By Raffi Berg
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken (click here) has called for Israel and the Palestinians to take "urgent steps" to restore calm amid escalating violence.
Speaking in Jerusalem, Mr Blinken reiterated US support for a two-state solution as "the best way" to bring security to the two sides.
Israel's new government opposes the creation of a Palestinian state.
The visit comes after two gun attacks by Palestinians in East Jerusalem at the weekend killed seven Israelis.
At a news conference following talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday, Mr Blinken expressed his condolences for what he called the "horrific terrorist attack"....
Interactive Map (click here) shows all the check points and guard stations in the West Bank. If the descriptions are accurate the check points are mostly open access. There isn't a lot of military in the West Bank. Movement seems possible in most areas.
The attacks by the Palestinians are mostly based on hate. The attacks give Israel the right to defend itself. It used to be the attacks were with knives, now there are guns. If movement within the West Bank is basically unimpeded then what is the issue already?
I think the Palestinians need to put their vision of Palestine forward so they can begin a dialogue. Israel won't move an inch if there isn't a productive dialogue. That is the biggest issue. There is no productive dialogue and Israel simply attacks when there is violence. Israel continues to build settlements because they see no reason not to push into the Palestinian territories. Settlements do serve to end the violence after a time.
January 29, 2023
Jerusalem - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (click here) on Saturday announced a series of punitive steps against the Palestinians, including plans to beef up Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank, in response to a pair of shooting attacks that killed seven Israelis and wounded five others.
The announcement cast a cloud over a visit next week by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and threatened to further raise tensions following one of the bloodiest months in the West Bank and east Jerusalem in several years.
Netanyahu's Security Cabinet, which is filled by hard-line politicians aligned with the West Bank settlement movement, approved the measures in the wake of a pair of shootings that included an attack outside an east Jerusalem synagogue on Friday night in which seven people were killed.
Netanyahu's office said the Security Cabinet agreed to seal off the attacker's home immediately ahead of its demolition. It also plans to cancel social security benefits for the families of attackers, make it easier for Israelis to get gun licenses and step up efforts to collect illegal weapons....
Jerusalem - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (click here) on Saturday announced a series of punitive steps against the Palestinians, including plans to beef up Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank, in response to a pair of shooting attacks that killed seven Israelis and wounded five others.
The announcement cast a cloud over a visit next week by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and threatened to further raise tensions following one of the bloodiest months in the West Bank and east Jerusalem in several years.
Netanyahu's Security Cabinet, which is filled by hard-line politicians aligned with the West Bank settlement movement, approved the measures in the wake of a pair of shootings that included an attack outside an east Jerusalem synagogue on Friday night in which seven people were killed.
Netanyahu's office said the Security Cabinet agreed to seal off the attacker's home immediately ahead of its demolition. It also plans to cancel social security benefits for the families of attackers, make it easier for Israelis to get gun licenses and step up efforts to collect illegal weapons....
This is how it rolls. The settlers and Palestinians confront each other. Violence is involved at some time, but, inevitably when the dust settles the Israelis have another settlement and the Knesset (click here) confirms the settlement as legal with rights.
This has been going on for generation after generation. Nothing seems to stop the settlements. The Knesset is moving to remove the issue of "Right to return." The more the violence the less the future looks optimistic for any talks or peace. It isn't as though there is no sympathy and/or effort to promote Palestinian land protections, but, it always falls apart with the advancement of the settlers.
Burin, West Bank - The Israeli settlers (click here) streamed down the hill toward Palestinian farmland, some waving sticks, some throwing stones, all masked.
They began beating a group of Palestinian villagers and Israeli rights activists, who had been planting olive trees on the edge of a Palestinian village. One settler threw a flammable liquid across an activist’s car and set it ablaze. At least seven people were injured.
The mob attack outside the village of Burin last month, captured on video by human rights advocates, was part of an escalation of civilian violence across the occupied West Bank in the past year. In 2021, the number of injurious attacks by settlers on Palestinians, and by Palestinians on settlers, reached their highest levels in at least five years, according to the United Nations....
They began beating a group of Palestinian villagers and Israeli rights activists, who had been planting olive trees on the edge of a Palestinian village. One settler threw a flammable liquid across an activist’s car and set it ablaze. At least seven people were injured.
The mob attack outside the village of Burin last month, captured on video by human rights advocates, was part of an escalation of civilian violence across the occupied West Bank in the past year. In 2021, the number of injurious attacks by settlers on Palestinians, and by Palestinians on settlers, reached their highest levels in at least five years, according to the United Nations....
Israel has no use for the UN. The genocide of Ukrainians only validated Israel's deepest concerns for it's own people. Who expected it? It wasn't as if there was a great deal of hatred and tension between Ukraine and Russia when the attack occurred.
27 January 2023
By Luke Tress
United Nations - Israel’s ambassador to the UN, (click here) Gilad Erdan, lashed the world body for its disproportionate focus on Israel and for antisemitism in its ranks in a speech to the General Assembly on Friday marking Holocaust Remembrance Day.
“The UN was founded upon the ashes of the Holocaust. It was established to ensure such darkness never befell humanity again,” Erdan said. “It is a living monument to the horrors suffered by the Jewish people.”
“As such, it is the UN’s responsibility to lead the world in combating hatred, yet when it comes to fighting antisemitism, sadly, the UN ignores its purpose,” he said to an audience that included UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Holocaust survivors and Erdan’s parents, the children of survivors....
It is the constant plotting by the enemy while they smile at all the dialogue, negotiations and diplomatic signing of documents. Russia up to the invasion of Ukraine was still engaging in dialogue and signing agreements. The best anyone can assess is that all that effort to bring about peace, regardless of the cost, was simply a smoke screen. Now, we are going to ask Israel, of all countries, to once again dialogue with the Palestinians.
Neither the Palestinians nor Israelis are remotely on the same page. The terms of peace are too high for Israel because they believe it will be an empty gesture that will only result in more hate and more violence.
If any example of peace should have occurred and productive dialogue extended it was best to have happened after the Late Prime Minister Ariel Sharon settled the disputes in Gaza by giving the Palestinians land. But, as soon as the land was relinquished nothing but expressions of hate manifested by burning down synagogues and destroying any sign of Israelis existence. The peace was never real, it was a smoke screen and the hate has continued.
The hate is real. In order to bring about peace it will require the leaders of Palestine to control their citizens (click here). That is not possible. They try. But, Hamas has control of Gaza and there is never an end to the hate or the violence.
Secretary Blinken is correct in that the escalating violence must stop and calm to be established. Hamas won't have anything to do with it. This latest incident just before the arrival of Secretary Blinken began as an attack by Palestinians. Israel retaliates and the conflict is reaching a boiling point yet again. It is a chronic problem that never ends. After wishing and hoping for peace for decades, the idea it is possible is becoming a futile belief.
