administration has been trying to divide Palestinians by claiming that the Palestinian leadership is preventing economic growth. However, there is a consensus among our people that the primary responsibility for our grave financial situation is the Israeli occupation.”

Hani Masri, a Palestinian political analyst, said:

“Trump thinks that what the Palestinian leadership has rejected can be passed through the people, but the majority of Palestinians will not positively absorb or accept what Greenblatt is promoting. There are economic interests between the Palestinians and Israelis, however the political issue is a different subject and can’t come at the expense of the legitimate rights of the Palestinians.”

Elsewhere, at an event hosted by the Brookings Institute, former peace negotiator Dennis Ross promoted draft legislation in the U.S. Congress that would invest heavily in joint economic projects in the West Bank which normalize the settlements. The Jewish Insider summarizes:

“[Dennis] Ross praised current draft legislation in Congress that would give upwards of $150 million to joint Israeli and Palestinian projects: [Ross:] ‘Cutting $10 million for projects that are joint projects between Israelis and Palestinians, the rationale for that is hard to grasp. If there is one thing that we should be doing [it is] demonstrating that when Israelis and Palestinians cooperate there’s a payoff for it. And that ought to be elementary. That ought to be just a given. Anything you’re doing should be to designed to elevate the payoffs of practical tangible cooperation.’”

Finally, the Friends of Beit El organization (previously headed by now-Ambassador David Friedman) hosted a star-studded fundraiser in New York to raise funds for and awareness of the Beit El settlement. It was attended by two Members of Congress and the speaker of the Israeli Knesset Yuli Edelstein, who told the crowd:

“Independence, sovereignty, will eventually come to Judea and Samaria and many more houses with be built in order to reach the number we all dream — a million Jews in Judea and Samaria.”

Notably, the mention of Rep. Nancy Pelosi, the newly elected Speaker of the House, elicited boos from the crowd.

Bonus Reads

1. “Annexation – at what cost?” (Times of Israel)
2. “Leftists on tour in Hebron confirmed in view that settlers ‘have already won’” (Times of Israel)
3. “Shaked touts ‘confederation’ of Jordan WEst Bank, and Gaza” (Times of Israel)
4. “Inside the Evangelical Money Flowing Into the West Bank” (Haaretz)

 

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

To subscribe to this report, please click here.

November 21, 2018

1. Supreme Court Upholds Eviction of 40 Palestinians in Sheikh Jarrah, More Likely to Follow
2. New Report Calls on AirBnB, Booking.com to Stop Listing Rentals Located in West Bank Settlements
3. Settler Council Uses Taxpayer Money to Finance Illegal Construction of a Racetrack in Jordan Valley
4. Knesset is Advancing a Bill to Give More Land in Area C to the World Zionist Organization
5. Conference in Knesset Will Make Case for Evacuating Settlers from Hebron
6. Bonus Reads

Questions/comments? Email kmccarthy@fmep.org

---

Supreme Court Upholds Eviction of 40 Palestinians in Sheikh Jarrah, More Likely to Follow

On November 15th, the Israeli Supreme Court denied an appeal that would have delayed the eviction of 40 members of a Palestinian family, the Sabags, from their homes in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah. The appeal asked the Court to take the time to reconsider ownership claims to the land. In denying the appeal, the Supreme Court upheld Israeli Jewish ownership claims to the plot of land based on its purchase in 1876. The eviction is expected to take place within months.

The land in question was abandoned during the 1948 war and was under Jordanian rule until 1967, during which time homes were built on it, including the those inhabited by the Sabag family. Notably, while Israeli law provides Jewish residents with the right to reclaim property lost in the 1948 War, it affords Palestinians no similar right to return to, or reclaim, property lost in that same war.

Responding the Supreme Court decision, 71-year old Mohammad Sabag said:

“We have two houses in Jaffa, on Hasneh Street and Hagidam Street, and we have 250 dunams [62.5 acres] in Yavneh and also in Ashdod. Why can’t I ask for my property from before 1948?”

In the early 2000s a company named Nahalat Shimon International (reportedly registered in Delaware, USA), “purchased” land in Sheikh Jarrah from the Jews who owned it prior to the 1948 war. Since then, Nahalat Shimon has been undertaking legal action to evict Palestinians. In 2009 the first eviction took place – sparking a sustained protest in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood which has garnered international attention.

The Sabag family has been fighting Nahalat Shimon’s attempts to evict them since 2008, claiming that the land was not properly registered with the Ottoman Empire prior to 1948, leaving ownership of the plot unclear. Settling the matter definitively, the Israeli Supreme Court refused to reconsider ownership claims to the land, saying that the statute of limitations has long since expired.

Looking at the broader impact of the ruling, Haaretz noted:

“The ruling will also make it very difficult for dozens of other Palestinian families in Sheikh Jarrah to avoid eviction.”

New Report Calls on AirBnB, Booking.com to Stop Listing Rentals Located in West Bank Settlements

A new report by Kerem Navot and Human Rights Watch details how online rental companies like AirBnB and Booking.com perpetuate Israel’s discrimination against Palestinians by listing rentals located in illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank. The report, entitled “Bed and Breakfast on Stolen Land,” details how rentals in West Bank settlements run afoul of the companies’ own business and human rights principles, and contribute to the economic viability and legitimization of the settlement enterprise.

On the eve of the report’s publication, AirBnB announced that it will remove 139 rental listings located in West Bank settlements, 15 of which are built on land which Israel has acknowledged is privately owned by Palestinians. Following AirBnB’s announcement, Booking.com signalled that it would not remove its listings from settlements, insisting that all their practices accord with all applicable local (Israeli) laws. According to Human Rights Watch, Booking.com has 26 rentals listings in settlements, 2 of which are located on privately owned Palestinian land that Israel expropriated for “public use” and then designated for the exclusive use of settlements.

Following AirBnB’s announcement, Human Rights Watch released a statement saying:

“By delisting rentals in illegal settlements off-limits to Palestinians, Airbnb has taken a stand against discrimination, displacement, and land theft. The continued business activities of Booking.com and other companies in settlements contribute to entrenching a two-tiered discriminatory regime in the West Bank.”

AirBnB’s decision sparked outrage and immediate calls for action from Israeli government officials, who are promoting several ways to retaliate against AirBnB. Officials have said that Israel will restrict AirBnB’s operations in sovereign Israeli territory and also levy a special new tax on its operations in light of its boycott of the settlements. Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Gilad Erdan – whose responsibilities include fighting boycotts, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) – urged Israeli AirBnB hosts in settlements to sue the company. Israeli Tourism Minister Yariv Levin announced that the Israeli government will consult with the U.S. government in order to assist Americans in suing AirBnB (which is based in San Francisco); 24 states including California have passed anti-boycott legislation intended to stop U.S. companies and individuals from participating in boycotts of Israel and/or Israeli-controlled territories (i.e. settlements), though unless AirBnB is competing for government-funded contracts in these states, there is no basis to use these laws against it. Eugene Kontorovich, who self-identifies as a key figure in drafting the anti-boycott (but really anti-free speech) laws for states, called AirBnB’s decision “anti-Semitic.”

Peace Now released a statement slamming the Israeli government response, saying:

“Even if Netanyahu and Bennett refuse to see the Green Line, the rest of the world differentiates between Israel and the occupied territories. International companies are interested in doing business with Israel but are not ready to accept the continuation of military control over millions of Palestinians.”

Two years ago, +972 Magazine was first to report on the discriminatory and illegal nature of companies which list rentals across the Green Line, in what the international community considers as territory being held by Israel under military occupation.

Settler Council Uses Taxpayer Money to Finance Illegal Construction of a Racetrack in Jordan Valley

A freedom of information request filed by Peace Now and the Movement for Freedom of Information revealed that the Jordan Valley Regional Council – which Israeli municipal body thas authority for over settlements in the Jordan Valley and is responsible for enforcing building laws – is directly financing the illegal construction of a state-of-the-art car racing complex near the Jordan Valley settlement of Petza’el.

As +972 Mag and Kerem Navot revealed in August 2017, the large complex is being built partially on land that the Israeli army previously declared a closed firing zone, a designation which resulted in the forcible displacement of Palestinians who lived there. The land remains under this designation today.

In light of the track’s encroachment into the closed firing zone, the Israeli Civil Administration – the arm of the Israeli Defense Ministry that acts as the sovereign power in the West Bank – issued a stop-work order against the construction in February 2017 (which settlers ignored). Demonstrating that, as usual, law-breaking pays off for settlers, the Civil Administration also announced that it was considering a “master plan” for a touristic site – including a hotel – in the same area (with the development designed not to cross into the firing zone).

Despite the Civil Administration’s intervention and promise of a pay-off, the Jordan Valley Regional Council transferred NIS 284,000 (around $8,000) in 2017 for the construction of the racetrack, and then approved NIS 5,615,000 (around $1.5 million) for the project in 2018, nearly all of which comes from a grant to the Council for the project from the Israeli Interior Ministry.

In response to the new budget documents, the Israeli Interior Ministry told Haaretz that the grant was approved but will not actually be transferred until plans for the racetrack receive retroactive authorization from the government.

Peace Now states:

“In recent years, the Jordan Valley has become the wild west of the West Bank, and it appears that the regional council, which is supposed to be the sovereign that enforces the law, is a full partner in the crimes taking place there. This is an absurdity that is unfortunately all too common in the settlements. The Jordan Valley Regional Council is following in the footsteps of its big sisters among the regional councils–Binyamin, Shomron, Gush Etzion and Har Hevron–which regularly funnel public funds to illegal activity to create facts on the ground intended to deny Israel the option for a two-state solution.”

Knesset is Advancing a Bill to Give More Land in Area C to the World Zionist Organization

Earlier this month, the New Israel Fund reported on the Knesset’s ongoing consideration of a radical bill that seeks to accelerate the transfer of almost all of the land in Area C to the control of the World Zionist Organization (WZO).

As we have reported previously, the WZO’s Settlement Division was created by the Israeli government in 1968 – and is funded entirely by Israeli taxpayers. Its mandate is to manage West Bank land expropriated by Israel, in order to facilitate the settlement of Israeli Jews in the occupied territories. To make this possible, the Israeli government has allocated approximately 60% of all “state land” to the WZO’s Settlement Division [over the past 50 years Israel has declared huge areas of the West Bank to be “state land,” including more than 40% of Area C, where most of the settlements are located]. In addition, settlement and human rights watchdogs have repeatedly documented how the WZO’s Settlement Division has worked to take over additional land, including privately owned Palestinian land, in order to build more settlements.

At a hearing last week, Israeli Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit expressed his opposition to the bill (which is endorsed by the Israeli cabinet), saying it is unnecessary given that ministry staffs are already working to transfer more land to the WZO through an administrative process. MKs from the Jewish Home party have said they will bring the bill up for a vote at the committee level next week if they are not satisfied with the progress that the ministry staffs have made in transferring land to the WZO.

In June 2018, when the Knesset gave preliminary approval to the bill, Peace Now responded:

“the government is scandalously planning to give the biggest land thieves responsibility for managing the land distribution, which will continue to be done under the cover of darkness if the bill passes into law.”

For more information on this bill, read a complete background briefing by Peace Now.

Conference in Knesset Will Make Case for Evacuating Settlers from Hebron

Next week, the Knesset will hold a conference entitled, “Hebron First,” featuring Israeli civil society leaders making the case to lawmakers for the removal of Israeli settlers from Hebron. The event is being organized by MK Ayman Odeh (Joint List), Dov Khenin (Joint List), and Michal Rozin (Meretz). The President of B’Tselem, Hagai El-Ad, is expected to make a speech.

In a joint statement about the event, the MKs said:

“The settlement in Hebron is the expression of an extremist government policy that pours mass sums of money and endangers human lives to strengthen and maintain a handful of extremist settlers. The evacuation of the settlement in Hebron is a first and necessary step to promoting a diplomatic solution and bringing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to an end.”

Over the five months, the Israeli government has advanced highly controversial plans that promote the growth and permanence of settlements in Hebron. Earlier this month (November 2018), Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman (who recently resigned) announced plans to build a new settlement above a section of the Palestinian market in the Old City of Hebron. In October 2018, the government announced a new settlement at the site of an Israeli military installment in Hebron, and in July 2018, the Cabinet decided to fund a new settler municipal body meant to empower Israeli settlers living in enclaves in downtown areas of Hebron, despite a court injunction against forming the body.

Bonus Reads

1. “Avigdor Liberman: The settler defense minister who couldn’t please the settlers” (Times of Israel)
2. “ ‘Things are going so well’: Settlers line up in opposition to elections” (Times of Israel)
3. “Knesset conference calls for evacuation of Hebron settlers” (Ynet)