The often contentious issue of settlements built by Israel in west bank joined for the first time in a long time United States, Europe, the UN and some Arab countries in a strong condemnation of a decision by the Israeli government.
(Read here: What does the expansion of Israeli settlements in the West Bank imply?)
In the last session of the cabinet headed by the prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu it was decided to buildr 9,300 housing units in different settlements and legalize nine posts built in the past without official authorization and considered illegal until now according to Israeli law itself.
The first to speak out about it was the US Secretary of State, Anthony Blinkenwho this Monday said he was “deeply concerned” by the Israeli decision.
blinken He recalled a certain historical fact: the fact that both Democratic and Republican administrations have always opposed “these types of unilateral measures that exacerbate tensions and undermine the prospects for a negotiated two-State solution.” It should be remembered that the exception to the rule was the administration of Donald Trump.
Blinken added: “Anything that moves us away from the vision of two states for two peoples is detrimental to Israel’s long-term security, to its identity as a Jewish and democratic state, and to our view of the need for equal measure of security, freedom, prosperity and dignity for Israelis and Palestinians”.
Then, this Tuesday, the European Union joined the criticism, stating that the “legalization” of the Israeli posts in question is inadmissible and that construction in settlements is “illegal under international law.” Europe urged the Israeli authorities “to reverse the latest decisions urgently.”
Anything that moves us away from the vision of two states for two peoples is detrimental to Israel’s long-term security, to its identity as a Jewish and democratic state.
In a special statement, the European Union said it was “seriously concerned by the rising tensions and the intensification of violence”, adding that “it is important to consider steps to de-escalate the situation and avoid unilateral decisions and actions that undermine the viability of a negotiated two-state solution.
Until the closing of this note, Israel had not published any formal response to these condemnations, but it can be assumed – knowing the background of the situation and the background – that while there was some surprise at the declaration of blinkenThis was not the case with regard to Europe.
Israel is clear that the Biden administration disagrees with the policy of building in settlements, but at the same time it is harsh in its condemnation of the escalation of violence in the area.
In the last three weeks, there have been several attacks against civilians. Two weeks ago, seven people were shot outside a synagogue in Jerusalem. While last Friday two children -6 and 8 years old- and a young man of 20, were killed by a Palestinian who pounced with his car on a bus stop full of people. These were the deadliest attacks in recent times, but not the only ones.
the palestinians say many more were killed by the Israeli army after a deadly raid earlier this month by of that military corps in Jenin, where nine Palestinians were killed and another 20 wounded. To which the Israelis reply that the vast majority were militias participating in or planning new attacks.
Israeli sources often refer to the construction of new houses in settlements as “an appropriate Zionist response” to these attacks. “They want to destroy, we are going to build,” he himself said on different occasions. Netanyahu, although this time he has not made a public statement about it.
The truth is that this legalization of settlements is seen as a retaliation for the attacks committed by Palestinian militias.
In fact, Netanyahu himself was repeatedly criticized by leading representatives of the Jewish population in the settlements who claimed that he talked a lot about strengthening them, but too easily froze any construction plans to avoid tensions with the United States.
But now, the constellation is different. In the coalition headed by Netanyahu, he is in fact the most central element, and to his right there are two parties of the right-wing nationalist line that are much more conservative than him. The agenda of “Religious Zionism”, one of its partners in the government, is that the West Bank is territory to which the Jewish people “have an inalienable right”, for which reason it will push to strengthen the Jewish presence there.
While the issue of settlement construction is always controversial, this time the most problematic issue is the legalization of unauthorized outposts, given that some of them were built on land that is privately owned by Palestinians.
Those that were erected without government permission may be cleared more easily, but the others, if they are indeed on private land, can be presumed to be stopped by the Israeli Supreme Court, where lawsuits will undoubtedly be filed. The process, however, can take time.
However, any Israeli settlement in the occupied Palestinian territories is “illegal” in light of international law.
But it should be remembered that parallel to all this, and in the midst of a very serious internal dispute, the government is promoting a highly controversial and disputed judicial reform that aims precisely to weaken the Supreme Court. This may also affect the new decision regarding the settlements.
It is not clear for now that the unanimous condemnation of the Israeli decision leads to any kind of concrete measure that affects Israelbeyond the discomfort of diplomatic pressure.
This is the first diplomatic and political confrontation between the new Netanyahu government and part of the international community, unleashed as expected by one of the issues that has always aroused the most controversy. Netanyahu he has always been pragmatic on this point, but his coalition partners want to impose another course of action. The recurrence of attacks directly affects this.
It is clear that Israel rejects the suggestion that violence is increased by settlement construction. According to Israel, the cardinal problem is hate speech leading to attacks. And they proclaim that they will respond by strengthening their presence in the territories that they consider part of their history.
JANA BERIS
FOR THE TIME
JERUSALEM
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