Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is back to his old tricks with the recent announcement that 500 new homes for colonists will be built in the West Bank. The decision follows an attack which killed an Israeli couple and three of their children in a colony — Israeli authorities are still searching for the attacker.
The murder was gruesome given that it was committed while the Israeli family was sleeping. All violent acts against civilians are unacceptable; but the Israeli leadership cannot use this as an excuse to build more illegal colonies on Palestinian land. Israel isn't just investigating this incident, it has closed off all the surrounding area and erected checkpoints and arrested Palestinians from nearby villages, thereby disrupting their already difficult lives.
Moreover, peace talks collapsed last year when Israel refused to agree to a partial colony freeze despite international (including American) requests. The Palestinian leadership has been very clear from the start that negotiations cannot proceed while Israel carries out colony expansion.
Palestinians are suffering under Israeli occupation and with this murder, their lives in the West Bank are becoming extremely grim. Violence will always be there so long as colonists live illegally on Palestinian land. Isn't it time Israel's intransigence is confronted by the international community once and for all?
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