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Israel Takes Control of More West Bank Land
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Israel has taken control of a large chunk of land near a prominent West Bank settlement, paving the way for the possible construction of 2,500 settlement homes, officials said Monday, in a new challenge to Mideast peacemaking.
Lights glow in the minaret of a mosque, as the sun sets over the West Bank city of Ramallah, Thursday, Feb. 12, 2009.(AP Photo/Muhammed Muheisen) Successive Israeli governments have broken promises to the United States to halt settlement expansion, defined by Washington as an obstacle to peace. Ongoing expansion is likely to create friction not only with the Palestinians, but with President Barack Obama, whose Mideast envoy, George Mitchell, has long pushed for a settlement freeze. Obama has said he'd get involved quickly in Mideast peace efforts.
The composition of Israel's next government is not clear yet following inconclusive elections last week. However, right-wing parties are given a better chance to form a ruling coalition, with hardline leader Benjamin Netanyahu at the helm.
Netanyahu supports settlement expansion and has derided peace talks with the Palestinians as a waste of time, saying he would focus instead of trying to improve the Palestinian economy. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has dismissed Netanyahu's approach as a non-starter, and his aides said recently that peace talks can only resume after a settlement freeze.
At the center of the latest expansion plans is Efrat, a settlement of about 1,600 families south of Jerusalem.
The mayor of Efrat, Oded Revivi, said the Israeli military designated 425 acres (172 hectares) near Efrat as so-called state land two weeks ago at the end of a lengthy appeals process. He said nine appeals were filed by Palestinian landowners, adding that eight were rejected and one was upheld.
Revivi said Efrat plans to build 2,500 homes on that land, but that several steps of government approval would still be needed before construction could begin - a process that could take years. Eventually, Efrat is to grow to a city of 30,000 people, he said.
The settlement is situated in one of the three major settlement blocs that Israel expects to hold on to in any final peace deal. Palestinian reaction to the latest development was not immediately available.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Israel's peace partner, warned that continued settlement expansion would cripple peace talks.
"We oppose settlement activity in principle and if the settlement activity doesn't stop, any meetings (with the Israelis) will be worthless," Abbas said.
Nearly 290,000 Israelis live in West Bank settlements today, or 95,000 more than in May 2001 when Mitchell first called for a settlement freeze. At the time, he led a fact-finding mission to Israel and the Palestinian territories to find a way to end months of violence and resume peace talks.
Mitchell called on the Palestinians to halt attacks on Israelis and demanded that Israel halt construction in settlements.
In other developments Monday, Palestinian rockets exploded in southern Israel and Israeli jets bombed the Egypt-Gaza border as talks dragged on over a long-term truce that would bring quiet to the coastal territory.
Israel has been battling Gaza's Hamas rulers, while simultaneously pursuing a peace agreement with Abbas' rival government in the West Bank.
In Monday's violence, two rockets fired from Gaza landed in Israel, the Israeli military said, a near-daily occurrence even after the devastating three-week Israeli offensive that was meant to bring a halt to the fire. No one was injured, the military said.
Several hours later, Israeli jets bombed an area of smuggling tunnels in the frontier town of Rafah, according residents and Hamas security officials. Israel's military said the strike targeted a tunnel used to smuggle weapons in from Egypt and was retaliation for the rocket fire.
Israel ended its military offensive in Gaza on Jan. 18, and the territory's Islamic Hamas rulers declared a cease-fire the same day. But sporadic violence has continued as Egypt tries to mediate a long-term truce.
Hamas is demanding that Israel open Gaza's blockaded border crossings, but Israel says it will fully open the crossings only after Hamas releases Sgt. Gilad Schalit, an Israeli tank crewman captured in June 2006. Israel is allowing in only humanitarian aid, and on Monday was to allow some 200 aid trucks and fuel for Gaza's power plant to enter the territory, the military said.
Hamas wants Israel to release hundreds of prisoners in return for Schalit, including high-ranking militants and the masterminds of deadly suicide bombings.
Israel's top leadership is scheduled to meet this week to formulate a response to Hamas' demands.
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40 Comments so far
Show AllBastards.
It's time for this murdering, land grabbing ideology to end.
Israel's recent atrocities in Gaza were decisive. It is now clear a "two-state" solution in the Middle East would be as imprudent and irresponsible as awarding Hitler's Aryans half of Germany after WWII.
The Zionists are not to be bargained with. They are to be defeated.
"Israel has taken control of a large chunk of land near a prominent West Bank settlement, paving the way for the possible construction of 2,500 settlement homes, officials said Monday, in a new challenge to Mideast peacemaking."
The Zionists continue to stall the peace process while in their own words: "we will continue to build the facts on the ground."
The U.S. government continues to aid them.
Some thoughts of a potential American settler contemplating his "return" to Israel:
Details on government grants available, housing allowances etc were laid out. It seems like a very well organized process...There seems to be great excitement that the "Arab problem" is about to be solved by the election of Likud with the cooperation of Yisrael Beiteinu. A majority of the people we talked with felt that the new government would formally establish the Palestinian "reservations (economic zones)" leaving Israel to expand into the gaps...one thing is not hyperbole and that is a dramatic increase in public hatred of Arabs. It used to be Jews were seemingly embarrassed to vocalize such sentiments and would usually do so only after 6 or 8 glasses of wine. Now at campaign rallies, at shul and just about everywhere you hear cries of death to the Arabs, move'em out etc...Meanwhile settlement activity continues to grow. The construction in the E-1 corridor is amazing and soon Ma'ale Adumim will extend all the way to Jerusalem cutting off most Palestinian access.
I read the blog post by an unnamed source. And although i agree with the perspective on what israel has become, i also question the interrogation he went through. They would LOVE to have a man and wife with no financial woes, who have been there SEVENTY times (are they 100 years old?)
I know of people without jobs who are under thirty who just moved there with no problem and no money or job prospects. In fact, one is a convert. So, i figure they just want more bodies there to take up space, etc. Of course, these young people aren't trying to be 'settlers'. Why can't this wealthy couple rent their own apartment? Sorry, his story doesn't add up.
That's the fun about the good old web. Who the heck ever proves a darn thing? I would think this guy would post his name. What does he have to lose? And after seventy visits, why does he want to move there? Did he just find out about the occupation yesterday? Interesting that he mentioned Norm Finklestien whom i adore. Anyone who is that up on Norm's politics probably wouldn't be charging over to israel to live. But that, granted, is my own feeling.
And in "shul" they yell , "Death to the Arabs"!? That pushes the envelope. That is like saying, in church they yelled, "Death to all atheists"! I personally wouldn't believe that one either.
There is enough to say about the atrocities and rogueness of israel without searching out unnamed blog entries, in my humble opinion.
That being said, israel will self destruct sooner than later.
Some of the settlers relocating from places like Brooklyn to "Judea" and "Samaria" are fanatics, such as this guy. I wouldn't put anything past them. Of course, they were helped in their decision to move by the lure of cheaper mortgages, income tax breaks, business development loans, housing grants, etc. due to largesse of taxpayers on several continents.
I remember that event, actually.
The same kind of person assasinated Rabin. And who knows who might have been behind both of those events, really?
Tut tut, criticizing Israel for any reason is anti-Semitism.
Criticizing Israel for using the blood of Gentile children or for being responsible for problems in the global economy or for being at the center of a "secret" plot that would necessarily engage hundreds of millions of people, is antisemitic. It's also childish, reflecting the generally low cultural level of societies in which antisemitism flourishes.
Arab antisemitism adds, to the above elements, the assertion that Arabs have entitlements that the Jews do not have. Arabs are entitiled Arabic-speaking states, with a mosque on every corner, where the school curriculum requires that the names of all Arab clans be memorized, and a flag with a crescent on it, wherever Arabs live, and screw any non-Arabs in the neighborhood. Jews are not entitled to a Hebrew-speaking state, with a Star of David on the flag, much less exclusive than any Arab state, because they are not Arabs. Period. For Arabs this isn't a matter of reason, but a matter of fundamental chauvinism.
Hey Buffoon, Arabs cannot be anti semites.
You seem to be the buffoon.
The term antisemitism does not in any way relate to Semites.
Semites are an ancient people. Semitics is the study of Semites language and culture. Antisemitism is a term that refers to the prejudice beliefs some people hold against persons of Jewish lineage.
If you don't believe me go ask any college professor...
No it doesn't. Don't revise the english language just because the zionist try to hijack the word semite, you buffoon.
I'm not revising the english language nor is the word being hijacked. Languages naturally change...it's called progress.
Hysteria is a perfect example.
Originally credited to Hippocrates, it referred to a woman's uterus become dried out b/c of a lack of sexual activity. The thought was that the uterus would break free and travel up body into the heart and lungs.
I'm not making this up. It remained such until 1900 or so.
However, today using the term hysterical is a gender neutral phrase that is quite innocent. It's also the name of a Muse song. It's a good song you should check it out.
Business as usual, for the moment. The Palestinians launch rockets at Israel---al Jazeera reports 40 such attacks since Hamas declared a "cease fire"--- while their apologists explain their Arab-Islamic virtue, and the Israelis retaliate by blockades, bombings, and settlement expansion.
Once the new government forms in Israel, more serious measures will have to be taken.
40 rockets which fall harmlessly, while the IDF continues to attack targets all throughout Gaza.
"More serious measures"??? Sounds like you are talking about a Final Solution there, buddy. Too bad you never learned from the experience of your ancestors.
I can't stomach barbarity on either side, but it looks like the only way Israeli leaders will get serious about negotiations to settle the land issues with both Hamas and the PLO will be when Hamas starts sending body parts of their lone captive to Israel. An ear, a finger, a toe, etc. The old Chinese death by a thousand cuts can take a long time and will infuriate the Israeli public to the point that they will force their leaders to stop the land grab and finalize the borders.
Um...no.
Actually, I think Israel would welcome that. Just one more opportunity...
Why would they want to appear more "barbaric"? That just plays into the problem. Not only an offensive idea, but self defeating. The world press would jump on that in a heartbeat.
ppeters 10:36 No way! We would see two thousand dead Gazan children for every finger.
So more thefts of lands. This on top of murder and mayhem. And then they say that they are a victims. Bloody racist hypocrites is what they are.
Yup, it's the ongoing modus operandi of this imperialist colonial state (backed by the US time and time again). The "settler" (Zionist land grabbing racist) block of Israel continues to carve up what little remains of Palestinian lands. The Zionist goal—as seen by this American Jew—is one of taking over most if not all of the West Bank (and perhaps beyond).
One can only hope that the whole enterprise (now leading to an apartheid state) will eventually falter of its own inherent contradictions. Grabbing land and the oppression of others hardly looks like an ideal democracy to me. The right wing Israeli colonial block (now much of Israel) with the "settlers" grabbing more and more land have made the two state outcome almost unachievable. Thus, as in South Africa, apartheid must be replaced by a single state where all are citizens.
Once again, Israeli is acting in a shameful and reprehensible way, one that ignores human rights. Evidently in the Israeli scheme of things, increasingly only (right wing) Jews are accorded such rights while others are denied dignity and respect.
One-third of all of the Jews who lived in the 20th century were hunted down and murdered. Another third---including 800,000 Arab-country Jews--- were rendered destitute refugees in antisemitic campaigns. The Jews are firm believers that a Jewish state is a necessity, as a mater of the most basic self-preservation.
So long as Arabs/Muslims are unable to factor that into their thinking, peace will not be possible.
Buffoon,
no one is arguing about them having a state. Everyone is condemning the method they are using to obtain that goal. Apparently your brain doesn't function too well when you have so much hate and racism against the true semites in the region. You still have not got it into your thick head that folks like Tzipi and her like have not one ounce of semitic blood in them since they are from Khazar background.
The Jews might be "firm believers that a Jewish state is a necessity" that dosent make it right. By what reasoning is any religion allowed to have their own state? Why do people critise the theocracy that is Iran? What is the difference?
Religion of all kinds is an outdated, and dangerous concept that is at the root of almost all violence and war today. These miscreants will kill for their imaginary friend in the sky and believe that anyone who does not agree with them deserves to die. This is the height of evil and bigotry and deserves nothing but contempt and vilification. All religions are arrogant and vicious and hateful of other religions and unbelievers. This is most assuredly unhealthy for the believers and seriously dangerous for the rest of us.
To all the godbotherers out there who think they are not like that and that you follow Jesus (or whover) and his message of peace I say dont delude youself. You are part of and support the whole corrupt system used by your religious leaders to practice their intolerance and violence. Without your support they could not do the vile and evil things that they do. You are a member of the mafia even if you dont pull the trigger and you are just as guilty as the one who does.
If god wants the Palestinians out of the jews holy lands (or the jews out of the moslem lands) then let him do it himself. He can just smite the offending party and then we will all know for sure. Until then it is just a bunch of a-holes being total and utter murderous bastards to each other. If god really existed I bet he would smite the lot of you. You make me sick!
Izak 1:08 ------ Who were the Stern Gang and Irgun killing when their fellow Jews, who needed the armed zionists firepower, were being exterminated?
Israel continues their crimes against humanity in Palestine with the full aid and support of the U.S. government. Not only do we give Israel $15 million dollars each day http://www.ifamericansknew.org/stats/cost_of_israel.html, but President Obama, "over the objections of church groups, peace organizations and human rights activists" went to the headquarters of the Caterpillar corportion last Thursday and praised Caterpillar.
Caterpillar is notorious for violating U.S. and international law by selling Israel the machines it uses to level Palestinian homes, uproot orchards, build the illegal separation wall, and kill civilians, including U.S. citizen Rachel Corrie. Why didn't Obama speak in front of a company that is NOT involved in human rights abuses? http://www.alternet.org/workplace/126994/obama%27s_caterpillar_visit_a_thumb_in_the_eye_for_human_rights_activists/?page=entire Was this just another signal to Israel, a thumbs-up for their ongoing ethnic cleansing?
Don't miss this story from the LA Times: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-gaza-reconstruct15-2009feb15,0,7987443.story, about Gaza.
For more context on Israel's latest theft of land in the West Bank:
Israeli confiscates Palestinian-owned farmlands for expanding settlements near Bethlehem http://www.imemc.org/article/58900
The Israeli Army decided to confiscates 1,700 dunums of land owned by Palestinians farmers for the expansion of a settlement near the southern West Bank city of Bethlehem, Israeli sources reported on Monday.
One acre is equal to four dunums.
According to sources, farmers have filed nine appeals to the Israeli court throughout the past several months; the court dismissed the first eight, but accepted the most recent, and decided to allow the settlers to take over the land to expand the settlement of Efrat.
The Efrat settlement council told the Israeli online daily Haaretz, that the land will be used to construct 2,500 new homes for settlers.
Efrat is the home of 9,000 Israeli settlers, and is part of the Kifar Atzion settlement block, which is the largest illegal settlement bloc in the southern West Bank.
The settlement council of Efrat stated that they will try to get the approval for the new homes from the current government, especially now since outgoing Defense Minister Ehud Barak agreed to build the illegal wall around those lands in order to annex them to the Israeli side of the wall, the council added.
Bethlehem city is completely surrounded from three sides by Israeli settlements. On the fourth side of Bethlehem, there is a massive and sprawling annexation wall.
In 2002, the International Court of Justice in the Hague voted 14 votes to one, determining that Israel's "Separation Barrier" is illegal, according to international law.
The Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949 has been repeatedly referenced by the United Nations to infer that any Israeli settlement on occupied Palestinian land, which includes all "Jewish"settlements in the West Bank, as a violation of international law, and the UN has called for the immediate disbandment of all settlements.
Many international scholars, lawyers and peace activists view Israel's expansion of settlements as the biggest impediment to peace and stability in the region.
Why don't we just start calling a spade a "spade", these should not be called settlements, they are "colonies", and this is colonial expansion, not to mention that the whole of Israel is a land stolen from its owners. Strange hypocrite world.
As I have always maintained - the problem is NOT about religion. It is and always has been about downright theft of land and water from indtgenous peoples.
The Israeli Zionists do NOT want peace until they control from the Med to the Tigris!!!
And the United States has financed the whole theft. We are guilty accomplices in this great land theft and all the attendant grief and horrors inflicted on all peoples as a result. Note: Our unmitigated and biased approach was a direct cause of 9/11, so one can see just how widespread is the death and destruction we are responsible for.
May Allah have mercy on us.
But I could be wrong !
does anybody take the zionist government's word for anything anymore
if you read their own policy documents - they want the palestinians out of gaza in order to make a seaport and to exploit the offshore gas reserves
the also want jordan
they have sent delegations of orthodox jews to iraq to look into populating mosul and baghdad
give it a rest
the zion state is a menagerie war criminals in bed with the american military fascsts
end of story
they will be happy to kill every last palestinian with their gifted american weapons
hey i thought that was the nazis theme song
cheers, b
An example of the childishness of Third World antisemites: five million Israeli Jews are plotting to "take over" (?) an area inhabited at present by 150 million hostile Arabs.
Five millions Israeli Jews armed to the teeth by the USA, including nukes.
Put things into perspective or you will seem childish.
The US also arms a fair number of the Arab nations as well.
This land grab is wrong. It will prolong the conflict and it will just become trouble for Israel when they do eventually have to remove the settlements.
Nothing to the level that ISrael is armed.
By gorry, you're right! (brackets mine):
"Boston Globe Quotes Frida Berrigan on Military Aid to Middle East
The $63 Billion Sham
August 1, 2007
You can see the whole arms package as a buyoff of Arab nations for what we've done in Iraq.
SECRETARY OF STATE Condoleezza Rice said the United States wants to send $63 billion in military aid and weapons to the Middle East to "bolster forces of moderation and support a broader strategy to counter the negative influences of Al Qaeda, Hezbollah, Syria, and Iran."
Talk about wriggling in quicksand. Having destroyed Iraq to save us from horrors that did not exist, Rice now wants to save us from Iran's future nukes by selling American weapons of mass destruction. Over the next decade, the Bush administration wants to [give Israel $30 billion in military aid, a nearly 43 percent increase over what that nation received over the last 10 years], according to The New York Times. We want to give $20 billion to Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates. We want to give Egypt $13 billion.
Do you feel safe?"
http://www.newamerica.net/pressroom/2007/boston_globe_quotes_frida_berrigan_military_aid_middle_east
Steelgray: "The land grab is wrong. It will prolong the conflct and it will just become trouble for Israel when they do eventually have to remove the settlements."
Response: The confiscation and expulsion of Palestinians from their land (farms, homes, and water), and segmenting them from one another with walls, checkpoints, settler only higways is called ethnic cleansing. Merely calling it a land grab and calling it a conflict only serves to downplay the seriousness of Israel's crime. Israel has been confiscating land in the West Bank for 40 years and has no intention of returning the land. By the way, the US doesn't arm Arab nations, it arms Arab puppet governments that support US policy and oppress its own citizens.
I'd say nearly every Arab nation suppress it's own population...at least if your an Arab woman.
The checkpoints were created to stop suicide bombers and they have succeded greatly in that aim. Sorry but the protection of life triumphs over traffic delays.
The wall is fine in and of itself. Egypt has a wall you know and China's wall is one of the most visited sites in the world. Using the wall to grab land however is wrong.
The settler only highways were build to protect the settlers from attacks. You do recall the murderous attacks of a decade ago? The Settlers are wrong and they need to be removed but they cannot be executed.
Blame the UN for the land confiscation not Israel. It was a UN resolution that passed with 3/4 votes.
Israel is not engaged in ethnic cleansing but rather they are simply indifferent to the Palestinians suffering.
The Israeli Zionists are not a religion. They are Europeans, for the most part - not even Semites, who stole the land from the Semites who already lived there - the Palestinians, who most likely at one time were Jewish, but whom converted to Islam.
The Israeli Zionists are violating the Geneva Conventions with the help and monetary backing of the United States of America who, therefore, are also in violation of the same Geneva Conventions. As soon as President Obama realizes that he is committing war crimes by continuing this, I sincerely hope that he will cease and desist.
Kitty Lady
As much as we deplore the actions and mindset of zionists; we must use our collectve intelligence and creativity to solve the problem.
The basis of the problem seems to be the greed inherent in the Greater israel Concept.
The solution seems to be to make it more expensive for the zionists to expand than not to expand.
Since it seems very little( are there commonly purchased israeli items?) of what we buy in the USA is produced in israel an effective boycott might not be possible.
That leaves developing a strategy to remove funding from the USA and if possible a blockade of israel ( I know, good luck!)
But perhaps we can develope a stragey to remove the funding????
Certainly that thread would be more productive than engaging zionist propagandists.
Zionism is the cancer on the United States and the world. And the Zionist dick licks in America's congress will follow the murdering scum bag zionists into world war 3.
Pan
What if they want your home next?