Palestinians say new Israeli measures in West Bank amount to de facto annexation

[muriel_volestrangler]

Source: BBC

Palestinians, Arab countries, and Israeli anti-occupation groups have condemned new steps approved by Israel's security cabinet for the occupied West Bank, saying they amount to de facto annexation.

Far-right Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich announced the moves that would make it easier for Jewish settlers to take over Palestinian land. "We will continue to kill the idea of ​​a Palestinian state," he said.

All settlements are seen as illegal under international law.

The measures - which are expected to be signed off by Israel's top military commander for the West Bank - aim to increase Israeli control over the territory in terms of property law, planning, licensing and enforcement.

Read more: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cvg5x2l3v0qo

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Settlers are the worst Israelis imaginable.

[AloeVera]

1. Settlers are the worst people true, but who approved this?

Members of the Security Cabinet:

Prime Minister: Benjamin Netanyahu, Chairman
Minister of Defense: Israel Katz
Minister of Foreign Affairs: Gideon Sa'ar
Minister of Justice: Yariv Levin
Minister of Finance: Bezalel Smotrich
Minister of National Security: Itamar Ben-Gvir
Additional members:

Minister of Strategic Affairs: Ron Dermer
Minister of Energy: Eli Cohen
Minister of Agriculture and Food Security: Avi Dichter
Minister of Transportation and Road Safety: Miri Regev
Additional Minister within Ministry of Finance: Ze'ev Elkin
Observers:

Minister of Settlement and National Missions [Wikidata]: Orit Strook
Minister of Innovation, Science and Technology: Gila Gamliel
Ministry for the Development of the Negev, the Galilee and the National Resilience: Yitzhak Wasserlauf
Regional Cooperation Minister of Israel and Additional Minister within Ministry of Justice: Dudi Amsalem
Permanent Non-Cabinet invitees
Attorney General of Israel: Gali Baharav-Miara
Chief of The NSC: Tzachi Hanegbi
Military Secretary to the Prime Minister: Maj. General Roman Gofman
Military Secretary to the Defense Minister: Brig. Gen. Guy Markizeno [Wikidata]
MK Aryeh Deri

The security cabinet was expanded on 12 October, with National Unity MKs Benny Gantz, Gadi Eizenkot, Gideon Sa'ar and Hili Tropper joining as full members and Yifat Shasha-Biton joining as an observer.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Security_Cabinet_of_Israel

We have got to stop laying it all solely at the feet of the vile and violent settlers. They are aided and abetted by the government Israelis themselves voted in.

A fun fact: settlers now make up 10% of the Jewish Israeli population. The 19 new settlements recently announced will increase that significantly. Defacto annexation is already in place. Sadly nothing will stop it now - the willful destruction of Gaza and the silent complicity of the West ensured that.

[Mosby]

2. Israel said that Jews can buy land?

The new Israeli measures include cancelling a decades-old prohibition on the direct sale of West Bank land to Jews and declassifying local land registry records. Up to now, settlers could only buy homes from registered companies on land controlled by Israel's government.

Maybe the UN Security Council could meet and put an end to this idea that Jews can buy land anywhere they want. Good grief.

[muriel_volestrangler]

4. Perhaps the wording is bad - "direct sale of West Bank land to Israelis" would be the problem

The point being that the West Bank is not part of Israel. If the Jewish people involved are inhabitants of the West Bank, subject to the onerous restrictions that other West Bank inhabitants face (endless checkpoints, etc.), and not outsiders trying to colonize it, then I could see they'd want to be treated like other Palestinians.

[AloeVera]

5. Can Palestinians buy land in Israel?

To be clear for those who think all of the OPT is Eretz Israel, I mean Israel "proper".

For that matter, what is that exactly, are there any recognized borders to Israel? Which reminds me, whatever happened to the Green Line? The stampede of settlers seems to have erased it...

The West Bank belongs to the Palestinian people. Whoever wants to buy land there should ask them if they want to sell.

Since that will never happen, my next question is who is going to be PAID for the Palestinian land that Jewish Israelis will be buying? I think I can guess - but what do you think?

[maxsolomon]

3. That's transparently been the plan for a decade-plus

HRC offered some mild criticism of the settler program in 2016 and she was absolutely excoriated for it.

[pat_k]

6. Wasn't that pretty much a given from the day the...

...so-called "Peace deal" (which neither Israel or Hamas have signed) was announced?

Given that Hamas never agreed to the plan, even on principle, calling it a "deal" -- or even a "plan" -- is a just another Trumpublican lie.

An actual "deal" or "plan" has enforceable, detailed, terms. It is not a bunch of generalized statements into which the felon's regime, with the collusion of Netanyahu, can project whatever the fuck they feel like projecting as "compliance" at any given moment. The only beneficiaries of the "deal" are:
(1) the trump family pocket book, (1) radical right Israeli interests, and (3) the corporations that are going rake in big bucks.

[Clouds Passing]

7. Stealing.