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Israel begins extending ‘silent annexation’ over the West Bank, with the blessings of the Trump administration

The Israeli Defense Ministry announced on Wednesday that it had approved the creation of seven new Israeli nature reserves in Area C of the occupied West Bank.

According to the Jerusalem Post, the move — which also includes the expansion of 12 existing nature reserves — is the first time since the Oslo Accords that an approval of its kind has been issued.

The news comes on the heels of a controversial forum of right-wing activists and academics last week in Jerusalem, where Naftali Bennett, the current Minister of Defense, stood in front of the crowd and declared that Area C of the occupied West Bank “belongs to Israel.”

“We are embarking on a real and immediate battle for the future of the Land of Israel and the future of Area C,” Bennett told the Kohelet Policy Forum, referring to the more than 60% of the West Bank that was designated by the Oslo Accords as being under control by Israel.

As the leader of the “New Right” party, Bennett has long been a champion of the settler movement and a proponent of Israeli annexation of the occupied Palestinian territories. The expression of his sentiments towards Area C were by no means surprising, but given the support of the current U.S. administration, were extremely alarming.

Support from the United States

The Kohelet Policy Forum opened with a video message from  Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who said “we’re recognizing that these settlements don’t inherently violate international law. That is important. We’re disavowing the deeply flawed 1978 Hansell memo, and we’re returning to a balanced and sober Reagan-era approach.”

The Trump administration’s position on settlements has drawn widespread criticism from Palestinian leaders and activists, as well as from the international community, which largely considers settlements to be the major roadblock to peace in the region.

U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman, also addressed the conference, and emphasized the new U.S. position that the some 200 settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem were not in violation of international law.

“Israelis have a right to live in Judea and Samaria,” Friedman said, praising U.S. President Trump’s previous decisions to recognize Israeli sovereignty over Jerusalem and the Golan Heights.

It would appear that there has already been coordination between the Netanyahyu and Trump governments on extending Israeli sovereignty over the West Bank.

In his speech Bennett also said that one month ago he began moving forward with plans to enforce Israeli sovereignty over the land, and indicated that he held discussions with the Trump administration to “[explain] the ways that the State of Israel will do everything possible to ensure that these areas will be part of the State of Israel.”

Facts on the Ground

The chilling reality of Bennett’s statements is that Israel’s “war” on Area C amounts to more than just the promises of politicians.

For years, and especially in recent months, the state has stepped up efforts to exert its control over the occupied territory, through things like the establishment of national parks, increased settlement expansion, and continued Palestinian home demolitions.

Around the same time Bennett made the declaration, the Palestinian Authority Chairman of the Commission Against the Wall and Settlements Walid Assaf announced that nearly 700 Palestinian buildings were demolished by Israeli authorities in the territories in 2019, with 300 demolitions in Jerusalem alone. 

One day before, Israel’s High Court of Justice ruled against a group of Palestinian villagers who were petitioning for the dismissal of the Ofra settlement’s master plan, given the fact that the settlement plan included a dozen of acres of privately owned Palestinian land.

And the day before that, settlement watchdog Peace Now reported that the Israeli Civil Administration advanced construction plans for 1,936 settlement housing units. The group noted that “89 % of the units promoted are in settlements that Israel may have to evacuate under a future peace agreement with the Palestinians.”

Senior Palestinian official Hanan Ashrawi said Thursday, Israel has accelerated projects in pursuit of “de facto annexation” over the West Bank, “Israel is carrying out silent annexation of Palestinian land to ensure the permanent denial of the Palestinian people’s basic rights to freedom and justice.”

Updated: January 16, 2020, 10:30 a.m.

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Why is the creation of seven new nature reserves a matter for the Israeli Defence Ministry? (Asking for a threatened species.)

The arrogant ignoramus in the White House needs to tell us what he thinks should be done with the non-Jews living in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

http://www.dci.plo.ps/en/article/14393/Dr-Ashrawi-Israel’s-silent-annexation-of-“nature-reserves”-is-reprehensible-and-criminal

The Palestine Liberation Organization, Department of Public Diplomacy and Policy

Press Release:

Dr. Ashrawi: “Israel’s silent annexation of ‘nature reserves’ is reprehensible and criminal”

(January 16, 2020): “The decision by Israel’s so-called Minister of Defense, Naftali Bennett, to expand and create ‘nature reserves’ in the occupied West Bank is a blatant act of annexation and land theft that violates international law and basic Palestinian rights. These so-called reserves are the practical application of Israel’s accelerated and de facto annexation, land grab, and colonization targeting Jerusalem and the Jordan Valley. Israel is carrying out silent annexation of Palestinian land to ensure the permanent denial of the Palestinian people’s basic rights to freedom and justice. It is criminal as well as morally and politically reprehensible.

“Bennett made no secret of his intentions, which are to strengthen and entrench the illegal settlement regime. This is the very regime that is currently under review by the Office of the Prosecutor at the International Criminal Court because its establishment, expansion, and entrenchment is a violation of the Rome Statute. As such, Bennett’s announcement is an affront to the International Criminal Court as well as the international community, which rejects and opposes the acquisition of territory by force.

“Israel’s policy of displacement and replacement in the service of the ‘Greater Israel’ agenda is in overdrive thanks to the partnership and blind ideological support of the current American Administration. This irresponsible alliance is emboldening Israel to make a mockery of the rules-based international order and to attempt to normalize its rogue behavior and encourage other rogue states with extraterritorial aspirations to disregard international law with impunity.

“Israel’s lawless behavior, impunity and expansionism threaten Palestinian rights and international stability. The international community has a standing legal obligation to put an end to such escalating and grave violations of international law. States must have the moral clarity and courage to ensure that Israel’s lawless behavior is confronted with real consequences, including sanctions.”

It’s not all that silent.

“Israeli forces yesterday issued orders to seize hundreds of dunums of agricultural land in Bethlahm’s southern occupied towns of Al-Khader and Irtas. The head of the Commission for the Resistance of the Wall and Settlements, Hasan Breijieh, told local media that the orders were issued to seize 350 dunums of agricultural land, with the aim “to expand Israel illegal settlements and bypass the roads of the Palestinian towns and villages in Bethlehem.”

https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20200116-israel-seizes-palestinian-lands-in-bethlehem/