The West Bank Special: An All-you-can-steal Buffet
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A settler and soldiers at the entrance to Ramallah in July. Credit: Zain Jaafar/AFP
Haaretz Editorial
FollowAugust 10, 2026
Dear Palestinians,
Your homes have been turned into a temporary military outpost. The lords of the land want to celebrate the fact that they have stolen more land from you, and we don't want you to ruin the festivities. Therefore, we are asking that you vacate by noontime. Signed, the Israel Defense Forces.
The official version reads slightly differently, but the above is what the IDF meant when it notified a Palestinian family on Sunday that it was being evicted from their home in Arraba, south of Jenin, so it could be turned into a temporary army outpost during a cornerstone-laying ceremony for the new settlement of Emek Dotan.
Lawmakers at the Emek Dotan settlement inauguration ceremony on Sunday morning. Credit: Hannah Landman
Hazem Hamad, whose home was taken over, told Haaretz that the army had informed him of the move on Saturday night. He said he and his family vacated the house at 7 A.M. the next day and that security forces remained there until 1 P.M., at which point the family was allowed to return (Hamad noted that the soldiers did no damage to the house or its contents.)
The new settlement of Emek Dotan is being set up on a hill that Israelis had been barred from under the so-called Disengagement Law until the law was repealed in March 2023. The Netanyahu government, as part of its general disengagement from reality, also disengaged from the "disengagement" and rushed to turn back the clock in Israel. The Likud primary is fast approaching, and the general election is on the horizon, so it is important to pander to the settlers and supporters of Jewish supremacy from the river to the sea.
Settler families in Emek Dotan on Sunday. Credit: Elichai Menachem / Hannah Landman
Thus, ministers and Knesset members from Likud and other parties competed among themselves at the ceremony over who could talk the biggest talk. "I thank God for the privilege of being here – I'm so excited," gushed Education Minister Yoav Kisch. MK Zeev Elkin said, "It's difficult to describe the excitement when you see our dream coming true." United Torah Judaism chairman Yitzchak Goldknopf also joined in the congratulations, saying, "It's hard to contain my excitement when I see these children and what is destined to grow on this mountain, compared to what our enemies tried to bring about here. I know that this place will provide an answer and response to the whole world."
The election is growing nearer and time is growing short. For the settlers, it is important to steal as much as they can, lest, God forbid, the government will be replaced and the settlement bonanza fades. The past four years have not been bad: Since the Netanyahu government came to power, the security cabinet has legalized no less than 104 settlements.
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The above article is Haaretz's lead editorial, as published in the Hebrew and English newspapers in Israel.
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For the Palestinians, it means less land and more checkpoints, the removal of anything and everything that stands in the way of settler theft. The menu includes seizing territory, stripping farmland (in other words, uprooting olive trees), razing buildings, barring access to open land, placing checkpoints at the entrance to villages and closing them on sudden notice and, for desert, pogroms.
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich's project is in full swing. Israel is heading into an election where no one dares speak about the occupation. No one speaks about the Palestinian problem. No one has the temerity to talk about the two-state solution. In the meantime, the settlers and the government are creating facts on the ground. If Israeli voters do not break with this government and begin an 180-degree policy turnaround, the next disaster will only be a matter of time.
The above article is Haaretz's lead editorial, as published in the Hebrew and English newspapers in Israel.
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