The Israeli Civil administration plans to “legalize” new farming outposts to take over Palestinian land in the West Bank
According to the Israeli outlet Haaretz, Israel is pushing to legalize as many as 40 settler farm outposts across the occupied West Bank.
All of the Israeli settlements are illegal under international law. However, the Israeli government has authorized the majority of them. The new regulation introduced aims to regulate the new farm settlements in the West Bank, however, it will be used to legalize already existing ones.
The Israeli Civil administration is pushing for the new regulation. It has set a quota of a range between 30 and 40 existing and future farm outposts to be “legalized” under Israeli law.
The essential criteria to be “legal” in the eyes of the Israeli state are that the outposts must be on state-owned land, the owners of livestock must maintain grazing and veterinary credentials, only one nuclear family can live alongside employees, and the outpost must have a limited number of structures.
The procedure requires the eventual approval of both the defense and justice ministries of Israel.
Analysts expect that the new system will make life even more difficult for Palestinian shepherds, who will now be required to obtain permits previously not required of them.
Israelis have made livestock farms the most used type of outpost in the occupied West Bank in the past decade, which has been pushed for by the influential settler Amana movement.
Israelis use specific farming outposts to allow settler groups to take up the most land with the fewest residents possible. The herds of animals raised by the settlers require a lot of space to pasture on.
Most outposts are eventually converted into settlements and legalized by different branches of the Israeli state.
Since 1967, Israel has occupied the Palestinian West Bank. This occupied Palestinian territory has become “home” to about 700,000 Israeli settlers in violation of international law and previous agreements.
The settlers, aided by the Israeli army, have denied Palestinians access to 20,866 dunams (20,866,000 square meters) of land where they had once farmed, cultivating crops and feeding livestock.
This year, on 17 March, media outlets from Israel reported that Hashomer Yosh, a group with powerful connections to right-wing settler associations, is recruiting volunteers to ‘protect’ illegal settler farms in the occupied West Bank.
The Israeli government supports these types of initiatives, as Israelis who sign up with the organization are then excused from serving in the army. Hashomer Yosh has received funding from at least two Israeli ministries and is supported by many institutions, including several universities that give incentives to students who work with them.
According to stakeholders, Hashomer Yosh’s moves are characteristic of the Israeli government’s strategies to grab Palestinian territories and expand illegal settlements. The Israeli military and police are also deeply involved in such organizations.