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

September 26, 2025

1. Trump Says No to Israeli Annexation
2. United Nations Adds 68 New Companies to List of Businesses Supporting the Settlement Enterprise
3. Bonus Reads

---

Trump Says No to Israeli Annexation

President Trump told reporters in the Oval Office that he “will not allow” Israel to formally annex the West Bank, saying further “It’s been enough. It’s time to stop now.” Netanyahu has reportedly been preparing an de jure annexation plan to appease members of his cabinets, framed as a response to international recognition of a Palestinian state. However, a senior government official has told the press that Trump actually helped Netanyahu out of yet another jam, providing him cover with his coalition partners to defer formal annexation and preserve the Abraham Accords. 

International pressure against annexation has continued to mount, including new warnings from Saudi Arabia and France and a lot of attention at the UN gathering this week in NY. Nonetheless, Israeli officials surrounding Netanyahu have taken to social media to react to Trump’s comments and urge Netanyahu to move forward with unilateral annexation. On the same day as Trump’s comments, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar told a reporter that Israel is considering areas of the West Bank that are not under PA control, saying Israel has no interest in annexing Palestinians. This plan hints at a plan introduced by Smotrich weeks before to annex 82% of the West Bank, leaving six discontiguous Palestinian population centers under Palestinian control, surrounded entirely by Israel.

United Nations Adds 68 New Companies to List of Businesses Supporting the Settlement Enterprise

The United Nations updated its database of businesses involved in building, maintaining, securing, and servicing Israeli settlements in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the Golan Heights.Sixty-eight new companies were added to the list, including German construction giant Heidelberg, while seven companies were removed from the list. 

Ravina Shamdasani, spokesperson of the UN human rights office said in a statement:

“Businesses working in contexts of conflict have a due diligence responsibility to ensure their activities do not contribute to human rights abuses. We call on businesses to take appropriate action to address the adverse human rights impacts of their activities.”

As a reminder, on February 12, 2020, following nearly four years of delay, the UNHRC  published a (non-comprehensive) database of businesses involved in building, maintaining, securing, and servicing Israeli settlements in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the Golan Heights. The database was requested by members of the Council in March 2016, in order to assist member states in complying with international legal obligations with regards to doing business with companies involved in activities which violate the human rights of people around the world. The publication of the database was repeatedly been delayed due to heavy pressure from Israel and the United States, neither of which are members of the Human Rights Council. Even before its publication, Israel and the U.S. argued that the database would by definition be anti-Israel and antisemitic. From the start they also labeled the database a “blacklist,” even though the database itself neither calls for nor imposes any punitive consequences on the listed businesses. 

Bonus Reads

1. “Top Israeli Official Overseeing West Bank Land Removed After Disputes With Smotrich Allies” (Haaretz, 9/24/25)
2. “Settler Takeover or Hotel? Fate of One of Israel’s Most Beautiful Buildings Now in Doubt” (Haaretz, 9/21/25)
3. “Israeli Police Didn’t Actually Investigate the Settler Incident, but Still Made a Firm Conclusion” (Haaretz, 9/26/25)

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.

July 6, 2023

1. Israel Advances Plans for 5,700 New Settlement Units, Making 2023 (after just 6 months) A Record Year for Settlement Growth
2. No Surprise – Settlers Get Away with More Illegal Construction Under Smotrich
3. UN Updates Database of Companies Doing Business in the Settlements
4. Peace Now Report on Effect of Smotrich’s “Settlement Administration”
5. Who Profits Documents Role of Israeli National Water Company in Perpetuating Occupation
6. Bonus Reads

---

Knesset Members Establish “Jordan Valley Sovereignty Lobby”

Settlers continue to build on their campaign to annex the Jordan Valley. At an event held at the Knesset on June 28th, a group of Israeli lawmakers launched the “Jordan Valley Sovereignty” lobby, aimed at passing legislation during the current Knesset term that will annex the Jordan Valley to Israel. Three ministers participated in the event, Minister of Agriculture Avi Dichter, Minister of Settlement and National Mission Orit Struk, and Minister of the Negev and Galilee and National Resilience Yitzhak Wasserlauf. The effort was encouraged on by the head of the World Zionist Organization, Yaakov Hagoel, who said: “We need to implement sovereignty…the sooner the better,”

The group, led by MKs Dan Illouz (Likud) and Yossi Taieb (Shas), presented a plan for annexation written by Kobi Eliraz and Atty. Eran Ben-Ari. No details of the plan have been reported. Eliraz previously served as an adviser on settlement affairs to the Israeli Defense Minister from 2015-2019, but was fired by Prime Minister Netanayhu, a move which upset settlers who broadly respected and trusted Eliraz to advance their agenda.

Minister of Settlement and National Missions Orit Struk said at the event:

“Our government is doing a great deal to develop the Jordan Valley in many areas, but our goal, ultimately, is sovereignty over the Jordan Valley, and this is anchored in the coalition agreements; it all depends on this lobby’s resolute action, and I trust you to act in such a way that they will set the wheel in motion so that it will be impossible not to apply sovereignty over the Jordan Valley. We will be here to support you and stand behind you so that you will succeed in this goal, G-d willing.”

Head of Jordan Valley Council David Elhayani said: 

“In December 1981, the Begin government approved, in one day, in three readings in the plenum, the law applying Israel’s law and jurisdiction over the Golan Heights, when the government actually established sovereignty over the Golan Heights. The law passed with a majority of 63 members of the Knesset, eight of whom were members of the opposition. In today’s situation, I cannot help but wonder why this is not happening now. In the present government, there are 64 members of the Knesset from the Right; it is years since we have had such a right-wing government committed to its electorate. I tell you, do not miss this historic opportunity. Apply sovereignty over the Jordan Valley in the present Knesset. This is your duty.”

As a reminder, annexation of the Jordan Valley has, in the past, garnered serious effort from the Israeli government. During his 2019 campaign, Netanyahu announced that he would immediately annex the Jordan Valley if reelected, and presented an error-ridden map explaining how he would annex the area without annexing a single Palestinian. His plan called for the annexation of an area which constitutes nearly a quarter of the area of the West Bank (22.3%) where (at the time) 30 settlements and 18 outposts had been established. Peace Now estimated 20% of the targeted land (62,000 acres) is privately owned by Palestinians – a fact that Netanyahu did not even mention, much less explain how he would address. After being elected, Netanyahu faced international opposition to the plan, and in order to quiet the criticism while saving face with his base – Netanyahu formed an inter-ministerial task force dubbed the “Sovereignty Committee” to design a plan for the annexation of the Jordan Valley.

No Surprise – Settlers Get Away with More Illegal Construction Under Smotrich

Haaretz reports that ever since Bezalel Smotrich became responsible for civil affairs in the West Bank, the Israeli military has almost entirely abandoned its already paltry efforts to curtail illegal settlement construction. In 2022, Israeli authorities demolished an average of 25 buildings per month, but since February 2023 (when Smotrich took power), that figure dropped to just 2. The trend is hardly a surprise, given Smotrich’s long standing support for the outposts, and his open encouragement of granting retroactive legalization to every outpost (thereby rewarding illegal settler construction instead of punishing it) since taking office. 

Since taking power, Smotrich has routinely also intervened on a number of occasions to prevent the IDF from carrying out outpost evacuations, most recently in the case of the outpost called HaMor. Haaretz reports Smotrich also intervened in several other cases in order to stop the IDF from evacuating and demolishing illegal settler construction, including:

1. In February 2023, Smotrich temporarily halted the evacuation of a vineyard near the settlement of Shiloh. 
2. In May, Smotrich stopped the demolition of new illegal construction at the Adei-Ad outpost.
3. Also in May, the demolition of a structure that settlers built at the Ein Rashash spring in the Jordan Valley was stopped by Smotrich’s associates, a structure which was likely built by the settlers in an attempt to take over control of the spring from Palestinian shepherds.

An anonymous official in the Defense Ministry told Haaretz:

“For a while now, there has effectively been no Israeli enforcement. Once, enforcement was an internal IDF issue. Now almost everything gets sent to the Settlements Administration.”

As a reminder, in February 2023, Netanyahu reached a coalition deal to change the way Israel exercises authority over the West Bank. The new arrangement represents the extension of Israeli civilian/domestic authority over the entire West Bank. As such, it represents Israeli annexation of the West Bank, even without formal declaration of annexation. Specifically, authority in the West Bank will no longer be the hands of the Isareli Defense Minister, but is now split between Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich (acting in his capacity as a “Minister in the Defense Ministry”). While the agreement takes pains to leave a tiny amount of power over West Bank civilian affairs with the Defense Minister in order to maintain a thin veneer of compliance with international law (the only authority left to Gallant with respect to “civilian” affairs will be to demolish illegal settler activity “in case of security and irregular events,” and even then, Smotrich must be given advance notice of any such demolition), in effect Smotrich is the new reigning sovereign over the West Bank via the newly established “Settlement Administration” within the Defense Ministry, which he appointed Yehuda Eliahu to lead (Eliahu and Smotrich co-founded the radical settler group Regavim) . This “Settlements Administration” enjoys virtually total autonomy and unchecked power, with almost no accountability to anyone in the Israeli Ministry of Defense (Gallant in principle can overrule Smotrich’s decisions but must put his reasoning in writing after first meeting with Smotrich to hear his case, and even then, Gallant cannot issue any order to overrule Smotrich).  Importantly, the agreement allows Smotrich to systematically apply Israeli law over the settlements.  

UN Updates Database of Companies Doing Business in the Settlements 

On June 30th, the United Nations Office of the High Commission on Human Rights released an update to its 2020 database identifying businesses involved in building, maintaining, securing, and servicing Israeli settlements in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the Golan Heights. The original database listed 112 companies found to be conducting business with Israeli settlements, the updated database removed 15 companies and did not add any new companies.

In a statement on the update, Al-Haq, Amnesty International, Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies, Human Rights Watch, and International Service for Human Rights said:

“…we welcome the fact that the Office of the High Commissioner has finally published an update on 30 June.  We are heartened to see that, according to the report’s analysis, fifteen businesses may have ceased conducting reportable activity during the reporting period, though note that some companies may have adjusted their business structures to avoid falling within the definition of reportable activity. Indeed, this demonstrates the significant impact the database can have in encouraging and promoting compliance with international law. We are concerned, however, that the Office of the High Commissioner has not undertaken the work to identify new businesses that began, during the reporting period, to conduct reportable activity. Such a one-sided approach is not consistent with the mandate of providing a comprehensive update to the Council and runs the risk of being abused by business actors seeking to avoid listing.”

As a reminder, on February 12, 2020, following nearly four years of delay, the UNHRC  published a (non-comprehensive) database of businesses involved in building, maintaining, securing, and servicing Israeli settlements in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the Golan Heights. The database was requested by members of the Council in March 2016, in order to assist member states in complying with international legal obligations with regards to doing business with companies involved in activities which violate the human rights of people around the world. 

Peace Now Report on Effect of Smotrich’s “Settlement Administration”

Peace Now has published a new report that reveals the exact details of the agreement signed by Bezalel Smotrich, Yoav Gallant, and Netanyahu to create the new “Settlement Administration” for Smotrich to take control over settlement affairs. The extent of Smotrich’s power has until now been unclear, but as Peace Now writes there is a larger significance  to the establishment of this new body which wields such vast authority, writing:

“…beyond the personal question of who is responsible for the mechanism and who will implement it, and what their political obligations are, the establishment of the Settlements Administration is not merely a symbolic or political process but instead constitutes as annexation of the oPt and their direct management by the Israeli government. Moreover, it involves a nationally-based separation within the same governing entity between Israeli settlers, who are managed by one body, and Palestinian residents, who are managed by another body. This is one of the characteristics of an apartheid regime.”

The report – entitled “Annexation Under the Radar: The Establishment of the Settlements Administration under Minister Bezalel Smotrich” – is available online.

Who Profits Documents Role of Israeli National Water Company in Perpetuating Occupation

In a new report entitled, “Dried Up: Mekorot’s Involvement in the Israeli Occupation”, Who Profits examines the role Israel’s nationa water company plays in facilitating the dispossession and displacement of Palestinian communities on both sides of the Green Line, and its role in facilitating settlement expansion in service of an Israeli water sector contingent on the exploitation of occupied natural resources, and the violation of Palestinian and Syrian rights.

Who Profits writes:

“Israel’s national water company, Mekorot, is a central facilitator of this embedded dispossession, systematically denying adequate Palestinian access to water, leading to structured dependency and the captivity of the Palestinian water sector. In a world increasingly concerned by the disastrous impact of global warming and water scarcity, Mekorot plays an integral role in the development of the Israeli occupation economy by positioning Israel as a global leader in the development of innovative technological solutions to global issues.”

Bonus Reads

1. “73 Home Demolitions in East Jerusalem for First Half of 2023 Mark Highest Number since 2018” (Ir Amim)
2. “Israeli settlers burn Palestinian crops in Hebron: PA” (Al-Monitor)
3. “US Embassy invites Binyamin Council head to July 4 celebration” (Arutz Sheva)

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

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.

September 6, 2019

1. In Countdown to Election, Bibi Doubles Down on Settlements, Annexation
2. 100+ Human Rights Organizations Demand Publication of UN Database of Businesses Operating in Settlements
3. Bonus Reads

Questions or comments? Contact Kristin McCarthy at kmccarthy@fmep.org.

---

In Countdown to Election, Bibi Doubles Down on Settlements, Annexation

Two weeks out from election day, Prime Minister Netanyahu has continued escalating his all-out efforts to shore up the right-wing settler vote, in two events in the occupied West Bank. 

Netanyahu Promises “Jewish Sovereignty” Over All Settlements & Outposts

Speaking at a grade school in the Elkana settlement on September 1st, Netanyahu said:

“With the help of God we will apply Jewish sovereignty to all communities, as part of the [biblical] Land of Israel, and as part of the state of Israel.”

The Yesha Council – the umbrella group that represents all settlements in the West Bank – head Hananel Durani praised Netanyahu for the statement, saying:

“This is another step on the road to the application of sovereignty. Sovereignty is the settlement vision, one that we have dreamed of for years and which would be happy to see come to fruition as soon as possible.”

Netanyahu’s now routine call for annexing all of the settlements (outposts included) was insufficient for the “Sovereignty Movement” – a radical and increasingly influential right-wing Israeli advocacy group which started as an offshoot of “Women in Green” – said that Israel must annex the entire West Bank. In a statement, the group’s leaders suggested that anything short of total annexation of the West Bank would allow for the Palestinians to create a state, and that:

“such an entity would pose a security and strategic threat to the heart of the State of Israel, and in particular would be a serious blow to the Zionist-Jewish vision to which Israel has yearned for in its years of exile, i.e., the restoration of Israeli sovereignty over the entire Land of Israel.”

Netanyahu’s remarks drew a sharply critical response from other quarters, for very different reasons – including the fact that this was the first time Netanyahu called for “Jewish sovereignty” (elevating a racial/religious framework for annexation)  as opposed to “Israeli sovereignty” (a national framework for annexation). MK Ofer Cassif (United Arab List) responded: 

“Netanyahu did not talk about Israeli sovereignty over the settlements in the Occupied Territories, but about Jewish sovereignty. Make no mistake about his intentions. The prime minister has publicly declared that he is interested in apartheid and ethnic cleansing.”

A spokesperson for Netanyahu later clarified the remarks to foreign media, stating that Netanyahu did not mean to endorse the application of religious law, but of “Israeli national law.”

 

For first time in 21 years, Netanyahu Goes to Hebron

Netanyahu and several senior leaders in his Likud Party went to Hebron on September 5th to speak at an event commemorating the 90th anniversary of the 1929 violent riots in Hebron during which 67 Jews were murdered. The much-hyped event – hosted by the Hebron settlers — marked Netanyahu’s first visit to Hebron since 1998, and he became the first Israeli Prime Minister in history to speak at a ceremonial event at the Tomb of the Patriarchs/Haram al-Ibrahimi Mosque.

The overarching message of the visit was support for the settlers and Israel’s control over Hebron, including in a grandiose speech in which Netanyahu promised to never remove settlers from Hebron:

“we are not strangers in Hebron and will remain in the city forever. We are not here to disinherit anyone, but no one will disinherit us (from here). We have come here to unite in memory, to express victory over bloodthirsty rioters who committed this horrific massacre 90 years ago. They were sure that they uprooted us for good, but they made a huge mistake.”

In anticipation of the event, settlers called on Netanyahu to use the visit to announce a new settlement in the wholesale market of Hebron. In parallel, Peace Now outlined seven compelling reasons why Israel should not build a new settlement in the Hebron marketplace, and provided a detailed history of Palestinian and Jewish histories in Hebron. Peace Now wrote:

“The irony is that the settlers claim that the 1929 massacre led to the expulsion of the Jews from the land on which the wholesale market stands, but under Israeli rule, the 1994 massacre (of the settler Baruch Goldstein) led to the expulsion of the Palestinians from the wholesale market. It now emerges that, according to the Defense Ministry’s legal advice, because of their massacre, the Palestinians are losing their rights.”

Although Netanyahu disappointed the settlers (by not announcing the new settlement), Knesset speaker Yuli Edelstein – a senior figure in Netanyahu’s own political party (Likud) – did not hedge on promising annexation of Hebron. Edelstein said:

 “it is time to impose sovereignty. We did not return in all out might to this place, a place where out legacy lies and where Jews have dreamed about for generations. It is time that the Jewish settlement in Hebron grows by the thousands.”

Likewise, Miri Regev, also a member of the Likud party and the current Minister of Culture, told the crowd:

“There is no better time to announce Israeli sovereignty in Judea and Samaria, and no better place than here, Hebron and the Tombs of Forefathers & Mothers – the place of the first purchase of Abraham in the land of Israel. There is no better time to announce Israeli sovereignty in Judea and Samaria, and no better place than here, Hebron and the Tombs of Forefathers & Mothers – the place of the first purchase of Abraham in the land of Israel.”

100+ Human Rights Organizations Demand Publication of UN Database of Businesses Operating in Settlements

More than 100 organizations penned a letter to Michelle Bachelet, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, demanding the publication of a database listing businesses operating inside Israeli settlements, in contravention to international law. 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 publication of the database has been repeatedly delayed, though it was rumored to be finished in December 2017.

The signing organizations write: 

“In the OPT, as in other cases of belligerent occupation, the absence of accountability has enabled the Occupying Power, Israel, to engage in activity in violation of international law in the occupied territory with near total impunity. This has allowed many private actors, including businesses, to contribute to and benefit from, sometimes unwittingly, gross human rights violations. The 2013 report of the UN commissioned International Fact-Finding Mission to investigate the implications of the Israeli settlements on the human rights of the Palestinian people, found that ‘business enterprises have, directly and indirectly, enabled, facilitated and profited from the construction and growth of the settlements’. This has detrimentally affected the lives of millions of Palestinians, depriving them of their fundamental human rights. In light of the aforementioned, and your undertaking in your letter of 4 March 2019 to the HRC President to finalize the mandated activity ‘in coming months,’ the undersigned organizations urge you, as the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, to fully implement the mandate provided in HRC resolution 31/36, by releasing and transmitting the data including the names of companies involved in the specified activities, to the Human Rights Council, so that it may be considered at the Council’s 42nd session in September 2019, and by annually updating the Database.”

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.”

Bonus Reads

1. “Netanyahu’s Deal of the Century: Annexation in Exchange for Immunity” (Al-Monitor)
2. “Education minister under fire for planning school trips to the West Bank” (Ynet)
3. “Israel soldiers stop field researcher over B’Tselem reports in car” (Middle East Monitor)

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

To receive this report via email, please click here.

December 8, 2017

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

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

---

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

QUESTION: No. But so could you —

AMBASSADOR SATTERFIELD: I’ve answered your question.

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

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

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

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

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

AMBASSADOR SATTERFIELD: Fine.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Yossi Alpher of Americans for Peace Now said it best:

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

Bonus Reads

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

---

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