In the Palestinian village of Ras al-Ein in the Jordan Valley, international and Israeli peace activists take turns standing guard at a water source. Israeli settlers have repeatedly vandalized the ho. – The residents recently established an outpost here. The aim is to attack the Palestinians when they try to get water, and actually make it impossible to live here. This is what the Russian journalist and peace activist Andrey X tells news. According to him, foreign passports, a camera and reporting on what is happening help to curb the harassment of the Palestinians. He collaborates with the Israeli group Looking Occupation in the Eye, which works to collect information and inform about Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories. Andrey X is one of the peace activists who have spent time protecting Palestinian areas in the occupied West Bank. Photo: Anna Shmitko – Many of them are minors According to Andrey, most of the people responsible for the fence in the area are Israeli settlers from nearby settlements. – Many of them are minors, 14-15 years old. They attack the Palestinians, commit vandalism and invade the villages with their animals, he says. Several of the Israeli activists who have blocked emergency aid to the Gaza Strip are minors. Photo: Oren Ziv / AFP Settler violence against the Palestinians has increased drastically after 7 October. Between the terrorist attack on 7 October and July this year, the UN Office for Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) recorded over 1,000 attacks carried out by settlers against Palestinians in the Palestinian territories. Residents have set fire to fields, cars and houses on Vestbreidda. According to the Israeli human rights organization BTselem, the purpose of the bus raid is to push the Palestinians out of the occupied West Bank. In December, Israel’s defense minister condemned the increase in settler violence against Palestinians, and clarified that only the police and military are allowed to use force. But videos analyzed by Amnesty show that Israeli soldiers are often present when this happens, without intervening. Benjamin Netanyahu rarely comments on the settler election, but in November he condemned the actions and said that the government is working to hold those responsible responsible, writes The Jerusalem Post. According to the Jerusalem Post, this must have been said under pressure from the United States. Israel approves more countries Norway recognized Palestine as a state in May this year. The area includes the Gaza Strip, East Jerusalem and the West Bank. But at the latest in June, the Israeli government decided to build more than 5,200 new housing estates on Vestbreidda. It includes the expansion of several existing settlements, in addition to the approval of three illegal outposts. This is reported by the Israeli peace organization Peace Now, which registers settlements. Israel occupied the West Bank in 1967, and since then 700,000 Israelis have settled in the area, so-called settlers. Among them are Israel’s Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir. The pink fields show Palestinian areas from 1949 until 1967. Gaza was then occupied by Egypt. The West Bank was occupied by Jordan. When Norway now recognizes Palestine as its own state, these are the borders Norway believes the state of Palestine and the state of Israel should be based on, with Jerusalem as the shared capital and with an opening for land exchange agreements. The pink fields show the Palestinian territories today. In Gaza, the war between Israel and Hamas is in full swing. In the West Bank, the pink areas show which areas are Palestinian-ruled and partially Palestinian-ruled. The dark blue areas are under Israeli control. Graphics: Eirik Kirkaune, news / MAP DATA FROM OPENSTREETMAP There are two ways Israel takes land. The most common way is for the Israeli government to approve an area as “state land”, and then approve the construction of settlements there. The other way is for settlers to take land illegally and set up camps, so-called outposts. The Israeli government may after some time choose to approve these outposts. If that does not happen, they are still rarely removed. Since 7 October, Peace Now has registered 25 new illegal outposts, which make up 10 percent of the total illegal settlements. Undermining possibilities for a two-state solution Yoni Mizrachi leads the work of monitoring the settlements in Peace Now. The peace organization believes that the settlements are the biggest obstacle to creating peace between the Palestinians and the Israelis, and that the West Bank must remain Palestinian. Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide says the same to news. – Israeli settlers moved in and are taking more and more of the land. It is a situation that approaches annexation and is in violation of international law. Eide believes that this undermined all possibilities for a Palestinian state. Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide says that the settler violence must both be condemned and have consequences. Photo: Javad Parsa / NTB Prevents the expansion of Palestinian villages This does not worry the current government in Israel. On Wednesday, the Knesset, i.e. the national assembly, voted for a resolution that distances itself from a Palestinian state. – The settlers usually build places where there are no Palestinians, but they often live close by. In other words, they get residents as neighbours. The purpose is to avoid the creation of a Palestinian state and the expansion of the existing Palestinian villages, says Mizrachi. Yonathan Mizrachi says that the settlements are often set up in areas where Palestinian farmers and Bedouins live, right next to more densely populated Palestinian villages. Photo: Private ICJ assesses the occupation On Friday, the International Court of Justice in The Hague (ICJ) will present what they think about Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem. They must decide on two things. They must present the consequences of Israel’s ongoing violation of the Palestinians’ right to self-determination. In addition, they must answer how the situation affects the legal status of the occupation, and what legal consequences this may have for UN countries. According to Foreign Minister Eide, the ICJ has investigated whether the expansion of the settlements is an attempt to annex the area. Published 18.07.2024, at 20.50 Updated 18.07.2024, at 21.14
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