Welcome to FMEP’s Weekly Settlement Report, covering everything you need to know about Israeli settlement activity this week.
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December 20, 2024
- De Facto Annexation: Israel Applies Domestic Urban Renewal Law to Settlements, Easing High-Density Construction
- High Court Orders Illegal Settler Construction Dismantled
- Knesset Caucus to Push Bill Preventing West Bank Exit
- Israeli Demolitions Continue Alarming Spike
- Israel is Expanding Settlements in the Golan Heights, As Army Moves to Expand Occupation of Syrian Land
- Bonus Reads
De Facto Annexation: Israel Applies Domestic Urban Renewal Law to Settlements, Easing High-Density Construction
In an act of de facto annexation of the settlements, Peace Now reports that the Israeli Commander of the Central Command has signed a military order applying domestic Israeli laws on urban renewal. The order establishes a new body called the “Government Authority for Urban Renewal in Judea and Samara,” to be staffed and funded with the same people and budgets as the domestic domestic authority – essentially just expanding the jurisdiction of the existing body. This authority, which is funded by Israeli taxpayer money, will be able to incentivize large-scale, high-density settlement housing projects through various tax breaks and exemptions, in so doing diverting public funds to the settlements. Public reporting suggests that up to 10,000 new settlement housing units can be advanced through this new authority in 2025.
Peace Now explains:
“This means that government budgets can now be directed to assist in the planning and implementation of eviction-rebuild projects or other urban renewal projects in settlements, and to encourage massive, high-density construction. In recent years, settlements have begun to build high-rise buildings, even towers. The new military order will make it easier for settlers to advance construction plans in built-up areas using the evacuation-reconstruction method, so that both the developers, the current homeowners, and the settlement enterprise will benefit from the change, while Israeli interests will lose out.”
High Court Orders Illegal Settler Construction Dismantled
Emek Shaveh and Yesh Din report that the Israeli High Court of Justice has accepted a petition to stop the illegal settlement construction at the historical and sacred site Nabi Abner, located northwest of Ramallah (jointly filed by Emek Shaveh, Yesh Din, and the Palestinian residents of Ras Karakar and Deir Ammar on whose land the site is located). In its decision, the High Court criticized the State for its involvement and facilitation of illegal settler construction on the land – and ordered that the buildings and infrastructure be dismantled, and that the site be restored to its previous condition within six months.
Indeed, settlers began harassing Palestinians at the Nabi Abner site more than seven years ago. The IDF opted to prevent Palestinians from accessing their historical land instead of preventing settlers from illegally entering the area, violently harassing the landowners, and harming the agriculture they tended to. Eventually, settlers had full control of the site, even building concrete pools and pergolas to transform it into an Israeli tourist site. The construction damaged antiquities at the site, which included ancient springs, aqueducts, artifacts as well as the ruins of a Palestinians village.
Yesh Din posted on X:
“The ruling upholds Palestinians’ rights to property and free access to heritage and recreational sites. This is a significant and just victory. After seven years of legal and public struggle, the Court ruled what should have been self-evident: the state is obligated to protect Palestinians’ property rights and allow them to preserve their heritage, even when settlers seek to turn the site into a recreational site for themselves.”
Emek Shaveh said in a statement:
“We welcome the court’s ruling following a lengthy legal and public struggle which affirmed the obvious: The state is obligated to protect the property rights of Palestinians and allow them to preserve their heritage even when settlers desire to turn the site into their personal recreational and leisure destination.”
Knesset Caucus to Push Bill Preventing West Bank Exit
The Israeli Knesset is set to revive a bill that is proposed at blocking any future decision by the Israeli government to cede territory in the West Bank and Israeli territorial waters in the context of a peace deal. Current Israeli Basic Law requires a public referendum or special majority vote in the Knesset for any proposal to cede territory in Israel, East Jerusalem, or the Golan Heights – – but the law does not currently include the West Bank. The proposed bill would add the West Bank and Israeli territorial waters to the covered territories.
In a statement accompanying the bill, the Knesset Land of Israel Caucus (which will reportedly be submitted soon) says that the bill is intended to “effectively prevent the establishment of a Palestinians state in any future arrangement.” The focus on Israeli territorial waters comes in light of Yair Lapid’s 2022 maritime agreement with Lebanon.
Israeli Demolitions Continue Alarming Spike
OCHA reports that on on December 16th Israeli forces carried out the demolition of two Palestinian structures, rendering 78 Palestinians displaced – which is the highest number of Palestinians displaced in a single day from demolitions due to a lack of building permits since October 2023. Those were just 2 of 76 structures that were demolitions between December 10 – 16, of which 60 were in the West Bank and 9 were in East Jerusalem.
The demolitions are part of an alarming and still unfolding surge in demolitions targeting Palestinians in East Jerusalem, particularly in sensitive areas where Israel has plans for settler-backed tourism projects that erase Palestinian history and presence in the city. Since January 2024, 17 structures have been demolished (either directly by Israel or by Palestinians who opted to self-demolish and avoid Israeli fees) in the Al-Bustan section of Silwan. 104 Palestinians have been displaced as a result.
Israel is Expanding Settlements in the Golan Heights, As Army Moves to Expand Occupation of Syrian Land
On December 15th the Israeli government approved a plan to expand settlements in the Golan Heights, an area that Israel occupied in 1967 and illegally annexed in 1981 (its annexation of that territory had been rejected by the international community until the U.S. became the first and only nation to recognize Israeli sovereignty over the Golan in 2019). Netanyahu called the settlement expansion plan necessary for Israeli security, saying he aimed to double the Israeli presence there. There are currently ~20,000 Israelis living in 30 settlements in the Golan Heights.
The move to entrench Israeli civilian settlement in the Golan Heights comes against the backdrop of Israel’s incursion deeper into Syrian land – into the so-called Buffer Zone – following the fall of the Assad regime. Syrians who live in the area that has recently come under Israeli control are already voicing fear that Israel is planning to exploit the weak and distracted new regime in order to solidify a long-term occupation of the area. Netanyahu has declared that Israel will occupy the Syrian land for the foreseeable future. A resident now under Israeli occupation told Haaretz:
“We’re used to the fact that in Israel’s view, there is no free withdrawal, so the expansion of its area of control wasn’t done solely for military and security reasons, but mainly to extort the new government in Damascus.”
On X, footage has emerged of Israeli forces opening fire at a group of Syrians gathered to protest Israel’s expanded presence in the Syrian Golan Heights.
Bonus
- “Israeli Settlers Set West Bank Mosque on Fire, Spray-paint anti-Arab Statements” (Haaretz)
- “US won’t sanction Smotrich and Ben Gvir before end of Biden’s term — officials” (The Times of Israel)
- “DF admits settler group crossed northern border into Lebanon this month” (The Times of Israel)
- “Meet the far-right settler Benjamin Netanyahu has tapped to be the next Israeli ambassador to the U.S.” (Mondoweiss)
- “Huckabee addresses settlement-focused One Israel Fund as ‘quirky right-wing’ cause goes ‘mainstream’” (eJewishPhilanthropy)