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israeli settlements
Killing of Woman Harvester Underscores 'War-Like' Israeli Assault on West Bank Olive Growers
"The olive season has turned into a season of killing for the Palestinian people, whether at the hands of the Israeli army or armed settlers," said one observer.
Oct 18, 2024
The killing of a 59-year-old woman who eyewitnesses said was shot in the back by a member of the Israel Defense Forces while she was harvesting olives on her land in the West Bank on Thursday highlighted what one United Nations official called a "war-like" assault by Israeli soldiers and settlers in the illegally occupied Palestinian territory.
Hanan Abu Salameh was working with relatives in her family's olive grove in the village of Faqqua, located east of Jenin in the northern West Bank, when IDF soldiers posted on the nearby separation barrier along the Israeli border opened fire on them, Faris Abu Salameh, the slain woman's son, toldMiddle East Eye.
Abu Salameh—who saw his mother get shot—said his family and other villagers had permission from Israeli occupation authorities to harvest olives on their lands if they stayed at least 100 meters (328 feet) from the wall.
"We were much further than that from the wall," he said. "All of a sudden they started shooting randomly. We started collecting our things to leave and moved away. My father waved his white hat in the air hoping they would stop. They shot her in the back as we were fleeing the shooting."
The IDF said Friday that it has suspended a deputy commander of the battalion in which the soldier who allegedly shot Abu Salameh served.
"An investigation has been opened by the military police investigating the incident," the IDF said in a statement. "The commander of the force at the time of the incident has been suspended from her position until the end of the investigations."
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said that it has received reports that settlers have carried out 32 attacks against Palestinians and their property, including farms, this month alone. The agency also said that about 600 olive trees—which take 10 years or more to reach maturity—have been destroyed, stolen, or vandalized by Israeli settler-colonists.
"It is, frankly, very concerning that it's not only attacks on people, but it's attacks on their olive groves as well," OCHA spokesperson Jens Laerke said at a Geneva press conference on Friday. "The olive harvest is an economic lifeline for tens of thousands of Palestinian families in the West Bank."
According to the Palestinian Farmers' Union, olives are the number one agricultural product in the West Bank. Between a quarter and one-third of the West Bank's population is estimated to work with olive trees and associated products, including oil and soap. Israeli occupation forces have severely and systematically restricted Palestinians' access to their own land, causing serious economic losses.
"Israeli forces have been using lethal, war-like tactics in the West Bank, raising serious concerns over excessive use of force and deepening people's humanitarian needs," Laerke added.
Israeli attacks on olive farmers began on the very first day of this year's harvest season earlier this month, when dozens of masked settlers wounded at least 11 Palestinians including women and children. Settlers including members of the violent extremist group Hilltop Youth have also stolen land from Palestinians in the West Bank.
The United States and other nations have imposed sanctions on a handful of the most violent Israeli settlers after incidents including multiple deadly pogroms during which IDF troops have protected and sometimes joined the attackers.
However, the U.S. is also Israel's number one international backer, providing the key Mideast ally with tens of billions of dollars in military aid and diplomatic cover including vetoes of multiple U.N. Security Council cease-fire resolutions.
This, even as Israel is on trial for genocide at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for its conduct in a war of annihilation that has left more than 150,000 Palestinians in Gaza dead, maimed, or missing and millions more forcibly displaced, homeless, starved, and sickened.
In the West Bank, more than 750 Palestinians have been killed and thousands more wounded by Israeli soldiers and settlers since last October, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Ramallah. During that same period, more than 40 Israeli soldiers and civilians have been killed by Palestinians resisting what David Ben-Gurion, the first Israeli prime minister, acknowledged in the 1930s was the "usurpation" of their land by Jewish colonizers.
"The West Bank is Palestinian land," the California-based advocacy group Institute For Middle East Understanding (IMEU) said on social media Friday. "Israeli soldiers have no legal right to be there, yet they have relentlessly invaded Palestinian towns and cities, killing and displacing those who rightfully live there."
More than 700,000 Israelis live in over 140 settlements in the occupied West Bank. Under international law including the Fourth Geneva Convention, both Israel's 57-year occupation of Palestine and its settlements are illegal. In July, the ICJ
issued an advisory opinion that Israel's occupation is an illegal form of apartheid that must end immediately.
"The Biden administration has a duty under U.S. and international law to stop arming Israel as it continues its violence across Gaza, the West Bank, and Lebanon," IMEU added. "Every weapon the U.S. provides enables Israel to kill more civilians and prolong this devastation."
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10 Reasons Netanyahu Should Not Address Congress
Members of Congress should boycott Netanyahu’s address, and the public should join the protests being organized during his visit.
Jul 23, 2024
On Wednesday, July 24, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to deliver his record-setting fourth address to a Joint Session of Congress. Here are 10 compelling reasons why he should not have been invited and why members of Congress should boycott his visit:
- Humanitarian Crisis in Gaza: Under Netanyahu’s leadership, the Israeli government has killed tens of thousands of people in Gaza, predominantly women and children; has forcibly displaced 90% of the population; and has used starvation as a weapon, plunging Gaza into a famine that will likely result in thousands more dead.
- International Criminal Court (ICC) Arrest Warrant: The chief prosecutor of the ICC is seeking an arrest warrant for Netanyahu on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
- International Court of Justice Ruling on Occupied Territories: The International Court of Justice has just issued an unprecedented, sweeping condemnation of Israel’s illegal occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem, a ruling that Netanyahu has denounced as he continues to green light new settlement construction and empower violent settlers.
- Child Rights Abuses:The United Nations secretary-general has listed Netanyahu’s government as a violator of children’s rights, citing horrific instances of abuse and mistreatment of Palestinian children. Netanyahu responded by attacking the United Nations, saying, “The U.N. put itself on the black list of history today.”
- Corruption Charges: Netanyahu is currently under criminal prosecution in Israel for bribery, fraud, and conflict of interest. That’s why U.S. President Joe Biden said it was “reasonable” to conclude that Netanyahu was prolonging the war in Gaza for his political benefit.
- Judicial Independence: Netanyahu has been attempting to undermine the impartiality and independence of the Israeli judiciary. Before October 7, there were massive protests against his efforts to weaken judicial oversight.
- Intelligence Failure: Netanyahu is responsible for the monumental intelligence failure on October 7, 2023, which led to the devastating Hamas terrorist attack. It is considered the worst Israeli intelligence failure since the surprise attack that led to the Arab-Israeli war of 1973.
- Torture and Abuse: Netanyahu’s government has been implicated in the torture and abuse of thousands of Palestinian detainees. Over 9,000 Palestinians from the West Bank have been detained since October 7, while thousands more have been “forcibly disappeared” from Gaza. Netanyahu’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has advocated denying prisoners sufficient food and water and called for the government to deal with overcrowding by shooting prisoners in the head.
- Opposition to a Cease-Fire: While President Biden put forward a cease-fire plan that supposedly came from Israel, Netanyahu immediately dismissed the plan, saying, “We’re committed to continuing the war after the truce,” and that the idea that Israel would agree to a permanent cease-fire before Hamas was destroyed was a “non-starter.” Netanyahu’s government lacks a plan to end the conflict with Hamas other than the extermination of Palestinians.
- No Interest in a Long-Term Solution: On July 17, the Israeli Knesset voted overwhelmingly by 68 to 9 to reject any creation of a Palestinian state, a policy that has been the stated goal of the U.S. government. Netanyahu’s cabinet includes officials such as Security Minister Ben-Gvir and Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi who have called for the expulsion of Palestinians from Gaza.
For these reasons, members of Congress should boycott Netanyahu’s address and the public should join the protests being organized during his visit.
'Disturbing Milestone': Israeli Settler Attacks in West Bank Surpass 1,000 Since October 7
"While a few individuals have been detained, no civilian or soldier has been prosecuted in connection with any of these 1,000 attacks," said a coalition of aid agencies.
Jul 05, 2024
A coalition of aid agencies on Friday implored the international community to take concrete, punitive action against the Israeli government and settlers after the number of settler attacks in the occupied West Bank since October 7 surpassed 1,000.
The Association of International Development Agencies (AIDA), a group of international organizations working in the occupied Palestinian territories, said in a statement that the rate of settler attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank has doubled since the same time last year, from an average of two per day to four.
"At least 10 people, including two children, have been killed during these attacks, and at least 234 have been injured, including 20 children. Since 7 October, 1,260 people, including 600 children, have been forcibly displaced amid settler violence and movement restrictions. The displaced households are from 20 herding and Bedouin communities throughout Area C of the West Bank. As one survivor of settler violence explained, 'No place is safe here.'"
"Settler violence is premeditated and orchestrated by organized groups from known outposts and settlements, with the support of Israel's government, including local and regional settlement councils," the group added, noting the limited sanctions that the United States and the European Union have imposed on individual settlers "have failed to reduce the frequency of attacks."
"While a few individuals have been detained, no civilian or soldier has been prosecuted in connection with any of these 1,000 attacks," AIDA said. "Reports indicate that some illegal outpost farms operated by sanctioned settlers—many of whom have been reported to be at the center of multiple violent incidents—have received hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of material support from the Israeli Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Settlements, the Settlement Administration in the Ministry of Defense, and through local and regional settlement councils."
"Foreign governments must act now to stop this illegal appropriation by taking meaningful measures to hold the Israeli government and perpetrators of these attacks to account."
AIDA urged the international community to "adopt new restrictive measures which go beyond individual settlers to target identified organizations and state entities who promote violence and/or take part in attacks on Palestinian civilians and civilian infrastructure."
The group also argued that the far-right Israeli government "should be held accountable for the repeated and evidence-based allegations that the military and other state authorities are tolerating, enabling, and at times participating in settler violence."
A Human Rights Watch report published in April found that the Israeli military "either took part in or did not protect Palestinians from violent settler attacks in the West Bank that have displaced people from 20 communities and have entirely uprooted at least seven communities" since October 7.
AIDA's statement came days after the Israeli government announced the seizure of nearly five square miles of land in the West Bank—Israel's largest land grab in the occupied Palestinian territory in more than three decades.
Sally Abi Khalil, Middle East and North Africa director for Oxfam International—an AIDA member—said Friday that settler attacks in the West Bank have reached a "disturbing milestone."
"In a context where outpost legalization is being fast-tracked, and Israel is stealing more and more land," said Khalil, "foreign governments must act now to stop this illegal appropriation by taking meaningful measures to hold the Israeli government and perpetrators of these attacks to account."
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