News from Peace Now:
On Sunday (28/05/17), the head of the Central Command signed a military order defining the jurisdiction to a
new Israeli settlement in the West Bank, the first to be established since 1992. The decision to establish the new
settlement, which will go by the name “Amichai”, was made by the government on March 30th as
compensation to the evacuees of the Amona outpost, which was built illegally on private Palestinian land and was
evacuated in February this year following a verdict of the Supreme Court. Apart from cases of retroactive
legalization of illegal outposts, this is the first settlement that the government of Israel is establishing since
1992.
Several publications have indicated that on June 7th the sub-committee for settlements of the Higher Planning
Committee in the Civil Administration is expected to meet in order to advance plans for settlements. Due to vast
pressure coming from settler lobby groups, it is possible that during this meeting, the plan for the settlement
will be discussed for depositing. In addition, it is likely a plan to retroactively legalize the Kerem Reim outpost,
and expand it to 255 housing units, will be discussed for validation (final approval) during the committee’s
meeting.
Amichai is the second settlement that is being established as compensation for the Amona evacuation. In February
this year a plan for new settlement called Shvut Rachel East, was approved for
validation. The plan, number 205/3/1, enables the construction of the first 98 housing units in Shvut Rachel East,
which is planned to eventually become a settlement of 300 housing units. While Shvut Rachel East should be referred
to as a new settlement by all means, it is officially referred to as a neighborhood of Shilo settlement, despite
being located far from any built up area of Shilo, creating a new and distant expansion to the settlement.