FMEP’s Weekly Settlement Report covers everything you need to know about Israeli settlement and annexation activity. Last week: Netanyahu green lights Givat Hamatos and Har Homa settlement construction; Atarot settlement plans advance; and more.

“Israeli forces shot dead one Palestinian in the blockaded Gaza Strip on Sunday, then extracted his body with a bulldozer in an incident caught on camera that has sparked outrage.  The army said it opened fire on two Palestinian men suspected of placing a bomb next to the fence separating the besieged enclave from Israel in the southern Gaza Strip.” See Also: “Video Shows Israeli Army Bulldozer Dragging Gazan’s Body After Border Incident” (Haaretz);  and, “Israel Strikes Militants in Syria and Gaza After Clash Over Body at Border” (New York Times)

“Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu threatened Monday that Israel could begin a major operation to stem rocket fire and other attacks on Israeli communities near the Gaza border, despite elections being only a week away. Netanyahu’s threat, which echoed statements he has made before, came as Islamic Jihad terrorists renewed rocket fire on Israel’s south, launching over a dozen rockets and drawing reprisal airstrikes in the Strip. ‘Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad need to understand that this will not continue. If they do not stop the fire altogether, not just for a day or two but in general, then we will have to implement the wide-ranging campaign plan we have prepared,’ Netanyahu said during a tour of the West Bank settlement of Ariel. ‘There are new, surprising things in it that were in neither [operation] Cast Lead nor Pillar of Defense nor Protective Edge,’ he added, referring to the Gaza wars of 2008-9, 2012 and 2014.”

“In a statement, the spokesperson said: ‘In light of the situation, the IDF decided to block routes and areas adjacent to the Gaza perimeter fence. The areas and roads that are blocked are all agricultural access roads west of Highway 232, and the following roads will also be closed in both directions: road 4 – from Zikim Junction to the intersection of Kibbutz Nir Am; route 34 – from Yad Mordechai Junction to Kibbutz Erez; and road  232 – from Levelsim Junction to the junction of Kfar Gaza.'”

“A rocket barrage from Gaza was launched at Israel’s south on Monday morning, the Israeli army said, hours after Israel struck Islamic Jihad targets in the southern Gaza Strip and near Damascus in Syria…In response, the Israeli army said it struck an underground Islamic Jihad infrastructure in the Strip. After the strike, another rocket was launched from Gaza. It was followed by several rocket alarms across Gaza border communities. Eshkol Regional Council said some rockets fell in open areas. “

“Meanwhile, while Israel is considerably expanding relief measures to Gaza as attempted attacks from the Gaza border continue. On Thursday, a squad of Islamic Jihad snipers opened fire near the border fence, the Israeli army reported. On Sunday morning, two Palestinians, also Islamic Jihad members, were spotted approaching the fence in an attempt to lay explosive charges. One was killed and the other wounded. An army bulldozer entered Palestinian territory, and moved the body over to the Israeli side. Videos of the incident disseminated in the Gaza Strip sparked a storm on social media and threats of retaliation from the Palestinian organizations. The pictures are indeed hard to look at: The bulldozer blade pushes the body while the Palestinians try to carry it away. This adds flesh to Israeli declarations on changing policy and gathering bodies of terrorists as “assets” to use as bargaining chips for the two bodies of missing IDF soldiers held by Hamas. It raises another question – were the soldier or soldiers in the bulldozer not overexposed to danger, for example an anti-tank ambush, to retrieve a body when it is unclear what use will come from holding it, if any? On Sunday evening, about 20 rockets were fired at Israeli communities near the Gaza border. About half of them were intercepted by the Iron Dome anti-missile system. There were no reports of injuries from the rocket fire, but Israel would be expected to retaliate in any event. Even if the current round stops here, there are more weighty questions.”

“The US members of a committee that will map out areas of the West Bank that Israel may annex as part of US President Donald Trump’s peace plan have set out for Israel, Channel 12 news reported Sunday. The American members of the joint committee are US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman, his adviser Aryeh Lightstone, and C. Scott Leith, senior adviser for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict of the National Security Council.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered 12 illegal Israeli outposts in the West Bank to be connected to Israel’s electrical grid on Monday, one week before an unprecendeted third election…In his statement, Netanyahu demanded the connection happen immediately, a move supported by the acting Director General of the Prime Minister’s Office, Ronen Peretz, and the adviser for settlement affairs to the defense minister, Avi Roee. In practice, however, the approval of the Israeli military’s Civil Administration, which deals with civilian matters in the West Bank, is required. The connection will be made according to the schedule that the Administration will outline.” See Also: “PM orders 12 illegal outposts be hooked up to power grid, 8 days before election” (The Times of Israel)

“Last week Israeli authorities informed the local councils of at least four villages to the south of Nablus – Huwwara, Burin, Beita and Odala – that Israel would soon begin construction on a settler bypass road in the area. ‘They presented the decision as if it were going to be a good thing for us,’ Ghassan Najjar, a 30-year-old local activist from Burin told Middle East Eye. ‘It will ease ‘congestion’ in the area, they told us, and would improve ‘security’,’Najjar said. ‘Of course, they mean security for the settlers, not for the Palestinians.’ But in order to build the new bypass road, Israel will confiscate more than 40 hectares of land from the surrounding Palestinian villages. ‘This is just another case of Israel stealing Palestinian land in order to benefit the settlers,’ Najjar told MEE. ‘It’s plain and simple.’”

“Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised to apply Israeli sovereignty to the Tomb of the Patriarchs and to the Jewish community of Hebron, during a visit to the nearby West Bank Kiryat Arba settlement on Thursday. ‘We will apply Israeli sovereignty over Kiryat Arba and the Jewish community in Hebron, including the Tomb of the patriarchs and the roads that lead to it,’ Netanyahu said. ‘Only we [the Likud] can do this,’ the prime minister said as he stood in a white tent set up to celebrate the inauguration of a new neighborhood in Kiryat Arba called Nofei Cramim with 210 homes. All West Bank settlements are slated to become part of sovereign Israel under US President Donald Trump’s peace plan, but according to the map, the status of Jewish Hebron and the Tomb is unclear. Netanyahu’s statement about sovereignty over the Tomb of the Patriarchs and Jewish Hebron is the clearest statement he has made to date on the matter. During the last election campaign he visited Hebron and delivered a speech in front of the Tomb without once mentioning the word sovereignty.”

“In a speech Sunday during a visit to the Italian southern port city of Bari to reflect on peace in countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea, Francis lamented the many areas of war and conflict, including in the Middle East and Northern Africa. Francis spoke of ‘the still unresolved conflict between Israelis and Palestinians, with the danger of not fair solutions, and, thus, presaging new crises.’ The pope didn’t cite any specific proposals.”

“A month after she started using Airbnb, Fadwa had received guests from all over the world: some people came intentionally to stay in Palestine, others were surprised when they wound up in Abu Dis. One Australian couple, for example, had been relaxing under the orange trees in Fadwa’s garden when a clash between Israeli military forces and Palestinians suddenly kicked off just outside. They asked for a refund and left immediately. That taught Fadwa a lesson: ‘I have never intended to be political, but this is politics getting in my way. I don’t want my guests to feel deceived’. That’s why she warns on her Airbnb profile that’the IDF [Israeli Defence Force] shoot tear gas bombs make noise and bad smell takes place sometimes on Fridays late afternoon’, although she reassures guests that they will be safe at all times.”

“Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party is projected to win a narrow lead over Benny Gantz’s Kahol Lavan in next week’s Israel election, according to two polls published Sunday by Channel 12 and Kan public broadcaster. Neither party is predicted to secure a parliamentary majority, indicating no clear end to Israel’s unprecedented political deadlock. According to Channel 12, Netanyahu’s Likud is expected to win 34 seats while Kahol Lavan is expected to win 33 seats. A poll by Channel 12 from last week predicted Gantz would win 35 seats and Netanyahu 33.”

“Lieberman’s nationalist Yisrael Beitenu party bolted from Netanyahu’s right-wing camp last year to spark the unprecedented stalemate in Israeli politics. Though Lieberman has all but ruled out sitting in a government led by his one-time mentor Netanyahu, saying his ‘era is over,’ he has also driven a hard bargain with Gantz and has taken out campaign ads against the former military chief. Lieberman insists a future coalition cannot include Arab-led parties, whose lawmakers he considers terrorist sympathizers because several have sided with Israel’s adversaries and refused to condemn attackers. He has also ruled out governing jointly with ultra-Orthodox Jewish parties that he says have long wielded disproportionate power that has harmed Israel’s secular majority and, in particular, his base of immigrants from the former Soviet Union. Lieberman himself immigrated to Israel in the 1970s from the former Soviet republic of Moldova. His preferred solution after the last election was to play matchmaker between Gantz’s centrist Blue and White party and Netanyahu’s Likud and coax them into a unity government. But that option appears off the table even if the numbers don’t seem to add up to any other realistic alternative. Gantz refuses to partner with the indicted Netanyahu and Likud appears unwilling to part ways with its longtime leader, even as he goes on trial next month. Still, Lieberman, who declined interview requests, insists this vote will produce a breakthrough and he’ll be the one to dictate how it all plays out.”

“Israel’s grinding political deadlock has squeezed funding for programs helping troubled youths, disadvantaged communities and the disabled, forcing state-backed social organizations to rely on crowdfunding to get by…The lack of a 2020 budget ‘primarily affects the most vulnerable,’ Flug said. Beyond cutbacks to government programs, civil society organizations that rely on public funds to deliver social services are also facing a dire situation, she warned.”

“It was marketed to us as a historic development, virtually equal in significance to Israel’s the Declaration of Independence. Yet, it’s unlikely that it will have induced even 100 voters to switch sides. Indeed, in Likud, they’re going crazy with frustration. Netanyahu commissioned a series of polls to find out what’s behind the apparent indifference to what was described by his people as the crowning glory of his 14 years as prime minister, the fulfillment of the dream of the nations of the world and the triumph of Zionism. The findings were like a slap in the face. The issue of annexation, he discovered, is of interest only to the ideological right – voters of Yamina and further to the right. Netanyahu’s voters, those in Likud, are mostly showing sweeping imperturbability. They’re more interested in core issues of life itself: the cost of living, housing prices, health care, traffic jams. They don’t object in principle to Israel imposing its law on Area C in the West Bank, which is already under its de facto control, on the Jordan Valley and so on, but what does that have to do with their bank balance? With the ever-diminishing prospect of being able to buy an apartment for their kids?”

“Before the plan was released, AIPAC made clear it might be supportive, but wanted more information. That looks likely to come at the lobby’s conference on March 1-3: Three of the plan’s mapping committee members will speak, including U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman; Aryeh Lightstone, Friedman’s senior adviser; and Ron Dermer, the Israeli ambassador to the United States. Notably, a number of Obama administration veterans who have voiced skepticism of the plan,  to varying degrees, also will speak. They include Dennis Ross and David Makovsky of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, and Daniel Shapiro, who is now at Israel’s Institute for National Security Studies. So will two officials of the Israel Policy Forum, which has lambasted the plan.”

“’The Israeli people have the right to live in peace and security. So do the Palestinian people,’ Sanders tweeted. ‘I remain concerned about the platform AIPAC provides for leaders who express bigotry and oppose basic Palestinian rights. For that reason I will not attend their conference.’”