Settlements | The American Task Force on Palestine

Israel considering annexing West Bank settlements
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
March 28, 2011 - 12:00am

An Israeli official says Israel is considering annexing major West Bank settlement blocs if the Palestinians unilaterally seek world recognition of a state. The official said Tuesday that Israel can respond to unilateral Palestinian action with one-sided acts of its own. Annexation of settlements is one option. He says others could include restricting water supplies beyond agreed-upon amounts and restricting Palestinian use of Israeli ports for business purposes. The official spoke on condition of anonymity on Tuesday because no final decisions have been made.

Israel’s problem is the settlements, not J Street
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Carlo Strenger - (Opinion) March 25, 2011 - 12:00am

The Netanyahu government’s refusal to meet with the leadership of J Street during its visit this week reflects a deep and truly worrying process, in which Israel’s government and the Knesset are progressively locked into a deep bunker with no communication with the outside world. The assumption is that J Street creates a problem for Israel, and that if Israel delegitimizes J Street, the problem will go away.

Settler opens fire on funeral procession
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
March 21, 2011 - 12:00am

Two Palestinians were shot Monday afternoon when a settler disembarked from his car on the Jerusalem-Hebron road and opened fire on a funeral procession heading to the Beit Ummar cemetery. Medics said two were injured in the shooting, including 59-year-old Muhammad Ali Abu Safiyya who was in critical condition after being shot in the chest, and 32-year-old Bassam Zaq’aqiq, who was shot in his right thigh. Both were evacuated to hospital.

Israel engaged in ethnic cleansing -UN investigator
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
March 21, 2011 - 12:00am

Israel's expansion of Jewish settlements in east Jerusalem and eviction of Palestinians from their homes there is a form of ethnic cleansing, a United Nations investigator said on Monday. U.S. academic Richard Falk was speaking to the U.N. Human Rights Council as it prepared to pass resolutions condemning Israeli behaviour on territory it has occupied since 1967.

UN: Massive increase in home demolitions
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
March 21, 2011 - 12:00am

The latest numbers from the United Nations show a two-fold increase in the number of Palestinian homes and agricultural buildings destroyed by Israel order this year, causing concern among officials. The UN Relief and Works Agency recorded 70 demolitions since the start of 2011, displacing 105 Palestinians, of whom 43 were under the age of 18. The demolitions were carried out across the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and ordered by Israeli police, municipal officials and by mandate of the Civil Administration.

Palestinian worker stabbed in Jewish settlement
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
March 21, 2011 - 12:00am

A veiled man, believed to be an Israeli, stabbed a Palestinian worker in a West Bank settlement near Hebron City Monday, Palestinian medics and security sources said. Israeli media also reported the incident, saying the Palestinian was stabbed in the chest several times. Palestinian doctors said the 25-year-old worker was moderately injured. Israel's Ynet news website said that the Palestinian man insisted on being taken to a Palestinian hospital. Israeli police deployed heavily near Havat Ma'on settlement and were investigating the incident, according to Ynet.

WEST BANK: Palestinians ask for international protection citing rise in attacks by Israeli settlers
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
by Maher Abukhater - (Blog) March 21, 2011 - 12:00am

The Palestinian Authority asked for international protection Monday citing a sharp rise in Israeli settler violence against Palestinian civilians in the West Bank. The call came after three Israelis from the Havat Maon settlement allegedly stabbed and seriously injured 33-year-old Mahmud Ibrahim Awad of Khirbat Tuba, a tiny village south of the West Bank city of Hebron, as he was walking home Monday morning. Awad was stabbed in the head, chest and arm.

Palestinian man attacked in Israeli settlement
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
March 17, 2011 - 12:00am

A Palestinian man says he was attacked by masked men inside a Jewish West Bank settlement. Palestinian laborer Sami Snobar says at least eight Hebrew-speaking men approached him at a construction site where he was working Thursday and asked him what he was doing there. He says he was hit on the head and body with a construction tool and a cinder block, and also sprayed. Snobar spoke from a Palestinian hospital. The incident took place in the Shiloh settlement.

Jordan says Israeli settlements threaten Mideast peace process
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
March 17, 2011 - 12:00am

Jordan's foreign minister said Wednesday that demographic and geographic changes in the Palestinian territories resulting from Israeli settlement activities have threatened the Middle East peace process, the state-run Petra news agency reported. During his meeting with UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Robert Serry, Jordan's Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh said the unilateral Israeli measures in the West Bank and East Jerusalem are illegal.

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