#Israel settlements

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Lorenzo Tondo at The Guardian:

Israel has said it will establish 22 new settlements in the occupied West Bank, including the legalisation of outposts already built without government authorisation, after a security cabinet vote held in secret last week. Israel occupied the West Bank, capturing it from Jordan, in the six-day war of 1967. Since then, successive governments have tried to permanently cement Israeli control over the land, in part by declaring swathes as “state lands”, which prevents private Palestinian ownership. The motion was said to have been put forward by the far-right defence minister, Israel Katz, and finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, who lives in the West Bank settlement of Kedumim, which is considered illegal under international law. Katz said the settlement decision “strengthens our hold on Judea and Samaria”, using the biblical term for the West Bank, “anchors our historical right in the Land of Israel, and constitutes a crushing response to Palestinian terrorism”. He added it was also “a strategic move that prevents the establishment of a Palestinian state that would endanger Israel”. The government intends to use the 22 settlements to bolster Israel’s presence around Route 443, which connects Jerusalem and Tel Aviv via Modiin and was described by Israel Ganz, the head of the Yesha council umbrella group of West Bank Jewish municipalities, as “the most important decision since 1967”. The minister said on X: “We have made a historic decision for the development of settlements: 22 new communities in Judea and Samaria, renewing the settlement of the north of Samaria, and reinforcing the eastern axis of the State of Israel.”

Last July, Israel approved the largest seizure of land in the occupied West Bank in more than three decades, according to a report released by Peace Now, an Israeli anti-settlement watchdog. At the time, the Israeli government approved the appropriation of 12.7 sq km (nearly 5 sq miles) of land in the Jordan valley, indicating it was “the largest single appropriation approved since the 1993 Oslo accords”, referring to the start of the peace process. In a leaked recording captured by Peace Now last year, Smotrich, during a conference for his National Religious Party-Religious Zionism, disclosed that the land confiscations in 2024 surpassed previous years’ averages by approximately tenfold. He said: “This thing is mega-strategic and we are investing a lot in it. “This is something that will change the map dramatically.” In May 2023, Smotrich, who said his “life’s mission is to thwart the establishment of a Palestinian state”, instructed Israeli government ministries to prepare for a further 500,000 Israeli settlers to move into the occupied West Bank.

Israel Apartheid State plans to construct 22 illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank.

[themorningnewsinformer]

Israel's West Bank Settlement Expansion: 22 New Sites Approved

Introduction On May 29, 2025, Israel approved the establishment of 22 new settlements in the occupied Israel West Bank, marking the largest such expansion in decades. Announced by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and Defense Minister Israel Katz, the move legalizes unauthorized outposts and initiates construction of new Jewish communities across strategic areas, reigniting global controversy…

[odinsblog]

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel has approved the largest seizure of land in the occupied West Bank in over three decades, a settlement tracking group said Wednesday, a move that is likely to worsen already soaring tensions linked to the war in Gaza.

Israel’s aggressive expansion in the West Bank reflects the settler community’s strong influence in the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the most religious and nationalist in the country’s history. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a settler himself, has turbocharged the policy of expansion, seizing new authorities over settlement development and saying he aims to solidify Israel’s hold on the territory and prevent the creation of a Palestinian state.

Authorities recently approved the appropriation of 12.7 square kilometers (nearly 5 square miles) of land in the Jordan Valley, according to a copy of the order obtained by The Associated Press. Data from Peace Now, the tracking group, indicate it was the largest single appropriation approved since the 1993 Oslo accords at the start of the peace process.

Settlement monitors said the land grab connects Israeli settlements along a key corridor bordering Jordan, a move they said undermines the prospect of a contiguous Palestinian state.

U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric called it “a step in the wrong direction,” adding that “the direction we want to be heading is to find a negotiated two-state solution.”

The newly seized land is in an area of the West Bank where, even before the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war, settler violence was displacing communities of Palestinians. That violence has only surged since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack ignited the war in Gaza. Settlers have carried out more than 1,000 attacks on Palestinians since October in the West Bank, causing deaths and damaging property, according to the U.N.

The land seizure, which was approved late last month but only publicized on Wednesday, comes after the seizure of 8 square kilometers (roughly 3 square miles) of land in the West Bank in March and 2.6 square kilometers (1 square mile) in February.

That makes 2024 by far the peak year for Israeli land seizure in the West Bank, Peace Now said.

By declaring them state lands, the government opens them up to being leased to Israelis and prohibits private Palestinian ownership.

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[captain-casual]

Oh jfc, how evil can you get??

[kropotkindersurprise]

June 10, 2025 - Lawyers of Global Legal Action Network announced legal action in three countries, the UK, USA and Ireland, against Airbnb and Booking.com, accusing them of laundering profits from rental listings in illegal Israeli settlements. A similar lawsuit is already underway in the Netherlands. [video]/[article]

[hamdosana]

[alwaysbewoke]

[unbfacts]

[hero-israel]

Israel announcing rapid expansion of settlements in the West Bank and they’re still a hero? Nothing they do is bad? Literally all done to block a Palestinian state being made, yet Palestinians are the bad guys.

The settlements are an obstacle to creating a Palestinian state, but ultimately a trivial and manageable one. All neighboring state invasions of Israel happened before there were any settlements; all normalizations and recognitions happened after the settlements. The fundamental core obstacle is rejection and denialism of Israel itself, and the warmongering of Palestine's "allies." Israeli or shortly-pre-Israeli governments offered 100% of Gaza and 80-95% of the West Bank to be a Palestinian state in 1937, 1947, 2000, 2001, and 2008 (and also offered 100% back to Jordan and Egypt in 1967), and the answer was always no. You have certainly heard the statement "We don't want no two-state, we want 1948." If there had ever, EVER been a Palestinian leadership that accepted the concept of an Israel neighboring a Palestine, in whatever shape or size, they would have done it by now. You should also take note of just how slow and sporadic the growth of settlements has been. In 2017, they broke ground on their first new settlement in over 20 years; now 7 years later the new settlement (Amichai) houses a whole entire 264 people. Think back to all the sources you've ever read on this. If you were sure Israel had been building settlements throughout those 20+ years, and that this was supposedly the obstacle to peace, really reconsider how much trust you put in your sources, how much they - and you - are just going along with the groupthink of what "everybody knows" about Israel.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Akbar Shahid Ahmed at HuffPost:

The United Nations’ top court on Friday said Israel is illegally occupying the Palestinian regions it has controlled since 1967 and must end its presence in them — a landmark statement that boosts momentum for a change in Israeli policy.

The court found that Israel is committing major violations of international law, including “de facto annexation” of occupied land and breaking the global prohibition against racial discrimination and apartheid. It concluded that Israel should take steps like evacuating settlers and making reparations to affected Palestinians. It also emphasized Palestinians’ right to self-determination, and said other countries are obliged to cease support for Israel’s occupation and to help end the policy “as rapidly as possible.” The advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice covers Israeli practices in the occupied West Bank, in East Jerusalem (which Israel claims as its own territory) and in the Gaza Strip. The opinion from the panel of 15 judges from around the world, selected by the U.N. General Assembly, is non-binding and has no immediate consequences. The ICJ previously issued an opinion in 2004 saying Israel’s construction of a “separation wall” in the West Bank was illegal, yet the wall is still standing 20 years later.

[...] Meanwhile, the ICJ has found that various ongoing Israeli practices, from demolishing Palestinian homes to imposing “a regime of comprehensive restriction” on Palestinian movement, hinder the chances of Palestinian statehood ― which could bolster the argument that the longer the current situation persists, the less likely peace becomes.

[...] On Thursday, Israel’s parliament voted against the eventual establishment of a Palestinian state, backing a resolution that called the prospect “an existential danger to the State of Israel.” Many members of Israel’s security establishment and supporters of the country abroad argue the opposite: that reaching an agreement is the only way to lower tensions and respect Israel’s stated identity as a Jewish and democratic state.

[...] The court’s consideration of the Israeli occupation is separate from the case it is considering between South Africa and Israel, in which the former argues the latter may be committing genocide against Palestinians through its ongoing offensive in the Gaza Strip. The court has said there is a “plausible” risk of genocide, and issued three orders requiring Israel to change its conduct to do more to shield civilians. Those orders, known as provisional measures, are meant to be binding, but Israel has largely maintained the policies the court criticized, such as limits on the provision of aid to Gaza. The Friday opinion is also distinct from the action that another body, the International Criminal Court, is considering in relation to Israel-Palestine. The ICC’s top prosecutor is seeking arrest warrants against Israel’s prime minister and defense minister and three leaders of the Palestinian militant faction Hamas for alleged war crimes during the Oct. 7 attack and Israel’s military response in Gaza since.

The International Court of Justice issued a nonbinding ruling that Israel Apartheid State is breaching international law by illegally occupying Palestinian territory in East Jerusalem, West Bank, and Gaza.

This come on the heels of the Knesset in Israel voting to reject recognition for a Palestinian state.

See Also:

Sky News: ICJ rules Israel settlement policy in occupied Palestinian territories in breach of international law

[gastromancer]

@the.andrey.x, 25 june 2024

[odinsblog]

Land and Housing

As a result of decades of land confiscations and discriminatory land policies, Israeli authorities have hemmed in Palestinian towns and villages, while nurturing the growth and expansion of Jewish communities, many of which in practice exclude Palestinians. The majority of Palestinians in Israel live in these communities, while some live in “mixed cities” like Tel Aviv-Jaffa and Haifa.

Ninety-three percent of all land in Israel constitutes state land, directly controlled by the Israeli government. Israeli authorities confiscated much of this land, several million dunams, from Palestinians through several different legal instruments, as documented in a later chapter of this report. A government agency, the Israel Land Authority (ILA), manages and allocates state lands. Almost half the members of its governing body belong to the JNF, whose explicit mandate is to develop and lease land for Jews and not any other segment of the population. The fund owns 13 percent of Israel’s land, which the state is mandated to use “for the purpose of settling Jews.”

Israeli authorities have almost exclusively allocated state lands for the development and expansion of Jewish communities. Since 1948, the government has authorized the creation of more than 900 “Jewish localities” in Israel, but none for Palestinians except for a handful of government-planned townships and villages in the Negev and Galilee, created largely to concentrate previously displaced Bedouin communities. Less than 3 percent of all land in Israel falls under the jurisdiction of Palestinian municipalities, where the majority of Palestinian citizens live, according to a 2017 estimate by Israeli and Palestinian groups.

Even inside Palestinian towns and villages within Israel, Israeli authorities discriminatorily restrict the land available for residential growth. The authorities have zoned large sections of Palestinian towns and villages for “agricultural” use or as “green” areas, prohibited residential building in them, and built roads and other infrastructure projects that impede expansion. A 2003 Israeli government-commissioned report found that “many Arab towns and villages were surrounded by land designated for purposes such as security zones, Jewish regional councils, national parks and nature reserves or highways, which prevent or impede the possibility of their expansion in the future.”

While increasing focus in recent years on these issues has resulted in more state-approved residential development, they have done little to date to change the reality of hemmed-in Palestinian towns and villages. By contrast, in case studies documented by Human Rights Watch in each of Israel’s six districts, planning authorities provided sufficient land and zoning permissions to predominantly Jewish communities to facilitate their growth.

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[hamdosana]

Dear Allah feed the people of Gaza, satisfy their hunger and make their life easier.

[the-garbanzo-annex-jr]

Source

[claraameliapond]

Palestinian child narrowly escapes Israeli bullets in Gaza

This is absolute madness

Ceasefire Now

Decolonise Palestine

[alwaysbewoke]