المكتب الوطني للدفاع عن الارض ومقاومة الاستيطان منظمة التحرير الفلسطينية
مقالات مشابهة
By: Madeeha Al-A’raj
The National Bureau for Defending the Land and Resisting Settlements stated in its latest weekly report , that over the last week, Political and media circles in Israel reported that the Occupation Army will distribute more machine guns to settlers in the West Bank in accordance to agreed criteria, through rabbis and regional councils of settlements, and that includes settlers not recruited in the emergency teams and the giving teams, which were established by the o=Occupation Authorities after last Oct. 7. The Right-wing Knesset member of the “Religious Zionism” party, Tsafi Sokut, made it clear in this context that the decision to distribute more weapons in the West Bank settlements is “important and will enhance the feeling of security” and at the same time invited the residents of settlements, who want to participate in the defense of their place of residence to submit requests to carry weapons in order to add a “other great response force”,
The Minister of Finance and the Minister of Settlement at the Ministry of the Army, Battalil Smotrich, called for a defensive war in the West Bank and threatened to convert Tulkarm into “ruin as in the Gaza Strip If what he described as“ terrorism continues in the region. According to the so -called National Security Committee, the numbers of Israelis submitted a request to obtain licenses to carry arms after Oct. 7 was 250,000, while the demand for training centers increased to the use of weapons, and thousands of Israelis got a weapon for the first time.
It should be noted that the arming of settlers didn’t start after Oct. 7, but rather that was much earlier than this date and was a phenomenon that accompanied the building in settlements since the beginnings, in a relatively narrow manner. There is no accurate information about the number of weapons that were in the possession of the settlers in the West Bank before this date. The policy of the Occupation Authorities, according to the Hebrew “Siha McComite” website, was based on blindness about the amount of weapons in the possession of the settlers in the West Bank. The armament of settlers took a strong boost in 2015 with Likud assumption of Gilad Ardan as Minister of Internal Security, who made a number of amendments to the policy of granting arms licenses, including facilitating the procedures for obtaining the necessary licenses and encouraging settlers to carry them.
The situation has changed decisively after the success of the right and the fascist right in the last elections of the Knesset in Nov. 2022 and with the formation of the 37 occupation government in the beginning of 2023 headed by Benjamin Netanyahu, and his fascist partners and new Nazis, such as, Etamar Bin Ghafir and Bethlil Smotrich, where it increased significantly the number Israelis, who applied for a personal weapon license. To clarify the image in comparison only, the occupation authorities issued in 2021 approximately 10,000 new weapons licenses, and in 2022 it issued about 13,000, but during the year 2023, and after Ghafir took over the Ministry of National Security, the Occupation Authorities issued approximately 38,000 new licenses, and this is before October. As for the seventh of October, requests to obtain weapons licenses have doubled in a crazy way, as the daily rate for submitting requests for arms reached 8000 – 10,000 requests.
Minister Bin Ghaffir was concerned with distributing weapons on the widest special scope to the settlers, so he worked to introduce amendments to the laws to acquire personal weapons to expand the base of those who can possess it and facilitate the procedures for obtaining weapons licenses and alleviating the conditions for their possession, especially from the categories of former soldiers from the age of 21 and above, and those who have performed Civil service instead of military, and even ambulances, firefighting and rescue and volunteers with them, as well as new immigrants upon their arrival.
As a result, the number of settlers, who obtained unprecedented levels of arms licenses, they got conditional licenses. The facilities introduced by Bin Ghaffir had a great impact on these large numbers, as some settlers obtained the license through a short conversation not exceeding 20 seconds with the employees of the Ministry of National Security.
The Occupation Authorities, as well as, the Minister of National Security Ithtar bin Ghaffir didn’t only facilitate the procedures for the settlers to obtain weapons. Rather, these authorities went further when they decided, under the pressure of this minister, to establish the so -called “emergency teams” or “alert units”, which spread on a scale Wide that the occupation army called for reserves to serve and warrant the war on the Gaza Strip. Bin Ghafir Ashraf himself on the establishment of 700 new “alert units” from October 7 to the month of November throughout Palestine, which are paramilitary units, consisting of 10 to 40 members of local settlers in each settlement separately.
it is subject to the supervision of the occupation police in the occupied 48 lands, and for the occupation army in the West Bank, its mission was determined to provide the initial response in the event of security challenges until the arrival of the competent forces. Bin Ghaffir took the task of distributing weapons to these units and worked to provide them with weapons and combat equipment such as helmets and protective veils, and about 7,000 pieces of them went to settlements in the West Bank, including settlement outposts, which everyone knows have become greenhouses for Jewish operating organizations In the West Bank.
The armament of settlers was not limited to the occupation army or the Ministry of National Security, but rather the institutions and destinations of the settlers participate in that. At the beginning of the aggression on the Gaza Strip, Yossi Dagan, the head of the so -called “Regional Council for Romron”, i.e. settlements in the northern West Bank, initiated the distribution of hundreds of weapons through its council, in coordination with the occupation army and police to the settlers. The Council distributed 200 M16 developed M16 rifles known as M4, on October 22. He announced that he was in the process of purchasing 300 new pieces, and he was funded by buying these weapons with donations from “Shomorn” friends around the world, as they described them. In the same direction, the “Chefat Tsion” and “Takuma 23” associations specialized in supporting settlements and settlers initiated the launch of a funds for money raising in order to arm the settlers, and they managed to collect more than NIS 2,000,000 at the beginning of the campaign.
Israeli political and media circles report that the occupation army is studying the possibility of distributing anti -armor to a number of settlements in the West Bank, as part of a plan in which the official in charge of the security of the settlement of the occupation army retains this weapon in stores to use when necessary, and the occupation army also studies the purchase of 200 vehicles Exhausted to distribute it to the “alert units” in the West Bank, Gaza cover and the northern settlements. The occupation army had provided settlement guards with a number of armored cars in light of the escalation of resistance operations in the West Bank.
As for the new occupation army plans in this regard, it is what was announced by the Minister of the Occupation Army, Yawaf Gallant, last week that the occupation authorities went to establish “rapid intervention forces” in the towns near the border with the West Bank, during his inspection and the head of the Foreign and Parliamentary Security Committee, Yoli Adlstein, The Israeli army soldiers on the line of contact between the West Bank and Israel, Gallant explained in a post on the “X” platform: that it ordered the formation of intervention forces that will depend on the towns of the towns and the graduates of the combat units, another step that would strengthen the security elements.
Arming settlers sparked widespread reactions due to the seriousness of this to the situation not only in the occupied West Bank, including Jerusalem, but also abroad and in the state of Israel itself, especially since the spread of weapons coincided with the endeavors of the right -wing right -wing in Israel to create semi -official militias as it does Etamar bin Ghafir. Noting that the armament is acceptable to the Zionist society and political and security leaders under the pretext of “self -defense” from security threats.
Opposition to arming the settlers and the spread of weapons between the Israelis came in the main degree of Israeli human rights organizations that oppose occupation and settlement, such as the Israeli Information Center for Human Rights ‘Battelm’ and the peace movement now and other organizations that expressed concern that this weapon is not only in terrorist operations against the Palestinians but for fear It is also used in crimes, family violence, personal conflicts, suicide and other cases.
This operation was also met with twisted opposition from the United States of America, as President Biden administration declined last December to complete a deal to sell thousands of M16 weapons to the occupation state and stipulated that it agreed to the deal with a pledge not to distribute these weapons to settlers in the West Bank. The deal was made after the occupation government pledged to do so. It was a normal matter for the occupation government to provide such a pledge after it secured the arming of the settlers from local weapons production companies that provided the goods to Etamar Bin Ghafir and a number of settlements councils as well as associations specialized in providing support to settlers, including weapons.
In light of all this, and with the spread of “emergency teams” and “giving groups” and other paramilitary formations show the danger of arming the settlers on the Palestinian people in the West Bank is completely clear and does not need speculation. It is true that these settlers tend more in the current circumstances to use violence in sabotage and attacks on citizens and destroy property and in the extensive ethnic displacement and purification of Palestinian Bedouin and pastoral societies from their locations and pastures, especially in the areas of the southern Hebron and Jordan Valley, as well, except that arming the settlers It doubles the risks of destructive activities for Jewish terrorist organizations, which take settlements and settlement foci and the so-called pastoral farms safe havens in protecting the occupation army and increases the possibilities of slipping conditions towards terrorism on a larger scale, especially since current violence began to take an upward trend with the continued work of genocide and war that brutality launched against the Gaza Strip since last Oct. 8th.
List of Israeli Assaults over the Last Week Documented by the National Bureau:
- Organizing provocative “March of Flags” on the anniversary of the occupation of East Jerusalem in 1967, the participants arrived at the Moroccan Gate in Jerusalem, and then stormed the old town with the protection of the occupation police to the Al -Buraq Square. The march also witnessed widespread attacks on journalists who tried to cover the event without the intervention of the occupation police who kept the journalists from the location of the extremists gathering.
- Demolishing a house belonging to Moh’d Ahmed Helwa, with an area of 140 square meters in the town of Anata and agricultural facilities, including a cattle barn and bee cells, and washed a park that belongs to the Al -Fuhaidat family, under the pretext of building without a license, and commercial stores in the Ain al -Luza Neighborhood in the town of Silwan belonging to the Burqan family, while groups of settlers stormed the old town at the Cotton Gate and performed dances and noisy songs between the homes of citizens in the Battn of Al-Hawa.
- Notifying to seize a plot of land between the Wadi al -Jawz and Al -Nari Neighborhoods belonging to the families of Dorish, Al -Hadmi, Al -Khaldi and Al -Badiri, claiming that it is empty since 1987.
Hebron:
- “Fixing a ‘Carvana’ in the Al -Louza area, along with the Khalat al -Dabaa in the Masafer Yatta, and about number of tents, 10 days ago, and destroyed fruitful trees, agricultural crops and a fence in the “Fatah Sidra” area.
- Grazing their sheep in the fields of citizens and destroyed a large number of olive trees, while the occupation forces expelled farmers from their lands and fired gas and sound bombs, causing fires in hundreds of dunums in the Susia area that is cultivated with olives, almonds and grapes, in addition to a number of plastic houses, tools and agricultural equipment. The losses, according to the people, are estimated at more than NIS 1.5,000,000, especially since the farmers are at the beginning of the agricultural year.
- Torching large areas of the Tarqumia town’s lands in the Tayyiba area. The fire came on dozens of dunums planted with olive trees, grapes and almonds, and the settlers continued to sabotage in the governorate, another group of settlers burned between 200-300 dunums, from the lands of citizens planted with olive trees and fruitful almonds.
- Organizing a provocative march in the vicinity of the “Um Al -Hayman” area. Head of the Mesafir Council, Nidal Yunus, stated that “the occupation authorities informed the citizens that this area is located on a part of the outpost, classified within the shooting areas, where it prevents presence and construction in it, and this is completely applied to citizens, which hinders obtaining a decision from the occupation court removes that focus until the moment, while these authorities allowed the settlers to reach that area and other areas and establish a number of outposts on them.
Ramallah:
- Burning olive trees located in the northern side of the village of Barqa near the settlement focus on the lands of citizens north of the village.
- Attacking vehicles of the citizens near the Rawabi Junction, causing damage to them.
- Stealing 120 sheep from the Ain Samia area near the village of Kafr Malik, belonging to the citizen Mahmoud Habishan.
- Storming the town of Tarmasia, stationed in its plain, chanting racist slogans, insults and threats and attacked the vehicles.
- Attacking vehicles of citizens near the entrance to the northern city of Al -Bireh, near the “Beit El” settlement and threw stones at them, which led to the damage of a number of them.
- Organizing a provocative march in the lands of Um Safa village, dozens of settlers from the “Attart” settlement participated in the march, during which they raised the flags of the occupying state and went from the Rawabi junction towards the “Helshish” colony on the lands of the village of Nabi Saleh, amid fears of attacking citizens and their vehicles.
Nablus:
- destroying 11 dunums of land cultivated with wheat by grazing their sheep in the town of Sebastia.
- setting fire to agricultural lands west of the Douma village, planted with olive trees and wheat crops. Settlers had previously burned the same ground and the occupation forces did not allow civil defense crews to approach them to extinguish them.
- storming the Youssef tomb in Nablus, while the occupation army published the “snipers” units on the roofs of the buildings in the vicinity.
- Seizing an agricultural tractor near the town of Aqraba, east of Nablus.
- Uprooting 220 olive trees and demolished an agricultural room belonging to the citizen Qusay Abu Raida in his 42 -dunum -dunum, located in the northeastern side of the town of Qasra and in another attack, they wounded two citizens while attacking homes in the town, burned parts a farm, and they.
- Bulldozing a nursery in the Shawika suburb, belonging to Yasser Youssef Moussa, located on a 24-dunum, for the production of forest and fruitful trees, including seedlings and agricultural equipment, about 300,000 seedlings, and the owner indicated that his land is located in the west of the Shweika suburb, 400 meters from the Apartheid Wall and is located in area A, and registered in the official Tabu records, pointing out that the nursery has been located for more than 10 years, and 8 workers have worked in it to support their families, they also notified to stop working on agricultural lands located along the Apartheid Wall in the Balbisi area.
Jenin:
- Demolishing agricultural room in the village of Um Al -Rayhan, located inside the Aparthied Wall, under the pretext of not being licensed, and uprooted trees in the village of Tora, as well in the village of Jalaboun, the first belongs to Rashid Abu Al -Rab, in which 7 individuals live in an area of 300m2. The second belongs to Anas Asad. They also threatened to demolish 4 homes adjacent to the home of the Asaad citizen, in addition to 2 other houses in the middle of the village.
Jordan Valley:
- Preventing citizens from the Bedouin Arab Al -Malihat Gathering, northwest of Jericho, from standing on the main street waiting for vehicles to take them, to sell their products in Ramallah or Jericho, and they intimidated them, while another group accompanied by the occupation forces stormed the gathering and raided several houses and closed the road leading to the gathering and prevented citizens to get out of their homes.
- Demolishing 11 “Barax” belonging to the citizens, Salman, Eid, Ali, Ayed, and Khalif Malihat, that was erected about 3 years ago. S
- Rehabilitating a number of water springs in the northern Jordan Valley to turn them into parks for settlers.
