Israel Approves 2500+ New Settlements in West Bank
Just today, Prime Minister Netanyahu approved the construction of approximately 2500 housing units in the West Bank area. This comes from a statement made by Defense Minister Liberman. This expansion is one of the largest since 2013. The announcement comes just days after Trump was inaugurated. The timing of the announcement likely depended on Netanyahu's recent meeting with the Donald, which Trump described as "warm", as the Israeli PM has been invited back to the White House in early February.
Palestinian President Abbas denounced the decision, quote, "The decision is condemned and rejected, and it will be followed by consequences."
Along with the Palestinian denouncement, this expansion comes just a week after a group of world leaders in Paris warned Israel to stop expanding, lest they risk more instability and violence in the region. This conference of over 70 world leaders supports a two-state solution, a solution which Netanyahu has supported on paper. However, his continuation of aggressive expansionist policies shows otherwise.
Not only has these world leaders condemned Israel, the UN Security Council recently passed a resolution condemning Israel's existing settlements in the West Back as a "flagrant violation of international law". Secretary of State John Kerry also rebuked the Israeli expansion, saying, "The status quo is leading toward one state and perpetual occupation".
The Israeli government stated their reasoning behind the expansion is to meet expanding housing needs. However, this has been dismissed as an excuse to break international condemnations and resolutions by continuing to expand their colonial rule. However, with an American president who will support Israel no matter what, Israel presses on with their aggressive strategy of expansion and military development.
CNN: http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/24/middleeast/israel-approves-west-bank-construction/index.html
BBC: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-38734956
Yahoo News:https://www.yahoo.com/news/israel-approves-2-500-west-bank-settler-homes-140446775.html
NY Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/24/world/middleeast/israel-settlement-expansion-west-bank.html?_r=0
I feel like Israel is feeling a bit less restrained with the Obama administration gone. Taking steps to further colonize Palestine.
ReplyDelete-Karrina J.
I would not want to be one of those construction workers.
ReplyDeleteThe construction workers will probably be arab. I doubt the terrorists will direct their attacks at them.
Delete-RoyB
Seems like Israel may be intentionally pushing buttons, testing their freedom under the new American administration.
ReplyDelete- Freya J
Netanyahu is the only man I have seen pull of a comb over.
ReplyDeleteThis seems to have a very misleading title, however this could likely be completely at the fault of the news articles. It all comes down to semantics, which I understand can get annoying and at times seem superficial, but from what I've researched, "settlements" in the context of Israel is considered to be entire communities. Therefore I believe it is worth emphasizing the fact that it is 2500 housing units (which was mentioned in this post) as opposed to entire settlements and communities. A quick google search would show that in the West Bank there are currently around 120 settlements and wording such a post to refer to the 2500 housing units as settlements lends incredible bias and exaggerates the issue greatly. Though this is still a large issue to take note of in the region, it is portrayed almost as a 2000% increase in Israeli settlements, and I believe that this point deserves to be clarified a bit more. If it is the preferred wording as given by the news articles, I find it interesting that they would portray it as so drastic and I believe it would be interesting to look at related articles from sources with the opposite bias and to see their stance on the issue and how they portray the construction.
ReplyDelete-J.R. Purvis
Such a 'one state solution' this is leading into can either be jewish and apartheid or non jewish and democratic. -Yonatan W
ReplyDelete