Welcome to FMEP’s Weekly Settlement Report, this week we are issuing an covering everything you need to know about Israeli settlement activity this week.
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Smotrich Says E-1 To Be Approved in Coming Months, Cautioned Annexation Will be Enacted but Not Announced
On May 6th, Bezalel Smotrich announced at a conference in the Ofra settlement that the government is moving to approve the construction of the E-1 settlement in the coming months. In its current form, the E-1 plan provides for the construction of 3,412 new settlement units on a site located northeast of Jerusalem. The site is home to several Palestinian bedouin communities, comprising 3,000 people, including Khan al-Ahmar, which Israel is planning to forcibly relocate. Long called a “doomsday” settlement by supporters of a two-state solution, construction of the E-1 settlement would sever East Jerusalem from its West Bank hinterland, preventing East Jerusalem from ever functioning as a viable Palestinian capital. It would also cut the West Bank effectively in half, isolating the northern West Bank from the southern West Bank and foreclosing the possibility of the establishment of a Palestinian state with territorial contiguity.
At the conference this week, Smotrich also boasted that under his authority, the government has approved 15,000 settlement units and allocated $1.9billion in West Bank settlement roads since January 2025. Smotrich went on to explain to the conference attendees that Israel is carrying out the de facto annexation of the West Bank, but not prioritizing the recognition of its unilateral/de jure annexation by international governments – particularly the U.S. According to Haaretz reporting:
“At the conference, Smotrich expressed hope that the government would soon annex the West Bank but cautioned that ‘sovereignty alone won’t be enough.’ He argued that if Israel were to apply its sovereignty and receive recognition from the U.S. President Donald Trump, only for a future Democratic administration to revoke that recognition later, ‘it wouldn’t be worth much.’ Nevertheless, Smotrich said, ‘There will be de facto sovereignty.’”
West Bank Settlement & Annexation News
- Overview/Analysis:
- “Humanitarian Situation Update #287 | West Bank” (May 7, 2025)
- “West Bank Monthly Snapshot – Casualties, Property Damage and Displacement | March 2025” (OCHA)
- “1,000 Palestinians killed, 7,000 injured in West Bank since October 2023” (MEMO, 5/9/25)
- “The Settlers” (Louis Theroux for BBC, May 2025)
- “The Huge, Under-the-Radar Shift Happening in the West Bank” (New York Times, 5/8/25)
- “Israel is on a home demolition rampage in the West Bank. Its aim is to force Palestinians to leave” (Mondowess, May 1, 2025)
- “Stop Booking Apartheid’ targets Booking.com’s Israeli settlement profits” (Middle East Eye, 5/2/25)
- In the South Hebron Hills:
- “Israel Demolishes Most of West Bank Village in Largest Masafer Yatta Demolition Yet” (Haaretz, 5/6/25)
- “Palestinians in razed West Bank hamlet vow to stay” (Al-Monitor, 5/7/25)
- ““Israel accelerates land seizures and settlement expansion in southern Hebron” (The New Arab, 4/27/25)
- “Israeli settlers build new settler road as soldiers loot Palestinian homes in Masafer Yatta” (MEMO, 4/28/25)
- “I was in the BBC documentary ‘The Settlers.’ This is the part of my story they didn’t tell.” (Mondoweiss, 5/6/25)
- “Palestinians awoke to bulldozers. Their village was destroyed by noon” (+972 Magazine, 5/6/25)
- “PHOTOS: Besieged by settlers, Palestinians race to harvest wheat early” (+972 Magazine, 4/28/25)
- In the Jordan Valley:
- Near Jenin:
- “In Israel’s Demolition Path, West Bank Residents Pack Up Their Lives” (New York Times, 5/8/25)
- “West Bank Palestinians losing hope 100 days into Israeli assault” (Al-Monitor, 5/2/25)
- Near Ramallah:
- “Israeli settlers are turning occupied West Bank’s Palestinian lives into ‘hell’” (The New Arab, 5/2/25)
- Near Nablus:
- “Heritage under Siege: Israeli settlement expansion threatens 4,000-year-old site in Sebastia” (Jordan Times, 4/29/25)
- “Three families evicted from Jewish settlement” (Arutz Sheva, 5/7/25)
East Jerusalem Settlement News
- “Israel Shuts Six UNRWA Schools in East Jerusalem, Sending Hundreds of Students Home Midday” (Haaretz, 5/8/25)
- “Israel claims to care about Palestinian students — so it shuts down their schools” (+972 Magazine, 5/6/25)
- “New Political Roadmap: Hope from Jerusalem: 13 Principles for Future Israeli-Palestinian Peace in Jerusalem as the Capital of Two Peoples” (Ir Amim, 5/6/25)
Israeli Politics
- “Israel Launches PR Initiative to Boost Global ‘Legitimization’ of West Bank Settlements” (Haaretz, 5/7/25)
- “The Ministry of Diaspora Affairs Funds Settlers Propaganda with Millions of Shekels” (PEace Now, 5/6/25)
- “Framed as Threat to the State’ | Human Rights Groups in West Bank, East J’lem, Gaza Condemn ‘Politicized’ Israeli NGO Bill” (Haaretz, 5/5/25)
- “Opinion | Smotrich Is No Longer an Exception to the Israeli Consensus. He Is Its Reflection” (Haaretz, 5/7/25)
- “Israeli official says Gaza will be “entirely destroyed,” Palestinians “will start to leave in great numbers”” (CBS News, 5/6/25)
- “Sovereignty over Judea and Samaria ‘only solution,’ says JNS panel” (JNS, 4/28/25)
- “The Settler Coup Overtook Israel Long Ago. The October 7 Failure Was Its Aftermath” (Haaretz, 4/26/25)
U.S. Politics
- “U.S. to Downgrade Palestinian Affairs Office in Jerusalem, Officials Say” (New York Times, 5/6/25)
- “US ambassador makes history in Judea and Samaria visit” (Israel Hayom, 5/7/25)
- “A historic step forward: Arkansas recognizes Judea and Samaria” (JNS, 4/29/25)
- “Arkansas becomes first state to ban agencies from saying ‘West Bank’” (JNS, 4/29/25)