Israel forces evict Jewish settlers from West Bank buildings

Israel is hoping that in any final agreement with the Palestinians it will be able to keep large settlement blocs close to Jerusalem and the Israeli border, as well as in the Jordan Valley, for security and agricultural purposes. What it doesn’t mention is that the “cozy fully furnished” apartment, with its cable TV, Internet and hiking trails, is in a West Bank settlement. “We also remain concerned…deeply concerned, and we’ve not been bashful about saying this and neither was he, about Israeli settler violence against Palestinians and their property in the West Bank”.

Israeli officials have not responded to global condemnation of the demolitions and incipient annexation, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu suggested last week that European Union construction in the area, whether humanitarian or otherwise, was not legal.

“To take occupancy of the homes, a number of actions are required, and none were carried out, which is why the trespassers were evicted”, Yaalon said in a statement. Yet that is happening every day in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, where 1,000 factories operate, and 93,000 dunams (9,300 hectares) of farmland are cultivated in 237 settlements.

The U.S. State Department said the land expropriation “calls into question Israel’s commitment to a two-state solution”. Virtually the entire global community view Israeli settlements in the territory as illegal or illegitimate. “The fact that they still have a desire [to commit terrorist attacks] shows that we are not operating strongly enough”, he said.

The fight over settlements is also playing out in Congress and state houses.

“If implemented, this declaration would constitute the largest land appropriation by Israel in the West Bank since August 2014”, it said. “This system will help curb efforts to boycott Israel entirely, such as those advocated by the BDS movement”.

The report cites an example of how bringing attention to Israeli practices in the West Bank can impede them.

“Moscow is anxious over the risky march of events on the Palestinian-Israeli track”, the commentary said.

In an email, Airbnb said it “follows laws and regulations on where we can do business”. From here the settlers went into the Old City of Al-Khalil, where they broke into two houses on al-Sahla Street near the Ibrahimi mosque at around 2.30 pm today. The sale of Palestinian land to Jews is seen as treason by many Palestinians. Israeli settlements in occupied territory are highly contentious. Listings there vary, with some marked only as a city, and others linked to Northern Cyprus or the unoccupied southern half. Soldiers threw tear gas and sound grenades at Palestinians protesting the takeover.