Tag Archive for West Bank

Pundits Deem Israeli Annexation of West Bank Illegal – But, Is It?

Attorney and CEO of HonestReporting points out the lack of transparency and credibility of journalists who opine against Israel’s upcoming plans to annex Judea and Samaria (the “West Bank”), Israel’s ancient heartland, claiming it’s “illegal under international law,” …but are unable to reference which law.

 

On June 10 a web site called opiniojuris.org circulated an article entitled An Open Letter to the Israeli Government,  which claims that Israel’s plans to annex certain parts of the disputed territories in Judea and Samaria (the “West Bank”) per se violate international law. Continue Reading »

Germany to oppose EU sanctions on Israel over W.Bank annexation

Although France, Ireland, Luxembourg, Belgium and Spain may go so far as officially recognize a Palestinian state, Berlin will not, and sources say, Germany will not support EU or UN sanctions should Israel annex parts of the West Bank.

By Itamar Eichner

 

Germany will not support sanctions over Israel’s planned unilateral annexation of parts of the West Bank or recognize Palestinian independence, a diplomatic official in Jerusalem said Monday.

However, the official stressed that annexation would likely put a strain on the relations between Jerusalem and Berlin, and Germany’s willingness to support Israel on the international scene.

Germany is set in July to take the presidency of two key institutions, the Council of the European Union for six months, as well as the UN Security Council for a month, meaning, Berlin will head two major international forums just as they will need to respond to Israeli actions, should Jerusalem move forward with its intention to apply sovereignty onto the contested territory. Continue Reading »

106 House Dems Rally Demanding Pompeo Reverse Settlement Proclamation

Penning a letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, 106 House Democrats press him to “immediately” reverse decision recognizing Jewish settlements in Judea & Samaria as legal.

By OMRI NAHMIAS

 

WASHINGTON – A large group of 106 House Democrats sent a letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Thursday urging him to reverse “immediately” his recent announcement regarding the legality of the settlements.

Led by Rep. Andy Levin of Michigan, the letter was signed by 12 committee chairs. The group includes veteran congress people such as Rep. John Lewis (D-Georgia) and Rep. Maxine Waters (D-California), along with other high-profile representatives, such as Massachusetts Rep. Continue Reading »

PA accuses Israel of “collective punishment” after reducing electric supply

Abbas’ Palestinian gov’t accuses Israel of Geneva Conventions ‘crimes’ after the Israel Electric Company inevitably reduced the power supply to parts of the West Bank, due to the Palestinian Authority’s mounting unpaid electric bill of $470M.

By KHALED ABU TOAMEH

 

The Palestinian Authority has accused Israel of imposing “collective punishment” on the Palestinians because of the Israeli electric company’s decision to reduce power supply to parts of the West Bank due to debts.

The PA said its representatives have contacted several international parties to complain about the decision to cut off power supply to Palestinian communities in the West Bank. Continue Reading »

Palestinians planting 15 million olive trees on public lands in land-grab ploy

Israel’s Civil Administration reveals a report on how the Palestinian Authority is promoting a plan to take over Israeli state and public land swathes by planting olive trees, particularly near Jewish communities in the West Bank.
– The IDF’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories says, report based on Palestinian data, and hasn’t yet been verified by COGAT.

By Elisha Ben Kimon

 

The Palestinian Authority (PA) has planted millions of olive trees in the West Bank in a ploy to lay claim to land and set facts on the ground, according to an internal report by the Israeli Civil Administration (ICA). Continue Reading »

Airbnb to be investigated by US Senate author of ‘Israel Anti-Boycott Act’

With over half of US states having passed anti-BDS legislation, an author of the ‘Israel Anti-Boycott Act’ in the Senate, Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio (Rep), wants to hear from Airbnb.

BY MICHAEL WILNER

 

WASHINGTON – Airbnb’s move this week to delist properties located in Jewish settlements in the West Bank from its website prompted enough of an outcry in Israel to be heard in Washington, where key lawmakers are expressing concern and raising the prospect of legal action against the service giant.

The decision by Airbnb, an online marketplace for property rentals, sparked furor from Israeli officials this week. Continue Reading »

Airbnb capitulates to BDS pressure, removes only Jewish homes from West Bank

Israel’s former Ambassador to the US, Michael Oren, “Airbnb blacklists Jewish apartments in Judea & Samaria – not Palestinian apartments, not apartments in Turkish occupied Cyprus, not in Moroccan occupied Sahara, not in Tibet or the Crimea. – Airbnb’s policy is the very definition of antisemitism. No one should use its services.”

By TOVAH LAZAROFF

 

Airbnb agreed to boycott West Bank settlements and announced plans Monday to remove settler listings from its popular website of temporary rentals in 191 countries.

“Another BDS [Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions] win!” multiple pro-Palestinian groups jubilantly claimed on social media.

Continue Reading »

Palestinian Land Rights and International Law

 

Attempts by the United Nations and their surrogate NGO’s to politicly present Jewish settlement in Judea and Samaria (a.k.a. the West Bank) as illegal, and “colonial” in nature, completely ignores the complexity of the history of the land and disregards the legal precedents of this case.​​

By IDF News

 

Land registries from Ottoman and British Mandate times show that local Arabs in Palestine owned approximately 8% of the land area west of the Jordan River. The vast majority of the land was state land, which was not owned by any individual. The remaining 16% was split more or less evenly between Jewish landowners and groups and absentee Arab landlords who lived outside of Palestine (mostly in Cairo, Beirut, Damascus and Constantinople). Continue Reading »

Court of Appeal of Versailles: Verdict – Israel is legal occupant of the West Bank

 

The historical verdict carefully ignored (forgotten?) by mainstream media, France’s 3rd Chamber of the Court of Appeal of Versailles decreed that Israel is the legal occupant of the West Bank.

 

Israel is the legal occupant of the West Bank, says the Court of Appeal of Versailles, France.  By JEAN-PATRICK GRUMBERG

 

When I first learned that the Court of Appeal of Versailles ruled that West bank settlements and occupation of Judea Samaria by Israel is unequivocally legal under international law, in a suit brought by the Palestinian Authority against Jerusalem’s light rail built by French companies Alstom and Veolia, that received no media coverage, I decided to put to work my years of Law Studies in France, and I meticulously analyzed the Court ruling. Continue Reading »

With Abbas the least popular in the West Bank, Hamas’ no-State Solution wins

 

Since Abbas’ party is deeply fragmented and his leadership undermined with most Fatah members in Gaza defecting to Hamas and the majority of West Bank Palestinians wanting him out of office, there is no functional gov’t to lead an independent Palestinian state regardless of the antisemitic support given by the US (Obama’s gov’t), the UN and the EU.

Hamas’s Fatah and the No-State Solution by Khaled Abu Toameh

 

During a celebration in Ramallah marking the 52nd anniversary of the founding of his Fatah faction, Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas declared that 2017 will be the “year of international recognition of the State of Palestine.” Continue Reading »

Trump Transition Team Advisor: Don’t Believe Media, West Bank Belongs to Israel

 

One of President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team’s top official urges international community to stop listening to the lies of mainstream media, and know that Judea and Samaria “is an inseparable part of the State of Israel.”

By Israel Today Staff

 

A senior officials in US President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team visited this week and stated that the so-called “West Bank” clearly belongs to Israel.

Becky Norton Dunlop  was touring the areas known biblically as Judea and Samaria when she told reporters: “Anyone who comes and visits Judea and Samaria sees that it is an inseparable part of the State of Israel.” Continue Reading »

Ashton Kutcher graciously defends Airbnb when Jewish BDS protester disrupts conference

view videoWATCH VIDEO: Jewish BDS protester was escorted offstage with the actor and investor telling the crowd, ‘This company is about bringing people together.’

By J. S. Herzog

 

A BDS protestor from the organization Code Pink forced her way onto the stage of the Airbnb Open 2016: A Festival of Hosting conference on Saturday night in Los Angeles, prompting Airbnb investor and famous actor Ashton Kutcher to defend the company.

The protestor, Ariel Gold, brandished a pink sign reading “Airbnb out of Settlements; @codepink,” the Twitter handle of “a women-led grassroots organization working to end U.S. Continue Reading »

Pro-Palestinians up campaign against Airbnb with video and mock webposts

Left-wing, Jewish Voice for Peace, a proponent of the BDS movement, releases YouTube video featuring activists & Palestinians urging tourists to boycott West Bank rentals.

By CORAL BRAUN

 

Left-wing organization Jewish Voice for Peace released a YouTube video Saturday to up a joint-campaign against Airbnb’s listing of West Bank settlement homes on its vacation home rental platform.

Airbnb listings of homes in the West Bank. - Photo: Courtesy

Airbnb listings of homes in the West Bank. – Photo: Courtesy

Urging travelers to steer clear of West Bank rentals, the video featured unnamed activists and Palestinians speaking out against Airbnb’s failure to “follow international law,” which, by United Nations standards, deems “Israeli settlements in the West Bank illegal.” Continue Reading »

Israel’s Justice Minister Seeks to Apply Israeli Law to West Bank Within a Year

 

Knesset Member Tzipi Livni, says justice minister, Ayelet Shaked’s proposal would create a binational state.

By YONAH JEREMY BOB,  LAHAV HARKOV

 

Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked on Sunday said she is pushing to have Israeli law apply to the West Bank within one year.

Israel’s Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked

Shaked made the comments while being interviewed on stage at a conference in Jerusalem organized by the Legal Forum for the Land of Israel, in spite of prior vehement opposition to the idea by the Justice Ministry bureaucracy, including former attorney-general Yehuda Weinstein.

Asked about the Hok Hanormot or “Normalizing Law,” for making Israeli law apply to the West Bank, she replied, “I established a joint committee along with the Defense Ministry to work on legislation for Judea and Samaria, with essentially the purpose being that ultimately any law which was passed in the Knesset will either apply to Judea and Samaria by virtue of the legislation itself or by an order of the general [who legislates in the West Bank] or by any other manner which is considered appropriate.” Continue Reading »

UN envoy urges EU to exert  pressure on Israel over demolition of illegal EU buildings

 

view videoIt appears the EU & UN have allied to halt Israel’s policy of demolishing illegally built structures the EU has been improperly erecting on state land.

By Reuters

 

BRUSSELS – A UN envoy urged the European Union on Friday to raise political pressure on Israel over accelerating demolitions of Palestinians home in the West Bank, which he said run against international law and increasingly affect aid projects sponsored by the bloc.

Robert Piper, a United Nations assistant secretary general and the head of humanitarian affairs for the Palestinian territories, briefed EU officials in Brussels on that, noting there have been over 540 demolitions and confiscations so far this year. Continue Reading »