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| SvennoJ said: German foreign minister condemns Israeli settlers' violence in occupied West Bank German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock denounced Israeli settlers' violence towards Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, against the backdrop of rising number of settler attacks. “It is the responsibility of the Israeli government to implement and enforce the rule of law when people who live here legitimately and are being attacked illegally,” Baerbock told reporters during a visit to the occupied West Bank on Monday. Israeli settlers or soldiers have killed at least 340 Palestinians in the West Bank since October 7, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Ramallah. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said last month that 2023 was the deadliest year for Palestinians in the occupied West Bank since 2005, when it began keeping records, according to a report from the organization. CNN previously reported on the violence, including one attack in the town of Huwara, where the assault was so brutal that the Israeli military commander for the West Bank called it a “pogrom.” Remember: Israel has occupied the West Bank since seizing the territory from Jordanian military occupation in 1967. It later agreed to transfer limited control over parts of the territory to the Palestinian Authority, after agreements signed in the 1990s. Israel has continued to build settlements in the occupied West Bank. The settlements are considered illegal under international law, encroaching into land that Palestinians and the international community view as territory for a future Palestinian state. Israel views the West Bank as “disputed territory,” and contends its settlement policy is legal. New settlement plan along occupied East Jerusalem perimeter Two Israeli non-profit organisations say Israel’s authorities are poised to advance a settlement plan along the southern perimeter of occupied East Jerusalem, joining a series of new settlements promoted over the past year. According to Ir Amim and Bimkom, the plan calls for the construction of 650 housing units on 29 dunams (29,000 square metres) of land situated along the southern slopes of the Palestinian neighbourhood of Sur Baher-Umm Tuba, whose boundaries extend up against existing Palestinian homes. “This is yet another new settlement plan not only being advanced within a Palestinian neighbourhood, but also in lockstep with official registration of land rights [settlement of land title] within the plan’s borders,” the two groups said. “As documented by Bimkom and Ir Amim, settlement of land title is being exploited to expand and finalise state/settler appropriation of land across East Jerusalem, while increasing the threat of Palestinian dispossession.” Israeli raid on West Bank refugee camp results in 14 Palestinians injured At least 14 Palestinians have been injured during a raid by Israeli forces on the Askar refugee camp, east of the occupied West Bank city of Nablus. According to the news agency Wafa, confrontations broke out between Israeli troops and Palestinian youth, resulting in the wounding of one person with a live round fired into his back. Israeli settlers storm Al-Aqsa Mosque compound Dozens of settlers, shielded by Israeli police, have stormed the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound and performed Talmudic rituals, Palestinian Wafa news agency reports. Israeli settler groups often break into the holy site – which they call the Temple Mount – defying the established “status quo” that restricts prayer access exclusively to Muslims. Lack of work, tax revenue escalate occupied West Bank tensions It is an extremely difficult situation in the occupied West Bank. Most work permits for Palestinians have been cut off since October 7. So there is no work. There is no trade. Israel is also withholding taxes that are supposed to be sent to the Palestinian Authority so there is literally no money. This is in addition to the ongoing violence such as the latest overnight Israeli raid in Tulkarem that killed three people. Israeli security officers are reportedly warning there is a risk of a “third intifada”.
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We need to stop calling it settler, every inch of land on this planet has exchanged hands by bloodshed at one point or another, including your Canada. If the settlers are living in these private lands for the cheaper cost of living, it's no different than the gentrification that happens in every US and Canadian city where the rich move into the land because it's cheap for them, but raise the value of the homes so much that those that already lived there can no longer afford to live there.
