Settlements

WASHINGTON, DC - SEPTEMBER 15: Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu waves as he arrives outside the West Wing of the White House September 15, 2020 in Washington, DC. Netanyahu is in Washington to participate in the signing ceremony of the Abraham Accords. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Analysis

Israel euphoric over Trump's cabinet: Will he pick annexation or Saudi deal?

"Everything is ready," a senior source in Israel's settlement enterprise told Al-Monitor. "We just have to get Trump's approval and carry it out."

In Tel Aviv, reporting on national security, Israeli politics, defense

Israel's Finance Minister and leader of the Religious Zionist Party Bezalel Smotrich attends a meeting at the parliament, Knesset, in Jerusalem, on March 20, 2023.

Israel's Smotrich calls for annexation of occupied West Bank: What we know

Israeli far-right minister and long-time supporter of Israeli settlements Bezalel Smotrich said on Monday that he had ordered preparations for an Israeli annexation of the occupied West Bank.

JERUSALEM, UNSPECIFIED - NOVEMBER 6: Supporters of Republican presidential nominee, former President Donald Trump during an election night watch party on November 6, 2024 in Jerusalem, Unspecified. Americans cast their ballots today in the presidential race between Republican nominee former President Donald Trump and Democratic nominee Vice President Kamala Harris, as well as multiple state elections that will determine the balance of power in Congress. (Photo by Amir Levy/Getty Images)

Israeli settlers, ultra-Orthodox celebrate Donald Trump’s victory

Believing that newly elected Donald Trump will support their political agenda, leaders of the Israeli settler movement prayed and thanked god for the former president's election victory.

AHMAD GHARABLI/AFP via Getty Images

Israeli critically injured in West Bank truck attack

An Israeli citizen was hit by a gas tanker driven by a Palestinian man from the occupied West Bank village of Rafat on Wednesday morning.

Latest News

Erdogan: Turkey plans 'legal steps' for Israel's killing of US-Turkish activist

Members of Palestinian security forces carry the body of slain Turkish-American International Solidarity Movement activist Aysenur Ezgi Eygi.

Record-high Israeli settler violence in West Bank with 1,246 attacks since Oct. 7: ICG

An Israeli check point in the region at the scene as in the presence of armed Israeli forces, settlers attack the industrial area of the town of Beita and set fire to some Palestinian properties in the West Bank on August 2, 2024.

Sign up to our Daily Briefing

Keep up with Al-Monitor's top stories with a morning digest from across the region.

EU's top diplomat asks member states to sanction some Israeli ministers

European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell attends a debate on Iran's unprecedented attack against Israel, the need for de-escalation and an EU response, as part of a plenary session at the European Parliament, Strasbourg, France, April 24, 2024.

Top UN court rules Israel’s presence in Palestinian territories illegal

Public hearings on the request for the indication or modification of provisional measures submitted by South Africa, application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide in the Gaza Strip (South Africa v. Israel), The Hague, May 16-17, 2024.

Small West Bank school holds firm despite settler attacks

To get an education, the students in Yanoun, a Palestinian village near Nablus, must deal with attacks by Israeli settlers on the way to school and even in their homes.

Palestinians plan legal steps to stop new Hebron settlement

A controversial proposal for a new settlement in the heart of Hebron calls for bulldozing a long-barricaded Palestinian vegetable market to build new shops and housing for Israelis.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo shake hands with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, during their visit at Netanyahu's official residence in Jerusalem March 21, 2019. REUTERS/Jim Young/Pool - RC1CDE43DCA0

Pompeo’s gift to Netanyahu might bring about new Israeli annexation

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s legitimization of Israeli settlements is seen as giving a green light to Israel’s prime minister to annex the Jordan Valley if a government is formed.

U.S. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) speaks flanked by Rep Eliot Engel (L) (D-NY) and other Democratic members of Congress as they call on Senate Republicans to take up gun violence legislation already passed by the House requiring background checks on all firearm sales at an event on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S. August 13, 2019. REUTERS/Leah Millis - RC1CE886F320

Democrats plan legislative response to Trump’s new Israeli settlement policy

House Democratic leaders vow to vote on a resolution backing a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict after the Donald Trump administration’s new settlement policy.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo delivers a statement on the Trump administration's position on Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank during a news briefing at the State Department in Washington, U.S., November 18, 2019. REUTERS/Yara Nardi - RC2WDD9QJ2RP

US says Israeli settlements not necessarily illegal

A US shift on settlements comes after European court decision on labeling settlement products.

PSAGOT, WEST BANK - JULY 24: Evangelical Christian volunteers harvest Chardonnay grapes for Psagot Winery in a vineyard on July 24, 2017 in the Israeli settlement of Psagot in the West Bank. In a trend that started in recent years, Israeli wineries have begun to harvest earlier in the season, a move winemakers attribute to record-hitting hot summer months causing their grapes to ripen sooner. Some wineries harvest at night in order to preserve the freshness of the grapes while others harvest at dawn and rus

Top Netanyahu donors’ West Bank winery seeks Trump’s help fighting EU

The Psagot winery has hired a former US ambassador to the EU to lobby against “settlement” labeling regulations.

West Bank village courts tourists with eggplant, stone terraces

A festival in the West Bank village of Battir celebrates the locally grown eggplant of the village known for its terraced cultivation of vines and olives.

Demonstrators hold Palestinian flags as they take part in a protest against Bahrain's conference about U.S. President Donald Trump's vision for Mideast peace plan, in front of the U.N. headquarters, in Beirut, Lebanon, June 25, 2019. REUTERS/Aziz Taher - RC13E44861E0

Hamas raises $100,000 for Palestinian refugees in Lebanon

Hamas’ recent fundraising campaign in the Gaza Strip to support Palestinian refugees in Lebanon received mixed reactions from Gazans.

(COMBO) This combination of pictures created on August 15, 2019 shows Democrat US Representatives Ilhan Abdullahi Omar (L) and Rashida Tlaib during a press conference, to address remarks made by US President Donald Trump earlier in the day, at the US Capitol in Washington, DC on July 15, 2019. - Influential US pro-Israel lobby AIPAC on August 15, 2019 opposed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's decision to bar two Muslim American members of Congress from visiting the Jewish state."We disagree with Reps. Oma

Democratic leaders blast Israel for banning Tlaib, Omar

Pro-Israel Democrats are blasting Israel’s decision to ban two pro-Palestinian lawmakers from visiting the West Bank following pressure from President Donald Trump.

WASHINGTON, DC, UNITED STATES - 2018/12/12: US Representative Lee Zeldin (R-NY) at the American Zionist Movement / AZM Washington Forum: Renewing the Bipartisan Commitment Standing with Israel and Zionism in the Capitol Visitor Center in Washington, DC. (Photo by Michael Brochstein/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

Intel: Why Republicans are coming under fire from Israeli right

Right-wing members of Israel’s Knesset are unhappy with recent legislation backed by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) because of language endorsing a two-state solution.

Work in Israeli settlements means high risks, no safety net for Palestinian laborers

Most of the 36,000 Palestinians who work in Israeli settlements across the West Bank lack basic benefits including personal protection equipment and have little to no recourse when the worst happens.

U.S. President Donald Trump meets with Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, U.S., March 25, 2019. REUTERS/Carlos Barria - RC1B90697DE0

Trump offers another gift to Netanyahu

The latest statement by Ambassador David Friedman on the possibility of annexing parts of the West Bank indicates that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Donald Trump are tightly coordinated.