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The Guardian
29-05-2025
- Business
- The Guardian
Israel confirms plans to create 22 new settlements in occupied West Bank
Israel has said it will establish 22 new settlements in the occupied West Bank, including the legalisation of outposts already built without government authorisation, after a security cabinet vote held in secret last week. Israel occupied the West Bank, capturing it from Jordan, in the six-day war of 1967. Since then, successive governments have tried to permanently cement Israeli control over the land, in part by declaring swathes as 'state lands', which prevents private Palestinian ownership. The motion was said to have been put forward by the far-right defence minister, Israel Katz, and finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, who lives in the West Bank settlement of Kedumim, which is considered illegal under international law. Katz said the settlement decision 'strengthens our hold on Judea and Samaria', using the biblical term for the West Bank, 'anchors our historical right in the Land of Israel, and constitutes a crushing response to Palestinian terrorism'. He added it was also 'a strategic move that prevents the establishment of a Palestinian state that would endanger Israel'. The government intends to use the 22 settlements to bolster Israel's presence around Route 443, which connects Jerusalem and Tel Aviv via Modiin and was described by Israel Ganz, the head of the Yesha council umbrella group of West Bank Jewish municipalities, as 'the most important decision since 1967'. The minister said on X: 'We have made a historic decision for the development of settlements: 22 new communities in Judea and Samaria, renewing the settlement of the north of Samaria, and reinforcing the eastern axis of the State of Israel.' In July, Israel had approved the largest seizure of land in the occupied West Bank in more than three decades, according to a report released by Peace Now, an Israeli anti-settlement watchdog. At the time, the Israeli government approved the appropriation of 12.7 sq km (nearly 5 sq miles) of land in the Jordan valley, indicating it was 'the largest single appropriation approved since the 1993 Oslo accords', referring to the start of the peace process. In a leaked recording captured by Peace Now last year, Smotrich, during a conference for his National Religious Party-Religious Zionism, disclosed that the land confiscations in 2024 surpassed previous years' averages by approximately tenfold. He said: 'This thing is mega-strategic and we are investing a lot in it. 'This is something that will change the map dramatically.' In May 2023, Smotrich, who said his 'life's mission is to thwart the establishment of a Palestinian state', had instructed Israeli government ministries to prepare for a further 500,000 Israeli settlers to move into the occupied West Bank. On 20 June, the Guardian revealed how the Israeli military had quietly handed over significant legal powers in the West Bank to pro-settler civil servants working for Smotrich. An order posted by the Israel Defense Forces on its website on May 2024 transfers responsibility for dozens of bylaws at the Civil Administration – the Israeli body governing in the West Bank – from the military to officials led by Smotrich at the defence ministry. In March, in statement issued by Peace Now said that between 1 January and 19 March this year, 10,503 housing units were promoted, surpassing the 9,971 units approved throughout the whole of 2024. The approval of new settlements by Benjamin Netanyahu's far-right government represents a further implementation of its longstanding goal to annex the occupied Palestinian territory – an objective bolstered by the Trump administration. Mike Huckabee, nominated as Trump's new ambassador to Israel, signalled his support for Israeli claims on the West Bank in an interview last year. He said: 'When people use the term 'occupied', I say: 'Yes, Israel is occupying the land, but it's the occupation of a land that God gave them 3,500 years ago. It is their land.'' Rightwing settlers have described top officials Trump's new administration, which rescinded sanctions imposed on violent Israeli settler groups, as a 'dream team' that will offer a 'special opportunity' to permanently end any prospect of a Palestinian state. Associated Press contributed to this report
Yahoo
01-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trump will let us annex West Bank, says Israel's settler leader
Israel Ganz exudes the quiet confidence of a man who believes his time has come. Three months ago, the US ambassador to Israel was refusing to take his calls. But now? 'Mike Huckabee [the new ambassador] of course is a great friend. I texted him last night. Most of the new administration have visited here in the last year. They're very connected to the place.' Mr Ganz, 47, is no ordinary politician. As head of the Yesha Council, he is the political leader of Israel's settler movement in the West Bank. For much of the international community, and for some in Israel, this is an illegal and, in part, racist movement that forms one of the single biggest obstacles to peace. But for Mr Ganz and his supporters, including many in the United States, it represents the justified return of the Jewish people to their ancient lands of Judea and Samaria to the west of the Jordan River. Under Joe Biden, the US amplified its traditional official opposition to West Bank settlements; indeed, it sanctioned individual settlers accused of violence against Palestinians. But with the re-election of Donald Trump, the atmosphere changed overnight. Not only did the 47th president cancel those sanctions within days, but his return to the White House has inspired the settler movement to believe that he will finally give Israel the diplomatic cover it needs to annex the West Bank – in other words, to establish legal sovereignty over the territory it seized during the Six Day War of 1967. Perhaps nothing symbolises the settlers' change in fortune better than Mr Ganz's invitation to the inauguration in January. In his office, in a modern industrial estate between Jerusalem and Ramallah, there are special edition 'President Trump' bottles of wine on the shelf, a baseball bat, a seal of the president medallion above the keyboard on his desk, among other Americana. However, Mr Trump had four years to green-light West Bank annexation during his first term, but never did. Why will this time be different? 'He's more experienced, he's much stronger, he understands the situation better,' Mr Ganz replies. 'This term, what I see is that he wants to stabilise the world… he gets into crises and he wants to solve them.' 'I think we have a very big opportunity here.' For much of the international community, it is precisely the expansion of settlements that is worsening the crisis. This is because it is often accompanied by violence towards local Palestinians – activists have documented an increase since Mr Trump's re-election – combined with restrictive housing rules in the military-controlled rural areas that makes life unviable for existing communities. More fundamentally, the settlements create Israeli footprints in what would otherwise be a coherent body of Arab-inhabited land, making a potential Palestinian state – still the policy of most western governments – far more difficult to envisage. Along with the plight of civilians in Gaza, the alleged injustice in the West Bank is also one of the sticking points holding up normalisation between Israel and other Middle Eastern countries such as Saudi Arabia, a key goal of Mr Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu. However, there are signs that, despite the situation, attitudes in the more modern-leaning sections of the Sunni Muslim world might be softening. In March, Mr Ganz led a delegation of settlers to Abu Dhabi, where he met government officials. Although, as part of the UAE, the oil-rich kingdom already signed a normalisation deal with Israel in Mr Trump's first term – the Abraham Accords – the trip still marked an unprecedented first formal visit to a Muslim country by the Yesha Council. 'I was happy to meet the leaders there,' said Mr Ganz. 'They want a better future and they are very brave. When you put hate aside you can do a lot together.' Opponents of settler expansionism, in Israel and elsewhere, would argue that 'hate' is more likely to come from the project itself, pointing to the drumbeat of violence emanating – often under the protection of the IDF and police – from the largely segregated Israeli communities. Only this week a Palestinian man named Wael Rarabi died after his home was set on fire during a settler attack and, according to eyewitnesses, he was then beaten by soldiers in a village north of Ramallah. Meanwhile, earlier this month The Telegraph revealed that serious attacks in the symbolic village of Susya, south of Hebron, have escalated to a rate of one every two days. Mr Ganz contends this narrative, which he says is propagated 'by people connected to terror – and we can prove it easily'. He claims there were 6,000 'terror events' in the West Bank in the last year, 'Arabs to Jews', but 'dozens, I don't know, hundreds, Jews against Arabs'. Palestinians say the police often make it practically impossible for them to lodge formal complaints. For most, the imposition of full Israeli law, rather than the military governance currently in place in the West Bank's mainly rural Area C, would be a catastrophe for their hopes of self-government. However, Mr Ganz argues that by providing 'clarity' to the situation, it would unlock economic opportunity for both communities. 'The situation here holds everyone hostage,' he said. 'When I go to Prime Minister Netanyahu and tell him I want to invest billions of dollars to improve roads here, water, electricity…the state of Israel will say 'Israeli law doesn't apply here. We don't want to invest big money when we don't know where it will belong in the future'.' 'If we build more industrial zones, more healthcare, it will be for everyone,' he adds. Mr Ganz said Israel should not seek actively to govern Palestinian areas, which should be free to elect municipal leaders. 'I will not manage Ramallah,' he says. 'I don't understand the culture, the language – they have to vote for their own people.' In short, he envisages a benign future for the West Bank where, under a stable umbrella of Israeli sovereignty and economic growth, the two communities manage their own affairs. Opponents argue that this vision leaves the crucial facts unsaid. Namely, that annexation would, in practice, allow Israeli settlers to continue expanding in the fertile, open areas, while confining the Palestinians to increasingly crumbling and crowded cities. Mr Trump's failed attempt at an Israel-Palestine settlement in his first term – the so-called 'deal of the century' – was accused of risking more or less that outcome. With Mr Huckabee, arguably the most pro-Zionist ambassador in US history, recently confirmed by the Senate, but no presidential visit to Israel yet in diary, it remains to be seen whether Trump 2.0 will justify Mr Ganz's dreams. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Telegraph
01-05-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
Trump will let us annex West Bank, says Israel's settler leader
Israel Ganz exudes the quiet confidence of a man who believes his time has come. Three months ago, the US ambassador to Israel was refusing to take his calls. But now? ' Mike Huckabee [the new ambassador] of course is a great friend. I texted him last night. Most of the new administration have visited here in the last year. They're very connected to the place.' Mr Ganz, 47, is no ordinary politician. As head of the Yesha Council, he is the political leader of Israel's settler movement in the West Bank. For much of the international community, and for some in Israel, this is an illegal and, in part, racist movement that forms one of the single biggest obstacles to peace. But for Mr Ganz and his supporters, including many in the United States, it represents the justified return of the Jewish people to their ancient lands of Judea and Samaria, to the west of the Jordan River. Under Joe Biden, the US amplified its traditional official opposition to West Bank settlements; indeed, it sanctioned individual settlers accused of violence against Palestinians. With the re-election of Donald Trump, however, the atmosphere changed overnight. Not only did the 47th president cancel those sanctions within days, but his return to the White House has inspired the settler movement to believe that he will finally give Israel the diplomatic cover it needs to annex the West Bank – in other words, to establish legal sovereignty over the territory it seized during the Six-Day War of 1967. Perhaps nothing symbolises the settlers' change in fortune better than Mr Ganz's invitation to the inauguration in January. In his office, in a modern industrial estate between Jerusalem and Ramallah, there are special edition 'President Trump' bottles of wine on the shelf, a baseball bat, and a presidential seal above the keyboard on his desk, among other Americana. However, Mr Trump had four years to green-light West Bank annexation during his first term, but never did. Why will this time be different? 'He's more experienced, he's much stronger, he understands the situation better,' Mr Ganz replies. 'This term, what I see is that he wants to stabilise the world… He gets into crises and he wants to solve them. I think we have a very big opportunity here.' For much of the international community, it is precisely the expansion of settlements that is worsening the crisis. This is because it is often accompanied by violence towards local Palestinians – activists have documented an increase since Mr Trump's re-election – combined with restrictive housing rules in the military-controlled rural areas that makes life unviable for existing communities. More fundamentally, the settlements create Israeli footprints in what would otherwise be a coherent body of Arab-inhabited land, making a potential Palestinian state – still the policy of most western governments – far more difficult to envisage. Along with the plight of civilians in Gaza, the alleged injustice in the West Bank is also one of the sticking points holding up normalisation between Israel and other Middle Eastern countries such as Saudi Arabia, a key goal of Mr Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu. However, there are signs that, despite the situation, attitudes in the more modern-leaning sections of the Sunni Muslim world might be softening. In March, Mr Ganz led a delegation of settlers to Abu Dhabi, where he met government officials. Although, as part of the UAE, the oil-rich kingdom already signed a normalisation deal with Israel in Mr Trump's first term – the Abraham Accords – the trip still marked an unprecedented first formal visit to a Muslim country by the Yesha Council. 'I was happy to meet the leaders there,' said Mr Ganz. 'They want a better future and they are very brave. When you put hate aside you can do a lot together.' Opponents of settler expansionism, in Israel and elsewhere, would argue that 'hate' is more likely to come from the project itself, pointing to the drumbeat of violence emanating – often under the protection of the Israeli army and police – from the largely segregated Israeli communities. Only this week a Palestinian man named Wael Rarabi died after his home was set on fire during a settler attack and, according to eyewitnesses, he was then beaten by soldiers in a village north of Ramallah. Meanwhile, earlier this month The Telegraph revealed that serious attacks in the symbolic village of Susya, south of Hebron, have escalated to a rate of one every two days. Mr Ganz contests this narrative, which he says is promulgated 'by people connected to terror – and we can prove it easily'. He claims there were 6,000 'terror events' in the West Bank in the last year, 'Arabs to Jews', but 'dozens, I don't know, hundreds, Jews against Arabs'. Palestinians say the police often make it practically impossible for them to lodge formal complaints. For most, the imposition of full Israeli law, rather than the military governance currently in place in the West Bank's mainly rural Area C, would be a catastrophe for their hopes of self-government. However, Mr Ganz argues that by providing 'clarity' to the situation, it would unlock economic opportunity for both communities. 'The situation here holds everyone hostage,' he said. 'When I go to Prime Minister Netanyahu and tell him I want to invest billions of dollars to improve roads here, water, electricity… the state of Israel will say: 'Israeli law doesn't apply here. We don't want to invest big money when we don't know where it will belong in the future.'' 'If we build more industrial zones, more healthcare, it will be for everyone,' he adds. Mr Ganz said Israel should not seek actively to govern Palestinian areas, which should be free to elect municipal leaders. 'I will not manage Ramallah,' he says. 'I don't understand the culture, the language – they have to vote for their own people.' In short, he envisages a benign future for the West Bank where, under a stable umbrella of Israeli sovereignty and economic growth, the two communities manage their own affairs. Opponents argue that this vision leaves the crucial facts unsaid. Namely, that annexation would, in practice, allow Israeli settlers to continue expanding in the fertile, open areas, while confining the Palestinians to increasingly crumbling and crowded cities. Mr Trump's failed attempt at an Israel-Palestine settlement in his first term – the so-called 'deal of the century' – was accused of risking more or less that outcome. With Mr Huckabee, arguably the most pro-Zionist ambassador in US history, recently confirmed by the Senate, but no presidential visit to Israel yet in the diary, it remains to be seen whether Trump 2.0 will justify Mr Ganz's dreams.
Observer
23-03-2025
- Politics
- Observer
Israeli recognition of new WB settlements rejected
RAMALLAH: The Palestinian foreign ministry condemned on Sunday an Israeli decision to recognise more than a dozen new settlements in the occupied West Bank, upgrading existing neighbourhoods to independent settlement status. The decision by Israel's security cabinet was a show of "disregard for international legitimacy and its resolutions", said a statement from the Palestinian Authority's foreign ministry. The West Bank, occupied by Israel since 1967, is home to about three million Palestinians as well as nearly 500,000 Israelis living in settlements that are illegal under international law. Israel's Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a far-right leader and settler who was behind the cabinet's decision, hailed it as an "important step" for Israeli settlements in the West Bank. Smotrich is a leading voice calling for Israel to formally annex the West Bank -- as it did in 1967 after capturing east Jerusalem in a move not recognised by most of the international community. "The recognition of each (neighbourhood) as a separate community... is an important step that would help their development," Smotrich said in a statement on Telegram, calling it part of a "revolution". "Instead of hiding and apologising, we raise the flag, we build and we settle," he said. "This is another important step towards de facto sovereignty in Judea and Samaria," added Smotrich. In its statement, the Palestinian foreign ministry also mentioned an ongoing major Israeli military operation in the northern West Bank, saying it was accompanied by "an unprecedented escalation in the confiscation of Palestinian lands". The 13 settlement neighbourhoods approved for development by the Israeli cabinet are located across the West Bank. Some of them are effectively part of the bigger settlements they belong to while others are practically separate. Their recognition as separate communities under Israeli law is not yet final. Hailing the "normalisation" of settlement expansion, the Yesha Council, an umbrella organisation for the municipal councils of West Bank settlements, thanked Smotrich for pushing for the cabinet decision. According to EU figures, 2023 saw a 30-year record in settlement building permits issued by Israel. Meanwhile, Israel's military pressed ground operations across the Gaza Strip on Sunday, urging Palestinians to flee an offensive in Rafah city nearly a week into a renewed assault on the territory. The latest evacuation warning follows a deadly flare-up in Lebanon and missiles fired from Yemen, while Israeli troops are again deploying to parts of Gaza despite calls to revive a January truce. The health ministry in Gaza said on Sunday that the war, triggered by the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, has killed at least 50,021 people in the territory. Gaza's civil defence agency said separately, citing its own records, that the death toll has topped 50,000 people. In a statement on X on Sunday, military spokesman Avichay Adraee said the army "launched an offensive to strike the terrorist organisations" in a district of the southern city of Rafah, already the target of a major Israeli offensive about a year ago. In a message that correspondents said also appeared on leaflets dropped over the area by drone, Adraee called on Palestinians there to leave the "dangerous combat zone" in Tal Al Sultan district and move further north. Before its renewed assault, Israel in early March blocked the entry of humanitarian aid into war-ravaged Gaza and cut electricity supplies, in a bid to force Hamas to accept the Israeli terms for an extension of the ceasefire and release the 58 hostages held by Palestinian militants. The electricity supplied by Israel had fed Gaza's main water desalination plant, and the decision to cut power has aggravated already dire conditions for Gaza's 2.4 million people. An Israeli air strike on Saturday on a displacement camp in the Khan Yunis area killed senior Hamas political official Salah al Bardawil and his wife, the group said. Murad al Najjar, who lives in the area, said he "heard a very loud explosion. Our tents were destroyed... And we saw that a man and his wife were martyred." Bardawil is the third member of Hamas's political bureau killed in Israeli strikes since last week. — AFP
Middle East Eye
14-03-2025
- Politics
- Middle East Eye
Israeli settler leaders hail cooperation with UAE in first trip to Abu Dhabi
A group of Israeli settler leaders visited the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and met senior government officials earlier this week, according to Israeli media. The settler delegation discussed opportunities for economic, security, and diplomatic cooperation, Israeli news website 0404 News reported on Thursday. The delegation included Israel Ganz, chairman of the Yesha Council (an umbrella group of municipal councils of settlements in the occupied West Bank), Eliram Azoulay, Hebron Hills settlements regional council, and Yesha Council CEO Omer Rahamim. Settler leaders participated in an Iftar dinner at the official residence of Dr Ali Rashid al-Nuaimi, a senior member of the UAE National Council. Around 700,000 Israeli settlers live in roughly 300 illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, all of which have been built since Israel occupied the territories in 1967. New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters Under international law, settlement construction in an occupied territory is illegal. Ganz hailed cooperation with the UAE as a key factor in strengthening settlement. "The visit to the UAE is a testimony to regional change and the need for new thinking,' Ganz said, according to 0404 News. 'Cooperation between nations, based on mutual respect and recognition of reality, is the way to strengthen settlement and ensure a strong future for both countries." 'Gracious hospitality' Ganz also thanked al-Nuaimi for his 'warm and personal invitation' and the 'gracious hospitality'. Azoulay described the trip as a 'significant step in strengthening settlement'. Palestinian Authority fears being sidelined in Gaza by Trump and UAE Read More » 'It is incredible to see that there are courageous leaders who want to hear firsthand about our communities, towns and the development of the West Bank,' Azoulay said, according to the Jewish Chronicle. He said he met leaders in the UAE who shared his fight against Hamas, Hezbollah, the Muslim Brotherhood and Iran. The leaders also expressed support for fighting the Palestinian Authority's education system, which 'promotes evil and hatred of Jews,' according to Azoulay. Israeli criticism of Palestinian textbooks often refers to lessons that teach and promote Palestinian statehood and patriotism.
