المكتب الوطني للدفاع عن الارض ومقاومة الاستيطان منظمة التحرير الفلسطينية
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By: Madeeha Al-A’raj
The national Bureau for Defending the Land and Resisting Settlements stated in its latest weekly report , that last week, the Israeli Gov’t approved a supplemental budget of NIS 30 billion i.e. ‘$ 8 billion’ to its general budget in order to meet the needs of the brutal war that Tel Aviv wages against Gaza since Oct. 7th 2023. Israeli Minister of Finance, Smotrich said that the current year’s budget that was approved by the Knesset last March, is no longer appropriate for developments that are taking place in Israel, referring to his government’s war on Gaza. He said, the approved budget is no longer relevant and must be amended accordingly. Adding, under the general budget law in Israel, the value of the State budget reached NIS 484 billion i.e. ‘$132 billion’ in 2023, and rose to NIS 514 billion i.e. ‘$140 billion’ for the year 2024.
According to an internal ministry document published by the “Calculist” Newspaper early this December, the budgets allocated for settlement in the West Bank, including Jerusalem, are distributed among various ministries in the occupation government in billions of shekels, such as the Ministry of Army and Civil Affairs, including the Office of the Coordinator of Territorial Affairs, and the Ministries of Transportation, Housing, Knowledge, Heritage, and others. However, the report took a look at those ministries headed by ministers from the Religious Zionism Party, and Jewish power to strengthen its position among the settlers.
Here, the amended budget of the occupying state allocated additional budgets to the Israeli Ministry of National Security, headed by Itamar Ben Gvir, head of the extreme right-wing “Jewish Power” Party during the aggressive war on the Gaza Strip, worth NIS 1.885 billion for what it called emergency situations and dealing with the situation. During the fighting, the lion’s share goes to establishing more than 600 guard teams armed with long rifles, protective equipment, and warning means, within the framework of Ben Gvir’s plan, which calls for the purchase of about 40,000 long weapons, rifles, and related equipment.
The documents that were published indicate that 25,550 long weapons and rifles have been purchased so far, out of 40,000 rifles approved to arm the so-called guard teams or Ben Ghafir militia. These documents also showed the purchase of more than 5.5 million bullets for training and readiness for emergency work, and the provision of more than 20,000 protection kits for helmets and protective vests at a total cost of about NIS 263 million. The Office of the Ministry of National Security, which is directly under the authority of Ben Ghafir, got NIS 637 million of which NIS 633 million will be allocated to establishing and arming hundreds of guard teams that were established after Oct. 7.
Settlement Ministry, headed by the far-right Minister Orit Struk from Smotrich’s party, had a lucrative share in the revised Israeli budget of NIS 200 million, added to about NIS 543 million of the ministry’s allocations in the general budget in order to expand settlement in the West Bank. The Ministry of Finance submitted a request to the Parliamentary Finance Committee to approve the transfer of an additional NIS 200 million to this ministry. The addition, will be distribution as follows, NIS 90 million in cash, of which NIS 75 million will be allocated to the settlement outposts, that is, to the Hilltop Youth, NIS 15 million for social activity and absorption in what the ministry calls rural settlements, and NIS 110 million as a loan, the spend terms of which have not been determined.
In this regard, the Israeli newspaper ‘The Marker’ indicated that the transfer of the amount to the settlement outposts was hidden from the public, as it did not appear in the official statement on the issues being discussed by the government. It appears that this increase came in response to the urgent letter sent by the head of the West Bank Settlements Council ‘Yesha Council’, Shlomo Neeman, to Netanyahu, requesting immediate assistance. He wrote, ‘there is a strong and skilled infrastructure and various defense components, in light of the atrocities committed by the enemy against our brothers from the southern settlements’.
It is clear that Ben Gvir’s policy would exacerbate tension in the contact areas between settlements in general and settlement outposts in particular and between the Palestinian villages and towns in their vicinity. Armed settlers in settlement outposts in particular no longer, as reported by developments in the field, shoot in the air or at the feet when they aim at Palestinian citizens. Rather, they “now shoot with the aim of killing,” as reported by some Israeli media, Israeli human rights organizations, and testimonies from international bodies, where violence increase in in the occupied West Bank has already reached its highest levels this year in more than 15 years.
The situation worsened in light of the brutal aggression on the Gaza Strip after the 7 Oct. when two citizens from his palace were martyred when Israeli settlers and soldiers intercepted the funeral of 3 Palestinians, who were killed by settlers. This was one of more than 170 attacks by armed settlers on Palestinians recorded by the United Nations in less than a month after that which resulted in the martyrdom of a large number of Palestinians, according to UNs’ data.
In parallel with the murders committed by terrorist groups of settlers, which Ben Gvir is arming, there are other crimes that are more serious, in light of the spread of weapons in the settlements and outposts, the expansion of Jewish terrorist organizations is sponsored by both the Minister of Finance and the Minister of Settlement in the Ministry of the Army, Bezalel. Smotrich and Minister of National Security Itamar Ben Gvir financed and armed its activities targeting the Palestinians and exerted pressure in many areas to push citizens out, especially in the Palestinian Bedouin and herding communities, towards immigration.
Recently, 24 Palestinian families in the village of Zanuta, south of the West Bank, built their primitive homes made of tin, tents, and sheep pens, and packed their belongings to return to the town of Al-Dhaheriya, south of Hebron, after repeated settler attacks.
It was repeated in the village of “Zanouta” last week. Such attacks were repeated in more than one place, such as the “Al-Qanub” community, northeast of Hebron. Their homes were demolished and burned, and their sheep and vehicles were stolen by the settlers. They are now struggling to survive in this difficult atmosphere after they were forced to migrate to the Sa’ir area after they were attacked by dozens of armed settler militias from the nearby ‘Masad’ colony to complete their day in a nearby valley away from these terrorists thirsty for killing and destruction.
Ben Gvir, the fascist Minister is not satisfied with arming the settlers and building terrorist militias in the settlements, settlement outposts and so-called pastoral farms, but he goes further than that and sends messages to the people through the clear and frank adoption of their terrorist practices, as his followers organize campaigns to help settlers imprisoned on the grounds of committing terrorist crimes against Palestinians, such as the terrorist Amiram Ben-Uliel, who was convicted of burning and killing the Dawabsha family in the village of Duma in July 2015.
Knesset member Lemorson Harmelech from the fascist “Jewish Power” party led by Ben Gvir recorded the highest number of visits by terrorist settlers in prisons, and didn’t hesitate to declare her embrace of this terrorist when she affirmed, “Amiram, the holy friend who suffers for the sake of the entire people of Israel, was acquitted, and we are indebted for him’, while Ben Gvir’s office and members of his party are recruiting security officials to ease the prison conditions of terrorist settlers accused of crimes against Palestinian citizens. Within the context, the Israeli Haaretz Newspaper’ indicated that the killer of the Dawabsha family is receiving the best treatment from Ben Gvir and his group. He is a close friend of Ben Gvir’s chief of staff, Hamniel Dorfman, as they were active together in the terrorist organization ‘Hilltop Youth’.
In connection with the budgets allocated by the Israeli government to settlement and arming settlers, the British Newspaper ‘The Guardian’ revealed last Sunday illegal activities of an Israeli financing platform, such as the “Israel Gives” platform, directed to residents of the United States of America, collecting donations for the occupation army and settlers in the occupied West Bank. The British newspaper’s report indicated that this financing platform is collecting millions of dollars for illegal settlements in the West Bank, settler militias, and Israeli army units currently operating in the Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank. Although legal experts confirm, according to the newspaper, that some of these campaigns may be illegal under US tax law, but the law is rarely enforced on donors who support Israel.
Adding that contributions from American non-profit organizations and individuals to illegal settlements have previously been reported, but this financing platform is linked to an international network of non-profit organizations, allowing small donors in the United States and abroad to demand tax deductions on funds that support war and settlement in occupied lands. The disclosure of this funding comes amid an escalating humanitarian crisis resulting from the occupation army attacks that are killing civilians in Gaza, and campaigns in the United States to enforce laws that should prevent American non-profit organizations from funding illegal settlements.
The newspaper identified at least 450 fundraising campaigns, including 240 that began after October 7, aiming to purchase tactical equipment and logistical support, particularly beneficial were the occupation army and paramilitary squads attached to specific Israeli groups, including several settlement groups in West Bank settlements.
As for activities of the Settlement Occupation Authorities, the focus is on the city of Jerusalem, in the circumstances of the brutal war launched by the occupying state in the Gaza Strip. The ‘Ir-Amim Association,’ which specializes in following up the policy of the Occupation Authorities in Jerusalem, said in a statement that on 25 of this month, the Israel Lands Authority published two bids and opened a tender for the construction of 1,839 settlement units in the East Jerusalem settlements.
In a new wave of intensive settlement activities in the city since the beginning of the war, in clear exploitation of the circumstances of the war to impose more facts on the ground, in the area of the French Hill settlement and the buildings of the Hebrew University campus on Mount Scopus in the Issawiya town, and that the plans are intended for areas where there are currently university campuses, and they are not intended for expanding student housing, but rather for new residential areas, and that contrary to planning regulations, the tender was issued despite the lack of official approval of the structural plans.
The Association stated that the first tender is located in the ‘Bronfman housing complex area,” and includes the construction of 500 settlement units on an area of 24 dunums. The master plan surrounds a Palestinian residential area, but its boundaries are drawn in a way that deliberately excludes this space and leaves it as an enclave surrounded by a planned Israeli construction zone. On this basis, this will significantly increase construction work in areas identified as Israeli, while preventing any additional development in Palestinian neighborhoods.
The tender is scheduled to open on January 22, 2024. The second tender relates to the ‘Lerner Complex’, where the tender stipulates the construction of 1,039 settlement units on an area of 99 dunums, while the third tender is located within the east Talpiot settlement and includes the construction of 300 settlement units.
On the other hand, the Finance Committee at the Occupation Municipality in Jerusalem approved an increase in the budget allocated to Jerusalem for next year to reach NIS 6.2 billion, that is, an increase of NIS 200 million over the past year. The new municipal budget includes plans to enhance settlement construction in the occupied city of Jerusalem, by granting incentives to investors and building roads around and inside the occupied city, as well as a plan to enhance the settlement presence in the city, in addition to developing the infrastructure and strengthening the protection system for settlers by deploying more advanced surveillance cameras in places.
Moreover, through this budget, the municipality seeks to strengthen its grip on the education sector in occupied East Jerusalem, through a number of projects to build classrooms and kindergartens in towns and neighborhoods of the city and public buildings, and to strengthen the infrastructure by allocating a budget estimated at NIS 800 million that focuses mainly on Israelization and Judaization of education sector. In fact, the new budget, is mainly devoted to strengthening Jewish settlements in the east of the city rather than improving the lives of the Palestinian population.
The same also took place with previous budgets of the municipality that were allocated to register lands in the Tabu of East Jerusalem, but in the end they were used to register lands in Sheikh Jarrah, Silwan, and other places in the names of Jewish owners, besides to education, the budget includes NIS 4 billion for projects in the field of transportation and the tunnel network in East Jerusalem to link it with West Jerusalem, and other projects with a number of ministries and settlement councils in Jabal Abu Ghneim, Beit Safafa, Beit Hanina, Um Tuba, and Hizma.
List of Israeli Assaults over the Last Week Documented by the National Bureau:
Jerusalem:
- Forcing citizen, Hashem Sabah to demolish his house located near French Hill in Shuafat under the pretext of not having a license. The Jaabis family was also forced to demolish their commercial store, in the village of Jabal Al-Mukaber, with their own hands, after all attempts to license the store were rejected. Knowing that it was built 6 years ago, and the final demolition decision was issued late last October.
Hebron:
- Seizing hundreds of dunams of citizens’ lands, south of Hebron, by settlers of the “Beit Hagai” settlement, created streets in the vicinity of the aforementioned settlement, towards the southern areas.
- Invading the houses of citizens in the village of Lasifar in Masafer Yatta, seized their vehicles, and stopped work on building their facilities, such as the Khallet Al-Amira School, which is still under construction in Masafer Yatta, close to the Abu Shaban community, east of Yatta, to provide a suitable place for education, close to the residential communities for their children as settlers’ attacks on students and citizens in the area increases. They also stormed the Sadda-Thaghla community in Masafer Yatta, and arrested the two brothers, Yahya and Ibrahim Jamal Awad, after settlers attacked the homes of citizens in that area, forcing them to leave their homes and lands.
Bethlehem:
- Erecting ‘caravans’ on the lands of the Nahalin town, with the aim of controlling an area of more than 100 dunams, others plowed lands in the village of Artas, in the “Jabal Abu Zeid” area, south of the village.
- Pouring “fire water” against the family of citizen Moh’d Awad Al-Rashayda’s tent, consisting of 9 members, while they were inside it, the family was able to leave the tent, which was severely damaged. Settlers also began expanding an agricultural road built on citizens’ lands between the city of Beit Jala and the town of Battir, west of Bethlehem, with a length of 500 meters, with the aim of expanding the colonial outpost that was previously established in the area.
Nablus:
- Cutting down dozens of 60 olive trees in the village of Jaloud, south of Nablus, on the land of citizen Nizar Bassam Odeh in the Kamel sector area located between Jaloud and Qusra. The settlers also deliberately cut water pipes and damaged water tanks used in agriculture. Settlers from the “Eli” settlement, they also fired live bullets at farmer Sabri Qaryouti while he was working on the farm west of the village and forced him to leave the place.
- Demolishing 8 residential and agricultural facilities in Furush Beit Dahan, noting that 3 of them were constructed before 1967, besides the demolition of 3 agricultural ponds under the pretext of not having licenses.
Salfeet:
- Issuing a decision to seize land in the town of Derastiya, with an area of 31,886 dunums in the southern area of the town, known as the “Al-Bureij” basins and Khallet Hadida, for military purposes. Objection on that was set for 24 days, noting that the area is adjacent to the “Refafa” settlement established on the lands of the towns of Derastiya and Haris.
- Bulldozing large areas, uprooted old olive trees, and stole them from the Al-Ma’reed area, south of Derastia.
- attacked the two brothers, Hassan and Muhammad Youssef Salman, while they were grazing sheep in the “Al-Aqra’” area, north of the town of Derastia, and the farmer, Saeed Al-Qadi, 64 years old while he was grazing his sheep in the same area, knowing that the settlers established a settlement outpost in the Harika Yassin area, north of Derastia, last June and called it “Havat Open Hyper,” and since then settlers attacks on farmers in the area continue.
Jordan Valley:
- Arresting 2 brothers, Moh’d and Uday Qadri Daraghmeh, residents of Ein al-Hilweh, while they were grazing their cows in the natural pastures east of the northern Jordan Valley. Settlers detained dozens of those cows owned by them. They also arrested citizen, Hussein Yousef Bisharat while he was grazing his sheep in the same area.
