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 Monday, the Israeli ‘Haaretz’ Newspaper noted in its editorial that, Ben-Gvir exploits his powers as Minister of National Security to support Jewish terrorists, who are considered ‘the military arm of the organization to which he belongs and represents its interests in the government’. It explained that one of the Jewish terrorists who has benefited from Ben-Gvir’s support is Amiram Ben-Uliel, the killer of the Dawabsheh family, who was visited 2 times by the Commissioner of the Prison Service at the Ayalon Prison, Kobi Yaakov, who previously worked as Ben-Gvir’s security secretary, and contributed to easing the prison conditions of Ben-Uliel and other Jewish security prisoners at the request of Ben-Gvir, who was Ben-Uliel’s advocate.
The newspaper harshly criticized the ‘Jewish terror’ explaining that Ben-Uliel is one of the heroes of this movement. It noted that the movement includes many members, including men in the field, rabbis, and figures in positions of authority in Israeli state institutions, and its representation extends to the government and the Knesset.
Within the context, head of the Israeli General Security Service ‘Shin Bet’ Ronen Bar recently sent a letter to Netanyahu, Army Minister, Yoav Galant, and other ministers, warning that Jewish terrorism perpetrated by violent settlers and the actions of National Security Minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir on the AlAqsa Mosque are causing ‘indescribable harm’ to Israel. He added, ‘the phenomenon of the Hilltop Youth has long been a hotbed of violence against Palestinians, referring to settlers who regularly clash with Palestinians in the West Bank and incite riots against them.
He stated that the ‘Hilltop Youth’ were encouraged by the lenient treatment and support of the police, and the no fear of administrative detention due to the good conditions they live, and the money they are given upon their release by members of the Knesset, along with the legitimization and praise, and the de-legitimization of the security forces, contribute to the continuation of the phenomenon. He also added that it has become clear that the Hilltop Youth felt safe enough to act more openly and intensively and they were often use ‘weapons distributed legally by the state’ an apparent reference to Ben-Gvir’s policy of greatly easing the acquisition of weapons licenses since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel.
In his letter, Ronen Bar revealed some of his thoughts about Ben-Gvir, who since assuming the position of Minister of National Security, has been arming the people of Israel, as he calls it, in an extension of a policy that began on a limited scale in 2015. However, the arming operations under him proceeding at a faster pace and on a wider scale, amid a very significant easing of restrictions on carrying weapons after the formation of the ‘emergency forces’ or ‘ready squads’ that some in Israel call ‘Ben-Gvir’s army.’ They consist of thousands of settlers who live in settlement outposts and large settlements known as strongholds for terrorist organizations, most notably the ‘Price Tag organization’.
Within the context of the brutal war on Gaza, Ben Gvir’s ministry received an additional budget of NIS 637,000,000 that allocated to the formation of hundreds of armed groups under various names in W.B. settlements, where the Ministry of National Security is responsible for purchasing weapons, ammunition and related equipment. According to a report by the Hebrew economic website ‘Calcalcite’, the Ministry concluded contracts under which it would obtain 40,000 ‘M16’, more than 5.5 million bullets, and more than 20,000 sets of helmets and bulletproof vests.
‘Ben Gvir’s army or militias’ consists of thousands of settlers, who live in settlement outposts and large settlements known as strongholds of terrorist organizations, most notably the ‘Price Tag organization’. These terrorist organizations have been carrying out operations against Palestinian property and homes for years, leading to the deaths of martyrs and the displacement of entire Palestinian communities in the central and southern West Bank.
The policy of arming the settlers has attracted the attention of the United States and European countries, and they have communicated about it with Netanyahu and his government. The Biden’s administration even threatened Israel with stopping the arms shipments if the process of arming the settlers continued, but this threat was not carried out seriously, despite the appearance of Itamar Ben-Gvir and police leaders in photos and videos after that, supervising the arming of more settlers.
In addition to the massive government support for arming the settlers and organizing them into the ‘Ben Gvir militias’, the arming of the settlers receives large donations from ‘friends of the settlements in the northern West Bank,’ as the head of the regional council of these settlements, Yossi Dagan, described them. He said, they are from Manhattan in New York, Miami in Florida, Los Angeles in California, as well as Toronto in Canada, Monaco and Paris in France, and London in the United Kingdom. This multi-million-shekel funding process resulted in the launch of an alert and monitoring system consisting of scores of thermal drones operating around the clock in the settlements, according to the extremist Likud member. Yossi Dagan.
The warning against settler terrorism was not limited to the head of the Israeli General Security Service ‘Shin Bet’, Ronen Bar, but in the farewell speech given by the former head of the so-called ‘Central District’, General, Yehuda Fuchs also exposed the extreme nationalist crime that had raised its head in recent months due to the war and feelings of revenge, and had sown distress and fear among the Palestinians in the West Bank, who, according to him, had not posed any threat.
In that speech, Fuchs also referred to the settlers’ control, through their representatives in the government, over the administration of civil authorities in the West Bank. Minister, Smotrich, by virtue of his dual position as Minister of Finance and Second Minister in the Ministry of Army, added more power and authority to himself, thereby reducing the power of the Ministry of Army, the power of the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories i.e. ‘the West Bank’, and began to dictate Israel’s policy in the West Bank, from expanding settlements to legalizing illegal outposts, according to Fuchs.
If we take General Fox’s statements in their logical extension, then Bezalel Smotrich is Ben Gvir’s partner in sponsoring Jewish terrorism in the West Bank. He has tightened his grip on the Civil Administration and turned it, with its various departments and agencies, into a completely obedient tool in the service of his plans. In this context, a plan called ‘Plow Line’ was recently revealed, which is being implemented at full speed by the ‘Regavim settlement organization’, which aims to strengthen the seizure of areas ‘C’ in the West Bank, and prevent any Palestinian expansion there, after the leaders of ‘Regavim’ came to power, and it became ‘one of the leaders of the Israeli government’s policies in the West Bank’.
Regavim is one of Smotrich’s arms, and in any case, it is one of his inventions, as one of its leaders was and still is its most important sponsor from his position in the Ministry of Army. The organization possesses drones that enable it to monitor the continuous construction of the Palestinians even in places that are difficult to reach. It also purchases aerial photographs to analyze them through a number of specialized researchers.
It is worth noting that Yechim Zik, the Executive Director of Regavim, is now the chief of staff of the Minister of the Negev and Galilee, Yitzhak Viserlauf, and Sarya Dimsky, who is the chief of staff of Minister Smotrich, was and still is a member of Regavim. This confirms that the important status, which this organization has in the occupying State. It is also known that a document was distributed to politicians before the last Knesset elections, outlining the strategic plans that Regavim will work to implement in the West Bank.
The recommendations were included, as is known, in the government coalition agreement between the Religious Zionism Party, led by Bezalel Smotrich, and the Likud Party, led by Benjamin Netanyahu, to form the basis for the far-right government, especially launching the battle in Area C, accelerating the process of approving construction plans in the settlements, and conducting a population census of Palestinians in the West Bank. The Regional Councils of the settlements operate ground divisions, which also monitor and report on any Palestinian activity in Area C. They work in cooperation with the Regavim organization, which received a strong support during the Lapid-Bennett government, with the allocation of about NIS 20,000,000.
Recently, the Settlement Ministry revealed that it will allocate an additional NIS 40,000,000 to support those divisions. All sources within the Civil Administration confirm that the influence of Regavim doubled after Smotrich assumed his position as Minister of Settlement in the Ministry of the Occupation Army, so that the integration between the plans of the two ministers, Ben-Gvir and Smotrich became clear with the blessing of Netanyahu, so that this settlement organization became the operations officer for the Foreign Affairs Committee in the Knesset, according to Moti Yogev, a former member of Knesset for the Jewish Home Party.
With the integration of roles between Ben Gvir and Smotrich and under the auspices of Netanyahu, the violence and terrorism of the settlers have become a controversial issue even among the ruling bodies in the occupying state, especially since the terrorist acts committed by extremist settlers in Palestinian towns and villages in the West Bank are carried out in an organized manner and by groups in broad daylight and in front of the media, which has become a warning of an explosion of the situation in the Palestinian countryside in response to the settlers’ terro, and at the same time constitutes an embarrassment to those apparatuses.
Examples on that are many days after the horrific terrorist acts in the village of Jeit in the Qalqilya Governorate on 15th of this month, which the occupation army has prior knowledge hours before occurred, as confirmed by an internal investigation conducted by the occupation army, Palestinian public opinion was shocked last week by the horrific terrorist acts carried out by settlers near the Auja Spring in the southern Jordan Valley, where 6 young Palestinians from the Battir town were brutally beaten by the occupation police with settlers, who also brutally beaten the young man Laith Awaina, 33 years old, tests conducted on him showed blood in his urine, head wounds, a cut in part of his lip, a broken leg, a severe injury to his eye, and many teeth were broken.
The image of the terrorist settler, Yaakov from the Yitzhar settlement doesn’t leave the area between Burin, Urif, and Asira al-Qibliya, south of the city of Nablus after Oct. 7. He is always present, harassing farmers and shepherds, spraying trees with pesticides, and leading groups from the terrorist organization ‘Price Tag’, they attack stone quarries in Area ‘B’, preventing workers from going to work, and even attacking health workers, as happened with a female doctor, who was severely beaten there.
List of Israeli Assaults over theLast Week Documented by the National Bureau:
Jerusalem:
- Demolishing the houses of citizens Younis Awda in the Al-Bustan Neighborhood, and Abdullah Maher Al-Salaymeh in the Wadi Qaddum Neighborhood in the Silwan town, besides demolishing a washing cars, a floor of a car showroom in the Wadi Al-Joz Neighborhood, and bulldozed a private land belonging to the Salman Al-Atrash family in the Sur Baher town.
- Erecting a new settlement outpost near the Bedouin village of Khan Al-Ahmar, east of occupied Jerusalem, about 150 meters away from the village, where 10 settlers brought a tent and generators, and then start attacking the village of Khan Al-Ahmar and the surrounding communities.
Hebron:
- Attacking the Susya village in Masafer Yata, and assaulted citizens with clubs, causing bruises and wounds to a number of citizens, including a 62years woman, who was hit in the head with a stone, and another 52 years, beaten on her head and other parts of her body.
- Trying to steal sheep from the Al-Buwaib village, then residents confronted them, resulting in the injury of 6 citizens with bruises and wounds, seized an agricultural tractor belonging to citizen Izzat Da’jneh. Se
- Attacking Anas Moh’d Tamimi’s house in the Idhna town, torched his vehicle and wrote inciting slogans on the houses, asking residents to leave the area. Others attacked citizens’ houses and barracks in ‘Wadi Al-Malaqi’ in the Al-Buwaib village, northeast of the Yatta town, dismantled 6 tin houses and barracks, seized their contents and transported them to an unknown location.
Bethlehem:
- Killing the young Khalil Salem Khalawi, 40, and 4 others were moderately injured when settlers opened fire on them and their homes in the Wadi Rahhal village, Bethlehem. The occupation forces stormed the village to provide protection for the settlers and fired sound bombs and toxic gas at the citizens, which led to dozens of suffocation cases.
- Erecting 3 tents on lands in the areas of ‘Al-Tina’, ‘Al-Hajjar’ and ‘Wadi Al-Abyad’ east of the village of Al-Minya, southeast of Bethlehem, with the aim of seizing them for settlement.
- Gathering at the western entrance to the Taqu town, raising the flags of the occupying Sate and attacked citizens’ vehicles in the ‘Khallet Al-Qatn area’, bulldozed several dunams of agricultural land and uprooted a number of olive and almond trees
- Handing over demolition orders of houses under construction in the Al-Malha, Bariyat Za’tara Orf villages, belonging to a number of citizens, under the pretext of building without a license.
Ramallah:
- Storming the Deir Qadis village, west of Ramallah, under the protection of the occupation forces from the eastern part of the village, raided a number of abandoned homes before withdrawing from the area.
Nablus:
- Torching large areas of land planted with olive trees in the Sarra village, west of Nablus, while others attacked the ‘Khalat al-Abhar area’ east of the village of Rojib and smashed their windows.
- Attacking Palestinian houses in the Beit Furik town, and set up a settlement outpost of tents near the water tank that supplies the town.
Qalqilia:
- Bulldozing areas of land in the Azzun town, east of Qalqilya, known as ‘Khalayel Bridge’, adjacent to the main road ‘Qalqilya-Nablus’ in favor of a settlement plan that calls for the construction of a barbed wire wall surrounding the town and extending to the intersection of the ‘Ma’ale Shomron settlement’, located on the town’s lands.
Jordan Valley:
- Closing a road west of the village of Bardala in the northern Jordan Valley with dirt mounds, connecting Khirbet Ibziq to the village of Bardala, to restrict Palestinian movements,
- Storming the Arab al-Malihat Gathering in al-Mu’arjat, northwest of Jericho, and brought their sheep between the houses of citizens, others attacked the family of citizen Moh’d Yusef Ali Adwi, consisting of 5 individuals, with stones while they were at the the Auja Spring north of the city of Jericho, and released police dogs on them, before seizing their tent.
- Setting up a new settlement outpost in the Deir Qarntal area, attacked the tents of citizen Luay Zahdi, and the tents of his brothers in the Nab’ Ghazal area in Khirbet al-Farisiya, and others seized agricultural lands estimated at hundreds of dunams, including about 150 dunams of Tabu lands.
