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 ?

I didn’t post this video but I believe it’s from the same event. Thanks for bringing it

I hope that man got out ok. I've been in similar situations and it can escalate very quickly.

What a very one sided report

Sorry - to clarify I'm not defending settlers, I just wish the report would give some context and try to explain what Israeli settlers are doing / why they believe it's ok.

What's the context?

I think a lot of people watching that won't understand how widespread the settlements are or where they take place etc. I'm sure you know what context means.

What they're doing:

The West Bank, including East Jerusalem, is recognised internationally as Palestinian Territory under occupation. 'Settlers', aided and at times armed by the Israeli government, have forcibly seized land there and created a region in which people live in constant fear of being evicted from their homes at gunpoint.

There are areas where streets are divided by who is allowed to walk along them. As the video above shows, a Palestinian man is told where to park his car based on his ethnicity and his perceived faith. Areas are put on 'lockdown' with people told they cannot leave their houses without being arrested or shot at. Farmers have to leave their crops to rot because, when they try to harvest them, they get shot at due to 'security concerns'.

Children are shot dead for sitting in their parents' cars. Families are killed and displaced with no significant repercussions for the perpetrators. People have to install mesh shields around their windows and balconies to deflect the stones and other improvised missiles thrown at them by passersby. People are arrested, incarcerated or killed for minor infractions or "there was a threat". To live under occupation in The West Bank is to live as less than a second class citizen.

Why they're doing it?

Groups of people may do things for different reasons. Some people believe it is their right to have all the land there and that by occupying it they are taking it back for some political or religious objective. Some people may see it as a means to an end, for establishing their own family's safety. Some people hate Palestinians and hate Muslims. Some people like feeling powerful. There are also people who were born in the illegal settlements, for whom it's home.

Thanks @Scirocco . This Reuters article also has some good information on the current situation. Israeli plan to expand settlements helped trigger US shift in language | Reuters

Obviously I know what context is, I'm asking what is the context? You said "try to explain what Israeli settlers are doing / why they believe it's ok." so I presumed you thought that their behaviour could be contextualised and might want to expand on that.

Wouldn't context just make the settlers look even worse than they already do? If that's possible.

When you read about the settlements, listen to testimonies of settlers and see the utter devastation they are purposely causing, the context makes it so much worse. The settlers are illegally building/living on land that doesn't belong to them, it was forcefully occupied and is in contravention of international law and often Israeli law. As I said before though it is in Israel's interest to permit and encourage them, which is what is happening, and has resulted in death, homelessness, poverty, and injury to Palestinian families.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-68490034

A clear indicator of the government's intended direction of travel.

A new event this time in New Jersey for buying house in Israel Last time an event similar to this one was hosted it included West Bank areas

https://twitter.com/jennineak/status/1772027138352337192

https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2024-04-11/ty-article/.premium/israel-has-declared-record-amount-of-west-bank-land-as-state-owned-in-2024/0000018e-c7a2-dd23-a3cf-e7a713c90000

https://www.instagram.com/p/C5qxSOotkIa/?igsh=MTg4c28ydG5kd2Vrag==

Surely this is terrorism? Utterly shameful but we keep getting told that this is nothing to do with land?

This is Ramallah in the West Bank.

Armed Israeli settlers are on a rampage burning Palestinian homes and terrorizing Palestinian families.

https://twitter.com/sahouraxo/status/1778811949658124420

We used to call this a "pogrom", plain and simple!

And, yes, I am perfectly aware that there is a missing teenager from an illegal outpost to an already illegal settlement apparently. I hope the kid is found black out drunk in a field somewhere and returns safely (and then gets the hell out of where he has no business being.) But also: I went "missing" a couple of times as a teen - upon precisely none of these occasions did my parents assemble a violent mob and burn down a village! So, before anyone comes in with "oh, but, but, ... ". Just no!

There also seems to be some confusion as to where this is happening.This would appear to be because there is not one but several villages in the Ramallah, Nablus and Jenin areas being attacked by respectively different mobs of violent supremacist settlers protected by the army.

Because those are domestic conflicts? The situation with Israel and Palestine is not domestic, so it falls under international law.

Oh really? You think that's the difference do you?

The advert doesn't mention the West Bank. Although given thst the person who posted it thinks Hamas are resistance fighters and all Israelis are evil I doubt it matters to her.

Well, so: teenage settler has apparently been found dead! And Netanyahu's statement is absolutely bone-chilling!

https://twitter.com/DanielSeidemann/status/1779117600892424680?t=iyemc2X_tQnoa3Fc0FnwLg&s=19

@HeidiInTheBigCity one Palestinian has already been killed aswell as 25 injured
Not to mention the burning of vehicles and terrorising of Palestinian villages by settlers

I know, and this looks as though it's going to absolutely explode! It's utterly terrifying!

The government seems to just be pouring fuel into the flames! This is going to get exceedingly ugly if not stopped ASAP!

I mean, it already is but ... worse!

@HeidiInTheBigCity it's already exploding. An Israeli photographer who was in the Palestinian village was stripped and beaten violently by the settlers. The Palestinians are being terrorised by them

https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/israeli-photographer-beaten-by-settlers-while-trying-to-document-rampage-of-palestinian-town/