Op-Ed: Israel Must Adopt a Zero-Tolerance Policy Toward Illegal Palestinian Settlements
This is Part 8 of a 10-part series exposing the underreported joint European and Palestinian program to bypass international law and establish a de facto Palestinian state on Israeli land.
Those in Israel who are part of the movement dedicated to the protection of Israel’s national lands and resources have called to disband Israel’s Civil Administration entirely.
They demand a zero-tolerance policy toward illegal Palestinian construction, regardless of European Union funding and lawsuits, and have called on the Israeli government to initiate a long-overdue diplomatic effort to make it clear to the EU that it has established red lines that will be enforced.
“Israeli leadership as a whole is failing to behave like a sovereign government with a backbone that enforces the law and protects the security and national interests of the people,” argues Naomi Kahn, international director of the Israeli NGO Regavim.
Former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s right-wing Yamina party had initially expressed interest in solving the issue, and during Bennett’s tenure as defense minister, he began referring to Area C in the West Bank as a battleground and Palestinian Authority mass illegal land use as a strategic military threat. With an uptick in enforcement, mild progress was made.
Still, it was always a matter of scale. A shed would be knocked down, while the illicit electricity and water systems would be ignored because of humanitarian issues the EU would draw attention to.
Avigdor Lieberman similarly spoke out, but encountered disinterested bureaucrats and pushback from the Europeans, who have a direct line to their political counterparts in the Israeli government.
Though the Ministry of Intelligence published a full report in June 2021 that presented a comprehensive analysis of the illegal Palestinian land grabs and demographic saturation of Area C, since the publication’s report, little has changed.
Part 9 can be read here.
Part 7 can be read here.
Part 6 can be read here.
Part 5 can be read here.
Part 4 can be read here.
Part 3 can be read here.
Part 2 can be read here.
Part 1 can be read here.
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