On the eve of resumption of peace talks between Israel and Palestine, the far right Israeli nationalist government of Binyamin Netanyahu attempted to torpedo them with a series of provocative announcements.
it announced that it would steal 100 acres of land from Palestinian families and build 240 housing units on it.
The the same government announced that it will grant 90 Israeli colonies on the Palestinian West Bank a special status bringing them “government grants, infrastructure investment, tax breaks and other benefits.”
The colonies receiving these perks included several that had been considered illegal even by the expansionist Netanyahu government until recently.
Netanyahu’s announcements are just to reaffirm, if it were needed, that there will be no serious negotiations with the Palestinians. The Palestinians will not get their property on the West Bank back, but will lose more even while the negotiations are going on, and they won’t get a state of their own but will live under Israeli Apartheid rule. The civilian population of Gaza, half of of them children, will continue to be kept in a state of dire poverty and food insecurity by the illegal Israeli blockade imposed by Tel Aviv on the Strip.
These are not peace talks but “piece talks,” that is, how many pieces of what is left of Palestine will the Israelis usurp?
In international law, it is illegal for an Occupying power to transfer its population into the occupied territory or for it substantially to alter the lifeways of the occupied population. The United Nations charter forbids the permanent acquisition of territory through war. The Israelis took over the West Bank and Gaza during the 1967 war with Egypt and Syria.
These steps are retribution for John Kerry’s comments regarding peace talks without getting prior clearance from the Israeli government. In the future he will be sure to check with Israeli officials before making any such statements.
In Israel’s defense, or rather, not at all, I read this is mostly about rewarding Jewish Home and the settler wing of Likud for allowing the talks to go forward at all. After all the only way to get Bennet and co. on board with talks is to promise them that it will increase rather than decrease settlements.
This does seem to be fairly inauspicious for the talk’s future though. After all, if Netanyahu were somehow to sign an agreement that did allow for the removal of settlements, I doubt he could get his own government to agree. Jewish Home and the like would be furious at his betrayal.
I don’t think the way these are being made ‘secret’ seems like a good idea either. You ultimately need to get both communities to agree, not just their leaders. If a secret deal is signed between leaders and then just sprung on a community that finds it unacceptable, the results are likely to be unpleasant.
perhaps the palestinians should take the position that each home constructed by israelis in the occupied territory belongs to a specific palestinian refugee family.
Israel, last I heard, is holding over 6500 Palestinian prisoners. The Palestinians are holding 0 Israeli prisoners.
Israel concession to release 100 Palestinian prisoners is 1.5% of the total prisoners held by Israel.
And for this, the Palestinian side is getting new talks, led by American representative and cofounder of AIPAC cofounder Martin Indyk, while the settlements enterprise continues to go full speed ahead.
I agree.
The peace talks are a smokescreen to deceive Western interests that something positive is actually going on when settlement activity is being accelerated and designed to confound any reasonanble two-state solution.
These new colonies will only serve to increase the likelihood of another intifada erupting in the West Bank.
Nothing substantial is likely to be achieved from these peace negotiations.
There has been no significant accomplishment toward peace in this region since the Israeli unilateral disengagement from Gaza in 2005, including the unprecedented demolition of hundreds of Jewish settlers’ homes in Gaza.
Some PEACE TALKS huh?! It sounds more like the usual PISS TALKS to me.
Local sources have reported that several armored Israeli military vehicles, six military bulldozers, accompanied by several jeeps, carried out a limited invasion into the Al-Boreij refugee camp, in central Gaza, fired several rounds of live ammunition before uprooting the farmlands.
The bulldozers and armored vehicles also invaded an area close to the Juhr Ed-Deen nearby village.
The invasions are needless to say are in direct violations to the ceasefire agreement mediated by Egypt, in November of last year, between the resistance in Gaza and Tel Aviv.
Evidently this is the 212th Israeli cease fire violations.
For the sub-link to the other 211th cease fire violations please enjoy the following article.
link to occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com
So, Mazel tov & Yishar koach (I never give sarcasm a day off).
On the eve of resumption of peace talks between Israel and Palestine, the far right Israeli nationalist government of Binyamin Netanyahu attempted to torpedo them with a series of provocative announcements.
Back in the 1990s, it was Hamas that would attempt to torpedo peace talks by carrying out terror attacks against Israeli civilians. Likud and Hamas need each other.
Kind of like “Al Qaeda” and Joseph Statesecurity…
I’m pretty sure al Qaeda would rather do without the “security” they’ve been hit with over the past few years.
Hamas isn’t squatting in basements afraid to move.
There was much talk before Livni and Erekat went to Washington that Kerry had extracted a promise from both sides that they would refrain from taking any provocative actions during the talks.
The Palestinians would refrain from going to the UN and/or the ICC, and the Israelis would refrain from any new construction in the settlement.
The Palestinians…. have said they will refrain from going to the UN.
The Israelis…. have said they will keep building, f**k you and your mother for suggesting otherwise.
Go figure, hey?
The only question that remains is how Kerry will manage to blame the Palestinians for this, even though it is the Israelis who have just trashed that promise.