Welcome to FMEP’s Weekly Settlement Report, covering everything you need to know about Israeli settlement activity this week.
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**The regular FMEP Settlement & Annexation report is on break, and is planned to return around the first week of August. In the meantime, we are pleased to offer you links to the main settlement-related stories of the past week**
May 19, 2022
1. Ethnic Cleansing Advances in Masafer Yatta
2. Settler Impunity/Supremacy, Backed Israeli Government/Military
3. Israel Government Policy of Settlement Expansion & Apartheid
4. International Community – Inconsequential Concerns
5. Jerusalem
6. Bonus Reads
Ethnic Cleansing Advances in Masafer Yatta
Israeli settlers chop down olive trees, destroy crops in Masafer Yatta area (WAFA 5/18/22)
Video – Israeli settlers scuffle with [euphemism for: “are harassed/attacked by”] Palestinian protesters (Associated Press 5/18/22)
Fear of Displacement Hovering Over Masafer Yatta [EN/AR] [UN/Relief Web 5/17/22]
“‘When you have a home, you can close the door and feel safe inside’. This is what Reem said the day her house was demolished in 2019. Today, Reem as well as over 2,000 Palestinians face yet another imminent threat of displacement in Masafer Yatta.”
Tweets from journalist/activist Basel Al-Adra:
- 5/17/22: “You make dinner, clean your room, go to bed, and know tomorrow morning bulldozers might crush your home. Recently that’s reality for us in Masafer Yatta after the Occupation decided to destroy our villages so ‘the army can train’ in place of them. Imagine how that feels.”
- 5/18/22: “Cruelty: Soldiers stop my neighbor’s tractor, confiscate it, and fine him 8,000 Shekels (3 monthly salaries) – for carrying building blocks in it. His family’s home was demolished 4 days ago. Ethnic cleansing in Masafer Yatta, 2022. Educate yourself about this. Urgently.”
- 5/14/22: “See this kid? He’s 10. I give him a ride to school, sometimes. 3 days ago, the occupation bulldozed his home, in Masafer Yatta. Since then he’s been living in a tent, that used to be a sheep pen, with his mom, dad, and 6 siblings. ‘We barely sleep’, he told me. #SaveMasaferYatta“
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Settlers Impunity/Supremacy, Backed Israeli Government/Military
–>Settlers Take Over Another Building in Hebron [& then agree to leave but on condition that they get to come back…]
Settlers Leave Hebron Building They Took Over, but Say Army ‘Won’t Let Arabs Invade’ (Haaretz 5/16/22)
IDF to guard new Hebron building, settlers leave until permit approved – An Israeli flag still waved from the top of the structure and a blue and white sign with the words Beit Tekumah hung from its wall. (Jerusalem Post 5/16/22)
Jewish Settlers Take Over Hebron Building, Ignoring Palestinian’s Ownership Claim (Haaretz 5/15/22)
Settlers said to occupy building in Hebron without a permit (Times of Israel 5/15/22)
Israeli settlers forcibly seize Palestinian-owned building in Hebron (Middle East Eye 5/13/22)
–>Never Enough Outposts!
‘They Don’t Want Evyatar – We’ll Build 10 Others’: How a Settlement Outpost Is Born (Haaretz 5/14/22)
Radical Israeli settler group plans to create 10 new illegal settlements in the West Bank (The New Arab 5/15/22)
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Israel Government Policy of Settlement Expansion & Apartheid
Palestinians Eight Times More Likely to Face Home Demolition Than Settlers (Haaretz 5/18/22)
Israeli army demolishes Palestinian-owned house despite its location in an area controlled by the Palestinians [Area A] (WAFA 5/18/22)
PM says ‘settlement, security and aliyah’ form Zionist response to terrorism (Israel Hayom 5/17/22)
Israeli PM welcomes expansion of West Bank settlements (ABC News 5/17/22)
Israel Prime Minister makes controversial visit to West Bank settlement (Middle East Monitor 5/17/22)
Dozens Protest Bennett’s First Settlement Visit Since Becoming Prime Minister (Haaretz 5/17/22)
Gantz in Washington Wednesday to Defend ‘Settlements,’ Israeli Measures in West Bank (Asharq Al-Awsat 5/17/22)
UN envoy condemns latest Israeli settlement expansion plan (Modern Diplomacy 5/15/22)
In first since becoming PM, Bennett to visit W. Bank settlement (Jerusalem Post 5/15/22)
European nations urge Israel to scrap plans for new settlement homes (Times of Israel 5/14/22)
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International Community – Inconsequential Concerns
Canada: settlement ‘Product of Israel’ labels break law, rules federal food inspection agency (Middle East Monitor 5/18/22)
Biden’s trip to Israel is getting trickier by the day (Responsible Statecraft 5/18/22)
Ahead of Possible Biden Visit, Israel, US Tread Carefully on Settlement Expansion (The MediaLine 5/18/22)
Israeli PM ignores Macron’s concerns, welcomes settlement expansion (The Arab Weekly 5/18/22)
Macron talks down settlement activity with Bennett as PM visits Elkana (Jerusalem Post 5/17/22)
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Jerusalem
Jerusalem Day Flag March to proceed through Damascus Gate (Jerusalem Post 5/18/22)
Israeli municipality forces Palestinian in East Jerusalem to demolish his own home (WAFA 5/14/22)
Opponents of Jerusalem cable car lose Supreme Court case – Court green lights project, expected to boost tourism and ease traffic around Jerusalem holy sites; Palestinian opponent say the project would erase their heritage in areas they seek for a future state (YNet 5/15/22)
Twitter thread from Ir Amim 5/15/22: “BREAKING: The cable car project has been largely spearheaded by the ELAD settler organization working in cooperation with state bodies. The planned route will funnel tourist traffic into the hub of ELAD’s settler operations in Silwan, the City of David. The aim here is to alter the Palestinian space by superimposing exclusively Jewish narrative over the area and expand Jewish presence through residential settlement (settler takeovers of Palestinian homes) and settler-operated tourist sites.”
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Bonus Read
The imperial roots of ‘shrinking the conflict’ (+972 Magazine 5/17/22)
“Various academic studies indicate that over the last two decades, limiting Palestinian movement has become a major part of the day-to-day management of the Israeli occupation. The settlers themselves are well aware of this: for example, the real estate company ‘Lev Hahar Yazamut,’ which markets homes in Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, recently launched a campaign entitled ‘The New Pioneers,’ aimed at ‘families who see community and settlement as a top value, but would be happy to live in a spacious 197 square meters, 5 bedroom home.’ The campaign included the imperative: ‘You shall not live in a settlement that lacks a bypass road leading to it.’…”