Report: US Sanctions on Settlers Are Cover Messages That Find No Receiver in the Occupying State

Ramallah - Ma'an - The National Bureau for Defending Land and Resisting Settlements said in its weekly settlement report that the United States imposed sanctions on a settler group that carries out acts of violence in the West Bank last Tuesday. The US Treasury Department said that the group has been attacking Palestinians and destroying their property in the territories occupied by Israel, adding in a statement that "Hilltop Youth works through these violent activities to destabilize the West Bank and harm the peace and security of Palestinians and Israelis alike, and that the group has destroyed population centers and carried out operations, including killing and burning, with the aim of intimidating Palestinians. " The report indicated that the acting Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, Bradley Smith, said that "the escalation of violence and instability in the West Bank harms the long-term interests of Israelis and Palestinians, and the practices of violent organizat ions such as Hilltop Youth only exacerbate the crisis." The following day, the United States imposed sanctions on an Israeli non-profit organization and a Jewish security official in a settlement in the West Bank, in the latest effort by Washington to punish settlers it accuses of extremism and violence against Palestinians. Last August, the United States imposed sanctions on an Israeli non-profit organization and a security official in the settlement of Yitzhar, south of the city of Nablus in the West Bank. At the time, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said that Hashomer Yosh, a nongovernmental organization that says it helps protect settlers, had provided substantial support to an unauthorized West Bank outpost that is already under sanctions. He said in a statement that Yitzhak Levi-Villant, who is responsible for coordinating security in the Yitzhar settlement, led a group of armed settlers in February to set up roadblocks and conduct patrols aimed at forcing Palestinians off their land. 'Extrem ist settler violence in the West Bank causes severe human suffering, harms Israel's security, and undermines the prospects for peace and stability in the region.' This comes as an extension of the sanctions imposed by the United States and the European Union on the organization 'Tsav 9' and the two illegal settlement outposts 'Havat Moshe' and 'Hava Shel Zvi' in the West Bank and five right-wing activists, and that they are considering imposing sanctions on the 'Regavim' movement as well, similar to those imposed on the organization 'Lehava' and the settlement outposts 'Havat Mitrim' and 'Hava Shel Neria' and 'Havat Man' - and a number of settler activists. But who is this organization "Hilltop Youth"? It is a settler youth group with an extreme right-wing orientation, which was established in 1998, with the encouragement of the then Israeli Minister of Security, Ariel Sharon. It believes in the necessity of establishing a "Jewish state" on the "Greater Land of Israel" after expelling all Palestinians from it. It represents the weapon of the Israeli occupation to carry out attacks against the Palestinians and force them to forcibly emigrate from their areas and villages, and it is expanding by establishing settlement outposts on them. Its members inhabit the hilltops of the West Bank. It is the 'Hilltop Youth' organization, as it is known by the media and political circles in the occupying state. The far-right and fascist forces in the occupying state, such as the 'Religious Zionism' party led by Bezalel Smotrich and the 'Jewish Power' party led by Itamar Ben Gvir, and broad circles in the 'Likud' party, call it by various descriptions, such as 'the vanguard youth.' These are neutral names that hide the truth about this group, which practices terrorism, attacks Palestinian property, mosques, churches, and homes, and writes on them slogans 'Death to the Arabs' under its real name, 'Price Tag.' "Hilltop Youth" is, without any frills, that criminal organization, which includes in its ranks professional terrorists, practicing violence and terrorism in the West Bank on a large scale, not content with attacking property, homes and facilities, but rather going beyond that, its crimes reaching the limits of practicing the crime of murder and arson, as was the case with the Jerusalem boy Muhammad Abu Khudair and with the Dawabsheh family in the village of Duma, south of the city of Nablus, and expanding its activities to practice a policy of displacement and ethnic cleansing, as is happening with the Bedouin and pastoral communities in the areas of the Jordan Valley, the Jericho passes, the Jordan Valley and the areas south of the Hebron Governorate. The study of the Torah and Jewish religious curricula is given great attention, and the "Od Yosef Khi" school - with its extremist religious orientation - is one of the most important religious centers they attend. The members of the "Hill Youth - Price Tag" belong to various extremist racist movements and currents, such as the "Land of Israel" movement, "Path of Life" and "Hebr ew City Nucleus", and they have close ties to right-wing parties such as the "Likud", "Religious Zionism" and "Jewish Power" parties, and they enjoy influence within official authority circles. The occupation army is not far from this criminal organization. In 2020, it established a special unit called the "Desert Battalions" whose mission is to carry out tours in the Jordan Valley and the West Bank wilderness, and included elements of the "Hill Youth - Price Tag". By the end of 2020, this terrorist organization had managed to establish about 170 settlement outposts and contributed to the seizure of tens of thousands of dunams owned by Palestinians. In addition to the 'Hilltop Youth - Price Tag,' there are several settlement organizations and associations that the United States, the European Union, Canada, and Japan have imposed sanctions on, or are on their way to doing so, as entities or individuals who are active in them and carry out terrorist acts against the Palestinians or encourage the establishment of settlement outposts and provide them with donations and means of survival, such as the 'Nahala' movement, led by the godmother of settlements, Daniela Weiss, who was imposed sanctions by the Canadian government last June and is known for her fascist statements against the Palestinians, calling for their deportation from the Gaza Strip and the rest of Palestine and their return to settlement in Gaza. Despite not holding an official government position, her positions may find receptive ears within the current government. This movement focuses its activities on expanding the sphere of influence of existing settlements and spreading settlement outposts over the largest area of ??Palestinian land in the West Bank. It has contributed to the establishment of more than 60 settlement outposts by 2022 and enjoys broad support from the 'religious Zionism' movement. The list of settlement entities that practice terrorism does not stop at the 'Hilltop Youth - Price Tag' and the 'Nahala' movement, but rather extends ov er a wide spectrum of movements and associations such as the 'Amana' movement, which the US administration and the European Union countries are considering imposing sanctions on, and the 'Lehava' organization, which was not registered as an association due to its criminal activities and its leaders such as Bentzi Gopstein and Baruch Marzel, which receives government aid and through legal associations such as 'Hammala,' 'The Israel Rescue Fund,' the 'Har Hebron Foundation - Mount Hebron,' and the 'Shalom Aserich' association, which are two extremist associations that collect donations online, and the 'Hashomer Yosh' association, which provides volunteer programs and training before military service and sends the 'Hilltop Youth' to guard the settlement outposts, which recently carried out the terrorist attack on the village of 'Jit' in the Qalqilya Governorate. But what are these sanctions, which are imposed on individuals and entities, and what is their effectiveness? They include freezing all assets of activ ists and organizations in the countries that imposed them; preventing citizens, companies, and organizations in these countries from dealing with activists and organizations and donating to them; and preventing activists from entering their territories. It is worth noting here that Israeli law does not require compliance with the sanctions, but Israeli banks cooperate with them and restrict the bank accounts and payment methods of organizations and activists. Sanctions may be technically effective, even when they are not binding. But the question is: Do they achieve their primary goal? It is clear that these sanctions have nothing to do with settlements in general or settlement outposts in particular, and they are still unable to stop settlements or stop the harassment of Palestinians and attacks on their property or harm to their lives. The attacks continue, as does harm to the lives of Palestinian citizens. There are many examples of this. Elisha Yared, suspected of involvement in the killing of Palestinian Qusay Jamal Maatan (19 years old) in the village of Burqa in the Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate, for example, was released to house arrest by a decision of the Jerusalem District Court. Yared was indicted on six charges, and was acquitted of four of them. The former head of the IDF Central Command, Yehuda Fuchs, issued an order banning him from the West Bank, but the military court suspended the order. Yared said when the sanctions were imposed on him: 'I am honored to be on the honor roll.' Canada also imposed sanctions last June on Daniela Weiss, leader of the 'Nahala' movement, which leads the settlement of the outposts, but that did not prevent her from continuing to call for the return of settlement to the Gaza Strip in accordance with the directions of the conference, which was organized by Imar Ben-Gvir in Jerusalem for this purpose at the end of last January. Daniela Weiss Like the leaders of Amana, the main settler organization affiliated with the Yesha Council, and senior officials in the Israeli financial system, the Canadian sanctions have no practical effect. Weiss does not seem worried. 'My husband and I have been banned from entering the United States for many years. This creates difficulties, because we have relatives there and it hurts our business, the Givat Winery, but we manage. Some settlers are hurt by the new sanctions, but the settlement itself has not been hurt and will not be hurt. Everything has a solution,' Weiss said. Beyond that, the settlement minister in the Defense Ministry, Bezalel Smotrich, and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, enjoy immunity despite their open support for settler terrorism. At the same time, the sanctions are being circumvented, as Israeli banks are providing assistance to their sanctioned clients. They allow them to withdraw money to meet basic needs such as purchasing basic goods and paying mortgages and rent. But they cannot buy apartments, cars or luxury goods. The US Treasury Department, according to the Israeli website "Calcalist", approved t hese arrangements in a document it submitted to the Bank of Israel at the end of last March, as part of a negotiation with the Israeli Finance Minister and Minister of Settlement in the Ministry of Defense, Bezalel Smotrich, under which the guarantees of Palestinian banks were extended for a few months and the sanctions were eased as part of a secret agreement between Israel and the United States on this issue, which raises the question of whether these sanctions are cover messages for the position on the brutal war waged by the occupying state on the Gaza Strip, as in the West Bank, which is not received in the occupying state or given much attention, especially among the settlers. The weekly violations documented by the National Bureau for the Defense of the Land were as follows during the reporting period: Jerusalem Settlers stole olives in Wadi al-Rababa neighborhood in Silwan town, under the protection of the occupation police, which prevents landowners from accessing their land. Meanwhile, large forc es of the Israeli occupation police and army, accompanied by a military bulldozer, stormed Shuafat camp, north of occupied Jerusalem, and demolished commercial facilities near the military checkpoint, including: construction stores, electrical stores, a warehouse, a café, a store selling bedding and blankets, and a supermarket belonging to the al-Rashq family. Hebron The occupation forces stormed the village of At-Tuwana with their heavy machinery and demolished an agricultural room owned by citizen Khaled Rabah Rabie, with an area of ??50 square meters, and the house of citizen Khaled Rabie, under the pretext of not having a license. They also closed the Ibrahimi Mosque in the city of Hebron, and tightened their repressive measures against citizens in the Old City, under the pretext of Jewish holidays and in preparation for settlers to desecrate it to perform Talmudic religious rituals, dances and celebrations in violation of its sanctity. Ramallah The occupation bulldozers began to level lands in the to wn of Sinjil in preparation for the construction of a barbed wire wall along Road 60, which extends for more than a kilometer and is 4 meters high. The occupation had notified the town's residents at the beginning of this year that it would seize 30 dunams for the construction of the wall, which would isolate Sinjil from the main road and prevent citizens from reaching their lands. In the village of Rantis, settlers attacked the village and besieged a young man in agricultural land in the "Tin al-Shami" area before the citizens confronted them, while clashes erupted between the citizens and the occupation forces while securing the settlers' attack. In the industrial zone of the city of al-Bireh, the occupation bulldozers demolished the wall of the house of the citizen Adeeb al-Bakri, while settlers attacked citizens' vehicles near the village of Dura al-Qara' and chanted racist slogans, and closed the road connecting the villages of Dura al-Qara' and Ein Yabrud and prevented citizens' vehicles from passing, a t a time when a group of settlers stormed the village of Barqa and another group attacked the homes of the people of Umm Safa in the western part, Bethlehem A settler set up two tents on land in the town of Al-Khader and brought water tanks to land in the "Shaab Al-Ajel" area west of the town, with the aim of establishing a pastoral center. In the Al-Makhrour area - Beit Jala, the occupation forces notified the demolition of a church built of wooden panels, which was erected on the land of the Qaysiya family. It is noteworthy that the settlers seized the land of citizen Ramzi Qaysiya in the Al-Makhrour area, on July 31, and forced its owners at gunpoint to leave it, despite their possession of proof of ownership papers. Nablus Settlers attacked Rashid Najjar from Yatma and smashed his vehicle while he was with others near the Auja Spring north of Jericho, causing him injuries and bruises. In Burin village, settlers attacked farmers while they were picking olives and threw stones at them. Settlers headed b y the guard of the 'Yitzhar' settlement also attacked olive pickers in the town of Huwara, causing two people to be injured and bruised, namely Saqr Khaled Odeh and Jamil Fayez Odeh, who were transferred to the Huwara Emergency Center. The occupation forces also attacked farmers in the village of Madama and prevented farmers from reaching their lands and attacked them in the northwestern area of ??the village while they were picking olive trees. The guard of the 'Yitzhar' settlement attacked the farmer Mahmoud Abdel Rahim Qat from Madama and stole the olive picking equipment and fruits. Salfit Settlers assaulted Ghassan Salman (28 years old) while he was grazing his sheep in the pastoral land in the Ad-Duhur area north of Deir Istiya town. They sprayed pepper gas in his eyes and threatened him with a weapon to leave the land. They also tried to steal his sheep. In Kafr Ad-Dik town, the occupation forces seized a quantity of olive harvesting equipment and fruits in the area near the "Beduel" settlement, clai ming that it is forbidden to be present on this land. Settler herds also attacked farmer Reda Saeed Nimr Haj Asaad and destroyed his vehicle while he was on his land in the town of Jama'in. Others raided farmers from the town of Haris who were picking olives near the settlement of Revava, threatening them and expelling them. Qalqilya The occupation authorities seized, by virtue of a seizure order, 'for military and security purposes,' 55 dunams of citizens' land in the village of Kafr Qaddum. The military order, numbered T/65/24, aims to create a buffer zone around the 'Kedumim' settlement, and is valid until December 31, 2028. Its danger lies in depriving citizens of access to hundreds of dunams surrounding the settlement, which fall within the scope of the specific order. Jenin The occupation forces bulldozed about 20 dunums of citizens' land in Barta'a in the area adjacent to the racist separation wall built on the town's lands. In the village of Jalboun, the occupation forces seized the house of citiz en Amin Abu al-Rab, located in the north of the village, and turned it into a military barrack and expelled its residents. The occupation forces also forcibly evicted the family of citizen Yasser Yassin (61 years old) from their home, and turned it into a military barrack in the village of Anin, west of the city of Jenin, and did the same with Abdul Salam Ahmed Zaid and his brother Muhammad, in the village of Nazlat Sheikh Zaid, southwest of Jenin, and turned it into a military barrack . The occupation forces pursued shepherds in the Al-Maleh area in the northern Jordan Valley, and began to terrorize citizens, while settlers attacked citizens' tents in Khirbet Al-Farisiya, in the Nab' Ghazal area in the northern Jordan Valley. In the village of Kurdala, the occupation authorities issued an order to demolish a cement house belonging to citizen Nasser Suleiman Fuqaha, giving him only three days to carry out the demolition. Meanwhile, they demolished two houses under construction under the pretext of lacking a license in the village of Al-Duyouk Al-Tahta, and notified 7 other houses to demolish. This demolition comes despite the occupation authorities' decision about two weeks ago to freeze the demolition of 32 houses in Al-Duyouk Al-Tahta, which is subject to continuous demolition operations by the occupation as part of the policy of forced displacement aimed at emptying the area of ??its people in favor of colonial expansion. In the Arab Al-Malihat gathering, settlers burned a sheep barn by throwing a bomb at the barn, which belongs to the citizen Muhammad Ali Al-Malihat, which led to its burning. Two houses under construction belonging to the brothers Hamad and Hamed Jaber in Aqaba were also demolished. Source: Maan News Agency