Israeli settlers are seizing Palestinian land under cover of war - they hope permanently

[muriel_volestrangler]

Part of a Unesco World Heritage site, Battir is known for its olive groves and vineyards. But now it is the latest flashpoint over settlements in the occupied West Bank.

Israel has approved a new Jewish settlement here, taking away privately owned land for new settler houses and new outposts have been set up without even Israeli authorisation.
...
Israeli authorities, meanwhile, have announced plans for five new settlements, external, including the one in Battir, and declared a record area of land, at least 23 sq km, external, for the state. This means Israel considers it Israeli land, regardless of whether it is in the occupied Palestinian territories, or privately owned by Palestinians, or both, and Palestinians are prevented from using it.

By changing facts on the ground, as the settlers describe it, they hope to move enough Israelis on to the land and build enough on it to make their presence irreversible. Their long-term hope is that Israel formally annexes the land.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c624qr3mqrzo

This is "settler colonialism". With IDF support - the article describes how first the illegal settlers blocked the BBC from driving to one of the areas, and then the IDF arrived to back them up.

[EarnestPutz]

1. And the catastrophe (al nakba) continues, as it has since 1948, gaining momentum since Rabin's death in 1995.

[Klarkashton]

2. "Settler" is such a pleasant euphemism.

Like a family in the prairie, wife in gingham, husband chopping wood smoking a pipe.

[Lonestarblue]

3. In Israel, settler is now equal to authorized terrorist.

[Klarkashton]

4. Basically because how else does one "settle" land that has been

Occupied by farmers and others for countless years?

[Mosby]

6. There are Jewish folks who have been living in the WB for years

Millennia even.

[AloeVera]

5. Now?

Been going on a long time. Worse now but the terror was there from the beginning. As the other poster said, how else are you going to conquer a land with people already there? It's a built-in feature, not a bug.

Funny story, I just saw a headline "IDF announces counter-terror operation in North West Bank...". I nearly jumped out of my chair thinking FINALLY! I thought for a moment the recent labeling of settlers by the head of Shin Bet as terrorists harmful to the state was producing some results. Sadly I was mistaken.

[Aussie105]

7. It is a land grab!

Everything is so much clearer when you realise this is just Israel wanting more territory.

You drive out the native population and declare victory!
And seeing the land is now empty, might as well settle there.

Nothing unusual, been happening for centuries in Asia, Europe, America, Australia.
Just declare the native population to be inferior and not worth considering, and wipe them out by any means available.

I guess this is now officially dead in the water?

"Nov. 29, 1947, the United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution calling for Palestine to be partitioned between Arabs and Jews, allowing for the formation of the Jewish state of Israel."