Annexation‘s threat is political blackmail and blatant deception to cover up de facto reality.

By: Madeeha Al-A’raj
The ‘National Bureau for Defending Land and Resisting Settlements stated in its latest weekly report , that in its issue from the 29th of last month, the Yedioth Ahronoth Newspaper reported that the settler leaders in the occupied West Bank are continuing to pressure Israeli PM Netanyahu to agree to declare ‘sovereignty’ over as much of the West Bank as possible, as part of a plan they are seeking to accelerate and intensify efforts to pass at this stage. The newspaper quoted a settler leader as saying, ‘As far as we understand, Netanyahu hasn’t yet reached a decision, but that is no reason to stop, we can push him to do so, especially after what is happening in Europe and the desire of some countries to initiate a process to recognize a Palestinian state.’
Netanyahu is not far from considering such a move, the application of sovereignty over the West Bank is being conducted quietly, without any public statements, as Netanyahu has instructed his ministers, according to multiple sources. There is a consensus in Israel on the need to prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state, the aforementioned newspaper added that this comes in light of the discussion that took place within a small cabinet committee, the details of which were recently revealed. It indicated that Minister of Strategic Affairs, Ron Dermer, a close associate of Netanyahu, expressed support for this move.
According to what was presented to Netanyahu, settler leaders demanded declaring ‘sovereignty’ over all areas not inhabited by Palestinians, believing that this plan would prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state while annexing the smallest possible number of Palestinians without dramatically changing the status quo on the ground.
Netanyahu is continuing to study the situation and has not yet made a final decision. He seeks to test Israeli public opinion as well as international positions, particularly those of the United States. According to estimates, he will act in accordance with the positions of countries that have announced their intention to recognize a Palestinian state. His governing partner, FM Bezalel Smotrich, is pushing, along with other forces on the right, for a preemptive, rather than a reactive, move, especially in light of his statements that ‘sovereignty will be imposed over the entire land. We won’t do half´-or-a quarter of the work.
It is about one decision on Gaza Street in Jerusalem, ‘referring to the official residence of the Israeli prime minister. The ongoing controversy centers on the timing of this move and the size of the areas that will actually be annexed. Smotrich shared a post by Netanyahu s media advisor, Yonatan Orich, on the X platform, in which he called for ‘imposing sovereignty over all settlement blocs’ in the West Bank. Smotrich commented on the post, addressing Netanyahu, ‘Mr. Premier, this is a ‘political opportunity’ under the Trump administration.’
The Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation -Kan 11, reported that the security and political cabinet discussed this issue in a small meeting recently held by Netanyahu to formulate the Israeli decision on the matter. Kan 11 confirmed that a small ministerial meeting was held, in addition to Netanyahu, including his close confidant Ron Dermer, who is responsible for relations with the United States and the Gulf states, FM Gideon Sa ar-;- and FM Smotrich, also National Security Council head Tzachi Hanegbi and Cabinet Secretary Yossi Fox.
The meeting addressed what the corporation describes as ‘the possibility of imposing sovereignty over the West Bank.’ The small discussion addressed various options: imposing annexation on the settlement blocs only, on all settlements, on Area C,´-or-on ‘open lands’ and the Jordan Valley. Additional debate arose over timing: whether annexation would be proposed as a reaction to recognition of a Palestinian state,´-or-as a preemptive step.
The Yesha Settlement Council that leads a media and public campaign to pressure Netanyahu, rejects the annexation of the Jordan Valley´-or-the settlement blocs alone: ‘The nationalist camp can’t perpetuate the bloc doctrine adopted by the left.’ This position is supported by Smotrich and was raised during the discussion. Likud MK Avichai Bo Aron goes further, demanding the annexation of ‘open lands’ even within Areas A and B, arguing that ‘Palestinian territorial contiguity must be broken and the imposition of contiguous sovereignty via corridors on the land must be prevented.’
Behind the scenes, political calculations remain present. Netanyahu has yet to reveal his intentions, but in the past two weeks he has made sure to participate twice in settler-related events: the first to mark the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Ofra settlement, and the second at a ceremony held by the Binyamin Council to mark the approval of 17 settlements within its jurisdiction. Netanyahu had ended the cabinet meeting relatively early to participate in the latter event, despite the urgent matters at hand.
Additionally, some of the methods of Smotrich, who is implementing his plan for decisiveness and annexation in the West Bank, have been exposed by further thieving Palestinian land and planting it with settlements, outposts, and so-called terrorist pastoral farms. The newspaper ‘Yedioth Ahronoth’ recently revealed in one of its reports a ‘secret group’ of unknown men who greatly influence every step in Israel. The newspaper says: ‘After this group was previously composed of unknown settlers, they now control the Ministry of Finance, areas in the West Bank, and the main decision-making centers in Israel. This secret group meets once a month, and the leader of the ‘Religious Zionism’ party doesn’t make any important decisions without consulting it.
This ‘Smotrich secret gang’ includes Yehuda Eliyahu, who was appointed head of the settlement administration within the so-called ‘Israeli Ministry of Army.’ He is Smotrich s right-hand man, and both are founders of Regavim, an organization that works to combat the Palestinian presence in Area C. Sharia Damsky, the finance minister s chief of staff, is described as the ‘operator’ who ensures that steps are implemented on the ground. Akiva Smotrich, the finance minister s brother, is considered one of the leaders of the movement to return to evacuated settlements. In addition, Hosea Harari serves as -dir-ector general of the settlement department.
Also among the group s members is Yehoshua Sherman, a member of a religious seminary in the Elon Moreh settlement, whom Smotrich appointed head of the Jewish National Fund s land development committee. This committee has the largest budget in the Jewish National Fund and wields significant influence. The younger members of the group are Omer Rahamim, who served as Smotrich s professional advisor and went on to become CEO of the Yesha Council of West Bank settlements, Yisrael Malachi, the deputy -dir-ector general of the Finance Ministry, responsible for coalition budgets, whom Smotrich has called upon in the past to negotiate with the Finance Ministry over coalition funding for issues important to religious Zionism-;- and several rabbis. Only one figure has more influence over Smotrich than the entire group: his father, Rabbi Yeruham Smotrich.
In addition, this ‘secret gang,’ Smotrich maintains close ties to a number of terrorist settler organizations and associations, such as Regavim, which has grown to wield power and influence in the West Bank. Bezalel Smotrich was one of its founders. This organization has become a lightning rod for the occupation state s settlement activities. In addition to Regavim, the organization Hashomer Yosh ‘Guardians of Judea and Samaria, Yosh’ is sponsored and supported by Bezalel Smotrich.
It was founded in 2013 in the Shiloh settlement, which the occupation authorities established on the lands of Turmusaia, Sinjil, Qaryut, and Jalud, south of Nablus. Its activities have expanded to include areas in the central West Bank and the Yatta Wilderness, south of Hebron. This is in addition to the Amana Movement, which plays a major role in establishing illegal agricultural outposts and seizes financial assets estimated at hundreds of millions of shekels and collects large sums of money from the settlements, which, according to Haaretz, allows it to finance construction in the illegal outposts, where standard real estate companies are afraid to build for fear of incurring losses in the event of evacuation. The Amana s Watan Company made headlines 9 years ago when an investigation by the Hebrew-language website HaMakor revealed that it was seizing Palestinian-owned land using forged documents. In recent years, it has become linked to settler violence against Palestinians.
On another level, settlers, led by the head of the Northern West Bank Settlements Council, Yossi Dagan, opened a kindergarten last Monday in the settlement of Homesh, located on the lands of the village of Burqa, north of Nablus, for the first time in about 20 years. This step comes within the framework of efforts to -restore- educational life in the settlement and strengthen the roots of settlement in the northern West Bank, according to Yossi Dagan, who participated in the opening event. He stressed that “justice is always achieved, and new kindergartens will be built in Homesh, Sanur, Kadim, and Gush Katif.’
Also participating in the event were Rabbi Benny Gal, Deputy Head of the Samaria Regional Council Davidi Ben Zion, Education Ministry Inspector Michal Butbol, and Education Department -dir-ector Tal Navon. Education Minister Yoav Kisch emphasized that the opening of the kindergarten was not merely an educational endeavor, but rather ‘a Zionist endeavor and a building block for settlement.’ Minister Bezalel Smotrich described it as ‘a symbol of renaissance and renewed life in the heart of Samaria, and a true response to all those who thought the settlement would be uprooted.’
In Hebron, the occupation authorities have begun establishing a new settlement neighborhood near the Kiryat Arba settlement, east of Hebron. The settlement council announced the establishment of a new settlement neighborhood around the settlement, and that 10 families have settled in recent days in the new settlement neighborhood located near the Bani Na im Junction, south of Hebron.
According to the settlement council, the goal of establishing the neighborhood is to ‘prevent Palestinian geographical contiguity from Hebron to the Negev Desert and the eastern border,’ in addition to ‘strengthening the connection between the Kiryat Arba and Ma ale Hefer settlements.’ Kiryat Arba Council head Yisrael Bramson said, ‘This is a historic step that fulfills a vision of generations. It is a clear message that Judea -the West Bank- belongs to the people of Israel.’
In Hebron, the settlers’ crimes continue. Last night, the Khallet al-Daba area in Masafer Yatta witnessed a surprise attack by terrorist settlers who stormed the village, demolished the homes of residents, and vandalized their olive, grape, almond, and forest crops. This terrorist act did not stop at destroying property, but also targeted defenseless residents. More than 20 citizens were injured, including 7 children who were sprayed with tear gas and brutally beaten. Among them was a four-month-old baby girl who was hit on the head. This is part of a plan to displace the residents of Masafer Yatta, with full support from the occupation government led by Netanyahu, which provides security and political cover for the settlers practices and ongoing crimes.
As part of the ongoing confiscation of Palestinian land, the occupation authorities last week confiscated 455 dunams of land from the Jit and Far ata villages, east of Qalqilya, and a hill west of Nablus, surrounding the ‘Havat Gilad’ settlement outpost, which was established in April 2002 on the lands of the three villages. In Dec. 2018, the occupation authorities approved the establishment of what they called a ‘new town’ on part of the lands that the settlers of this settlement had forcibly seized in a location 1 km east of the settlement of Kedumim, as part of a settlement ring surrounding the city of Nablus, which includes the settlements of Yitzhar, Har Bracha, Itamar, Alon Moreh, and Shavei Shomron. The Havat Gilad settlers had initially erected four buildings on private land belonging to residents of the Far ata village.
At the time, the Civil Administration issued demolition orders for these buildings. During the first year after their construction, security forces repeatedly demolished the structures, only for them to be rebuilt. This prompted the authorities to halt the evacuation of the settlers. The outpost expanded, encompassing 450 dunams of agricultural land belonging to the three Palestinian villages. By 2017, the outpost comprised about 75 buildings, most of which were used for residential purposes. The number of these buildings has increased over the years, as the settlers presence in the area has been accompanied from the outset by routine acts of violence against the Palestinian residents of the area, without the so-called law enforcement agencies taking any action against these settlers.
In a notable development, Haaretz Newspaper revealed last Wednesday that settlers have formed a military force in the Gaza Strip that is carrying out systematic building demolitions under army supervision. The newspaper reported that a unit of reserve soldiers from West Bank settlements operates bulldozers and engineering equipment and is stationed in the southern Gaza Strip. The unit is called ‘Ore Force’, and is led by the brother of Shin Bet chief candidate Bezalel Zini, who runs a contracting company based in the Ofra settlement, north of Ramallah.
Zini is known for his extremist views, with close associates quoting him as saying that destroying buildings in the Gaza Strip is a ‘religious duty.’ The newspaper explained that the force was named after its founder, right-wing activist Oreh Loverbaum, who is close to Smotrich. The newspaper added, ‘The Ore Force operates in the Gaza Strip and includes a fleet of engineering equipment, bulldozers, and excavators, whose goal is to level buildings to the ground. Notint that most of the drivers of the vehicles are from settlements and joined the work with the aim of leveling every building they encounter.’
According to the newspaper, this force also uses Palestinians as human shields, bringing them into tunnels and homes suspected of containing militants. The Oria Force is an Israeli army engineering unit composed of a mix of reserve soldiers and settlers. Its members are estimated to number around 100 operators, a large portion of whom come from outposts and settlements in the West Bank and operate in combat zones, often without specialized military training. They are accompanied in the field by combat units in the regular army´-or-reserve forces, which provide them with an operational umbrella for large-scale demolition operations in the Gaza Strip.

List of Israeli Assaults over the Last Week Documented by the National Bureau:
Jerusalem:

- Demolishing a house belonging to citizen Moaz Salama in the Wa r al-Beik neighborhood and walls around the building in the Anata town, north of occupied Jerusalem, and 3 residential barracks in Wa r al-Beik in the town, belonging to citizens Hammad and Eid Saray a from the Bedouins, and a barracks for sheep, under the pretext of not having a license and being close to the Apartheid Wall. They also demolished ‘Anata Park’ in the Marj al-Anati area, which has an area of one and a half dunams, under the pretext of the existence of a court order, and a room inside the park with an area of 40m2, and a container with an area of 20m2, and destroyed all the games inside it and public facilities as well.
Hebron:
- Putting to fire scores of dunams planted with grapevines, almonds and olives in the Sa ir town.
- Attacking a home belonging to Nasser al-Nawaj a in the village of Susya, breaking its windows and surveillance cameras, resulting in minor injuries to his daughter.
- Assaulting farmers while they were working on their agricultural land in the Wardan area on the outskirts of the town of Beit Ummar, and tried to forcefully expel them.
- Running over the girl Dalal al-Hawamdeh, 14 in the Aghwin area in the As-Samu town, who sustained injuries and bruises all over her body. She was taken to the hospital for treatment.
- Demolishing a minaret under construction for the Al-Dahiya mosque under the pretext of lacking a permit in Dura town.
- Attacking the lands of the Hamrush community and Wadi Sa ir, where they used JCB bulldozers to widen the roads, focusing on the areas close to the citizens tents without any lighting, in an attempt to facilitate the passage of their cars and seize control of the land by force.
- Releasing their cattle to graze on citizens lands planted with seedlings and fruit trees in the Umm al-Khair village, Masafer Yatta in order to vandalize them, in an attempt to seize citizens lands for the expansion of settlements in the area.
Bethlehem:
- Demolishing a house under construction in the Battir town, under the pretext of lacking a permit, and 2 houses in the Al-Khader town in the ‘Ard Al-Deir’ area. In turn, the head of the Al-Khader Municipal Council, Ahmed Salah, reported that the occupation forces notified the ‘Ard Al-Deir’ area to stop construction and demolish about 30 houses.
Ramallah:
- Notifying the demolition of a number of homes and facilities in the village of Al-Mughayyir, while settlers stormed the village of Deir Ammar and spread out in its streets and outskirts, carrying out acts of violence and provocation against the residents, under the protection of the occupation forces, which provided them with full cover. They also deliberately roamed near citizens homes and fields, in an attempt to impose an atmosphere of fear and psychological pressure on the residents.
- Attacking an agricultural room belonging to the Jabara family and vandalized its contents in the TurmusAia town.
- Demolishing a house under construction belonging to the citizen Louay Istit in the Shuqba village.
Nablus:
- Attacking citizen Mufid Nofal byn settlers while he was on his land in the western plain of Deir Sharaf village, which resulted in his injury. He was transferred to Rafidia Hospital for treatment, they also attacked a Bedouin Community in Duma village and assaulted a citizen, smashing his phone and vandalizing the area.
- Establishing a new settlement outpost on lands from the town of Beit Dajan and set up tents as the nucleus of a new settlement.
Qalqilia:
- Demolishing a house in Ezbet al-Ashqar, belonging to Mufid Jaidi, under the pretext it was built without a permit.
- Bulldozing a concrete wall surrounding a four-dunam agricultural plot belonging to Nasser Sabri, Ahmed and Saleh Nazzal, and Maysoun Hanoun, in the Nabi Ilyas village,Qalqilia.
Jordan Valley:
- Assaulting the young man, Musab Anwar Sawafta, while he was grazing his livestock west of the Bardala village in the northern Jordan Valley. Others released their sheep into the homes of residents to vandalize their property in the Bedouin community of Shalla al-Auja.
- Storming the Khirbet Samra in the northern Jordan Valley and carried out acts of violence to terrorize residents, plowed about 50 dunams of fallow agricultural land near Ein al-Sakut, which residents cultivate with rain-fed crops annually.

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