WEST BANK, (PIC)
Israeli settlement expansion in the West Bank continues in multiple forms, no longer limited to residential, agricultural, or pastoral construction, but extending to include industrial projects that carry economic and political dimensions at the same time.
In this context, the Amirim industrial project stands out, which was recently announced on the lands of the town of ad-Dhahiriya, south of al-Khalil, in a step that is considered an extension of policies aimed at reshaping Palestinian geography and linking it to the Israeli economy.
On February 12 last year, the Israeli Minister of Economy and Industry Nir Barkat stormed the area adjacent to the apartheid separation wall, and announced, accompanied by the head of the settlement regional council in al-Khalil Eliram Azoulay, the establishment of an industrial zone on an area estimated at about 2,400 dunums.
He pointed out that his ministry invested about 12 million shekels in planning the project, with plans to pump additional investments worth 35 million shekels to start implementation.
This project is not considered isolated from a broader historical context, as the roots of industrial settlement expansion in the region go back to after 1949, with the establishment of the industrial town of Omer north of Beersheba, which was later separated from the West Bank after the establishment of the separation wall.
In 1983, the Teneh Omarim settlement was established on the lands of ad-Dhahiriya, before later expanding by establishing the Meitarim industrial zone, which includes waste treatment facilities, solar energy projects, and settlement administrative headquarters.
These clusters are located next to the Meitar crossing, which constituted an economic artery for tens of thousands of Palestinian workers before they were deprived of work since October 2023, while the surrounding areas witnessed the establishment of pastoral and agricultural settlement outposts, including the Havat Meitarim outpost.
Gradual procedures for control
The Director of Publishing and Documentation at the Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission, Amir Daoud, believes that the announcement of the Amirim project carries political dimensions that go beyond the planning aspect, noting that settlement projects of this type are usually proposed in stages, starting with depositing plans with the Israeli Civil Administration and then publishing land allocations before reaching implementation.
Daoud explains that the proposed site for the project, near the Green Line, reflects an Israeli tendency to blur the borders between the West Bank and the territories occupied in 1948, which falls within old visions, most notably the “Five Stars” plan associated with Ariel Sharon, which aims to integrate parts of the West Bank into Israel.
He points to a shift in the Israeli discourse, from focusing on the security pretext to employing settlement as a comprehensive economic control tool, by exploiting lands in industrial, agricultural, and energy projects, in a way that transforms the West Bank into a productive resource serving the Israeli economy.
In the field context, the occupation authorities control, according to official estimates, more than 10,000 dunums in the vicinity of Teneh Omarim under the pretext of classifying them as “state property”, with expectations of declaring them settlement influence zones during the coming stage.
Settlers also recently fenced off large areas in Khirbet al-Rahwa and Wadi al-Tayran, in a step that the researcher at the Palestinian Center for Human Rights, Imad Abu Hawash, sees as part of an integrated plan to redraw the geographical map, by linking settlements and outposts with a network of bypass roads, and enhancing geographical communication between them.
Geographical isolation
Abu Hawash confirms that these measures pave the way for the establishment of industrial and agricultural projects that serve the settlers, in exchange for tightening the noose on the Palestinians and preventing them from accessing their lands, which gradually pushes them to leave it under the pressure of restrictions and persecutions.
Observers warn that the Amirim project constitutes a new link in the path of isolating the south of al-Khalil from its rural and Bedouin extension, which affects the towns of ad-Dhahiriya, as-Samu, and the surrounding communities, and threatens to fragment the Palestinian geographical mass in the region.
It is also likely that this expansion will be accompanied by subsequent legal steps to tighten control, whether by reclassifying lands or organizing existing settlement outposts, in a broader context aimed at transforming large areas of agricultural land into a closed settlement scope.
It is feared that this path will lead to expanding the apartheid separation wall eastward, which enhances Israeli control over areas “C”, reaching the borders of areas “B”, in a step that deepens the reality of geographical division and limits the opportunities for Palestinian development in the southern West Bank.