Illegal settlements

[immigrant002]

I just watched a piece on itv and sky news how Palestinians are abandoning their houses in the west bank as they face severe intimidation by settlers and army forces

The reporter says the settlements are illegal they are universally accepted as illegal so my question is why is nobody doing anything ??
What is the purpose of international law and the UN ? Is it just Israel that gets away with is ?

I just don't see what the point of saying something is illegal but continuing to build more and more settlements for people from
US kicking Palestinians out of their homes ? Why are they getting away with this ?

they dismantled 21 settlements and moved 9000 people. Many of them still want to go back to gaza but i think many of them living in other settlements or on the periphery. They still want to go back to Gaza though and i fear that may be Netanyahu's intention!

Ah so a tiny figure compared to the west bank settlements
Unfortunately I have that fear too, there's lots of videos going round of soldiers singing we are going to take over Gush Katif etc
The US is making their stance clear on it but the question is how much influence does Biden really have on Netanyahu? Or any future prime ministers

Israeli settlers steal Palestinian farmers’ land in occupied West Bank https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2023/11/26/israeli-settlers-steal-palestinian-farmers-land-in-occupied-west-bank

The LBC interview with Eylon Levy, Israeli spokesperson. Listen specifically to the discussion at 14.00 minutes into the show - spokesperson disputes West Bank settlements are illegal under international law.

m.youtube.com/watch?v=eG5_6B1qlnM

Our western governments need to have a serious think about what they're supporting when the Israeli government is openly saying they consider the West Bank is theirs.

Israel-Palestine conflict: A brief history in maps and charts https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/11/27/palestine-and-israel-brief-history-maps-and-charts

Finally he criticises Israel’s actions! He’s from the eu and has been doing several comments about the conflict but never directly about Israel

I didn't know that he was from Spain as his name doesn't sound Spanish. I read his speech and it is well reasoned. Some excerpts:

Gaza is more or less like Barcelona – 2.5 million [people]. Just imagine half of this city being turned into rubble, in order to visualise what we are talking about. All [of] that, most of the public opinion around the world considers [it] unacceptable.

The violence spread by extremist settlers in the West Bank, many times under protection from the Israeli police and military, does not make Israel safer. The settlements are Israel’s greatest security liability. It is also for that reason that they are considered a grave breach of international humanitarian law. I was appalled to see that the Israel government plans to allocate another $43 million to increase the settlement activities and I have condemned it.

Hamas is more than just an organisation and a terrorist organisation for the Europeans. It is an idea, an ideology. And you cannot kill an idea unless you prove that you have a better one. And to defeat the ideology of Hamas, Palestinians need a credible political prospect for statehood based on international parameters.

https://www.eeas.europa.eu/eeas/israelgaza-opening-remarks-high-representativevice-president-josep-borrell-8th-regional-forum-union_en?channel=eeas_press_alerts&date=2023-11-27&newsid=0&langid=en&source=mail

This is utterly appalling. They can’t even blame Hamas. Israel is completely out of control.

Where would you have the Jewish homeland instead? I can’t really see that it could go anywhere else…

Well it's there now, but it needs to adhere to international law. The problem is it doesn't intend to and the UK and US props it up.
I was listening to Ghada Karmi yesterday speaking and she said the two state solution is at a complete dead end. Israel have said they will not withdraw from the settlements, so geographically a two state solution is not possible. She said the solution is a democratic one state solution, equality and citizenship for all is the only way forward. The Palestinians really need peace and the right to self determine, which they have been denied for the last 75 years. The displaced people need right to return. The UK, US and Israel need to make serious reparations for what they have done.

It’s an utter mess. Incompetence, greed and brutality all combined.

I, too, enjoy reading your posts @lavender2023 . They’re well written and very informative. Thank you.

Interesting that Ben-Gvir and how extreme his views are, settle the entire West Bank etc is starting to be talked about on mainstream news sites.

I try very hard to remain neutral in all this, so I am not posting from any particular viewpoint but do want to add that the situation in the West Bank is complex and that I believe Israel's intentions are to ensure that the threat of Palestinians outnumbering Jews in Israel can never happen. They believe that if this happened, it would be catastrophic and lead to the end of Israel.

In any conflict, in order to reach resolution it is important to understand the thought process of both sides. This thread quite rightly condemns the violence in the West Bank but unfortunately it appears there is no easy solution. For those who are interested this site gives more background and although Jewish, is generally considered to be fairly balanced.

https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/facts-about-jewish-settlements-in-the-west-bank

At the end of the it is a David and Goliath situation and Palestine has no chance. Israel wants to displace the Palestinians entirely and has the full backing of the US.

This is a disgusting land grab, opposed by many Jewish people.

I think the best place for a Jewish homeland is Florida, after all the US adores Jews so they will be very welcome and I have no doubt they will live in harmony.

This is a disgusting land grab, opposed by many Jewish people

Strongly agree

Please tell me that's a joke.

@Gettingcolder thanks for sharing. I'm glad it acknowledged the illegal land grab off Palestinian owners. How convenient for Israel to formulate a law allowing this 🙄. It fails to acknowledge that the settlements were strategic to render the Palestinian state impossible, although I cannot see why it is considered an "impossibility" of moving settlers. Millions of Palestinians have been displaced, why is that OK but moving Jewish people isn't? The reality is that it's a strategic, calculated plan to completely rid the West Bank of Palestinians. Refer to Daniella Weiss, former mayor and head of settler society for the full plan. Trigger warning: inciting hatred, hateful speech, justifying of murder of Palestinians.

This article is from 2021 but highlights the power that settlers hold over the military, which then prevents Palestinians from reaching their land and then it is 'grabbed' by settlers and illegal outposts are set up, and a new settlement formed. Settlers receive grants from the government, internal organizations and foreign donors to assist them in this over taking if Palestinian land.

High Court of Justice slams Israel for Allowing Settlers to Reenter Illegal Outposts

This must explain why Netanyahu was trying to remove the independence of the judiciary prior to this conflict.

All those people saying “I stand with Israel”. Would you really like to be living there now?

If you’re not of the settler class and mentality.

@immigrant002 the BBC posted this article today
It highlights the impact settler violence has on the Palestinians

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-67617920

One example shared from the article

The reality of settler attacks was captured in a video taken by Muntassar Mhilat, a young Palestinian man from a family of Bedouins who live in the Judean desert not far from Jericho.
Their family home was invaded by about 20 violent, armed Jewish men. Muntassar filmed them yelling and pointing weapons.
"He was shooting at my uncle, so I ran down there and confronted him. We were pushing each other and screaming, head-to-head. And I was filming him. Then, around 20 settlers came."
The video shows a settler loading his M-16 assault rifle and pointing it at the family. One of the women there, Umm Omar, carrying a month old baby, thought they were about to die.
"They attacked our house, stole our sheep, threatened my kids with guns and threatened me. Then they hit me and my husband's sister. I thought they were going to slaughter us."
No-one was killed. The settlers accused them, falsely the family said, of stealing their goats. The man who pointed a loaded weapon was wearing a police jacket.
A common complaint is that settlers have been drafted into the security forces as reservists since 7 October and are abusing the power and position that come with the uniform and automatic weapons issued by the state.
The family recognised some of the attackers, as they came from an illegal outpost about a mile away. They know there will be a next time and feel sick with worry.
The harassment of Palestinians is also economic and psychological.
South of Hebron Palestinian farmers are ploughing with the donkey because local Jewish settlers have threatened to steal or break their tractor if they use it.