America’s sanctions on settlers are merely for show, Occupying State pays them no attention

By: Madeeha Al-A’raj
The National Bureau for Defending Land and Resisting Settlements stated in its latest weekly report , that last Tuesday, the United States of America imposed sanctions on a settler group that carries out violenace against Palestinians in the West Bank. The US Treasury Department said the group has been attacking Palestinians and destroying their property. In its statement, USA said, “the violent activities by the ‘Hilltop Youth’ destabilize the West Bank and harm the peace and security of Palestinians and Israelis alike, and that the group has destroyed civilian population centers as well as carried out acts including murder and arson to intimidate Palestinians..
Bradley Smith, Acting Undersecretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence said, “The worsening violence and instability in the West Bank harms the long-term interests of Israelis and Palestinians, and the actions of violent groups like Hilltop Youth only exacerbate the crisis.” The following day, the United States imposed sanctions on an Israeli nonprofit organization and a Jewish security official in a West Bank settlement, which is the latest effort by Washington to punish settlers it accuses of extremism and violence against Palestinians.
Last August, the USs imposed sanctions on an Israeli nonprofit and a security official in the West Bank settlement of Yitzhar, south of the city of Nablus. At the time, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said that Hashomer Yosh, a nongovernmental organization that says it helps protect settlers, has provided material support to an unauthorized West Bank outpost that is already under sanctions. In a statement, he said that Yitzhar’s security coordinator, Yitzhar’s Yitzhar security coordinator, had led a group of armed settlers in Feb. to set up roadblocks and conduct patrols aimed at forcing Palestinians off their land. Adding, “Extremist 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.”
The sanctions imposed by the US and the EU on the organization “Tsav 9” and the 2 illegal settlement outposts “Havat Moshe” and “Hava Shel Zvi” in the West Bank and 5 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.
For your information, the ‘Hilltop Youth organization’ 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. Thus, it is named ‘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 de-script-ions, such as ‘the vanguard youth’. Those are neutral names that hide the truth about the group, which practices terrorism, attacks Palestinian property, mosques, churches, homes, and writes slogans ‘Death to the Arabs’ under its real name, ‘Price Tag’ ‘Hilltop Youth’.
These criminal organization include 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-limit-s 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.
Within the context, 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 ‘Hebrew City Nucleus’, have close ties to right-wing parties such as the ‘Likud’, ‘Religious Zionism’ and ‘Jewish Power’ parties, 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’ with mission to carry out tours in the Jordan Valley and the West Bank wilderness, they included elements of the ‘Hill Youth - Price Tag’. By the end of 2020, this terrorist organization managed to establish about 170 settlement outposts and contributed to the seizure of tens of thousands of dunams belonging to Palestinians.
Besides, the ‘Hilltop Youth – Price Tag’, there are several settlement organizations and associations that the US, EU, Canada, and Japan have imposed sanctions on,´-or-are on their way to doing so on active entities´-or-individuals, who 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. The 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 it enjoys broad support from the ‘Rreligious Zionism Movement’.
The list of settlement entities that practice terrorism doesn’t exclusive to ‘Hilltop Youth & Price Tag’ and the ‘Nahala Movement’, but rather extends over a wide spectrum of movements and associations such as the ‘Amana Movement’, which the US and EU countries are considering to impose sanctions on them, 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 i.e.. 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 Jet village in the Qalqilia Governorate.
What are the sanctions imposed on individuals and entities, and their effectiveness is! They include freezing all assets of activists and organizations in the countries they are in, 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. Noting that, Israeli law doesn’t 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 the 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, attacks continued, and harm the lives of Palestinian citizens.
Many examples on that. Elisha Yared, suspected of involvement in the killing of Palestinian citizen, Qusay Jamal Ma’tan, 19 in the Burqa village in the Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate, and then he was released to house arrest by a decision of the Jerusalem District Court. Yared was indicted on 6 charges, and was acquitted of 4 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, “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 didn’t prevent her from continuing to call for the return of settlement to the Gaza Strip in accordance with the -dir-ections of the conference, which was organized by Imar Ben-Gvir in Jerusalem for this purpose at the end of last January.
The Canadian sanctions have no practical effect as Weiss doesn’t seem worried. ‘My husband and I have been banned from entering the US for many years. This creates difficulties, because we have relatives there and it hurts our business, but we manage ourselves. 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. Beyond that, the settlement minister in the Ministry of Army, 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 the arrangements in a document and submitted them 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 Army, 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 USs, which raises the question of whether the sanctions are cover messages for the position on the brutal war that the occupying state is waging on the Gaza Strip, as well as in the West Bank, which isn’t received in the occupying state´-or-given much attention, especially among the settlers.
List of Israeli Assaults over the Last Week Documented by the National Bureau:
Jerusalem:
o Stealing olives in the Wadi al-Rababa Neighborhood in the Silwan town, under the protection of the occupation police, which prevents landowners from accessing their land.
o Storming the Shuafat Refugee 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:
o Storming the At-Tuwana village with their heavy machinery and demolished an agricultural room belonging to citizen Khaled Rabah Rabie, with an area of 50m2, and the house of citizen Khaled Rabie, under the pretext of not having a license.
o Closing 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:
o Bulldozing lands in the Sinjil town 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 they would seize 30 dunams for the construction of the wall, which would isolate Sinjil from the main road and prevent citizens from accessing their lands.
o Attacking the Rantis village and besieged a young man in agricultural land in the ‘Tin al-Shami area’, while clashes erupted between the citizens and the occupation forces while securing the settlers’ attack.
o Demolishing the wall of the house of citizen Adeeb al-Bakri, in the industrial zone of the city of al-Bireh.
o Attacking citizens’ vehicles near the village of Dura al-Qara’ and chanted racist slogans. They closed the road connecting the villages of Dura al-Qara’ and Ein Yabroud and prevented citizens’ vehicles from passing, at a time when a group of settlers stormed the village of Barqa and another group attacked the homes of the residents of Um Safa.
Bethlehem:
o Erecting 2 tents on lands in the town of Al-Khader and brought water tanks to lands in the ‘Shaab Al-Ajel area’ west of the town, with the aim of establishing a pastoral center.
o Notifying to demolish a church built of wooden panels, which was erected on the lands of the Qaysiya family. Noting 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 documents proving its ownership.
Nablus:
o Attacking Rasheed Najjar from Yatma, and smashed his vehicle near the Auja Spring north of Jericho, causing him injuries and bruises.
o Assaulting farmers while they were picking olives in the Burin village, and threw stones at them.
o Attacking olive pickers in the Huwara town, injured citizens Saqr Khaled Odeh and Jamil Fayez.
Salfeet:
o Assaulting Ghassan Salman, 28 while he was grazing his sheep in the pastoral land in the Ad-Duhur area north of the Deirstiya 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.
o Seizing a quantity of olive harvesting equipment and fruits in the town of Kafr ad-Dik,.
o Attacking the farmer Reda Saeed Nimr Haj Asaad and destroyed his vehicle while he was on his land in the Jama in town.
o Invading the farmers in the Haris town, who were picking olives near the settlement of Revava.
Qalqilia:
o Seizing by virtue of a seizure order ‘for military and security purposes,’ 55 dunams of citizens’ land in the Kafr Qaddum village. The military order, numbered T/65/24, aims to create a buffer zone around the ‘Kedumim settlement’, and is valid until Dec. 31, 2028. Its danger lies in depriving citizens of access to hundreds of dunams surrounding the settlement.
Jenin:
o Bulldozing about 20 dunums of citizens land in Barta a in the area adjacent to the Separation Wall built on the town s lands.
o Seizing the house of citizen Amin Abu al-Rab, in the village of Jalboun, and turned it into a military site, and expelled its residents.
o Evicting the family of citizen Yasser Yassin, 61 from their home, and turned it into a military site in the Anin village, and the same with Abdul Salam Ahmed Zaid and his brother Moh’d, in the village of Nazlat Sheikh Zaid, southwest of Jenin, and turned it into a military checkpoint.
Jordan Valley:
o Pursuing 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.
o Demolishing order to a cement house belonging to citizen Nasser Suleiman Fuqaha in the village of Kurdala, giving him only 3 days to carry out the demolition.
o Demolishing 2 houses under construction under the pretext of not having licenses in the village of Al-Duyouk Al-Tahta, and notified 7 other houses to be demolished.
o Torching a sheep-barn, belonging to the citizen Moh’d Ali Al-Malihat, which led to its burning.
o Demolishing 2 houses under construction belonging to the brothers Hamad and Hamed Jaber in Aqaba.

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