“Israel announced on Sunday a land appropriation in the occupied West Bank that an anti-settlement group termed the biggest in 30 years, drawing Palestinian condemnation and a U.S. rebuke.
Some 400 hectares (988 acres) in the Etzion Jewish settlement bloc near Bethlehem were declared “state land, on the instructions of the political echelon” by the military-run Civil Administration.
“We urge the government of Israel to reverse this decision,” a State Department official said in Washington, calling the move “counterproductive” to efforts to achieve a two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians.”* The Young Turks host Cenk Uygur breaks it down.
*Read more here from Jeffrey Heller / Reuters:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/08/31/us-palestinians-israel-settlement-idUSKBN0GV0D020140831
Comments
You revise history to suit your agenda.
The war in Gaza was not about the murdered teenagers. Have you already forgotten about the thousands of rockets that Gaza has shot at Israeli civilians? (They’ve actually been doing it incessantly for over a decade even after Israel pulled all Jews out of Gaza (ethnic cleansing against Jews) and even before the blockade (which is only their to prevent arms but not aid).
And Israel doesn’t want peace?! It’s Hamas who has in their charter the goal of destroying Israel and murdering all Jews. The PLO also has that and they said at Oslo they’d remove it but never really have. And Israel twice offered the PA the West bank and Gaza and the Palestinians refused.
Oh yeah. And you accuse Israel (1:55) of having a modus oprandi of starting wars? All of Israel’s wars have been defensive except for 1967, and even that one was a preemptive strike when Egypt, Jordan, and Syria amassed their armies along Israel’s borders.
And the settlements are, by the way, not illegal under international law. Anyone who says they are is either (1) lying, (2) quoting someone who is lying, or (3) quoting only one side of a dispute.
Such slander is disgusting. Theft?
Are there any Arabs that own or that are living on or using the actual land being appropriated. You mentioned farms “in the area”. But the actual land being appropriated is not being stolen from anyone.
And your definition “land appropriation = theft” is just an outright lie.
(1) The defintion of “land appropriation” is: “The act of selecting, devoting, or setting apart land for a particular use or purpose, as where land is appropriated for public buildings, military reservations, or other public uses.” Source: http://thelawdictionary.org/appropriation-of-land/“.
(2) And if your saying that Israel is using the phrase “land appropriation” in place of the word “theft”, that’s also a lie in actuality there’s nobody living on or using that land.
And if you want to claim that land is being stolen from the Palestinian entity, go learn your history.
The Turks had it for about 400 years. After World War One Britain controlled much of the middle east until they partitioned it along arbitrary borders after World War Two making the modern versions of old countries like Syria, Egypt, and Israel and inventing new countries like Jordan. The part that is today called the West Bank belonged to Jordan while Gaza belonged to Egypt. The Palestinians had never claimed or asked for the West Bank and Gaza back from Jordan and Egypt respectively; the PLO’s (Palestine Liberation Organization’s) charter excluded the West Bank and Gaza from its land claim. (That exclusion was changed in 1968 after Israel won it during the 6 day war in ’67.)
In 1967 Israel won the West Bank and Gaza from Jordan and Egypt respectively. So perhaps Israel is occupying part of Jordan and part of Egypt?
But Jordan and Egypt aren’t claiming those lands.
Theft? What a bunch of slander.
I have my doubts whether an economic boycott would be sufficient. It should certainly be done, along with suspension of all economic and military aid (including Iron Dome sales), but the Israeli government is deeply committed to this, to the point that their careers and personal economic fortunes would be in deep jeopardy if they back off. The power of sanctions has limits, as currently being demonstrated in the Ukrainian invasion, especially when the offending population has cultural narratives of both grievance, and the valor of enduring hardships. Probably the only thing that will change the political ground in Israel is the withdrawal of American protection. Politically unlikely, of course, but likely the only (non-military) way to effect regime change in Israel. If we don’t do this, Israel will continue it’s slow-motion ethnic cleansing, and our politicians will be shocked to wake up one day and find Lieberman’s crowd talking about some sort of “final solution” to the Palestinian problem.
Ethnic cleansing? Give me a break. Go visit the countries where ethnic cleansing actually happens. These people sit in their homes and their shops saying there’s a holocaust happening in the West Bank. Holocaust. People don’t sit in their homes and shops when they’re being persecuted with a holocaust.
There should have been a “final solution” in 1967: When Israel won the west bank from Jordan (which by the way has a population who is 75% “Palestinian”) the “Palestinians” in the West Bank should have chosen to either accept the new ruler or run to the main part of Jordan just like refugees do anywhere in the world.
By the way, the Arabs living in Israel are much more prosperous than the ones living under the PA.
Jake “Not So” Swift
We’re not talking ethnic cleansing here Mr Zionazi, we’re talking genocide or “mowing the grass” as Israeli butchers like to refer to it. The Israelis have taken almost all of Palestine, massacred tens of thousands of Palestinians and either expelled the rest or forced them into open air prisons like Gaza or the West Bank. It is also in the Likud Party charter that there will never be a two state solution and that Israel will remain an apartheid state.
And who gave them the right to break international law in pursuit of their territorial objectives? An invisible god and the United States of America, that’s who. Let’s not forget that the Israelis used kidnappings, murder and bombing of innocent civilians to achieve their independence. What short memories they have when they are the occupiers.
Corporal Clunck
It’s the Palestinians who are the savages. The Palestinians dance on their roof tops and in the streets and pass out candies when planes crashing into the WTC kill almost 3000 U.S. civilians and when they kill innocent children (as they did in June of this year).
“Mowing the grass”?
There wouldn’t be any grass mowing or even a blockade if the Palestinians would stop their terrorism. What I can’t believe is that Israel is giving them more aid than any Arab country including free electricity – even during Operation Protective Edge.
“Massacred tens of thousands of Palestinians”?
Israel has never killed Palestinians except when trying to either defend itself or stop Palestinian aggression? Even during operation protective edge the missiles flew from Gaza at Israeli civilians before the operation started and didn’t stop until the final cease fire.
Ethnic cleansing?
The more than a million Jews from Arab lands have been driven out and their property stolen from them. Their are practically no Jews left in any Arab land. Yet in Israel, you’ll find plenty of Arabs who dwell safely. And if you’re thinking about the Arabs in the West Bank and Gaza, keep reading. Israel actually ethnically cleansed itself out of Gaza leaving it to the Pallis.
Try this one: Moreover, the PLO and Hamas both have in their charter the goal of the utter destruction of Israel and the killing of Jews, and Hamas even has that peaceful negotiations are unacceptable. Israel twice offered the entire West Bank and Gaza and the Palestinians refused. So it’s the Palestinians who are the butchers and who dance on their roof tops and in the streets and pass out candies when innocents are killed.
Apartheid? Apartheid means racial segregation. It’s the Arabs who send the Jews away and not the other way around. Just look at Israel; none of it’s Arabs are being sent away; they ride the same buses and shop the same malls and make it to the supreme court as judge. They’re also members of the knesset (parliament) where they have they advocate the dissolution of the state they are participating in running. Gaza? Just shows your ignorance that you don’t even know the meanings of the words you use.
Stealing land. That land being appropriated was being used by no one and belonged to no one. And I would be interested to see you quote for me the international law that Israel is breaking.
Actually I was going to answer the rest of your drivel, but you clearly have swallowed the bitter pill of Palestinian and left wing propaganda to the point that you don’t even know the facts – just the drivel you’ve unquestioningly swallowed.
the network news shows including the news hour did not mention this story, huffpost got it and yes, even cnn mentioned it, but no networks. the fix is in and duly noted.