• Thu. Mar 28th, 2024

News Infinitum

Infinitum.tech operates seven days a week. On our website you will find attractively presented lifestyle content.

Jews living and cultivating three percent of the West Bank could not possibly be an obstacle to a negotiated two-state solution

Nov 20, 2019
ine-eriksen-søreide-mødte-benjamin-netanyahu-i-jerusalem-søndag-7.-januar-2018.-foto-gpo-flickr

On Monday, November 18, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that the United States does not consider Israeli settlements illegal under international law (international law). The statement comes after a year of reviewing the legal material by legal experts in the US State Department.

The Danish Foreign Minister Jeppe Kofod from the Social Democrats expressed Danish criticism of the US decision. Among other things, Kofod said: “Unfortunately, the American announcement is bad news for the peace process. It weakens the prospects for a speedy resumption of meaningful peace negotiations.”

In Norway as in Denmark, politicians use the same wrong arguments against Israeli settlements

Jonas Gahr Støre – leader of the Norwegian Labor Party criticized the US decision. The Norwegian Foreign Minister Ine Eriksen Søreide did the same with a press release on regjeringen.no.

-The Norwegian attitude to the Israeli settlements is firmly rooted in a number of UN Security Council decisions and assessments from the International Court of Justice in The Hague. The government views the settlements as a violation of international law and an obstacle to a negotiated two-state solution, Søreide said.

Israeli authorities – and a number of experts in international law around the world claim that Israeli settlements are NOT in conflict with international law. This is also what the legal experts from the US State Department have come to after a year of investigation/' target='_blank'>investigation.

And here are more arguments:

According to the CIA World Factbook, the area of ​​the West Bank is 5,640 square kilometers.

In 2016, the news agency NTB and NRK in Norway reported that: “Israeli settlers cultivate about 93 square kilometers of Palestinian agricultural land, while the settlements in the settlements amount to about 60 square kilometers.” That is, Israeli settlements make up 2.7 percent of the area.

It is not the settlements that hinder a negotiated two-state solution, but the fact that the Palestinian leadership has for several years refused to negotiate. It is not the settlements that are the biggest obstacle to a solution, but rather the Palestinian leadership that “absolutely and categorically” refuses to recognize Israel as a Jewish state.

Pompeo emphasizes in his statement that there is a need for a negotiated solution. Pompeo also stressed that “international law does not force a particular solution through.” The Danish Minister of the Interior does not recognize the Jews’ right to live in an area that lies in their historical, religious and cultural core area – areas in which the League of Nations wanted close Jewish settlement.

Today, the world community sees things differently. In other words, all governments in the world want to see a Palestinian state established in Gaza and the West Bank and declare Israeli settlement in the area illegal.

Instead of using this good starting point for negotiations cooperation/' target='_blank'>cooperation-with-israel/' target='_blank'>cooperation-with-israel/' target='_blank'>with Israel, Palestinian leaders have opted for diplomatic confrontations and black campaigns against Israel. The West has been telling Israel for years: If you stop construction in the West Bank, the Palestinians will return to the negotiations. The Netanyahu government tried. They did not grant new building permits in the West Bank for two years, but the Palestinians never returned to the negotiating table.

The Palestinians still have the opportunity to have their own national homeland, but only if they choose to accept that Israel has come to stay. They must abandon the demand to move millions of Palestinians to Israel, and they must accept a permanent and peaceful border, not one that becomes the basis for new political demands or provides a better starting point for armed struggle.

Denmark’s support for the Palestinian diplomatic struggle – our acceptance of the Palestinians’ death penalty for selling property to Jews and our condemnations of Jewish housing do not help the Palestinians realize it.

Many Jews in Israel also want the Palestinians to have their own state. There are several reasons – the most important being perhaps that they do not want their children or grandchildren to become a discriminated minority under a Muslim majority. As a condition of a Palestinian state, Israelis must live in peace, as UN Resolution 242 also says. As long as there are no signs that the Palestinians are willing to accept it and the West’s pressure is unilaterally placed on the Israelis, they reserve the right to continue building new homes for their young families.

Read more in the article: Why Israel Continues to Build.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *