Major Israeli settlement 'unlawful'

Israeli settlements on occupied territory are seen as illegal by the rest of the world. But now an Israeli human rights group is saying that even under Israeli law, one of the most significant and well-established settlements is unlawful.

Settlers Who Long to Leave the West Bank

Rimonim, a Jewish settlement in the West Bank. The vast majority of settlers vow never to leave the West Bank, but some see the occupation as wrong.

“I came here 25 years ago to live in the countryside and raise my family,” said David Avidan as he sat in a neighbor’s living room here one recent evening to discuss an exit strategy. “We wanted to resettle the whole land of Israel,” he added. “But now when I see how our soldiers treat Palestinians at the checkpoints, I am ashamed. I want us to get out of here. I want two states for two people. But I can’t get any money for my house and I can’t leave.”

Why Israeli settlers are lashing out

Armed and building: An Israeli settler worked on a synagogue along with Palestinian laborers earlier this year in the unauthorized West Bank outpost of Bruchin. Jack Guez/AFP/Getty Images

"We're at a turning point of great significance," Ezrahi says. "What happened in the occupied territories was a growth of a culture of illegalism, and when this culture is allowed to flourish for a long time, violence enters and people think they will be invincible to any repercussions from the apparatus of the state."

In other words, Israeli settlers have been allowed to murder and perpetrate terror on the Palestinians for years while the Israeli government turned a blind eye. Now, the settlers are turning their anger towards the Zionist state. Now, suddenly, they are called "radicals" and "something must be done."

Netanyahu: I'll resume settlement activity

Opposition leader Binyamin Netanyahu. Photo: Ariel Jerozolimski

"I don't understand why there can be natural growth in Arab neighborhoods, but not in Jewish neighborhoods," he said. "There is a difference between the plans of a family that has more children and wants to close off its balcony and the building of additional neighborhoods. There is no reason why there shouldn't be development of existing [Jewish] neighborhoods."

Israel's UN Envoy call UNSC's meeting on settlements "a show"

Israel's UN envoy, Gabriela Shalev. Photo: Courtesy

"I think it was a show," Ambassador Gabriela Shalev told The Jerusalem Post Friday after a two-hour Security Council hearing, in which Saudi Arabia, the Arab League and the Palestinian president demanded an immediate end to settlements.

Unfortunately, Shalev is probably right...

Israel uses ‘bad science’ to justify occupation

Jawad Siyam says 88 homes in the Bustan neighbourhood of Silwan, seen in the background, face demolition threat. Jonathan Cook / The National

When news emerged in June that, in what the Antiquities Authority later admitted was “a serious mishap”, dozens of skeletons from the early Islamic period unearthed in Silwan close to the al Aqsa mosque had been discarded without inspection, no archaeologist would speak on the record.

UN Security Council to debate Israel settlements

The U.N. Security Council has agreed to end months of silence and discuss Israeli settlement activities on land the Palestinians want for a future state, a U.N. spokeswoman said Thursday.

What a joke...

Radical Settlers Take On Israel

The Jewish settlement of Itamar in the West Bank, with the Palestinian city of Nablus in the background. Some settlers are violently resisting any pullout prospect.

There have been bouts of settler violence for years, notably during the transfer of Gaza to the Palestinians in 2005. Now, though, the militants seem to have spawned a broader, more defined strategy of resistance designed to intimidate the state.

But, of course, since they're Israeli Jews, they CAN'T be terrorists - they're RADICALS...

Israel "confiscates" more Palestinian land

Israeli authorities and settlers have seized large plots of land surrounding settlements in the occupied West Bank and are blocking Palestinians from accessing them, an Israeli human rights group said on Thursday.

How can the Palestinians have peace with a people who are absolutely intent on "wiping them off the face of the earth." Yes, I'm referring to the Israel...

Yesha council: Rice comments 'impertinent and shameless'

"Visiting US secretary of state's harsh condemnation of settlement construction draws ire of Yesha council, though mostly against Israeli leadership. Council chairman: 'Israel has been spat at in the face and the government treats it as raindrops'"

Hey Condi, still think the Israelis are your friends?

Rice troubled by Israeli construction

"Israel's construction in eastern Jerusalem could imperil peace efforts with the Palestinians, Condoleezza Rice said."

Well, NO SH*T Sherlock! Now, dazzle us again with your brilliance...

More than one-third of settlements built on private Palestinian land

"More than one-third of Israel's 122 West Bank settlements were built on land confiscated from private Palestinian owners on security grounds, including some erected after the Israeli Supreme Court outlawed such seizures three decades ago, the Haaretz newspaper reported on Monday."