Peace Now’s report titled, “War and Annexation – How the Israeli Government Changed the West Bank in the Year of the War,” was issued on October 7, 2024, but sent out only this week.
Reading Peace Now reports is like watching Al Jazeera: whatever they condemn and present as high crimes against humanity gladdens our hearts. In the weeks right after October 7, I would watch Al Jazeera just for the exhilarating images of buildings collapsing under Air Force bombing in Gaza. The more they suffered, the more my feelings of righteous revenge flourished.
The Peace Now report may not be as dramatic as images of a collapsing Gaza Strip (or south Lebanon and Beirut’s Dahiya neighborhood these days), but they are extremely satisfying. Remember, the Zionist movement began with a string of illegal settlements (according to the British, before 1948) , most of which are today’s Israeli legitimate towns and villages. Any of today’s young settlements in Judea and Samaria may be home to the great shopping mall you’d rush to before Hanukkah in the future.
So, without further ado, the Peace Now list of horrible violations the Netanyahu government (under the auspices of Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich) committed in the “West Bank” since October 7, 2023.
SETTLEMENTS AND OUTPOSTS
- At least 43 new outposts have been established – most of them agricultural outposts (farms) that are engaged in the seizure of land and the systematic expulsion of PA Arabs from the area. This is an unprecedented number of new outposts. For comparison, from 1996 to the beginning of 2023, an average of less than 7 outposts were established per year.
- Dozens of new roads, estimated to be tens of kilometers long, have been broken through for the purpose of establishing new outposts and taking over additional areas.
- Plans for 8,681 housing units in settlements have been advanced by the Supreme Planning Council.
- 5,978 acres have been declared “state lands” – an amount of about half of all the area declared as state land since Oslo to the present day.
- The cabinet decided to establish 5 new settlements: Evyatar, Givat Assaf, Sde Efraim, Adoraim, and Nahal Haletz. All are illegal outposts that are slated to become official settlements.
- 3 outposts were qualified as neighborhoods of existing settlements by approving plans in the Supreme Planning Council: Machane Gadi, Kedem Arava, and Givat Hanan.
- 70 illegal outposts have been recognized as eligible for budgeting and infrastructure – Minister Smotrich ordered government ministries and other authorities to begin budgeting for 70 illegal outposts, to erect public buildings in them, and to connect them to water and electricity infrastructure.
- New settlements in Hebron – Settlers entered a house in Hebron that they claimed they purchased from PA Arabs. The settlers’ entry was made possible after they had been granted a business permit by officials subordinate to Minister Smotrich. In addition, a plan was published for submission to establish a new settlement as an enclave in the city of Hebron with 234 housing units north of Kiryat Arba.
FINANCES AND BUDGETS
- The government doubled the budget of the Ministry of Settlement and the funds earmarked for the Settlements Division – an addition of NIS 302 million ($80.5 million).
- NIS 7 billion ($1.87 billion) for roads in settlements – according to Minister Smotrich, the Ministry of Finance agreed with the Ministry of Transportation on a five-year plan totaling NIS 7 billion for inter-city roads in the settlements’ areas.
- Allocation of NIS 409 million ($109 million) for unique projects in settlements, after the horizontal cut in the government ministries’ budgets. Among other things, for projects to preserve antiquities in Judea and Samaria, restore Sebastia Park, strengthen the Old City Basin (which Peace Now calls, wait for it… “a tourist settlement in East Jerusalem” – DI), and projects related to the Elad Association in Kfar haShiloach (they prefer the Arabic Silwan, even though the neighborhood was established by Yemenite olim who were chased from their homes by Arab rioters – DI).
- Funds for illegal farms and outposts – NIS 75 million ($20 million) were allocated for illegal outposts, of which about NIS 39 million ($10.4 million) were allocated for illegal shepherd farms, and Peace Now notes, “some of which are violent.” It’s too late for the “violent settlers” mantra to make an impression – the Bidens are leaving town in two months and with them the sanctions against innocent Israeli farmers and settlers.
GOOD NEWS EVERYWHERE
The Peace Now report concludes with language that might bring thousands of pro-Hamas demonstrators to the streets of Amsterdam, but which is, as usual, music to our ears:
Minister Smotrich, who was given responsibility by Netanyahu for handling the settlements as an adjunct minister in the defense ministry, dictates a policy of almost completely halting the evacuation of outposts and enforcing the law against settlers.
Minister Ben Gvir, for his part, has led the police to ensure that acts of violence remain unaddressed, and despite the increase in settler violence, the number of arrests of Jewish terror suspects in the “West Bank” has dropped by half compared to last year.
In other words, in two years, the people I voted for have succeeded in reversing a policy of injustice, not to say antisemitism, against Jewish settlers in Judea and Samaria. I will vote for them again.
The military’s decision to close dozens of entrances and exits to PA Arab villages and communities in Areas A and B, along with hundreds of roadblocks across the “West Bank,” immediately after the war began, greatly reduced PA Arab movement in Area C and made it easier for settlers to operate freely throughout the “West Bank.”
I believe the proper response here should be a raised glass and a loud toast of “She’hechyanu,” because:
Due to the numerous roadblocks, all movement of PA Arabs across the “West Bank” has become much longer, more expensive, and much less frequent. About a year after the war began, hundreds of entrances and exits are still closed, including a large portion of the entrances to Ramallah, Shechem, Hebron, and more. Main roads have become roads for settlers only, such as the “Liberman Highway” that bypasses Bethlehem from the east, with all exits and entrances to the PA Arab communities along it blocked.
A significant part of the change that occurred in the past year stems from the establishment of the Settlement Administration and the Israeli government’s decision to prioritize strengthening the settlements and settlers. In the past year, the Israeli government began a legitimization process for 7 outposts in addition to the 14 that began the training process last year. At the same time, Minister Smotrich established a “legitimization bypass track” for 70 outposts, according to which budgets will be provided and public buildings will be built in illegal outposts even though they have not undergone regularization procedures.
In conclusion, it can be said that the war in Gaza and on other fronts, alongside a systematic political plan by the settlers to impose sovereignty over the “West Bank” territories, has created conditions that settlers are exploiting for unprecedented illegal activity, and for a process of annexation at an unprecedented and uninhibited pace.
Baruch Hashem.
