The expansion of illegal Israeli settlements and outposts in the West Bank, alongside the ongoing horror of life in Gaza, makes the need for a two-state solution between Israel and Palestine more urgent and necessary than ever. International dithering and procrastination must stop to preserve any chance of sustainable peace. This was our conclusion after visiting the West Bank as part of a wider Middle East trip that included meetings with Palestinian, Israeli, Lebanese, and Jordanian leaders.
It is clear to us that the Government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s policies threaten to make Palestine disappear politically, culturally, economically, and physically. Traveling through the West Bank, we had a visceral sense of a land and people under deepening occupation. Everyday life is impeded at every turn.
Settler violence is an integral part of this strategy, designed to intimidate and terrorize Palestinians off their land. Far from being the work of a small number of “juvenile delinquents” as he claims, it is a state-backed campaign undertaken with the active support of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). We saw at first-hand how state-backed settlement expansion operates.
First, hillside outposts are established by a handful of settlers. Even though these are illegal under Israel’s own laws, we heard directly how they are systematically and swiftly protected by the IDF despite Israeli authorities from time to time condemning settler violence. Connections to water and electricity supplies typically follow, as do roads reserved for Israelis only.
The result is the physical and administrative carve-up of the West Bank. Palestinian communities are distanced from each other, their land, and the possibility of a future Palestinian state. Among the blatant evidence of what is happening is the decades-old E1 settlement plan for Palestinian territory east of Jerusalem.
On Aug. 18, the Israeli Housing Ministry issued a tender for over 1,200 units, setting off a process which, if completed, would sever East Jerusalem from the rest of the West Bank and thereby disrupt the territorial contiguity of a Palestinian state. E1 has long been a red line even for Israel's staunchest allies. Previous Israeli governments, including those led by Prime Minister Netanyahu, have stopped short of actually proceeding, in part due to international pressure.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
