vjp-global

https://www.972mag.com/settlers-battir-illegal-outpost/ Palestinians in the West Bank agricultural village of Battir are encountering armed Israeli settlers trying to push them off their land ….   "In 1982, Israel declared his property, along with a substantial portion of the land in the area, "state land," using the Ottoman Land Code — a 19th century legal mechanism adopted by Israel that gives it the authority to turn uncultivated agricultural land into state land….People are crammed into cities where space is running out … Palestinian cities are turning into ghettoes, concrete refugee camps. It is impossible to grow food on concrete. From a rich agricultural society, we are growing dependent on Israeli companies to feed us." There is nothing coincidental about the settlers' decision to build their tent on Alyan's land.   Posted by Judith Ferster, Voices for Justice in Palestine member

https://www.democracynow.org/2020/7/30/noam_chomsky_israel_west_bank_annexation   Noam Chomsky says Israel's planned annexation of the occupied West Bank "basically formalizes" what has already been official policy over the last half-century, from both left-wing and right-wing parties in Israel. He compares Israel's treatment of Palestinians to anti-immigrant policies in the United States, and says the main goal of annexation is to take over as much territory while excluding its Palestinian inhabitants. "Israel does not want to bring Palestinian populations into the greater Israel they're constructing."     Posted by Judith Ferster, Voices for Justice in Palestine member

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RfmI7DeamCM "Black Power and Palestine" uncovers why so many African Americans—notably Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, and Muhammad Ali, among others—came to support the Palestinians or felt the need to respond to those who did. This is the first book to explore how conflict in the Middle East shaped the American civil rights movement.   Posted by Judith Ferster, Voices for Justice in Palestine member

https://electronicintifada.net/content/annexation-was-always-israels-agenda/30686   ...Formal annexation may very well end up being a gradual process starting with some of the main settlements – perhaps along with some gesture to the Palestinians to smooth European concerns. .. it won't proceed without a green light from Washington.   But...there has been an ongoing half-century de facto annexation that has received direct US support and whose designs not only predate occupation, but also the creation of Israel. In 1938, David Ben-Gurion anticipated that "after we become a strong force, as a result of the creation of a state, we shall abolish partition and expand into the whole of Palestine…Netanyahu is only pursuing Israel's historical aspirations for territorial expansion. Posted by Judith Ferster, Voices for Justice in Palestine member

https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/jerusalem-israeli-tunnels-archaeology-history-palestinians-silwan Israel claims the excavations below Silwan and the Old City of Jerusalem are aimed at unearthing traces of the three-millennia-old First and Second Jewish Temples, which Jews believe to have been built where the Al-Aqsa Mosque now stands. To date, Israel has invested at least 40 million shekels ($11.7m) in the initiative. …The archaelogical project, however, has become a subject of global controversy and yet another source of suffering for Palestinians. .. Since the start of excavations, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco) has called on Israel to halt its digging, stressing the illegality of such actions in occupied territory…Israeli excavations were halted only for several months in 1974, after Unesco  suspended all aid to Israel. Later that year, the historic Jawahiriya school west of the Al-Aqsa mosque compound collapsed. … ...

https://www.haaretz.com/us-news/.premium-president-joe-biden-will-have-the-palestinians-back-and-israel-s-too-1.9022761 Bernie Sanders' Jewish outreach director: From opposing settlements to protecting the right to criticize Israeli policies without fear, the Democratic party platform..For example, the platform makes opposition to Israeli settlements central to its language – the first time ever for any party platform. It condemns unilateral actions by both sides, including annexation -- meaning that for the first time, a party platform explicitly tells Israel to not take such unilateral steps…t also clearly calls for the creation of a "viable" Palestinian state, where Palestinians "should be free to govern themselves." That has not been referenced in a Democratic platform since 2008, and the 2008 platform merely called for a Palestinian state, and only as a result of final-status negotiations. No such caveat ...

https://www.commondreams.org/views/2020/07/17/liberal-zionism-begins-make-journey-towards-one-state-solution