US warns against Israeli settlement expansion after reports of new West Bank plans
BY LAURA KELLY
- 06/12/23 THE HILL
Greg Nash
National Security Council spokesman John Kirby addresses reporters during the daily briefing at the White House on Monday, June 5, 2023.
The Biden administration is reiterating opposition to Israeli settlement expansion in the West Bank that it says undermines efforts to achieve a two-state solution with the Palestinians, following reports that Jerusalem is preparing to announce thousands more housing units in the politically-fraught territory.
Axios reported on Monday that Israel has informed the United States of building plans that include 4,000 housing units in several existing West Bank settlements, suggesting that construction plans related to an area known as E1 near Jerusalem would likely be included in such an announcement.
White House National Security Spokesperson John Kirby on Monday would not confirm if the Israeli government has told Biden officials about plans to announce settlement expansion, but said U.S. policy is consistent in opposing any unilateral decisions to advance Israeli settlements in the West Bank.
“We have long made clear our concerns about additional settlements in the West Bank, that we don’t want to see actions taken that are going to make a two-state solution that much more difficult to achieve,” Kirby said during the White House press briefing.
“We don’t want to see steps taken that only increase the tensions and we’ve been very clear about that. Nothing’s changed about our policy.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is trying to balance a coalition of hard-right members that are key to maintaining his grip on power but who’s political demands — to advance plans to annex the West Bank, permit settlement construction and institute a judicial overhaul — have triggered pushback from the Biden administration.Trump-Milley feud played key role in classified documents caseHouse lawmakers want 5.2 percent pay raise for troops
Among the demands from Netanyahu’s coalition members is to expand Israeli settlements in the West Bank in areas that, for decades, were off limits as part of attempts to advance a two-state solution with the Palestinian Authority.
Last month, State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller issued a statement criticizing the Israeli government’s moves to legitimize the outpost of Homesh in the West Bank that was earlier determined to be built on private, Palestinian land and that went against a policy that had lasted more than 20 years.
National Security Council spokesman John Kirby addresses reporters during the daily briefing at the White House on Monday, June 5, 2023.
The Biden administration is reiterating opposition to Israeli settlement expansion in the West Bank that it says undermines efforts to achieve a two-state solution with the Palestinians, following reports that Jerusalem is preparing to announce thousands more housing units in the politically-fraught territory.
Axios reported on Monday that Israel has informed the United States of building plans that include 4,000 housing units in several existing West Bank settlements, suggesting that construction plans related to an area known as E1 near Jerusalem would likely be included in such an announcement.
White House National Security Spokesperson John Kirby on Monday would not confirm if the Israeli government has told Biden officials about plans to announce settlement expansion, but said U.S. policy is consistent in opposing any unilateral decisions to advance Israeli settlements in the West Bank.
“We have long made clear our concerns about additional settlements in the West Bank, that we don’t want to see actions taken that are going to make a two-state solution that much more difficult to achieve,” Kirby said during the White House press briefing.
“We don’t want to see steps taken that only increase the tensions and we’ve been very clear about that. Nothing’s changed about our policy.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is trying to balance a coalition of hard-right members that are key to maintaining his grip on power but who’s political demands — to advance plans to annex the West Bank, permit settlement construction and institute a judicial overhaul — have triggered pushback from the Biden administration.Trump-Milley feud played key role in classified documents caseHouse lawmakers want 5.2 percent pay raise for troops
Among the demands from Netanyahu’s coalition members is to expand Israeli settlements in the West Bank in areas that, for decades, were off limits as part of attempts to advance a two-state solution with the Palestinian Authority.
Last month, State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller issued a statement criticizing the Israeli government’s moves to legitimize the outpost of Homesh in the West Bank that was earlier determined to be built on private, Palestinian land and that went against a policy that had lasted more than 20 years.
'Blatantly Violating International Law': Israel Plans West Bank Settlement Expansion
One Israel-based group asserted the government's new annexation moves "entrench Jewish supremacy and apartheid in the West Bank."
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, seen here during an October 6, 2022 press conference, said on Monday June 12, 2023 that "big news for the settlements" would be announced "imminently."
(Photo: Gil Cohen-Magen/AFP via Getty Images)
Adalah asserted that Israel's new annexation moves "entrench Jewish supremacy and apartheid in the West Bank" by steps including:The institutional transfer of authority from military to civilian government offices in order to dismantle the authority of the military's administration, assert Israeli state sovereignty, and promote the settlements;
The further "regularization" and expansion of illegal settlements; and
The direct application of Israeli domestic law to the occupied West Bank.
"These are part of an explicit plan by Israel to annex swaths of the West Bank and institute full Israeli sovereignty over them," Adalah asserted. "They violate international law, including the Rome Statute, constituting crimes against humanity (apartheid), war crimes, and a crime of aggression."
In the United States, the progressive political group Justice Democrats called on Congress to pass H.R. 3103, the Defending the Human Rights of Palestinian Children and Families Living Under Israeli Military Occupation Act. The measure—which was introduced last month by Rep. Betty McCollum (D-Minn.)—would ensure that no U.S. tax dollars are used by the Israeli military to imprison Palestinian children, force Palestinians out of their homes or demolish their property, or further expand settlements and steal Palestinian land.
The U.S. gives Israel around $3.8 billion in mostly unconditional military aid each year.
UN Report Accuses Israel of 'Silencing of Civil Society' to Repress PalestiniansOne Israel-based group asserted the government's new annexation moves "entrench Jewish supremacy and apartheid in the West Bank."
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, seen here during an October 6, 2022 press conference, said on Monday June 12, 2023 that "big news for the settlements" would be announced "imminently."
(Photo: Gil Cohen-Magen/AFP via Getty Images)
COMMON DREAMS
Jun 12, 2023
Human rights defenders on Monday blasted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's far-right apartheid government after it reportedly informed the Biden administration of plans to build thousands of new Jewish-only settler homes in the illegally occupied West Bank of Palestine.
Three Israeli and U.S. officials toldAxios that Israel will announce later this month its intention to build at least 4,000 homes in existing West Bank settler colonies. Over the weekend, Israeli and international media reported that Netanyahu's government would postpone plans for what's known as the E1 project due to U.S. pressure.
For two decades Israeli and international human rights experts have called the settlements—which are illegal under Article 49 of the 4th Geneva Convention and the International Criminal Court's (ICC) Rome Statute—part of Israel's apartheid regime. The seizure of Palestinian land in the occupied territories is also a war crime under the Rome Statute.
"The American government can and should materially pressure Israel to stop impeding on Palestinian human rights."
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who opined in 2021 that all—not just most—Arabs should have been ethnically cleansed from Palestine at Israel's birth, said during a Monday press conference that "we will have big news for the settlements in the West Bank imminently."
The Biden administration has largely turned a blind eye to Israeli settlement construction and expansion but says it is strongly opposed to E1 because it would reduce the Palestinian population in East Jerusalem and further diminish faint hopes of any so-called two-state solution.
"Since the new Israeli government was inaugurated in December 2022, it has taken a series of alarming steps to accelerate its annexation of the West Bank, aiming to fulfill its commitments to increase Jewish settlements and ultimately extend Israeli sovereignty across the West Bank," tweeted Adalah, an Israel-based advocacy group for Arab minority rights.
Jun 12, 2023
Human rights defenders on Monday blasted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's far-right apartheid government after it reportedly informed the Biden administration of plans to build thousands of new Jewish-only settler homes in the illegally occupied West Bank of Palestine.
Three Israeli and U.S. officials toldAxios that Israel will announce later this month its intention to build at least 4,000 homes in existing West Bank settler colonies. Over the weekend, Israeli and international media reported that Netanyahu's government would postpone plans for what's known as the E1 project due to U.S. pressure.
For two decades Israeli and international human rights experts have called the settlements—which are illegal under Article 49 of the 4th Geneva Convention and the International Criminal Court's (ICC) Rome Statute—part of Israel's apartheid regime. The seizure of Palestinian land in the occupied territories is also a war crime under the Rome Statute.
"The American government can and should materially pressure Israel to stop impeding on Palestinian human rights."
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who opined in 2021 that all—not just most—Arabs should have been ethnically cleansed from Palestine at Israel's birth, said during a Monday press conference that "we will have big news for the settlements in the West Bank imminently."
The Biden administration has largely turned a blind eye to Israeli settlement construction and expansion but says it is strongly opposed to E1 because it would reduce the Palestinian population in East Jerusalem and further diminish faint hopes of any so-called two-state solution.
"Since the new Israeli government was inaugurated in December 2022, it has taken a series of alarming steps to accelerate its annexation of the West Bank, aiming to fulfill its commitments to increase Jewish settlements and ultimately extend Israeli sovereignty across the West Bank," tweeted Adalah, an Israel-based advocacy group for Arab minority rights.
Adalah asserted that Israel's new annexation moves "entrench Jewish supremacy and apartheid in the West Bank" by steps including:The institutional transfer of authority from military to civilian government offices in order to dismantle the authority of the military's administration, assert Israeli state sovereignty, and promote the settlements;
The further "regularization" and expansion of illegal settlements; and
The direct application of Israeli domestic law to the occupied West Bank.
"These are part of an explicit plan by Israel to annex swaths of the West Bank and institute full Israeli sovereignty over them," Adalah asserted. "They violate international law, including the Rome Statute, constituting crimes against humanity (apartheid), war crimes, and a crime of aggression."
In the United States, the progressive political group Justice Democrats called on Congress to pass H.R. 3103, the Defending the Human Rights of Palestinian Children and Families Living Under Israeli Military Occupation Act. The measure—which was introduced last month by Rep. Betty McCollum (D-Minn.)—would ensure that no U.S. tax dollars are used by the Israeli military to imprison Palestinian children, force Palestinians out of their homes or demolish their property, or further expand settlements and steal Palestinian land.
The U.S. gives Israel around $3.8 billion in mostly unconditional military aid each year.
Ben-Gvir Seeks Power to Impose Administrative Detention
Itamar Ben-Gvir introduced a bill in parliament allowing him to issue administrative detention orders against Palestinians, Israeli media reported on Sunday.
According to Channel 14, the bill is set to be filed by MK Zvika Fogel from Ben-Gvir’s Otzma Yehudit party and chairman of the Knesset’s National Security Committee.
Introducing the bill through the committee will enable Ben-Gvir’s party to skip preliminary steps that would have allowed the government’s legal advisers, particularly Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, to raise objections, Channel 14 added.
Observers say that far-right extremist Ben-Gvir’s aim is to strengthen his grip over the Arab community in Israel on the pretext of fighting crime.
Israel’s illegal policy of administrative detention is a pre-emptive measure that allows the detention of Palestinians without charge or trial for lengthy periods of time based on disclosed allegations that even a detainee’s lawyer is barred from viewing.
Israeli occupation is currently holding more than 1,000 Palestinian detainees without charge or trial, the highest number since 2003, according to the Israeli human rights group HaMoked.
Ben-Gvir, an ultranationalist, is serving as the Netanyahu government’s national security minister. He was convicted in 2007 of supporting a terror organization and inciting racism.
"We were particularly alarmed by the situation of Palestinian human rights defenders," reads the report, "who are routinely subject to a range of punitive measures as part of the occupation regime."
Palestinians take part in a protest against the Israeli decision to declare six Palestinian human rights groups as "terror organisations", in Gaza City on November 10, 2021.
(Photo: Mahmud Hams/AFP via Getty Images)
COMMON DREAMS
Jun 09, 2023
Civil society groups in Israel and Palestine face serious human rights violations by Israeli authorities seeking to perpetuate an illegal occupation and apartheid regime, according to a report published Thursday by the United Nations Human Rights Council.
The report—authored by the Independent International Commission Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory—examines "attacks, restrictions, and harassment of civil society actors by all duty bearers," including the Israeli government and occupation forces, the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and Hamas in Gaza.
"We concluded that all duty bearers are engaged in limiting the rights to freedom of expression and peaceful association," U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said in a statement. "We were particularly alarmed by the situation of Palestinian human rights defenders, who are routinely subject to a range of punitive measures as part of the occupation regime."
Jun 09, 2023
Civil society groups in Israel and Palestine face serious human rights violations by Israeli authorities seeking to perpetuate an illegal occupation and apartheid regime, according to a report published Thursday by the United Nations Human Rights Council.
The report—authored by the Independent International Commission Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory—examines "attacks, restrictions, and harassment of civil society actors by all duty bearers," including the Israeli government and occupation forces, the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and Hamas in Gaza.
"We concluded that all duty bearers are engaged in limiting the rights to freedom of expression and peaceful association," U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said in a statement. "We were particularly alarmed by the situation of Palestinian human rights defenders, who are routinely subject to a range of punitive measures as part of the occupation regime."
The commission found that "the Israeli authorities' silencing of civil society voices that challenge government policies and narrative is intrinsically linked to the goal of ensuring and enshrining the permanent occupation at the expense of the rights of the Palestinian people."
"This includes criminalizing Palestinian civil society organizations and their members by labeling them as 'terrorists,' pressuring and threatening institutions that give a platform for civil society discourse, actively lobbying donors, and implementing measures intended to cut sources of funding to civil society," the report states.
According to the publication:
The Israeli authorities' use of anti-terror legislation to categorize civil society organizations as terrorist organizations aims to delegitimize and isolate them and undermine their activity, and to harm their international funding and support. The commission concludes on reasonable grounds that the designations by Israeli authorities of six Palestinian NGOs as terrorist organizations and a seventh Palestinian NGO as unlawful were unjustified, undertaken to silence civil society voices, and violate human rights, including freedom of association, freedom of expression and opinion, and the rights to peaceful assembly, to privacy, and to fair trial.
Israeli officials claim the six humanitarian groups—Addameer, AlHaq, the Bisan Center for Research and Development, Defense for Children International—Palestine, the Union of Agricultural Work Committees, and the Union of Palestinian Women Committees—have ties to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a secular political movement with an armed wing that has carried out resistance attacks against Israel. The groups deny the accusation, and a probe by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency found no evidence supporting Israel's claim.
The report further states that "Israeli authorities are increasingly using surveillance to monitor the activities of human rights defenders, including through spyware planted on mobile phones," including by planting Pegasus spyware manufactured by the Israeli company NSO Group on the phones of Palestinian human rights workers and Israeli activists participating in 2020 protests against the last Netanyahu government.
A section of the report on the far-right government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu notes:
In late 2022, a new government in Israel was sworn in, with a stated mission of weakening the judiciary and increasing government control of the media and freedom of expression, which would have a significant impact on civil society in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory. In February 2023, the government started enacting new legislation to weaken judicial independence amid large-scale countrywide demonstrations. The proposed changes would dismantle fundamental features of the separation of powers and of the checks and balances essential in democratic political systems. Legal experts have warned that they risk weakening human rights protections, especially for the most vulnerable and disfavored communities, including Palestinian citizens of Israel, asylum-seekers, and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer persons.
The report states that Israeli authorities are subjecting both Israeli and Palestinian journalists to monitoring and harassment, with Palestinians being "particularly targeted" for intimidation, "attacks, arrests, detention, and accusations of incitement to violence, seemingly as part of an effort to deter them from continuing their work."
According to the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists, Israeli forces have killed 20 journalists this century, with none of the killers ever facing prosecution. These include at least one U.S. citizen, Al Jazeera correspondent Shireen Abu Akleh, who was shot dead by an Israeli sniper while covering a May 2022 raid on the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank. Al Jazeera producer Ali Samodi was shot in the back but survived. An independent international probe subsequently concluded that Abu Akleh's "extrajudicial killing" was "deliberate."
On Wednesday, 22-year-old Palestinian photojournalist Momen Samreen, who was covering Israeli forces' demolition of a suspected Palestinian militant's family home—an illegal act of collective punishment—was shot in the head with a "less-lethal" projectile and was hospitalized in serious condition.
The Israeli government—which maintains that the commission of inquiry "has no legitimacy"—rejected the report's findings. Israel's U.N. mission in Switzerland said that "Israel has a robust and independent civil society which is composed of thousands of NGOs, human rights defenders, [and] national and international media outlets, that can operate freely."
The report also states that the Palestinian Authority and Hamas are targeting human rights defenders "with the aim of silencing dissenting opinions," and that activists, journalists, and others have been harassed, intimidated, and in some cases arbitrarily arrested and jailed.
"The commission has received information on the use of torture and ill-treatment to punish and intimidate critics and opponents by internal security officials in Gaza and intelligence services, preventive security officials, and law enforcement officials in the West Bank," the report says. "The frequency and severity, and the absence of accountability, suggest that such cases are widespread."
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