Israel

#76

Lovely.

RTH10260 · #77

IDF transfers powers in occupied West Bank to pro-settler civil servants
Transfer to officials led by far-right Bezalel Smotrich removes legal checks on settlement expansion

Peter Beaumont in Jerusalem
Thu 20 Jun 2024 16.32 CEST

The Israeli military has quietly handed over significant legal powers in the occupied West Bank to pro-settler civil servants working for the far-right minister Bezalel Smotrich.

An order posted by the Israel Defense Forces on its website on 29 May transfers responsibility for dozens of bylaws at the Civil Administration – the Israeli body governing in the West Bank – from the military to officials led by Smotrich at the defence ministry.

Smotrich and his allies have long seen control of the Civil Administration, or significant parts of it, as a means of extending Israeli sovereignty in the West Bank. Their ultimate goal is direct control by central government and its ministries. The transfer reduces the likelihood of legal checks on settlement expansion and development.

Israeli politicians have long sought to find ways to permanently seize, or annex, the occupied West Bank, which it captured in 1967 and where millions of Palestinians live.

Michael Sfard, an Israeli human rights lawyer, said: “The bottom line is that [for] anyone who thought the question of annexation was foggy, this order should end any doubts. What this order does is transfers vast areas of administrative power from the military commander to Israeli civilians working for the government.”

It is the latest coup for Smotrich, who became finance minister and a minister in the defence ministry after a coalition agreement between his far-right political party and prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/artic ... l-servants

#78

I mean, the law is clearly already working like that. But by all means, codify your racism.

#79

Ultra-Orthodox protest against order to enlist in Israeli military turns violent in Jerusalem

Thousands of Jewish ultra-Orthodox men clashed with Israeli police in central Jerusalem on Sunday during a protest against a Supreme Court order for them to begin enlisting for military service.

The landmark decision last week ordering the government to begin drafting ultra-Orthodox men could lead to the collapse of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s governing coalition as Israel wages war in Gaza.

Tens of thousands of men rallied in an ultra-Orthodox neighborhood to protest the order. But after nightfall, the crowd made its way toward central Jerusalem and turned violent.

Israeli police said protesters threw rocks and attacked the car of an ultra-Orthodox Cabinet minister, pelting it with stones. Water cannons filled with skunk-scented water and police mounted on horses were used to disperse the crowd. But the demonstration was still not under control late Sunday.

Military service is compulsory for most Jewish men and women in Israel. But politically powerful ultra-Orthodox parties have won exemptions for their followers to skip military service and instead study in religious seminaries.

https://apnews.com/article/israel-draft ... a8bbf44fe8

#80

Good, they already have a talent for violence. They'll be perfect.

#81

Brent Peabody 🇺🇸 @brent_peabody wrote: Political earthquake in Israel

The two left-wing parties agreed to merge into a new one, meaning the left vote will no longer be split (which got Netanyahu elected in the first place)

Helps guarantee Bibi will lose the next election

RTH10260 · #82

Israel has approved ‘largest West Bank land grab in 30 years’, watchdog says
Peace Now says approval of more than 12 sq km is biggest since peace process began in 1993

Lorenzo Tondo in Jerusalem and Peter Beaumont in London
Thu 4 Jul 2024 15.10 CEST

Israel has approved the largest seizure of land in the occupied West Bank in more than three decades, according to a report released by an Israeli anti-settlement watchdog, a move that will exacerbate the escalating tensions surrounding the conflict in Gaza.

Peace Now said authorities recently 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.

Settlement monitors say the recent land acquisition links Israeli settlements along a crucial corridor adjacent to Jordan, a development they say threatens the formation of a future Palestinian state.

Israel occupied the West Bank, capturing it from Jordan, in the six-day war of 1967. Since then, successive governments have made efforts to permanently cement Israeli control over the land, in part by declaring large swathes as “state lands”, which prevents private Palestinian ownership.

The recent land seizure, which was approved late last month but only publicised on Wednesday, comes after the seizure of 8 sq km of land in the West Bank in March and 2.6 sq km in February.

Peace Now says the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and far-right finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, “are determined to fight against the entire world and against the interests of the people of Israel for the benefit of a handful of settlers”.

“Today, it is clear to everyone that this conflict cannot be resolved without a political settlement that establishes a Palestinian state alongside Israel,” the group added. “Still, the Israeli government chooses to actually make it difficult.”

https://www.theguardian.com/world/artic ... chdog-says

p0rtia · #83

Of course they have.

RTH10260 · #84

‘Constant anxiety’: hundreds of Palestinians face eviction threat in East Jerusalem
People in Batn al-Hawa neighbourhood fear losing their homes to Israeli settlers determined to seize more land

Jason Burke in Batn al-Hawa
Fri 12 Jul 2024 12.31 CEST

On the wall of the living room of Zohair Rajabi’s house is a map showing his neighbourhood: the stepped alleys winding down the steep slopes facing Jerusalem’s Old City, and the flat roofs of individual houses. The 54-year-old’s own home is marked by a yellow sticker. Rajabi fervently hopes he will never have to replace it with a red one – signifying that Jewish Israelis live in the building.

“We are living in constant anxiety. It’s very difficult,” he said last week.

About 20 houses in Batn al-Hawa, a Palestinian neighbourhood in East Jerusalem, are marked on Rajabi’s map with a yellow sticker and only six are marked in red.

This may be about to change. A recent ruling by Israel’s supreme court ended the legal battle of one local family against eviction and in hearings this week judges dismissed two other attempts to block moves to force 66 people out of their homes Batn al-Hawa too.

“In 15 years of working on these cases, this is definitely the worst it has ever been,” said a lawyer, Yazeed Kawar.

The sudden flurry of activity in Batn al-Hawa comes amid a concerted effort by Israeli settler organisations to expand existing projects and start new ones.

Israel late last month approved the largest seizure of land in the occupied West Bank in more than three decades, according to a report released by an Israeli anti-settlement watchdog, which said the move would exacerbate the escalating tensions surrounding the conflict in Gaza.

There are also plans to expand controversial housing projects in East Jerusalem, which was captured by Israel from Jordan in the six-day war of 1967 and unilaterally annexed in 1980. Permanent settlement of territory occupied militarily is illegal under international law.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/artic ... -jerusalem