To return to the new Peace Now website click here.

Bibi Govt Establishes 3 New Settlements: What You Need to Know

On April 24th the Israeli Government issued a brief press release (Hebrew) stating:  "The Ministerial Team that was nominated by the Government, decided to legalize the settlement points of Sansana, Rechelim and Bruchin, which were established during the 90's based on previous governments' decisions." 

With this decision, these three outposts become new "legal" settlements in the West Bank, with all the benefits that entails, including the right to plan and expand. 

This is the first time a government of Israel has formally established even a single new settlement since the Shamir Government in 1990.  Moreover, all Israeli governments have promised to remove the illegal outposts (as required, for example, under the he Roadmap). However, until now, no real outpost has been ever removed.

Background

What are we talking about?  Sansana, Rechelim, and Bruchin are illegal settlement outposts - proto-settlements established by the settlers in direct violation of Israeli law.  Since 1996, successive Israeli governments allowed the establishment of some 100 outposts across the West Bank. All of those outposts are by definition illegal because they were built without the required government resolution, without legally required planning and permits, and some of them were established on private Palestinian lands or on lands that were never allocated for settlements.

Where are they & who lives there?
  Sansana is located near the southern border of the West Bank.  Rechelim and Bruchin are located deep inside the West Bank.  Rechelim is located east of the in an area that under no plausible peace agreement could ever be kept by Israel.  Sansana is home to 240 settlers (21 houses, 58 mobile homes); Bruchin to some 350 settlers (52 houses, 53 mobile homes) and Rechelim to some 240 settlers (24 houses, 41 mobile homes).

How were they "legalized"? To legalize the outposts the Netanyahu government had to first circumvent an Israeli law (put into place by the first Netanyahu Government on August 2, 1996).  Under this law, "all matters of overall policy regarding settlements, road paving and proposals for establishment of new settlements will be brought to the discussion and resolution of the government." (Government Decision No. 150, 2/8/1996).   In addition, that same government decision required that planning and land allocations in settlements be approved by the Defense Minister.  To avoid a declaration on the issue at last Sunday's cabinet meeting (which the media was anticipating), the government instead used the meeting to nominate four ministers to "further discuss the issue."  Two days later, the Ministerial Committee issued its press release, which in effect was a resolution on the government's behalf.  The timing was clearly deliberate - the press release came out on the eve of the Remembrance Day, when the Israeli media was not in a position to deal with the issue, thereby limited public criticism. 

What happens next?  The Netanyahu Government has declared several times in court its intention to legalize outposts - i.e., to turn them into new "legal" settlements.  The Netanyahu government formally declared in March 2011 in court that it intends to legalize outposts that were built on State Land, and to remove the outposts that are on private Palestinian lands.  Based on established patterns, it appears that the Netanyahu government will simply do nothing about most outposts (just let them keep expanding illegally) but, if forced to take action by the Court (in response to petitions by Peace Now and others) will do so.  According to Peace Now's count there are currently 17 outposts being challenged in the courts. The Netanyahu government has promised to remove 4 of them (Givat Assaf, Amona, Migron, and Jabel Artis (aka "the Ulpana Hill") (in the latter two cases the Government has worked hard to avoid their removal - for details on the Ulpana Hill issue, see here; for background on Migron, which the Supreme Court ordered must be evacuated by August 1, see here).   In the remaining 13 cases, the Netanyahu Government is seeking ways to "legalize" the outposts and use them to establish 13 new settlements.

-------------------------
For further details, see this press release and this report from Peace Now (Israel), on which the report, above, is based.

APN's statement denouncing the approval of these three new settlements is available here.