Amona is the largest illegal outpost in the West Bank, home to some fifty families, located near the settlement of Ofra, northeast of Ramallah. Built on some 100 acres of land registered as privately-owned by Palestinians, the outpost was built without permits from the Israeli government, but with the direct and indirect support of Israeli authorities. In 2006, following a decision of the Israeli High Court of Justice, nine structures in the outpost were demolished – but in the years since, the outpost has grown and flourished. Now, the High Court is forcing the Israeli government to take action once again to remove the illegal construction – but rather than simply removing the outpost, the Israeli government has decided to re-locate it – to another area of privately-owned Palestinian land.

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APN Q&A on Amona
APN Briefing Call with Peace Now Settlement Watch Director Hagit Ofran (August 25, 2016)
APN to Obama 8/11/16: Act to Reverse Israeli Government Taking Over Palestinian Land for West Bank Settlement
Peace Now Report, August 2016: The Legal Opinion Submitted to the Attorney General on Amona: A Crossing of a Red Line
APN report 8/8: Peace Now Settlement Watch: AG Mandelblit Considers Relocating Amona to Lands Owned by Absentees (with translation of AG’s opinion)
Peace Now report 8/11/16: The Israeli Government is Taking Over Absentees' Property Near Amona
Comprehensive report on the original battle over Amona and the destruction of 9 units there: APN Settlements in Focus 2/17/06 and APN Settlements in Focus 7/29/05
View this & other settlement-related developments on APN’s Map App

The Israeli government is in the process of establishing – by stealth –the first new settlement complex (28 units, providing housing for some 100 settlers, or a 10% increase in the settler population in the area) in Hebron in more than a decade. This action directly contravenes Israeli law, which prohibits seizing lands for military needs and then using them for the purpose of settlements. It also contradicts the principle of distinction between civilians and combatants, and constitutes a clear violation of International Humanitarian Law. In addition, allocating these properties to the settlers based on the argument that they belonged to Jews before 1948 in essence constitutes implementation of a “right of return” for Jews, at the expense of protected Palestinians tenants – even as Palestinians are denied any parallel “right of return” to properties they left or were expelled from before 1948. The Israeli Peace Now movement uncovered this story and is leading the effort to pressure the Israeli government to cancel these plans.  

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APN Briefing Call with Peace Now Settlement Watch Director Hagit Ofran (August 25, 2016)
Peace Now’s August 23, 2016 report: Establishing a New Settlement in Hebron - More Information Revealed
Peace Now’s August 22, 2016 report: Settlers' Residence Being Prepared in a Hebron Military Compound
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US OFFICIAL REACTION

Haaretz 8/24: U.S. 'Deeply Concerned' About Plans to Advance Construction for Jewish Settlers in Hebron
State Department Press briefing 8/23: “…if these reports are true, it would appear to be an effort to expand civilian Israeli settlement in the city of Hebron, and that would represent a deeply concerning step of settlement expansions…”

IN THE MEDIA

Arutz Sheva (settler media outlet) 8/24: Peace Now 'slanders' activists over Hevron construction
Maan News 8/23: Peace Now: New settlement will add 100 more Israeli settlers in Hebron
Haaretz 8/22: For First Time in Decade, Israel Plans to Expand Jewish Settlement in Hebron
Times of Israel 8/22: Israel said planning to build several Jewish homes in Hebron
Associated Press 8/22: Israel Takes Steps Toward New Settlement in Volatile City

The Netanyahu government is actively promoting an extraordinarily dangerous and destructive new settlement plan which activists have dubbed “E-2” – a name that reflects the fact that the plan is as dangerous and destructive to the two-state solution as the infamous E-1 project (against which the international community has formed a united front). The E-2 project, which the settlers call Givat Eitam, involves thousands of new units to be built south of Bethlehem, near the settlement of Efrat. Documents recently released by the government in connection with a lawsuit brought by Peace Now show that the Netanyahu government is actively moving ahead with this plan at this time, including working to seize new land on which it can build necessary infrastructure to implement the project (a new major road).

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Get the word out: Tweet About E-2
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APN Briefing Call with Peace Now Settlement Watch Director Hagit Ofran(August 25, 2016)
Peace Now report 1/13/16: High Court Rejects Nahla Landowners' Petition Removes Legal Obstacle to Establish a Settlement in E2
Peace Now report January 2015: The new settlement in a-Nahla – a significant threat to the two-state solution
September 2014 report by Peace Now, Kerem Navot, and Combatants for Peace: The New Settlement in E2 (Nahla) - A Significant Threat to the Two States Solution
View this & other settlement-related developments on APN’s Map App

The policies and actions of the current Israeli government are actively fanning the flames of violence, further entrenching and expanding occupation, and killing the two-state solution. Some of the most recent and ongoing outrages are:

Expanding the settlers' hold in Hebron: The Israeli government is in the process of establishing – by stealth –the first new settlement complex (28 units, providing housing for some 100 settlers, or a 10% increase in the settler population in the area) in Hebron in more than a decade. It is doing so by taking properties seized years ago by the Israeli government for military use and handing them over to the settlers. This action directly contravenes Israeli law, which prohibits seizing lands for military needs and then using them for the purpose of settlements. It also contradicts the principle of distinction between civilians and combatants, and constitutes a clear violation of International Humanitarian Law. In addition, allocating these properties to the settlers based on the argument that they belonged to Jews before 1948 in essence constitutes implementation of a “right of return” for Jews, at the expense of protected Palestinians tenants – even as Palestinians are denied any parallel “right of return” to properties they left or were expelled from before 1948. Click here to learn more about this new Hebron development and to find out how you can take action.

Planned demolition of the village of Sussya: The campaign to save the Palestinian village of Sussya, which has involved extraordinary efforts by human rights activists both inside and outside Israel, has reached a decisive movement. The Israeli government is poised to make a final decision on whether to raze almost half of the village, located in Area C on land long-coveted by settlers. International pressure succeeded in convincing the Israeli government to delay the decision, originally due in early August, until October, but the threat to destroy almost half of the village remains, as does the threat to destroy individual homes before a final decision is made later this year.Click here to learn more about Sussya and to find out how you can take action.

Planned re-location of Amona: Amona is the largest illegal outpost in the West Bank, home to some fifty families, located near the settlement of Ofra, northeast of Ramallah. Built on some 100 acres of land registered as privately-owned by Palestinians, the outpost was built without permits from the Israeli government, but with the direct and indirect support of Israeli authorities. In 2006, following a decision of the Israeli High Court of Justice, nine structures in the outpost were demolished, but in the years since, the outpost has grown and flourished. Now, the High Court is forcing the Israeli government to take action once again to remove the illegal construction – but rather than simply removing the outpost, the Israeli government has decided to re-locate it – to another area of privately-owned Palestinian land. Click here to learn more about Amona and to find out how you can take action.

Planned new settlement of Givat Eitam, aka E-2: The Netanyahu government is actively promoting an extraordinarily dangerous and destructive new settlement plan which activists have dubbed “E-2” – a name that reflects the fact that the plan is as dangerous and destructive to the two-state solution as the infamous E-1 project (against which the international community has formed a united front). The E-2 project, which the settlers call Givat Eitam, involves thousands of new units to be built south of Bethlehem, near the settlement of Efrat. Documents recently released by the government in connection with a lawsuit brought by Peace Now show that the Netanyahu government is actively moving ahead with this plan at this time, including working to seize new land on which it can build necessary infrastructure to implement the project (a new major road). Click here to learn more about E-2 and to find out how you can take action.

Israel’s Peace Now movement today issued the following press release, after scoring a major victory in its fight against Israeli settlement activity in the West Bank.

High Court Orders Evacuation of 17 Structures in The Illegal Outpost of Derech Ha'Avot

Earlier today the High Court of Justice ruled on a petition submitted by Peace Now and by Palestinian landowners on the illegal outpost of Derech Ha'Avot. In its verdict, the High Court demanded that the State will evacuate 17 structures in the illegal outpost, located near Bethlehem. The court strongly criticized the State, which tried to retract its previous commitments, and over and over again postponed the enforcement of the law with regards to illegal construction in the outpost while raising a variety of contradicting excuses. The High Court ordered that the evacuation of the structures and fulfilment of the demolition order will be executed within 18 months (by March 2018), and ordered the State to pay high legal expenses.

Unauthorized settlements dot hilltops in the West Bank, and anti-settlement groups and Palestinians say retroactively legalizing them is a methodical effort to change the region’s map.

ISABEL KERSHNER

MITZPE DANNY, West Bank — One night in the fall of 1998, a self-professed “outpost entrepreneur” brought three trailers to a rugged hilltop in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and established his first pirate settlement.

Dozens of youthful supporters came to cheer on the entrepreneur, Shimon Riklin, whose wife, newborn and toddler joined him a few days later. A second family also moved in. To their initial surprise, nobody from the military or government came to remove them. “After six months,” Mr. Riklin said in a recent interview, “I understood it was a done deal.”

They named their outpost Mitzpe Danny, after a British immigrant stabbed to death by a Palestinian at the settlement across the highway, and went on over the next few months to help establish Mitzpe Hagit and then Neve Erez a short drive away. “I jumped from hill to hill,” Mr. Riklin said.

Today, more than 40 Orthodox Jewish families live in Mitzpe Danny, one of a string of outposts on a strategic ridge with breathtaking views southwest to Jerusalem’s Mount of Olives and east all the way to Jordan. They are part of an expansive network of about 100 outposts established mostly over the past two decades without government authorization.

At least one-third of these have either been retroactively legalized or — like Mitzpe Danny — are on their way, in what anti-settlement groups that track the process see as a quiet but methodical effort by the government to change the map of the West Bank, now in its 50th year under Israeli occupation, by entrenching the outposts that spread like fingers across it.

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