"Right to exist" -- While the eyes of the world are on Gaza, Israeli settlers in the West Bank still behave with impunity
"Israel strikes Gaza and suspends aid delivery, after IDF and Hamas accuse each other of breaking ceasefire"
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To put the first below in context, Trump today, in playing tough to build his reputation as a peacemaker, is telling Netanyahu to halt the bills going through the Knesset calling for annexation. Don't be fooled that the Trump today has changed his mind about the Zionist agenda toward Greater Israel.
Israel orders demolition of village that's received Australian aid money [...]Israel has ordered the demolition of an entire village that is home to hundreds of Palestinians and that's received Australian aid money, prompting international condemnation. July 2015 - https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=115810309
Israeli illegal colonists pipe raw sewage into legal homes of Palestinians. Almost unbelievable, as it is so disgustingly obscene. The thought arises this despicable action approaches illegal germ warfare .. some history of the ongoing 'ethnic cleansing' .. October, 2010 - https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=55812477
By Hook and By Crook: Israel’s Settlement Policy in the West Bank Some half a million Israelis are now living over the Green Line: more than 300,000 in 121 settlements and about one hundred outposts, which control 42 percent of the land area of the West Bank, and the rest in twelve neighborhoods that Israel established on land it annexed to the Jerusalem Municipality. The report analyzes the means employed by Israel to gain control of land for building the settlements. In preparing the report, B'Tselem relied on official state data and documents, among them Attorney Talia Sasson’s report on the outposts, the database produced by Brigadier General Baruch Spiegel, reports of the state comptroller, and maps of the Civil Administration. September, 2010 - https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=54893704
Ofer Cassif
As the harvest season begins, attacks on Palestinian farmers and their land are spiralling. The words of peace following the Gaza ceasefire ring hollow
Fri 17 Oct 2025 00.04 AEDT
Jewish settlers disrupting the olive harvest in the village of Soba, south of Hebron, while the Israeli military looks on, 12 October 2025. Photograph: Mamoun Wazwaz/Anadolu/Getty Images
Last Monday, when the US president, Donald Trump, addressed the Knesset alongside the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, my compatriot lawmaker Ayman Odeh and I raised a banner calling them to “Recognise Palestine”. We were brutally expelled by force from the parliament’s plenum, revealing the fragile state of the supposed “only democracy in the Middle East”. How can Trump and Netanyahu speak of peace in the Middle East without recognition of the people deprived for decades of their basic liberties and rights under vicious occupation?
Nowhere is the deceit more clear than in the occupied West Bank. There, the words of peace are but a weak and distant voice, but the horrifying sounds of settler violence and terror still echo loudly. More than 30 occurrences of settler violence against Palestinians have been documented since the announcement of Trump’s 20-point plan at the end of September, including physical assaults, theft of agricultural produce and torching of vehicles and property.
The rise of settler terrorism is not coincidental. This period marks the start of the harvest seasons. More than a vital economic event, it is an important social and national moment that exhibits endurance under occupation. Precisely for these reasons, year after year settlers target Palestinians during this precious time. During the 2024 harvest period, Yesh Din (an Israeli human rights group that collects and disseminates information regarding violations of Palestinians’ human rights in the West Bank) documented 113 separate incidents .. https://www.yesh-din.org/en/summary-of-the-2024-olive-harvest-season/ .. of violence, harassment, harvest-thwarting or damage to olive trees and crops involving Israeli civilians and soldiers, which took place on lands belonging to 51 Palestinian villages, towns and communities.
Yesh Din also found that “Israeli security forces appeared to have played a greater role in obstructing the olive harvest”. In about 70% of forceful prevention of access to lands, soldiers, border police officers and settlement civilian security coordinators (CSCs) were actually present. They either personally prevented Palestinians from accessing and harvesting in their own lands, or failed to stop settlers who harassed or assaulted them.
This comes as no surprise, as the leader of the settlers’ political party, Bezalel Smotrich, was appointed as an additional minister in the Ministry of Defence in charge of the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT). In Umm al-Khair, for example, a special COGAT unit uprooted private olive trees of Palestinians, citing lack of permits, but ignored violations of an illegal nearby settler outpost. Last week, the Jerusalem district court ruled to halt all building work in the outpost, which was built on lands seized by Israel and unlawfully transferred to settlers.
In the occupied West Bank, settler terrorism is nothing but a tool by the government to pursue de-facto annexation. Earlier this month, Smotrich led a march of thousands of settlers in support of annexation of the West Bank. He was quoted as saying, “We are continuing to take hold with our feet of the Land of Israel with many pioneers, many heroes, and hundreds of thousands of settlers who live in this part of the land … we need to normalise it and make it eternal.”
The settlers and their supporters in the Knesset are clear on their motives and intentions. Why, then, do political leaders in the west refrain from meaningful sanctions and diplomatic measures? Smotrich was sanctioned by the UK in June, but the effect of the sanction has been minimal. He may not be able to travel to the UK and tour the West End, but he still enjoys the ministerial power to grab lands in the West Bank. Even in the announcement of sanctions, the UK highlighted they take place “in his personal capacity” solely.
A just peace must respect the fundamental rights of the Palestinian people for self-recognition, sovereignty and liberty from military occupation and siege. Only when every human being’s dignity between the river and sea is respected can we truly say peace has been achieved.
True peace requires an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel: this is the sole formula that enjoys consensus among the international community, the Palestinian national movement and the Israeli peace camp.
Trump may have inflicted pressure on Netanyahu to halt the genocide, but he probably only did so because the burden of his relationship with the pariah regime of Netanyahu had become too great. The mass protests across the globe for the liberation of Palestine, and the unwavering anti-government demonstrations inside Israel, are the real forces behind this pressure.
It is thanks to this enormous civil movement that a ceasefire has been signed, the hostages released and the people of Gaza can enjoy safeguard from annihilation. After the ceasefire agreement has been signed, it is vital to keep applying this pressure. The world has turned a blind eye to the atrocities in Gaza for too long; it must not repeat the same mistake in the West Bank .. https://www.theguardian.com/world/west-bank .
Dr Ofer Cassif is a member of the Knesset, representing the Democratic Front for Peace and Equality (Hadash) since 2019
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