Uw berichtgeving dd 16 augustus ”Aanvallen kolonisten in dorp Westoever”
Ik zeg het eerlijk:
Uw berichtgeving is er beslist op vooruitgegaan, omdat ik nu
[al is het nog veel te weinig] steeds vaker zie, dat u niet alleen
meer oog krijgt voor het Palestijnse lijden onder de Israelische
bezetting, maar ook het Internationaal Recht duidelijker benoemt.
Zo hebt u in een eerder bericht vrijwel voor het eerst [want ik
volg uw berichtgeving vrij nauwkeurig] vermeld, dat de Israelische
nederzettingen in strijd zijn met het Internationaal Recht [1]
Daarmee heb ik u dan ook een compliment gemaakt [2]
Dat is weleens anders geweest [3]
Ook in een van uw recente berichten, ”Aanval kolonisten in dorp
Westoever” [Zie bericht onder P/S] hebt u getoond, niet alleen
duidelijk oog te hebben voor Palestijns Lijden onder de Israelische bezetting
[die u bij naam en toenaam genoemd hebt, wat in het verleden ook
niet altijd duidelijk gebeurde, een vooruitgang dus], ook hebt
u het kolonistengeweld loud and clear benoemd.
Ook benoemt u hier duidelijk het feit, dat de nederzettingen illegaal zijn
Ik citeer u:
”Geregeld zijn Palestijnse dorpen het doelwit van kolonisten, die hun illegale nederzettingen
willen uitbreiden.’
Zie onder P/S
GOED ZO!
Toch zou het wat duidelijker geweest zijn, als had toegevoegd, dat de
nederzettingen illegaal zijn VOLGENS HET INTERNATIONAAL RECHT [4]
Dat is dan duidelijker voor de lezer
Weet u wat?
Maak er een standaardzin van, dat zodra u bericht over kolonisten
en nederzettingen, dat u even als laatste zin vermeldt
”De in de bezette Palestijnse gebieden Westoever en Oost-Jeruzalem [want daar zijn ook
kolonisten actief] gestichte nederzettingen zijn illegaal volgens het Internationaal Recht”
Dan zit u altijd goed
Dat wil echter niet zeggen, dat er op uw berichtgeving geen fundamentele
zaken zijn aan te merken.
En die ga ik nu benoemen:
1
GEWELD KOLONISTEN DOOR ISRAELISCHE STAAT EN LEGER
GESTIMULEERD, GEDEKT EN GESTEUND!
Ten eerste wil ik u erop wijzen, dat dat door u terecht genoemde
kolonistengeweld [zie uw bericht onder P/S] niet uit de lucht
komt vallen en niet op zichzelf staat:
Het leger en dus ook de Israelische Staat hebben hierin een
flinke vinger in de pap.
Vaak komt het voor, dat het Israelische leger de zich aan geweld
tegen Palestijnen schuldig makende kolonisten gewoon
hun gang gaan [5] en erger nog: de aangevallen Palestijnen van hun eigen land gooit, waarbij wordt gevuurd met traangas, granaten, rubber kogels or worse [6]
En vaak ook worden kolonisten bij
hun aanvallen openlijk gesteund door het Israelische leger! [7]
In het Rapport ”STATE BUSINESS, ISRAEL’S MISAPPROPRIATION
OF LAND IN THE WEST BANK THROUGH SETTLER’S VIOLENCE”
[8] heeft de Israelische mensenrechtenorganisatie B’tselem deze kolonisten
praktijken en de gedoging en betrokkenheid van het Israelische leger
en de Staat uitgebreid beschreven.
Dat dit kolonistengeweld wordt gebacked door Staat en leger moet u dus
ook in uw berichtgeving opnemen.
Want dat relativeert de schijnheilige reactie van premier Netanyahu:
[Ik citeer uw berichtgeving]
”Premier Netanyahu heeft de aanval van gisteren scherp veroordeeld”
Jaja, nadat de Staat en zeker ook zijn fascistische regering [9] jarenlang
de kolonisten hun gang hebben laten gaan en openlijk gesteund!
Laat me niet lachen.
2
GEWELD OP DE WESTOEVER
Ik citeer uw berichtgeving [Zie P/S]
”Sinds de oorlog in de Gazastrook is ook het geweld op de
Westoever opgelaaid.”
Dat is om verschillende redenen onjuist aangeduid:
In de eerste plaats is de term ”Geweld” te vaag
Het kan duiden op geweld [verzet is een betere term en wel gelegitin=meerd
verzet tegen de bezetter!] van Palestijnse kant, het kan duiden op de
beruchte ”twee partijen”, dus geweld van Palestijnse en Israelische zijde EN het
kan specifiek Israelisch geweld aanduiden.
En inderdaad is het Geweld sinds de oorlog in de Gazastrook [zeg ;liever
de Israelische INVAL in de Gazastrook] op de Westoever toegenomen, maar
dan in de vorm van allerhande Israelische terreur tegen de Palestijnse bevolking,
met wel de meest huiveringwekkende consequenties de vrijwel Genocide daar.
Dat zeg ik niet:
Ik baseer mij op de ”ACTIVE GENOCIDE ALERT”, uitgegeven door the Lemkin
Institute for Genocide Prevention. [10]
Trouwens:
De Israelische terreur op de West Bank is weliswaar sinds de oorlog in
Gaza weliswaar veel meer ”opgelaaid” [in uw terminologie: Het ”Geweld”
is veel meer opgelaaid], maar vlak de Israelische bezettingsterreur VOOR
de oorlog in Gaza ook niet uit! [11]
SAMENGEVAT
U hebt een paar goede punten vermeld in uw berichtgeving/GOED ZO
Maar ook een aantal wezenlijke zaken weggelaten of gebagatelliseerd
Dat kolonistengeweld staat niet op zichzelf, maar wordt ondersteund en
in ieder geval gedoogd door de Israelische Sttaat en het Leger [12]
En het ”Geweld” op de Westoever is veel meer dan Geweld:
Er wordt na onderzoek zelfs van genocide gesproken [13]
Bovendien was dat vooral Israelische Staatsgeweld er al jaren en jaren [14]
Drukt u zich dus bij een volgende berichtgeving wat steviger uit, graag
Tientallen joodse kolonisten hebben op de bezette Westelijke Jordaanoever
Palestijnse huizen in brand gestoken.
Daarbij zouden een dode en een gewonde zijn gevallen.
Vier huizen en zes auto”s zouden in vlammen zijn opgegaan.
Sinds de oorlog in de Gazastrook is ook het geweld op de
Westoever opgelaaid.
Geregeld zijn Palestijnse dorpen het doelwit van kolonisten, die hun illegale nederzettingen
willen uitbreiden.
Premier Netanyahu heeft de aanval van gisteren scherp veroordeeld, net als de
ultrarechtse minister Smotrich-zelf een kolonist.
Vorig jaar zei Smotrich nog na een vergelijkbare aanval, dat dat dorp
moest worden uitgeroeid.
EINDE NOS ELETEKSTBERICHT
ORIGINEEL BERICHT
https://nos.nl/teletekst/125
NOS Teletekst 125Nederlandse Omroep StichtingNOS.nl - Nieuws, Sport en Evenementen op Radio, TV en Internet
Aanval kolonisten in dorp Westoever
Tientallen joodse kolonisten hebben
op de bezette Westelijke Jordaanoever
Palestijnse huizen in brand gestoken.
Daarbij zouden een dode en een gewonde
zijn gevallen.Vier huizen en zes auto's
zouden in vlammen zijn opgegaan.
Sinds de oorlog in de Gazastrook is ook
het geweld op de Westoever opgelaaid.
Geregeld zijn Palestijnse dorpen het
doelwit van kolonisten die hun illegale
nederzettingen willen uitbreiden.
Premier Netanyahu heeft de aanval van
gisteren scherp veroordeeld,net als de
ultrarechtse minister Smotrich - zelf
een kolonist.Vorig jaar zei Smotrich
nog na een vergelijkbare aanval dat dat
dorp moest worden uitgeroeid.
Reacties uitgeschakeld voor Astrid Essed versus NOS Teletekst: ”NOS Teletekst, benoem het duidelijk: Kolonistengeweld wordt gesteund en gestimuleerd door het Israelische Apartheidsregime!”
Uw berichtgeving dd 16 augustus ”Aanvallen kolonisten in dorp Westoever”
Ik zeg het eerlijk:
Uw berichtgeving is er beslist op vooruitgegaan, omdat ik nu
[al is het nog veel te weinig] steeds vaker zie, dat u niet alleen
meer oog krijgt voor het Palestijnse lijden onder de Israelische
bezetting, maar ook het Internationaal Recht duidelijker benoemt.
Zo hebt u in een eerder bericht vrijwel voor het eerst [want ik
volg uw berichtgeving vrij nauwkeurig] vermeld, dat de Israelische
nederzettingen in strijd zijn met het Internationaal Recht [1]
Daarmee heb ik u dan ook een compliment gemaakt [2]
Dat is weleens anders geweest [3]
Ook in een van uw recente berichten, ”Aanval kolonisten in dorp
Westoever” [Zie bericht onder P/S] hebt u getoond, niet alleen
duidelijk oog te hebben voor Palestijns Lijden onder de Israelische bezetting
[die u bij naam en toenaam genoemd hebt, wat in het verleden ook
niet altijd duidelijk gebeurde, een vooruitgang dus], ook hebt
u het kolonistengeweld loud and clear benoemd.
Ook benoemt u hier duidelijk het feit, dat de nederzettingen illegaal zijn
Ik citeer u:
”Geregeld zijn Palestijnse dorpen het doelwit van kolonisten, die hun illegale nederzettingen
willen uitbreiden.’
Zie onder P/S
GOED ZO!
Toch zou het wat duidelijker geweest zijn, als had toegevoegd, dat de
nederzettingen illegaal zijn VOLGENS HET INTERNATIONAAL RECHT [4]
Dat is dan duidelijker voor de lezer
Weet u wat?
Maak er een standaardzin van, dat zodra u bericht over kolonisten
en nederzettingen, dat u even als laatste zin vermeldt
”De in de bezette Palestijnse gebieden Westoever en Oost-Jeruzalem [want daar zijn ook
kolonisten actief] gestichte nederzettingen zijn illegaal volgens het Internationaal Recht”
Dan zit u altijd goed
Dat wil echter niet zeggen, dat er op uw berichtgeving geen fundamentele
zaken zijn aan te merken.
En die ga ik nu benoemen:
1
GEWELD KOLONISTEN DOOR ISRAELISCHE STAAT EN LEGER
GESTIMULEERD, GEDEKT EN GESTEUND!
Ten eerste wil ik u erop wijzen, dat dat door u terecht genoemde
kolonistengeweld [zie uw bericht onder P/S] niet uit de lucht
komt vallen en niet op zichzelf staat:
Het leger en dus ook de Israelische Staat hebben hierin een
flinke vinger in de pap.
Vaak komt het voor, dat het Israelische leger de zich aan geweld
tegen Palestijnen schuldig makende kolonisten gewoon
hun gang gaan [5] en erger nog: de aangevallen Palestijnen van hun eigen land gooit, waarbij wordt gevuurd met traangas, granaten, rubber kogels or worse [6]
En vaak ook worden kolonisten bij
hun aanvallen openlijk gesteund door het Israelische leger! [7]
In het Rapport ”STATE BUSINESS, ISRAEL’S MISAPPROPRIATION
OF LAND IN THE WEST BANK THROUGH SETTLER’S VIOLENCE”
[8] heeft de Israelische mensenrechtenorganisatie B’tselem deze kolonisten
praktijken en de gedoging en betrokkenheid van het Israelische leger
en de Staat uitgebreid beschreven.
Dat dit kolonistengeweld wordt gebacked door Staat en leger moet u dus
ook in uw berichtgeving opnemen.
Want dat relativeert de schijnheilige reactie van premier Netanyahu:
[Ik citeer uw berichtgeving]
”Premier Netanyahu heeft de aanval van gisteren scherp veroordeeld”
Jaja, nadat de Staat en zeker ook zijn fascistische regering [9] jarenlang
de kolonisten hun gang hebben laten gaan en openlijk gesteund!
Laat me niet lachen.
2
GEWELD OP DE WESTOEVER
Ik citeer uw berichtgeving [Zie P/S]
”Sinds de oorlog in de Gazastrook is ook het geweld op de
Westoever opgelaaid.”
Dat is om verschillende redenen onjuist aangeduid:
In de eerste plaats is de term ”Geweld” te vaag
Het kan duiden op geweld [verzet is een betere term en wel gelegitin=meerd
verzet tegen de bezetter!] van Palestijnse kant, het kan duiden op de
beruchte ”twee partijen”, dus geweld van Palestijnse en Israelische zijde EN het
kan specifiek Israelisch geweld aanduiden.
En inderdaad is het Geweld sinds de oorlog in de Gazastrook [zeg ;liever
de Israelische INVAL in de Gazastrook] op de Westoever toegenomen, maar
dan in de vorm van allerhande Israelische terreur tegen de Palestijnse bevolking,
met wel de meest huiveringwekkende consequenties de vrijwel Genocide daar.
Dat zeg ik niet:
Ik baseer mij op de ”ACTIVE GENOCIDE ALERT”, uitgegeven door the Lemkin
Institute for Genocide Prevention. [10]
Trouwens:
De Israelische terreur op de West Bank is weliswaar sinds de oorlog in
Gaza weliswaar veel meer ”opgelaaid” [in uw terminologie: Het ”Geweld”
is veel meer opgelaaid], maar vlak de Israelische bezettingsterreur VOOR
de oorlog in Gaza ook niet uit! [11]
SAMENGEVAT
U hebt een paar goede punten vermeld in uw berichtgeving/GOED ZO
Maar ook een aantal wezenlijke zaken weggelaten of gebagatelliseerd
Dat kolonistengeweld staat niet op zichzelf, maar wordt ondersteund en
in ieder geval gedoogd door de Israelische Sttaat en het Leger [12]
En het ”Geweld” op de Westoever is veel meer dan Geweld:
Er wordt na onderzoek zelfs van genocide gesproken [13]
Bovendien was dat vooral Israelische Staatsgeweld er al jaren en jaren [14]
Drukt u zich dus bij een volgende berichtgeving wat steviger uit, graag
Tientallen joodse kolonisten hebben op de bezette Westelijke Jordaanoever
Palestijnse huizen in brand gestoken.
Daarbij zouden een dode en een gewonde zijn gevallen.
Vier huizen en zes auto”s zouden in vlammen zijn opgegaan.
Sinds de oorlog in de Gazastrook is ook het geweld op de
Westoever opgelaaid.
Geregeld zijn Palestijnse dorpen het doelwit van kolonisten, die hun illegale nederzettingen
willen uitbreiden.
Premier Netanyahu heeft de aanval van gisteren scherp veroordeeld, net als de
ultrarechtse minister Smotrich-zelf een kolonist.
Vorig jaar zei Smotrich nog na een vergelijkbare aanval, dat dat dorp
moest worden uitgeroeid.
EINDE NOS ELETEKSTBERICHT
ORIGINEEL BERICHT
https://nos.nl/teletekst/125
NOS Teletekst 125Nederlandse Omroep StichtingNOS.nl - Nieuws, Sport en Evenementen op Radio, TV en Internet
Aanval kolonisten in dorp Westoever
Tientallen joodse kolonisten hebben
op de bezette Westelijke Jordaanoever
Palestijnse huizen in brand gestoken.
Daarbij zouden een dode en een gewonde
zijn gevallen.Vier huizen en zes auto's
zouden in vlammen zijn opgegaan.
Sinds de oorlog in de Gazastrook is ook
het geweld op de Westoever opgelaaid.
Geregeld zijn Palestijnse dorpen het
doelwit van kolonisten die hun illegale
nederzettingen willen uitbreiden.
Premier Netanyahu heeft de aanval van
gisteren scherp veroordeeld,net als de
ultrarechtse minister Smotrich - zelf
een kolonist.Vorig jaar zei Smotrich
nog na een vergelijkbare aanval dat dat
dorp moest worden uitgeroeid.
Reacties uitgeschakeld voor Mail Astrid Essed aan NOS Teletekst/”Uw berichtgeving dd 16 augustus ”Aanvallen kolonisten in dorp Westoever”
Westelijke Jordaanoever meer dan 3300 nieuwe woningen voor
Israelische kolonisten.
Vorige maand kondigde de minister van Financien aan, dat
de woningen worden gebouwd uit wraak voor een terroristische
aanslag van Palestijnen.
Volgens de krant Haaretz komen er zo’n 2450 woningen bij in Maale
Adumim, een nederzetting ten oosten van Jeruzalem.
De andere komen in Efrat en Kedar, die wat zuidelijker liggen.
Op de Westoever wonen zo’n drie miljoen Palestijnen en
ruim 600 000 kolonisten.
Volgens het Internationaal Recht zijn de nederzettingen illegaal.
EINDE NOS TELETEKSTBERICHT
ORIGINELE TELETEKSTBERICHT
https://teletekst-data.nos.nl/webplus?p=129 Israël bouwt meer huizen Westoever Israël zet zijn plannen door om op de bezette Westelijke Jordaanoever meer dan 3300 nieuwe woningen te bouwen voor Israëlische kolonisten.Vorige maand kondigde de minister van Financiën aan dat de woningen worden gebouwd uit wraak voor een terroristische aanslag van Palestijnen. Volgens de krant Haaretz komen er zo’n 2450 woningen bij in Maale Adumim,een nederzetting ten oosten van Jeruzalem. De andere komen in Efrat en Kedar,die wat zuidelijker liggen. Op de Westoever wonen zo’n 3 miljoen Palestijnen en ruim 600.000 kolonisten.
– NOS Teletekst
Volgens het internationaal recht zijn de nederzettingen illegaal.
”Maar ik heb ook kritiek, want zoals bij u helaas wel
vaker het geval is, is uw berichtgeving incompleet, wat
bij de lezer tot onduidelijkheid en/of verwarring kan leiden.
Want weliswaar bericht u over de gruweldaden van kolonisten,
maar u legt niet uit, wat kolonisten precies zijn en hoe
zij zich verhouden tot het Internationaal Recht.
IN STRIJD MET HET INTERNATIONAAL RECHT
Kolonisten zijn bewoners van op bezet Palestijns gebied gebouwde
Israelische nederzettingen en deze nederzettingen zijn in strijd
met het Internationaal Recht, gebaseerd op artikel 49, 4e Conventie
van Geneve en het Haags Verdrag uit 1907
Zie noot 9
In artikel 49, 4e Conventie van Geneve wordt gezegd [ik citeer
Amnesty International] ”Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention states: “The Occupying Power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies.” [10]
Duidelijk dus en voor u nog even ter toelichting:
Het is aan de Bezettende Macht [u weet uiteraard, dat Israel de Palestijnse
gebieden bezet] om zijn bevolking over te brengen naar bezet gebied.
En dat gebeurt met die nederzettingenpolitiek, omdat Joodse Israeli’s
zich in die nederzettingen vestigen met toestemming van de
Israelische Overheid, die het op allerlei wijzen stimuleert, bijvoorbeeld
door uitbreidingen van die nederzettingen [11]
Ook heeft de EU de Israelische nederzettingen altijd veroordeeld
als zijnde in strijd met het Internationaal Recht, nog in maart 2023! [12]
Daarbij is het duidelijk, dat het ook nog eens landdiefstal is,
omdat het bezet gebied is en Israel, noch die kolonisten,
daar iets te zoeken hebben, wat hun terreur en gewelddaden nog
bizarder maakt.
Van het grootste belang is het dus, dat u, naast uw berichtgeving
over de gewelddaden van de kolonisten, ook vermeldt wie die
kolonisten nu eigenlijk zijn, met de o zo noodzakelijke informatie
dat hun behuizingen, die nederzettingen, in strijd zijn met
het Internationaal Recht!
Ik reken er dus op, dat u dat bij een volgende berichtgeving
WEL vermeldt.”
MAIL AAN NOS TELETEKSTREDACTIE/KRITIEK EN LOF
OVER BERICHTGEVING/”KOLONISTEN RICHTEN BLOEDBADEN AAN”
” the State of Israel is under an obligation to bring to an end its unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory as rapidly as possible;
the State of Israel is under an obligation to cease immediately all new settlement activities, and to evacuate all settlers from the Occupied Palestinian Territory; ”
……
……
”As regards Israel’s settlement policy (paras. 111-156), the Court reaffirms what it stated in its Advisory Opinion on the Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory of 9 July 2004, that the Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and the régime associated with them, have been established and are being maintained in violation of international law. The Court notes with grave concern reports that Israel’s settlement policy has been expanding since the Court’s 2004 Advisory Opinion.”
INTERNATIONAL COURT OF JUSTICE
LEGAL CONSEQUENCES ARISING FROM THE POLITICS AND PRACTICES
OF ISRAEL IN THE OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORY, INCLUDING EAST
Legal Consequences arising from the Policies and Practices of Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem
The Court gives its Advisory Opinion and responds to the questions posed by the General Assembly
THE HAGUE, 19 July 2024.
The International Court of Justice has today given its Advisory Opinion in respect of the Legal Consequences arising from the Policies and Practices of Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem.
It is recalled that, on 30 December 2022, the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted resolution A/RES/77/247 in which, referring to Article 65 of the Statute of the Court, it requested the International Court of Justice to give an advisory opinion on the following questions:
(a)
What are the legal consequences arising from the ongoing violation by Israel of the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination, from its prolonged occupation, settlement and annexation of the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967, including measures aimed at altering the demographic composition, character and status of the Holy City of Jerusalem, and from its adoption of related discriminatory legislation and measures?
(b) How do the policies and practices of Israel referred to . . . above affect the legal status of the occupation, and what are the legal consequences that arise for all States and the United Nations from this status?”
In its Advisory Opinion, the Court responds to the questions posed by the General Assembly by concluding that:
the State of Israel’s continued presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory is unlawful;
the State of Israel is under an obligation to bring to an end its unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory as rapidly as possible;
the State of Israel is under an obligation to cease immediately all new settlement activities, and to evacuate all settlers from the Occupied Palestinian Territory;
the State of Israel has the obligation to make reparation for the damage caused to all the natural or legal persons concerned in the Occupied Palestinian Territory;
PAGE 2
– 2 –
all States are under an obligation not to recognize as legal the situation arising from the unlawful presence of the State of Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and not to render aid or assistance in maintaining the situation created by the continued presence of the State of Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory;
international organizations, including the United Nations, are under an obligation not to recognize as legal the situation arising from the unlawful presence of the State of Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory; and
the United Nations, and especially the General Assembly, which requested the opinion, and the Security Council, should consider the precise modalities and further action required to bring to an end as rapidly as possible the unlawful presence of the State of Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
Reasoning of the Court
After concluding that it has jurisdiction to render the requested opinion and that there are no compelling reasons for it to decline to give an opinion (paras. 22-50), the Court recalls the general context of the case (paras. 51-71) and addresses the scope and meaning of the two questions posed by the General Assembly (paras. 72-83).
The Court then assesses the conformity of Israel’s policies and practices in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, as identified in question (a), with its obligations under international law. In particular, the Court’s analysis examines, in turn, the questions of the prolonged occupation, Israel’s policy of settlement, the question of the annexation of the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967, and Israel’s adoption of related legislation and measures that are allegedly discriminatory (paras. 103-243).
With regard to the question of the prolonged occupation of the Occupied Palestinian Territory, which has lasted for more than 57 years (paras. 104-110), the Court observes that, by virtue of its status as an occupying Power, a State assumes a set of powers and duties with respect to the territory over which it exercises effective control.
The nature and scope of these powers and duties are always premised on the same assumption: that occupation is a temporary situation to respond to military necessity, and it cannot transfer title of sovereignty to the occupying Power.
In the Court’s view, the fact that an occupation is prolonged does not in itself change its legal status under international humanitarian law.
Although premised on the temporary character of the occupation, the law of occupation does not set temporal limits that would, as such, alter the legal status of the occupation
Occupation consists of the exercise by a State of effective control in foreign territory.
In order to be permissible, therefore, such exercise of effective control must at all times be consistent with the rules concerning the prohibition of the threat or use of force, including the prohibition of territorial acquisition resulting from the threat or use of force, as well as with the right to self‑determination.
Therefore, the fact that an occupation is prolonged may have a bearing on the justification under international law of the occupying Power’s continued presence in the occupied territory.
As regards Israel’s settlement policy (paras. 111-156), the Court reaffirms what it stated in its Advisory Opinion on the Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory of 9 July 2004, that the Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and the régime associated with them, have been established and are being maintained in violation of international law. The Court notes with grave concern reports that Israel’s settlement policy has been expanding since the Court’s 2004 Advisory Opinion.
PAGE 3
– 3 –
As regards the question of the annexation of the Occupied Palestinian Territory (paras. 157-179), it is the view of the Court that to seek to acquire sovereignty over an occupied territory, as shown by the policies and practices adopted by Israel in East Jerusalem and the West Bank, is contrary to the prohibition of the use of force in international relations and its corollary principle of the non-acquisition of territory by force.
The Court then examines the question of the legal consequences arising from Israel’s adoption of related discriminatory legislation and measures (paras. 180-229).
It concludes that a broad array of legislation adopted and measures taken by Israel in its capacity as an occupying Power treat Palestinians differently on grounds specified by international law.
The Court notes that this differentiation of treatment cannot be justified with reference to reasonable and objective criteria nor to a legitimate public aim.
Accordingly, the Court is of the view that the régime of comprehensive restrictions imposed by Israel on Palestinians in the Occupied Palestinian Territory constitutes systemic discrimination based on, inter alia, race, religion or ethnic origin, in violation of Articles 2, paragraph 1, and 26 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Article 2, paragraph 2, of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and Article 2 of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.
The Court then turns to the aspect of question (a) that enquires as to the effects of Israel’s policies and practices on the exercise of the Palestinian people’s right to self‑determination (paras. 230-243).
In this regard, the Court is of the view that, as a consequence of Israel’s policies and practices, which span decades, the Palestinian people has been deprived of its right to self‑determination over a long period, and further prolongation of these policies and practices undermines the exercise of this right in the future.
For these reasons, the Court considers that Israel’s unlawful policies and practices are in breach of Israel’s obligation to respect the right of the Palestinian people to self‑determination.
Turning to the first part of question (b), the Court examines whether and, if so, how the policies and practices of Israel have affected the legal status of the occupation in light of the relevant rules and principles of international law (paras. 244-264).
In this respect, the Court first considers that the first part of question (b) is not whether the policies and practices of Israel affect the legal status of the occupation as such.
Rather, the Court is of the view that the scope of the first part of the second question concerns the manner in which Israel’s policies and practices affect the legal status of the occupation, and thereby the legality of the continued presence of Israel, as an occupying Power, in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
This legality is to be determined under the rules and principles of general international law, including those of the Charter of the United Nations.
In this context, the Court is of the view that Israel’s assertion of sovereignty and its annexation of certain parts of the territory constitute a violation of the prohibition of the acquisition of territory by force
This violation has a direct impact on the legality of Israel’s continued presence, as an occupying Power, in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
The Court considers that Israel is not entitled to sovereignty over or to exercise sovereign powers in any part of the Occupied Palestinian Territory on account of its occupation.
Nor can Israel’s security concerns override the principle of the prohibition of the acquisition of territory by force.
The Court further observes that the effects of Israel’s policies and practices, and its exercise of sovereignty over certain parts of the Occupied Palestinian Territory, constitute an obstruction to the exercise by the Palestinian people of its right to self-determination.
The effects of these policies and practices include Israel’s annexation of parts of the Occupied Palestinian Territory, the fragmentation of this territory, undermining its integrity, the deprivation of the Palestinian people of the enjoyment of the natural resources of the territory and its impairment of the Palestinian people’s right to pursue its economic, social and cultural development.
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The Court is of the view that the above-described effects of Israel’s policies and practices, resulting, inter alia, in the prolonged deprivation of the Palestinian people of its right to self-determination, constitute a breach of this fundamental right.
This breach has a direct impact on the legality of Israel’s presence, as an occupying Power, in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
The Court is of the view that occupation cannot be used in such a manner as to leave indefinitely the occupied population in a state of suspension and uncertainty, denying them their right to selfdetermination while integrating parts of their territory into the occupying Power’s own territory
In light of the foregoing, the Court turns to the examination of the legality of the continued presence of Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (paras. 259-264).
The Court considers that the violations by Israel of the prohibition of the acquisition of territory by force and of the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination have a direct impact on the legality of the continued presence of Israel, as an occupying Power, in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
The sustained abuse by Israel of its position as an occupying Power, through annexation and an assertion of permanent control over the Occupied Palestinian Territory and continued frustration of the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination, violates fundamental principles of international law and renders Israel’s presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory unlawful.
This illegality relates to the entirety of the Palestinian territory occupied by Israel in 1967.
This is the territorial unit across which Israel has imposed policies and practices to fragment and frustrate the ability of the Palestinian people to exercise its right to self‑determination, and over large swathes of which it has extended Israeli sovereignty in violation of international law The entirety of the Occupied Palestinian Territory is also the territory in relation to which the Palestinian people should be able to exercise its right to self-determination, the integrity of which must be respected.
* The Court has found that Israel’s policies and practices referred to in question (a) are in breach of international law.
The maintenance of these policies and practices is an unlawful act of a continuing character entailing Israel’s international responsibility.
The Court has also found in reply to the first part of question (b) that the continued presence of Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory is illegal
The Court therefore addresses the legal consequences arising from Israel’s policies and practices referred to in question (a) for Israel, together with those arising from the illegality of Israel’s continued presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory under question (b), for Israel, for other States and for the United Nations (paras. 267-281).
President SALAM appends a declaration to the Advisory Opinion of the Court; VicePresident SEBUTINDE appends a dissenting opinion to the Advisory Opinion of the Court;
Judge TOMKA appends a declaration to the Advisory Opinion of the Court;
Judges TOMKA, ABRAHAM and AURESCU append a joint opinion to the Advisory Opinion of the Court;
Judge YUSUF appends a separate opinion to the Advisory Opinion of the Court;
Judge XUE appends a declaration to the Advisory Opinion of the Court;
Judges IWASAWA and NOLTE append separate opinions to the Advisory Opinion of the Court;
Judges NOLTE and CLEVELAND append a joint declaration to the Advisory Opinion of the Court;
Judges CHARLESWORTH and BRANT append declarations to the
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Advisory Opinion of the Court; Judges GÓMEZ ROBLEDO and CLEVELAND append separate opinions to the Advisory Opinion of the Court; Judge TLADI appends a declaration to the Advisory Opinion of the Court.
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A full summary of the Advisory Opinion appears in the document entitled “Summary 2024/8”, to which summaries of the declarations and opinions are annexed. This summary and the full text of the Advisory Opinion are available on the case page on the Court’s website.
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Earlier press releases relating to this case are also available on the website.
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Note: The Court’s press releases are prepared by its Registry for information purposes only and do not constitute official documents.
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) is the principal judicial organ of the United Nations.
It was established by the United Nations Charter in June 1945 and began its activities in April 1946.
The Court is composed of 15 judges elected for a nine-year term by the General Assembly and the Security Council of the United Nations.
The seat of the Court is at the Peace Palace in The Hague (Netherlands). The Court has a twofold role: first, to settle, in accordance with international law, legal disputes submitted to it by States; and, second, to give advisory opinions on legal questions referred to it by duly authorized United Nations organs and agencies of the system.
Information Department:
Ms Monique Legerman, First Secretary of the Court, Head of Department: +31 (0)70 302 2336
Ms Joanne Moore, Information Officer: +31 (0)70 302 2337
” The military avoids confronting violent settlers as a matter of policy, although soldiers have the authority and duty to detain and arrest them. Israeli security forces routinely enable settler violence against Palestinians and their property.”
Since occupying the West Bank in 1967, Israel has misappropriated more than two million dunams of land (200,000 hectares) throughout the West Bank. Israel uses this land for its own purposes, including building new settlements, expanding the territory they control – including farmland and industrial zones – and paving roads that mainly serve the settler population.
West Bank settlements dominate hundreds of thousands of dunams [1 dunam = 1,000 square meters] to which Palestinians have limited access or none at all. Israel has taken over some of these areas using official means: issuing military orders, declaring the area “state land,” a “firing zone” or a “nature reserve,” and expropriating land. Other areas have been effectively taken over by settlers through daily acts of violence, including attacks on Palestinians and their property.
The two tracks appear unrelated: The state takes over land openly, using official methods sanctioned by legal advisors and judges, while the settlers, who are also interested in taking over land to further their agenda, initiate violence against Palestinians for their own reasons. Yet in truth, there is only one track: Settler violence against Palestinians is part of the strategy employed by Israel’s apartheid regime, which seeks to take over more and more West Bank land. The state fully supports and assists these acts of violence, and its agents sometimes participate in them directly. As such, settler violence is a form of government policy, aided and abetted by official state authorities with their active participation. The state legitimizes this reality in two complementary ways:
A. Legalizing land takeover
The state allows settlers to use land violently taken from Palestinians. Dozens of outposts and “farms” – settlements for all intents and purposes, which were built without authorization by the government and without plans that enable construction in them – receive support from Israeli authorities and remain standing. Israel has ordered the military to defend the outposts or paid for their security, as well as paved roads and laid down water and electricity infrastructure for most of them. It has provided support through various government ministries, the Settlement Division of the World Zionist Organization and regional councils in the West Bank. It has also subsidized financial endeavors in the outposts, including agricultural facilities, provided support for new farmers and for shepherding, allocated water and legally defended outposts in petitions for their removal.
In the past, the state announced its intention to enforce the law on outposts in the future and even gave the international community assurances to that effect. These promises were never fulfilled. In March 2011, the state changed its policy and introduced a distinction: on one hand, outposts built on land registered as “state land”, on land Israel declared as such, or on “survey land” (land whose status is yet to be resolved); on the other, outposts built on land recognized as privately owned by Palestinians – which are the only ones it intends to remove. This distinction, which has no legal basis, was accepted by Israel’s Supreme Court and ultimately, almost all the outposts have remained in place.
B. Legitimizing physical violence against Palestinians
Violence committed by settlers against Palestinians has been documented since the very early days of the occupation. It is recorded in countless government documents and dossiers, in thousands of testimonies from Palestinians and soldiers, in books, in reports by Palestinian, Israeli and international human rights organizations – including B’Tselem, from its inception – and in thousands of media stories. Yet this ongoing, comprehensive documentation has had almost no effect on settler violence against Palestinians, which has long since become part and parcel of life under the occupation in the West Bank.
The violent acts include beating, throwing stones, issuing threats, torching fields, destroying trees and crops, stealing crops, damaging homes and cars, blocking roads, using live fire, and, in rare cases, killing. Settlers from so-called farms violently chase Palestinian farmers and shepherds away from their fields, and from pastureland and water sources they have used for generations. They initiate violent altercations on a daily basis and use drones to scare flocks belonging to Palestinians into scattering.
The military avoids confronting violent settlers as a matter of policy, although soldiers have the authority and duty to detain and arrest them. Israeli security forces routinely enable settler violence against Palestinians and their property. As a rule, the military prefers to remove Palestinians from their own farmland or pastureland rather than confront settlers, using various tactics such as issuing closed military zone orders that apply to Palestinians only, or firing tear gas, stun grenades, rubber-coated metal bullets and even live rounds. Sometimes, soldiers actively participate in the settler attacks or look on from the sidelines.
Israel’s inaction continues after settler attacks on Palestinians have taken place, with enforcement authorities doing their utmost to avoid responding to these incidents. Complaints are difficult to file, and in the very few cases in which investigations are in fact opened, the system quickly whitewashes them. Indictments are hardly ever filed against settlers who harm Palestinians and, when they do, usually cite negligible offenses with token penalties to match. According to figures published by Yesh Din in January 2020, summarizing 15 years of monitoring investigations into settler violence, 91% of the files were closed without an indictment. Of more than 1,200 investigation files, indictments were served only in 100.
Settler violence has far reaching implications on living conditions in the Occupied Territories, as it has a lasting chilling effect, undermining the bedrock of Palestinian communities’ lives and diminishing their income. Residents describe how without protection, under the pressure of violence and fear and with no other choice, Palestinian communities abandon or scale back traditional vocations such as sheep and goat farming or various seasonal crops, which allowed them to make a dignified living and live comfortably for generations. Palestinian residents stay away from pastureland and water sources that once served their communities, and limit cultivation of farmland. In other areas, Palestinians dare not access their farmlands without accompaniment from Israeli civilians or the Israeli military. Some farmlands have been so badly damaged or neglected they barely yield crops, making the effort involved in reaching them unfeasible for the owners. The result is barriers scattered throughout the West Bank, which, though invisible, Palestinians know not to cross; otherwise, they risk being exposed to violence that may even be life threatening.
State violence – official and otherwise – is part and parcel of Israel’s apartheid regime, which aims to create a Jewish-only space between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea. The regime treats land as a resource designed to serve the Jewish public, and accordingly uses it almost exclusively to develop and expand existing Jewish residential communities and to build new ones. At the same time, the regime fragments Palestinian space, dispossesses Palestinians of their land and relegates them to living in small, over-populated enclaves.
The apartheid regime is based on organized, systemic violence against Palestinians, which is carried out by numerous agents: the government, the military, the Civil Administration, the Supreme Court, the Israel Police, the Israel Security Agency, the Israel Prison Service, the Israel Nature and Parks Authority, and others. Settlers are another item on this list, and the state incorporates their violence into its own official acts of violence. Settler violence sometimes precedes instances of official violence by Israeli authorities, and at other times is incorporated into them. Like state violence, settler violence is organized, institutionalized, well-equipped and implemented in order to achieve a defined strategic goal.
The combination of state violence and nominally unofficial violence allows Israel to have it both ways: maintain plausible deniability and blame the violence on settlers rather than on the military, the courts or the Civil Administration while advancing Palestinian dispossession. The facts, however, blow plausible deniability out of the water: When the violence occurs with permission and assistance from the Israeli authorities and under its auspices, it is state violence. The settlers are not defying the state; they are doing its bidding.
EINDE
[6]
”As a rule, the military prefers to remove Palestinians from their own farmland or pastureland rather than confront settlers, using various tactics such as issuing closed military zone orders that apply to Palestinians only, or firing tear gas, stun grenades, rubber-coated metal bullets and even live rounds.”
Israel has built more than 280 settlements in the West Bank, which are home to more than 440,000 settlers. Of these settlements, 138 were officially established and recognized by the state (not including the 12 neighborhoods Israel built in the areas it annexed to Jerusalem), and some 150 are outposts not officially recognized by the state. About a third of the outposts have been built over the past decade, most of them referred to as “farms”.
West Bank settlements dominate hundreds of thousands of dunams [1 dunam = 1,000 square meters] to which Palestinians have limited access or none at all. Israel has taken over some of these areas using official means: issuing military orders, declaring the area “state land,” a “firing zone” or a “nature reserve”, and expropriating land. Other areas have been effectively taken over by settlers through daily acts of violence, including attacks on Palestinians and their property.
The two tracks appear unrelated: The state takes over land openly, using official methods sanctioned by legal advisors and judges, while the settlers, who are also interested in taking over land to further their agenda, initiate violence against Palestinians for their own reasons. Yet in truth, there is only one track: Settler violence against Palestinians serves as a major informal tool at the hands of the state to take over more and more West Bank land. The state fully supports and assists these acts of violence, and its agents sometimes participate in them directly. As such, settler violence is a form of government policy, aided and abetted by official state authorities with their active participation.
The state legitimizes this reality in two complementary ways:
A. Legalizing land takeover
The state allows settlers to live, farm and graze livestock on land violently taken from Palestinians. Dozens of outposts and “farms” – settlements for all intents and purposes, which were built without formal authorization by the government and without plans that enable construction in them – receive support from the Israeli authorities and remain standing. Israel has ordered the military to defend the outposts or paid for their security, as well as paved roads and laid down water and electricity infrastructure for most of them. It has provided support through various government ministries, the Settlement Division of the World Zionist Organization and regional councils in the West Bank. It has also subsidized financial endeavors in the outposts, including agricultural facilities, provided support for new farmers and for shepherding, allocated water and legally defended outposts in petitions for their removal.
In the past, the state announced its intention to enforce the law on outposts in the future and evengave the international community assurances to that effect. In March 2011, the state announced it would, from now on, make an official distinction between outposts built on land recognized as privately owned by Palestinians and land Israel considers “state land” or “survey land” (land that can be declared “state land”, although the declaration has not yet been issued). The state claimed it had only intended to remove outposts built on privately owned Palestinian land. This distinction, which has no legal basis, was accepted by Israel’s Supreme Court. At the end of the day, nearly all the outposts remain in place.
B. Legitimizing physical violence against Palestinians
Violence committed by settlers against Palestinians has been documented since the very early days of the occupation in countless government documents and dossiers, thousands of testimonies from Palestinians and soldiers, books, reports by Palestinian, Israeli and international human rights organizations, and thousands of media stories. This broad, consistent documentation has had almost no effect on settler violence against Palestinians, which has long since become part and parcel of life under the occupation in the West Bank.
The violent acts include beating, throwing stones, issuing threats, torching fields, destroying trees and crops, stealing crops, using live fire, damaging homes and cars, and, in rare cases, homicide. In recent years, settlers in so-called farms have been violently chasing Palestinian farmers and shepherds away from their fields and from pastureland and water sources they used for generations. They initiate violent altercations on a daily basis and intimidate flocks belonging to Palestinians in order to scatter them.
The military avoids confronting violent settlers as a matter of policy, although soldiers have the authority and duty to detain and arrest them. As a rule, the military prefers to remove Palestinians from their own farmland or pastureland rather than confront settlers, using various tactics such as issuing closed military zone orders that apply to Palestinians only, or firing tear gas, stun grenades, rubber-coated metal bullets and even live rounds. Sometimes, soldiers actively participate in the settler attacks or look on from the sidelines.
Israel’s inaction continues after settler attacks on Palestinians have taken place, with enforcement authorities doing their utmost to avoid responding to these incidents. Complaints are difficult to file, and in the very few cases in which investigations are in fact opened, the system quickly whitewashes them. Indictments are hardly ever filed against settlers who harm Palestinians and when they do, usually cite minor offenses, with token penalties to match in the rare instance of a conviction.
The report presents five case studies that illustrate how continuous, systemic violence meted out by settlers is part of Israel’s official policy, driving massive takeover of Palestinian farmland and pastureland. In the testimonies collected as part of the research, Palestinians describe how this violence undermines the bedrock of Palestinian communities’ lives and diminishes their income. Residents describe how without protection, under the pressure of violence and fear and with no other choice, Palestinian communities abandon or scale back traditional vocations such as sheep and goat farming or various seasonal crops, which allowed them to make a dignified living and live comfortably for generations. Palestinian residents stay away from pastureland and water sources that once served their communities, and limit cultivation of farmland. At that point, the state can take over their land for its own purposes.
State violence – official and otherwise – is part and parcel of Israel’s apartheid regime, which aims to create a Jewish-only space between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea. The regime treats land as a resource designed to serve the Jewish public, and accordingly uses it almost exclusively to develop and expand existing Jewish residential communities and to build new ones. At the same time, the regime fragments Palestinian space, dispossesses Palestinians of their land and relegates them to living in small, over-populated enclaves.
The apartheid regime is based on organized, systemic violence against Palestinians, which is carried out by numerous agents: the government, the military, the Civil Administration, the Supreme Court, the Israel Police, the Israel Security Agency, the Israel Prison Service, the Israel Nature and Parks Authority, and others. Settlers are another item on this list, and the state incorporates their violence into its own official acts of violence. Settler violence sometimes precedes instances of official violence by Israeli authorities, and at other times is incorporated into them. Like state violence, settler violence is organized, institutionalized, well-equipped and implemented in order to achieve a defined strategic goal.
The combination of state violence and nominally unofficial violence allows Israel to have it both ways: maintain plausible deniability and blame the violence on settlers rather than on the military, the courts or the Civil Administration while advancing Palestinian dispossession. The facts, however, blow plausible deniability out of the water: When the violence occurs with permission and assistance from the Israeli authorities and under its auspices, it is state violence. The settlers are not defying the state; they are doing its bidding.
De nieuwe regering van Israël is geïnstalleerd, met opnieuw Benjamin Netanyahu als premier. Hij gaat leiding geven aan de meest rechtse en religieus conservatieve regering in de 74-jarige geschiedenis van het land.
De rechtse Likud-partij van Netanyahu wist in november als grote winnaar uit de bus te komen bij de parlementsverkiezingen. Ondanks dat hij vervolgd wordt voor omkoping, kan hij terugkeren als premier. Eerder was Netanyahu regeringsleider van 1996 tot 1999 en tussen 2009 en 2021. Hij gaat regeren samen met ultranationalistische en ultraorthodoxe joodse religieuze partijen.
Nederzettingen
De Israëliërs zijn diep verdeeld over Netanyahu, die aangeklaagd is voor fraude en het aannemen van steekpenningen in drie corruptiezaken. Hij spreekt alle beschuldigingen tegen en zegt dat hij het slachtoffer is van een heksenjacht door vijandige media, politie en aanklagers.
Zijn nieuwe regering wil nederzettingen op de Westelijke Jordaanoever uitbreiden, subsidies verstrekken aan Netanyahu’s ultraorthodoxe bondgenoten en ingrijpende hervormingen doorvoeren in het rechtsstelsel. Volgens critici brengen die wijzigingen de democratische instellingen in het land in gevaar.
Israël veroverde de Westelijke Jordaanoever in 1967 samen met de Gazastrook en Oost-Jeruzalem, gebieden waar de Palestijnen een toekomstige staat willen stichten. Israël heeft in die gebieden tientallen Joodse nederzettingen gebouwd waar circa 500.000 Israëliërs wonen naast 2,5 miljoen Palestijnen.
De plannen van de nieuwe regering hebben tot kritiek geleid van het leger, lhbti-belangengroeperingen, het bedrijfsleven en anderen. Honderden demonstranten verzamelden zich eerder vandaag bij de Knesset, het Israëlische parlement. “We willen geen fascisten in de Knesset”, scandeerden ze. Massa’s mensen blokkeerden de toegang tot een belangrijk kruispunt en een snelweg in Tel Aviv.
Ook in het buitenland wordt bezorgd naar de nieuwe regering-Netanyahu gekeken, De Amerikaanse president Biden noemde Netanyahu “een vriend sinds tientallen jaren”. Biden zei dat hij ernaar uitkijkt om met de premier samen te werken bij de “vele uitdagingen waar Israël mee wordt geconfronteerd, inclusief de dreiging uit Iran”.
Maar hij voegde daar wel aan toe dat de VS “de tweestatenoplossing (met naast Israël ook een levensvatbare Palestijnse staat, red.) blijft steunen en zich verzet tegen beleid dat de levensvatbaarheid daarvan in gevaar brengt” of in strijd is met onze wederzijdse belangen en waarden”.
Speech
In een parlementszitting voorafgaand aan zijn beëdiging richtte Netanyahu zich in een speech tot zijn critici en beschuldigde hij de oppositie ervan het publiek bang te maken. “Ik hoor voortdurend kreten van de oppositie over het einde van het land en de democratie”, zei hij. “Maar, leden van de oppositie: verkiezingen verliezen is niet het einde van de democratie, het is de essentie van de democratie.” De toespraak van de premier werd herhaaldelijk onderbroken door boegeroep en hoongelach van zijn tegenstanders.
Yair Lapid, de vertrekkend premier die nu oppositieleider is, zei tegen het parlement dat hij “een land in uitstekende conditie” achterlaat voor de nieuwe regering. “Probeer het niet kapot te maken. We komen snel terug”, zei Lapid.
The Lemkin Institute is horrified by the dire situation transpiring in the West Bank. During what has already been a devastating six months of conflict in Gaza, the Israeli military and far-right settlers have used the cover of war to conduct continuous attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank, often leading to death and forced displacement. These attacks have been underreported in the mainstream Western press, which has also failed to tie Israel Defense Force (IDF) and settler violence in the West Bank and East Jerusalem to the genocide being committed in Gaza. These processes are all part of an overwhelming push on the part of Israeli authorities to oust Palestinians from their remaining ancestral lands. In other words, Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians across Palestine.
With international eyes on Gaza, Israeli military forces continue a campaign of genocide and unprecedented violence in the West Bank. The targeting of Palestinians has largely gone unchecked by media coverage or public diplomatic intervention. Before the events of 7 October and Israel’s ensuing response, violence in the West Bank was already on pace to eclipse that of any year on record, with Israeli military forces killing roughly 200 Palestinians in the West Bank in the first nine months of 2023, more than in any year recorded since the UN began tracking annual Palestinian fatalities in 2005.
In the months following 7 October, state-sanctioned violence targeting Palestinians in the West Bank has been at an all-time high. On pace to shatter previous records, the past five months have been marked by thousands of arrests, hundreds of killings, and forced evictions of Palestinians, which have reached levels that can only be understood as a campaign seeking to rid whole sections of the West Bank of Palestinians. In only three months, from 7 October to 27 December 2023, the Israeli military and illegal settlers killed at least 300 Palestinians in the West Bank, including 76 children, dwarfing the previous high of 154 in all of 2022. According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Israeli forces killed 509 Palestinians in total during 2023 in the West Bank, with over 350 deaths occurring from October 2023 to January 2024 alone.
Throughout 2023, at least 4,000 Palestinian civilians in the West Bank were forced from their homes, had their properties demolished, or were otherwise forcibly displaced.
Across Palestinian land in 2023, Israeli forces demolished or forced Palestinians to destroy over 1,100 structures. Of the more than 4,000 Palestinians forcibly displaced in 2023, 2,246 Palestinians, including 1,039 children, were displaced in this manner. Hundreds of these demolitions occurred in East Jerusalem. Palestinians are frequently forced or coerced to destroy their own property following continuous threats from Israeli authorities, with the demolitions undertaken in fear of retribution and arrest by Israeli forces.
Not only have regular Israeli soldiers conducted demolitions, but armed Israeli settlers have forced out whole communities from their ancestral homes. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has highlighted such evictions at the hands of settlers:
“Shortly after armed Israeli settlers threatened to kill them if they did not leave, 24 Palestinian households totaling 141 people, half of whom are children, were displaced from Khirbat Zanuta in the southern West Bank. On 28 October 2023, the families dismantled about 50 residential and animal structures and vacated the area with their 5,000 livestock.” – UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
Khirbat Zanuta is not an exception but the blueprint. Prior to its residents fleeing for their lives, the village was attacked by armed Israeli settlers on three occasions between 7 October and 28 October, when the Palestinian residents fled. Forcing people from their homes without cause, whether by expulsion or by other coercive acts, can amount to crimes against humanity, war crimes, or both. These acts can also amount to genocide if the intent is to destroy an identity in whole or in part.
For years, Israel has undertaken an explicit policy to “Judaize” East Jerusalem by evicting long-time Palestinian residents and placing Jewish settlers in their homes. Since 7 October, this effort has been rejuvenated by the far-right settler government. The state-led effort, supported by Netanyahu’s administration, seeks to establish Jewish-only communities within existing Palestinian neighborhoods such as Sheikh Jarrah, Silwan, and the Muslim Quarter of the Old City. According to the Israeli investigative newspaper Haaretz, the construction of Jewish-only neighborhoods would include the redeployment of armored vehicles, access roads (often only accessible to Jewish residents/settlers), facial recognition technology, and a perimeter fence.
Forced demolition and evictions in East Jerusalem reached unprecedented levels in 2023. Last year alone, Israeli forces demolished or forced Palestinian owners to demolish 220 structures, forcibly displacing 597 Palestinians. Both numbers are the highest on record since the recording of such numbers began in 2009.
2023 was also a year that saw the most violent and destructive Israeli raids in cities, towns, and refugee camps in the West Bank, namely Jenin, Nur Shams, and Tulkarem since 2009. From 2009 to 2022, Israeli forces destroyed 27 structures during military operations in the West Bank, resulting in the displacement of 86 Palestinians. This past year saw one of the most dramatic spikes in IDF incursions into the West Bank. During solely military operations in 2023, Israeli forces demolished 222 structures. The destruction caused by the IDF during incursions into the West Bank led to the forcible displacement of 921 Palestinians, accounting for nearly a quarter of all those displaced in 2023. The number of structures destroyed does not account for roads, wastewater facilities, and urban infrastructure destroyed by Israeli military vehicles, such as that seen in Jenin.
Forced evictions, home demolitions, and the destruction of homes and businesses during military operations are tangible results of Israeli policy that show little to no regard for the lives and well-being of Palestinians in the West Bank. The visible arm of the Israeli state is ever present in the West Bank from its array of checkpoints strategically placed to complicate the movement of Palestinians throughout the West Bank, its defense of illegal settlements, and the consistent raids by the Israeli military into towns, villages, and refugee camps throughout the West Bank. However, violence wrought against Palestinians does not stop with the Israeli military; illegal Israeli settlers in the West Bank have been the vanguard for forcibly displacing entire Palestinian villages and towns.
Of the thousands of Palestinians displaced in 2023, Israeli settler violence is directly responsible for the forced evictions and displacement of 1,539 Palestinians. Most Palestinians who left their homes, many of which had been in their families for generations, did so due to increased settler violence and shrinking land to graze animals. Those forced from their homes in 2023 due to settler violence are nearly double that of the number in 2022 when 774 Palestinians were forced from their homes by settler violence.
Further indicative of a connection between Israel’s genocide in Gaza and its aims in the West Bank is the fact that the bulk of settler violence targeting Palestinians has come after 7 October. Emboldened by Israel’s eliminationist approach to its war on Gaza, Israeli settlers have evicted over 1,200 Palestinians from their homes since 7 October alone. This number accounts for 81 percent of all those forcibly removed from their homes by settler violence. More often than not, settlers are backed directly by the Israeli military. At best, the Israeli military is conveniently absent when settler violence occurs and is often unwilling or unable to search for and bring perpetrators to justice. According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, 14 Palestinian communities were depopulated entirely by Israeli military or settler forces, with the Israeli army demolishing the remaining structures.
In addition to forced displacement and killing, Israel has also used administrative detention to threaten the collective life of Palestinians and force them to leave. This form of harassment and criminalization of an entire population rarely breaks into the international news. Administrative detention is one of the more controversial aspects of Israeli occupation in the West Bank. The law supporting administrative detentions is a holdover law from the time of the British Mandate in Palestine; it allows Israeli military forces to detain any Palestinian for six months to a year without charge, trial, or appeal. Living under military occupation in the West Bank, Palestinians have little recourse but to petition the Supreme Court for family members in administrative detention; this is often futile.
Israeli authorities use administrative detention in such a manner that in a 2012 European Parliament report, the practice was referred to as being used “principally to constrain Palestinian political activism.” Later, in 2020, the UN Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT) called administrative detention “an anathema in any democratic society that follows the rule of law.” At the time, in 2020, over 300 Palestinians were being held without charge in administrative detention.
According to the Palestinian Prisoners Society (PPS), an NGO that works with families of those detained, the number of Palestinians detained in administrative detention is nearly 3,500 people, including women and children. Palestinians held in Israeli jails rarely receive medical attention or adequate food and water. Dozens of released detainees have attested to rampant abuse and torture while detained, including sexual violence. To date, since 7 October, eight Palestinians have died in Israeli jails, likely at the hands of their captors or due to extreme neglect.
In addition to killing, forced displacement, and administrative detention, Israel is also pursuing acts of cultural genocide against Palestinians. For example, a report released by the UN in November 2023 calls for the protection of olive trees and Palestinian farmers, highlighting that olives in the West Bank have been going unharvested “due to unprecedented threats to olive farmers and their livelihoods.” This destruction is a continuation of Israel’s ongoing taking, uprooting, and burning of olive groves by settlers and Israeli authorities. Specifically, since 1976, Israeli authorities and settlers have uprooted 800,000 olive trees in the occupied West Bank.
While olives are the largest single agricultural product in the West Bank, sustaining Palestine’s economy and individual livelihoods, these trees are also at the heart of Palestinian culture. Without having access to the trees, Palestinian farmers are deprived of a harvest season that is traditionally “a special and joyful time for Palestinians” with families and communities singing and sharing food. Palestinians hold a deep-rooted connection with olive trees, many of which are ancient, as they connect Palestinians to their identity and homeland. Palestinian farmer Mahfodah Shtayye conveys this deep connection, explaining that “I felt like I was hugging my child… I raised the tree like my child.” Ultimately, the targeting of olive trees contributes to the cultural genocide of Palestinians as the trees “[lie] at the heart of Palestinian culture, history, its economy and identity.”
A slow, structural genocide targeting Palestinians in the West Bank has been in place for decades. It is now escalating against the backdrop of the genocide in Gaza. The Lemkin Institute has been consistent in labeling Israel’s war on Gaza as genocidal and in pointing out the genocidal structural dynamics of Israel’s occupation of Palestinian lands. It is misleading to separate the Israeli campaign in Gaza from its actions in the West Bank. The tactics employed by Israel in both locations are part of the same eliminationist, genocidal campaign.
The Lemkin Institute condemns all efforts to persecute, arrest, forcibly displace, and kill Palestinians. We further condemn the destruction of important symbols of Palestinian collective and transgenerational life, such as olive trees. We call on our fellow human rights organizations to recognize the policies implemented in Gaza as a larger, more intense version of the same policy in the West Bank: depopulating Palestinian towns and villages and replacing Palestinian localities with Jewish-only communities to create a permanent Jewish majority from the river to the sea. We call on the United States, the United Nations, and NGOs around the globe to join our recognition of Israeli efforts in the West Bank as genocidal. The Lemkin Institute calls on states and companies around the world to pressure Israel to engage in genuine peace negotiations, including by threat of sanctions and withdrawal of military aid. We remind everyone that states and private entities found to aid or abet actors perpetrating genocide may find themselves liable to prosecution for complicity under the Genocide Conventions.
THE RIGHTS FORUM
”ISRAEL PLEEGT GENOCIDE IN GAZA, OP DE WESTOEVER EN IN OOST-JERUZALEM”
In alle bezette gebieden is de verdrijving van de lokale Palestijnse bevolking het doel, schrijft het Lemkin Institute. Sinds 7 oktober is dat Israëlische streven geëscaleerd.
Het in New York gevestigde Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention gaf in april een waarschuwing af voor genocide in alle door Israël bezette Palestijnse gebieden: Gaza, de Westelijke Jordaanoever en Oost-Jeruzalem. Het gerenommeerde instituut wordt algemeen beschouwd als kanarie in de kolenmijn. Het slaat alarm op het moment dat nog kan worden ingegrepen voordat alle mijnwerkers het loodje leggen.
Verdrijving
Het instituut concentreert zich bij zijn waarschuwing op de door Israël sinds 1967 bezette Westoever en Oost-Jeruzalem. Onder dekking van de oorlog in Gaza is het Israëlische geweld daar geëscaleerd. En net als in Gaza is de verdrijving van de lokale Palestijnse bevolking het doel:
These processes are all part of an overwhelming push on the part of Israeli authorities to oust Palestinians from their remaining ancestral lands. In other words, Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians across Palestine.
Dat Israëlische streven is niet nieuw, schrijft het instituut, maar heeft zich sinds 7 oktober 2023 – de dag van de Hamas-aanval op Zuid-Israël, en de start van de Israëlische genocidale campagne in de Gazastrook – verdiept:
In the months following 7 October, state-sanctioned violence targeting Palestinians in the West Bank has been at an all-time high. […] the past five months have been marked by thousands of arrests, hundreds of killings, and forced evictions of Palestinians, which have reached levels that can only be understood as a campaign seeking to rid whole sections of the West Bank of Palestinians.
Explosieve trend
Het instituut onderbouwt zijn harde waarschuwing met harde cijfers. Zo werden door Israëlische militairen en (uit kolonisten bestaande) burgermilities in 2023 op de Westoever 509 Palestijnen gedood; tweehonderd vóór 7 oktober, de overigen erna. In 2022 werden op de Westoever 154 Palestijnen gedood; dat was toen een recordaantal.
Die explosieve trend is zichtbaar op elk terrein. Niet eerder werden op de Westoever zoveel Palestijnen uit hun huizen of van hun land verdreven (ruim vierduizend in 2023). Niet eerder werden door Israëlische militairen en kolonisten zoveel Palestijnse huizen en andere bouwwerken gesloopt (ruim elfhonderd in 2023). Ook het aantal Palestijnen dat gedwongen werd zijn eigen huis te slopen bereikte recordhoogte (220 in 2023).
Kolonisering
Met deze en andere voorbeelden toont het instituut aan hoe Israël de Palestijnse bewoners planmatig uit bezet Palestijns gebied verdrijft. Dit om hen te vervangen door kolonisten, waarvan er intussen minstens 750 duizend in illegale ‘Joodse nederzettingen’ (kolonies) in bezet gebied leven. Uit hun rangen komen de milities die de lokale Palestijnse bevolking terroriseren, doden of verdrijven.
Dit proces van verdringing heeft ook componenten die door het instituut niet worden genoemd of uitgediept. De belangrijste: de confiscatie en feitelijke annexatie van Palestijns land door Israël; de bouw van woningen voor Joodse kolonisten op het geconfisqueerde land; en de ‘legalisering’ van ‘wilde nederzettingen’ die door rabiate kolonisten werden gesticht. Ook op die gebieden worden eerdere records verpulverd.
De komende dagen zullen we deze trends en cijfers actualiseren in artikelen over de Westelijke Jordaanoever en Oost-Jeruzalem.
EINDE BERICHT
Reacties uitgeschakeld voor Noot 10/Kolonistengeweld
Israel’s control over approximately five million Palestinians in the Occupied Territories is not merely a theoretical-political issue to be resolved through negotiation at some future date. Nor are its effects limited to the extreme incidents usually reported – albeit partially – by the media, such as severe acts of violence carried out by soldiers or by settlers. This control is a regular fixture in the lives of all Palestinians in the Occupied Territories. Their lives are subject to a daily routine of violence – some of it overt, but more often implicit. Blatant displays of Israel’s control over the Palestinians, as well as instances that do not involve the direct use of physical force, are both forms of organized, ongoing state violence by Israel.
This organized state violence is inextricably linked to Israel’s ongoing control – by a variety of military, civilian, legal and administrative means – over Palestinian civilians. First, because subjecting millions of people to decades of foreign rule in which they have no political representation is in itself a form of violence. Second, as history has shown time and again, it is unfeasible to keep a civilian population subjugated under foreign occupation without resorting to the use of force.
The very fact that Palestinians have no political representation in the Israeli state systems that govern their lives leaves them open to the potential of arbitrary use of force, both physical or administrative, that is subject to virtually no restriction. This results in harassment and abuse of Palestinians, sometimes for no apparent reason, and at times on the basis of barely plausible security grounds. Regardless, the actions always conform to the power structure of ruler and subject, mechanisms that leave Palestinians entirely at the mercy of decisions made by Israelis: officials of the Civil Administration (the branch of the military designated to handle civil matters in Area C of the West Bank), judges, politicians, Israel Security Agency officers, prison guards, soldiers and Border Police officers. Life under these conditions means being in a state of constant uncertainty about the present and the future. It is a life bereft of privacy, a bare life subject to intrusion at any given time.
In the years that have gone by since 1967, circumstances have changed and evolved differently in the various areas that Israel controls. Accordingly, it uses different methods to control Palestinians in every area: there are differences between Israel’s external control over Gaza and its direct control over the West Bank and annexed East Jerusalem.
In the Gaza Strip, it is Israel that determines critical aspects of daily life as it the main power deciding who and what can enter or leave Gaza: Israel decides which foods will be available to Gaza residents and which food they may export. Israel does not allow Palestinians to leave Gaza – with very few exceptions – and prohibits them from visiting their relatives in the West Bank. Israel does not permit Gaza residents to go study at West Bank universities, and so on. Israel determines the level of medical care available in Gaza, as it decides which medical equipment will be allowed in, what medications will reach hospitals, and what professional seminars doctors can travel to attend. As Israel’s decisions mean that little more than nominal care is available, many Gazans in need of medical assistance must seek proper care outside Gaza. Yet here, too, Israel is the one deciding who may or may not have access professional care. Similarly, the critical shortage of electricity in Gaza lies is primarily Israel’s doing. The power shortage has led to a shortage of potable water and prevents proper waste treatment. In other words, decisions made by Israeli officials are what determines the standard of living in Gaza as well as opportunities for economic development, education, starting a family and so on. The upshot is that the nearly two million Palestinians living in Gaza are left with no control over their lives.
Israel’s control of the West Bank takes a different form for several reasons: because Israel directly oversees and handles the use of land throughout the West Bank; because of the presence and attendant consequences of Israeli settlements; and because of the unmediated daily contact between Palestinians and Israeli security forces or other Israeli authorities. The military disrupts Palestinians’ lives by restricting their freedom of movement as it sees fit. Often this is done without a moment’s notice. Soldiers block off roads temporarily or with permanent roadblocks, detain Palestinians at checkpoints, demand that they follow instructions, humiliate them and sometimes even use physical violence against them. Free of the obligation to present search warrants or offer any other justification, soldiers enter homes throughout the West Bank every day – and every night – disrupting family life, intimidating the inhabitants and invading their privacy. The Civil Administration (CA) implements a strict yet arbitrary policy when it comes to issuing the permits that apply to every aspect of life in the West Bank. CA officials determine who may travel abroad, who may work in Israel, who may worship in Jerusalem, who may pay a visit to Gaza, who may receive goods ordered and who may show up to work on time. This permit regime does not operate according to any clear rules and offers no explanations for the decisions it makes. Israel considers every permit it issues a Palestinian an act of benevolence. The upshot is that the nearly three million Palestinians living in the West Bank are left with no control over their lives.
In East Jerusalem, which was illegally annexed to Israel’s sovereign border, Palestinians suffer severe discrimination in budget allocation and services compared to the western part of the city. Additionally, their right to continue living in the city is always at risk. The police imposes extreme restrictions on the movement of residents without giving them any advance notice. The wall that Israel built, which lies between several Palestinian neighborhoods and the rest of the Jerusalem, means about 140,000 Palestinian residents of Jerusalem must go through a checkpoint every single day on their way to work, to hospital or to pay a visit to friends. Above all, the various authorities implement a planning and construction policy that keeps residents from building homes and necessary public structures, condemning them to a life of overcrowding. When residents, left with no alternative, build homes without permits, authorities often issues demolition orders, which in some cases are carried out. This subjects Palestinians to living in a state of constant fear and uncertainty about their future. The upshot is that the 370,000 or so Palestinians in East Jerusalem are left with no control over their lives.
The reality described above is the outcome of actions and decisions made by voters, politicians, judges, civil servants and soldiers – all of whom are Israeli and belong to a different societal ingroup than the people whose lives they run. Israel’s superior power and its absolute control over all walks of life are used to police the Palestinian population, to suppress resistance and to perpetuate the occupation.
All Palestinian residents of the West Bank and Gaza live under Israeli control of one kind or another. Israel views this situation as absolute and permanent, considering it a given that these persons have no political rights. Palestinians are not taken into account when decisions that determine every aspect of their lives are constantly being made by Israelis – be it at the voting booth or in CA decisions or in military orders. Thirteen million people live on the land that lies between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, but only eight million of them have a voice, have political rights, have the right to have rights. The rest are forced to live their lives according to decisions made by people they did not elect and under whose rule they never chose to live. This is a routine that is inherently violent. It is a violence that will only end when the occupation does.
EINDE
Reacties uitgeschakeld voor Noot 11/Kolonistengeweld
