The National Bureau for Defending the Land and Resisting Settlements said that the settlement outposts scattered in the occupied West Bank have become greenhouses of terror built by the youth of the hills, sponsored by the occupying state, and covered by the Israeli judiciary.

In light of the pressure exerted by the Minister of Finance and the Minister in the Israeli Ministry of Defense, Bezalel Smotrich, the Supreme Court of Israel decided last week to prevent the evacuation of a settlement outpost that was recently established in the middle of the West Bank on the lands of Al-Mughayyir village in the Ramallah and Al-Bireh governorate.

As expected; The court worked as an arm of the occupation, and it is likewise in the vast majority of cases brought before it when it comes to settlements and settlers, as it plays a very dangerous role in this regard, as it claims that it reflects the commitment of the occupying state to the rule of law and contributes to consolidating the legitimacy of this state before its institutions The international judiciary, which means that one of its functions in relation to the occupation and its practices is to protect the image of the State of Israel and those who violate the law, and it plays this role with complete honesty.

The decision came in the context of considering a petition submitted by 5 families who settled in the site after the shooting attack at the entrance to the “Eli” settlement two weeks ago, which resulted in the killing of 4 settlers. 50 thousand shekels.

This decision also deals with one out of 7 settlement outposts established by settlers following the operation that targeted a gathering of settlers on a passenger parking lot at the entrance to the “Eli” settlement. The Minister of the Occupation Army, Yoav Gallant, had issued an order to evacuate the outpost, despite the opposition of the minister in his ministry, Bezalel Smotrich. .

According to the distribution of powers in the Ministry of the Army, Gallant has the power to issue an evacuation order if there are "security considerations or needs" for that. Indeed, Gallant issued an evacuation order, and the order was canceled or suspended by a court decision, and it appears that the dispute between Gallant and Smotrich regarding the evacuation of that outpost It is a continuation of the dispute over the distribution of powers in the Ministry of Defense.

This decision of the Israeli Supreme Court opens the file of settlement outposts that spread like mushrooms or cancer in the Palestinian countryside in the West Bank, and these outposts about which a debate is taking place among the Israeli government about their role in advancing the settlement project steps forward in order to close the way to the chances of a political settlement to the conflict. On the basis of the so-called two-state solution, what is the story of these settlement outposts that Smotrich, Ben Gvir, and others attach great importance to in calculating control over the widest possible area of ​​land with the least possible number of Palestinian residents? Their number has so far exceeded about (254) outposts distributed over Governorates of the West Bank, including Jerusalem, which are estimated as follows: 50 outposts in Hebron Governorate, 17 in Bethlehem Governorate, 15 in Jerusalem Governorate, 20 in Jericho Governorate, 55 in Ramallah and Al-Bireh Governorate, 18 in Salfit Governorate, 11 in Qalqilya governorate, 45 in Nablus governorate, 5 in Tulkarm governorate, 11 in Tubas governorate, and 7 in Jenin governorate.

The phenomenon began after the signing of the Oslo Accords in an attempt to impose new realities on the ground that erase the demarcations that former Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin had defined between political settlements and security settlements, but as a phenomenon it worsened at the end of the nineties of the last century following the invitation of Ariel Sharon, who held the position of Minister of Energy and Infrastructure. Infrastructure in Netanyahu's first government, the settlers at the time to occupy the tops of the mountains and hills to prevent their transfer to the Palestinians later in the framework of any future political settlement between the Israeli and Palestinian sides, so that call was a green light for the establishment of extreme right-wing organizations that played the most prominent role in spreading those outposts, and later known as "Young Hills".

The first step begins with a tent or caravan for a number of settlers near an existing settlement in the area. It is a step that the hilltop youth begins with and is pledged by the leaders of (Amanah) to finance and sponsored by the local or regional councils in the region as well as the rabbis to prevent the government and the civil administration from removing it as a violation of even the applicable Israeli laws. Then it is the role of the Settlement Brigade to sign contracts with settlers, either for construction or land use.

This Settlement Brigade is a non-governmental organization established in 1971 and its field of operation is the West Bank. It was affiliated with the Settlement Department of the Jewish Agency until 1993 and became independent from it to become one of the hidden arms of the Civil Administration in the occupation army.

The tent or caravan develops into mobile homes or prefabricated homes that are linked to nearby settlements with dirt roads, then paved roads, and a water and electricity network and other infrastructure supplies, pending the granting of legitimacy by the Civil Administration.

There are many settlement outposts that have turned over time into neighborhoods of nearby settlements or stand-alone settlements, as is the case with "Rahalim" and "Shivot Rachel" settlements to the south and southeast of Nablus.

It is noteworthy that the Security Cabinet in Israel (the Cabinet) had agreed last February to legalize (which is a false legitimacy according to international law) 9 illegal outposts in the West Bank out of 77 illegal outposts, calls on Minister of National Security Itamar Benn Ghafir legitimized it, and took the run-over attack that was carried out by a Palestinian at the time in the "Ramot" settlement, north of Jerusalem, which led to the death of 3 Israelis and the injury of others as a pretext.

This decision of the Ministerial Council was not opposed by the Israeli Supreme Court, nor by the government's judicial advisor, who did not support the government's efforts to legalize outposts in the West Bank, but did not oppose the measures that the government considered exceptional, noting that Israeli governments have refrained for a long time from legalizing outposts. Built on private Palestinian land.

As for the outposts whose legalization was approved by the security cabinet, they were Abigail, Beit Hogla, Givat Harel, Givat Arnon, Mitzpe Yehuda, Malachi Hashalom, and Asahel. And "Sadi Boaz", and "Shehret", and according to the government's statement in this regard, the decision called for the start of a wide process to prepare for the continuation of the procedures for the legalization of all random outposts.

The danger of these settlement outposts does not stop at the limits of the forcible robbery of the lands of Palestinian citizens, but rather the attack on their lives and the threat to their security. They were taking to the streets in small groups, attacking Palestinian citizens, destroying their property and writing racist slogans on the walls of their homes, and they went out in hundreds in an organized manner, raiding, burning and destroying everything that stood in their way in order to protect the occupation army and take care of the political and spiritual references. As is the case since the beginning of the year, starting with the towns of Hawara, Burqa, Burin, Jalud, and Qusra in the Nablus governorate, passing through Sinjil, Turmusaya, al-Mughayyir, and Umm Safa in the Ramallah and Al-Bireh governorate, and ending with Masafer Yatta in the Hebron governorate.

The Israeli security services themselves, including the Shin Bet, fear, according to Israeli sources, the formation of an armed militia for settlers to carry out crimes against the Palestinians in light of the great support and coverage they enjoy from ministers in the occupation government after the police were handcuffed by instructions from the extremist minister Ben Gvir not to attack for the settlers.

These agencies indicate that the "Hill Youth" and "Price Tag" groups and other Jewish terrorist organizations that take safe havens from outposts have representation in the Knesset through ministers and Knesset members who were at the head of these groups, including Ben Gvir and Smotrich, who had previously They were arrested on the background of their leadership of attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank. The settlers also enjoy the support of Knesset member Zvi Sukkot, who is affiliated with the "Hills Youth" and was one of its leaders, as he recently expressed his dissatisfaction with the Israeli government's policy in the West Bank by not responding to the operations in the right way.

In general, the occupation government gives cover for the formation of an armed militia for settlers in the West Bank, as dozens of gunmen attacked the villages of Umm Safa, Turmusaya, and Orif recently, in light of the government's inability to issue a statement of condemnation after the Minister of Defense Galant sought to obtain the support of the ministers for a similar statement, but he failed in persuading them.

In the context, the demolition of illegal buildings, according to Israeli laws, that settlers build in the West Bank has decreased since the leader of the “religious Zionism” party, Minister of Finance and Minister in the Ministry of Defense Smotrich, was given broad authority over civil cases in the West Bank.

According to Israeli reports, data show that during the entire year of 2022, the rate of demolition of illegal buildings erected by settlers was about 25 per month, while only two demolitions were carried out on average between January and last May of this year, after Smotrich was assigned responsibility for The Department of Settlements in the Ministry of Defense belongs to the extremist Yehuda Eliyahu, who, along with Smotrich himself, founded the far-right "Regavim" organization that wages an open war against Palestinian construction in the West Bank.

The available data indicate that there are reports about illegally built buildings with the aim of evacuating them, but the Civil Administration tends not to agree to this except in exceptional cases, such as if there is an immediate security need for that, or if it is related to private land, and during the few months In the past, there were several cases in which the occupation forces came to demolish buildings or prevent the construction of buildings, but after the intervention of the political level, especially Smotrich, those forces withdrew without executing orders.

In any case, the Civil Administration focused mainly on demolishing Palestinian buildings. Of the 187 new building demolition orders issued from 2019 to the end of 2020, 159 were for Palestinians, and only 28 for settlers.

On the other hand, the progressive Israeli journalist Amira Hiss considered that the attack on Jenin and its camp last week is a prelude to the return of four settlements in the vicinity of Jenin, whose evacuation law was recently abolished, and that the military operation aims to subjugate and weaken the Palestinians, and thus start implementing the return plan for the settlements in the northern West Bank, which are Ganim, Kadim, Sanur, Homesh.

The right-wing government, after abolishing the settlement evacuation law, plans to return to settle there, but it was difficult to achieve this plan in light of the presence of a military force in Jenin, and therefore it was necessary to launch such a military operation, as the government seeks after the abolition of that law to return the settlers to the evacuated settlements 2005.

She noted that despite the evacuation of the four settlements in 2005, the Israeli army declared them closed military zones classified as Area C, in which Palestinian construction is prohibited, and thus they have remained unchanged for 18 years.