Latest news with #PalestinianTerritory
Associated Press
6 days ago
- Health
- Associated Press
Photos show Palestinians mourning after people were killed in Israeli strikes
Health officials in the Palestinian territory said Tuesday that 18 people were killed in Israeli strikes. This is a photo gallery curated by AP photo editors.
Irish Times
30-06-2025
- Irish Times
Room for discussion: Israeli settlements and tourism platforms in the West Bank
Marketed as an 'escape into nature' 25 minutes by car from Jerusalem, the air-conditioned cabin has a Jacuzzi looking out on the semi-arid Judaean desert and access to a communal fire pit. The boutique holiday home promises 'a world of comfort, luxury, and endless possibilities' for about €230 a night on the tourism websites Airbnb and The cabin is part of a collection of outposts that form the rural settlement of Kedar which was established by religious Israeli settlers in the 1980s in the occupied West Bank. The Airbnb profile does not mention that the cabins are located on Palestinian land, while the profile describes the location as 'Palestinian Territory, Israeli settlement'. The desert guest house is accessible via a modern bypass built predominantly on expropriated Palestinian land and which was mostly empty when The Irish Times drove along it, accompanied by Dror Etkes, an Israeli expert on settlements and land policy in the West Bank and head of the NGO Kerem Navot. The 1,600-strong settler community in Kedar has repeatedly protested against plans to open the highway to Palestinian drivers who they claim could pose a security risk. Instead, Palestinian drivers are required to travel through the town of Elazariya which can take four times longer. The owner of the cabin said by email that travelling to the remote holiday site in a Palestinian car would cause issues with 'authorities'. READ MORE Armed with maps, cameras and video drones, Etkes has spent the past two decades driving across the West Bank monitoring settlement activity -'what we are seeing in the West Bank since [the Hamas attacks on Israel in] October 7th, 2023, we haven't seen ever before,' he says. Dotted on several hill tops in the area are white caravans and construction sites. Israel announced plans in 2024 for 3,300 new homes in Kedar, as well as the larger nearby settlement of Ma'ale Adumim, while Palestinians in the wider area have faced further road closures , home demolitions and mass displacement . Dror Etkes, an Israeli expert on settlements and land policy in the West Bank and head of the NGO Kerem Navot. Photograph: Hannah McCarthy In 2024, the International Court of Justice issued an advisory opinion stating that Israeli settlements were illegal; all countries should cease trade with them; and Israel should evacuate all settlers from the occupied Palestinian territories. Later that year, the Palestinian human rights NGO Al Haq published the results of an investigation into how Israeli settlers use resources and infrastructure which is denied to Palestinians, including through accommodation platforms such as Airbnb and The report said 'short-term rental platforms create a lucrative business model that sustains the presence of settlers in remote areas far from the main settlements' infrastructure. These platforms also provide financial opportunities for the development of secondary illegal outposts as offshoots of larger settlements, further sustaining settlement expansion, and the settlement enterprise in the Occupied Palestinian Territory as a whole.' [ 'Groundbreaking' case over Airbnb lettings in West Bank will set precedent for Irish companies, says Senator Opens in new window ] did not respond to a request for comment, while Airbnb provided a link to a 2019 statement made after the tourism company faced several lawsuits when it announced in 2018 that it would 'remove listings in Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank that are at the core of the dispute between Israelis and Palestinians. (Settlements in East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights, which was annexed from Syria, were not included.) After the 2018 announcement, Airbnb quickly faced litigation from Israelis and Jewish Americans who accused the company of discrimination in Israeli and US federal courts , while Airbnb faced sanctions under anti-boycott laws in several US states. Kerem Navot was also sued by a settler for authoring a report with Human Rights Watch entitled Bed and Breakfast on Stolen Land which was critical of Airbnb and operations in the West Bank. Israeli anti-discrimination legislation was amended by the Israeli parliament in 2017 to discourage discrimination on the basis of place of residence. This limits the manner in which Israeli business can deny goods and services to settlers living in the West Bank, despite Palestinian citizens of Israel facing a risk of violence or harassment if they enter settlements, while some Jewish Israelis are ideologically opposed to doing business with settlements. In more than a dozen US states, pro-Israel and Christian Evangelical groups have successfully lobbied for anti-boycott legislation which penalises American companies that refuse to do business with Israeli settlements, not just Israel. Israel's 2011 boycott law, which applies to Israeli citizens and companies, provides that anyone who calls for an economic, cultural, or academic boycott of Israel or 'Israeli-controlled territory', including Israeli settlements, is committing a civil offence. 'Unfortunately Airbnb reversed their decision and the settler who sued us asked to dismiss her lawsuit,' says Etkes, who wanted the case to go ahead to highlight Israel's conduct in the West Bank. ''Right now I don't think that we are under any specific risk of being sued because there are no big companies that are officially boycotting the settlements.' After settling the various lawsuits, Airbnb announced in 2019 that it had 'always opposed the BDS movement' and it would continue all listings in the West Bank but that 'any profits generated for Airbnb by any Airbnb host activity in the entire West Bank will be donated to non-profit organisations dedicated to humanitarian aid that serve people in different parts of the world.' Airbnb has implemented the same approach for listings in the disputed Caucus regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, while the company suspended operations in Russia and Belarus after financial sanctions were imposed on the two countries in the wake of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The Israeli NGO Who Profits, which is financially supported by Irish NGO Trócaire, has said that AirBnB's 'decision to donate the profits to non-profit organisations is a clear attempt to whitewash its involvement in promoting tourism on occupied land and providing services to settlements.'
The Guardian
29-05-2025
- Business
- The Guardian
Israel confirms plans to create 22 new settlements in occupied West Bank
Israel has said it will establish 22 new settlements in the occupied West Bank, including the legalisation of outposts already built without government authorisation, after a security cabinet vote held in secret last week. Israel occupied the West Bank, capturing it from Jordan, in the six-day war of 1967. Since then, successive governments have tried to permanently cement Israeli control over the land, in part by declaring swathes as 'state lands', which prevents private Palestinian ownership. The motion was said to have been put forward by the far-right defence minister, Israel Katz, and finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, who lives in the West Bank settlement of Kedumim, which is considered illegal under international law. Katz said the settlement decision 'strengthens our hold on Judea and Samaria', using the biblical term for the West Bank, 'anchors our historical right in the Land of Israel, and constitutes a crushing response to Palestinian terrorism'. He added it was also 'a strategic move that prevents the establishment of a Palestinian state that would endanger Israel'. The government intends to use the 22 settlements to bolster Israel's presence around Route 443, which connects Jerusalem and Tel Aviv via Modiin and was described by Israel Ganz, the head of the Yesha council umbrella group of West Bank Jewish municipalities, as 'the most important decision since 1967'. The minister said on X: 'We have made a historic decision for the development of settlements: 22 new communities in Judea and Samaria, renewing the settlement of the north of Samaria, and reinforcing the eastern axis of the State of Israel.' In July, Israel had approved the largest seizure of land in the occupied West Bank in more than three decades, according to a report released by Peace Now, an Israeli anti-settlement watchdog. At the time, the Israeli government approved the appropriation of 12.7 sq km (nearly 5 sq miles) of land in the Jordan valley, indicating it was 'the largest single appropriation approved since the 1993 Oslo accords', referring to the start of the peace process. In a leaked recording captured by Peace Now last year, Smotrich, during a conference for his National Religious Party-Religious Zionism, disclosed that the land confiscations in 2024 surpassed previous years' averages by approximately tenfold. He said: 'This thing is mega-strategic and we are investing a lot in it. 'This is something that will change the map dramatically.' In May 2023, Smotrich, who said his 'life's mission is to thwart the establishment of a Palestinian state', had instructed Israeli government ministries to prepare for a further 500,000 Israeli settlers to move into the occupied West Bank. On 20 June, the Guardian revealed how the Israeli military had quietly handed over significant legal powers in the West Bank to pro-settler civil servants working for Smotrich. An order posted by the Israel Defense Forces on its website on May 2024 transfers responsibility for dozens of bylaws at the Civil Administration – the Israeli body governing in the West Bank – from the military to officials led by Smotrich at the defence ministry. In March, in statement issued by Peace Now said that between 1 January and 19 March this year, 10,503 housing units were promoted, surpassing the 9,971 units approved throughout the whole of 2024. The approval of new settlements by Benjamin Netanyahu's far-right government represents a further implementation of its longstanding goal to annex the occupied Palestinian territory – an objective bolstered by the Trump administration. Mike Huckabee, nominated as Trump's new ambassador to Israel, signalled his support for Israeli claims on the West Bank in an interview last year. He said: 'When people use the term 'occupied', I say: 'Yes, Israel is occupying the land, but it's the occupation of a land that God gave them 3,500 years ago. It is their land.'' Rightwing settlers have described top officials Trump's new administration, which rescinded sanctions imposed on violent Israeli settler groups, as a 'dream team' that will offer a 'special opportunity' to permanently end any prospect of a Palestinian state. Associated Press contributed to this report
Asharq Al-Awsat
29-05-2025
- General
- Asharq Al-Awsat
Israel Authorizes More Settlements in the Occupied West Bank. Strikes on Gaza Kill 13
Israel said Thursday it would establish 22 Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank, including the legalization of outposts already built without government authorization. Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip meanwhile killed 12 people overnight, health officials said. Israel captured the West Bank, along with Gaza and east Jerusalem, in the 1967 Mideast war and the Palestinians want all three territories for their future state. Most of the international community views settlements as illegal and an obstacle to resolving the decades-old conflict. Defense Minister Israel Katz said the settlement decision 'strengthens our hold on Judea and Samaria,' using the biblical term for the West Bank, "anchors our historical right in the Land of Israel, and constitutes a crushing response to Palestinian terrorism.' He added it was also 'a strategic move that prevents the establishment of a Palestinian state that would endanger Israel.' Israel has already built well over 100 settlements across the territory that are home to some 500,000 settlers. The settlements range from small hilltop outposts to fully developed communities with apartment blocks, shopping malls, factories and public parks. The West Bank is home to 3 million Palestinians, who live under Israeli military rule with the Western-backed Palestinian Authority administering population centers. The settlers have Israeli citizenship. Israel has accelerated settlement construction in recent years — long before Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attack ignited the war in Gaza — confining Palestinians to smaller and smaller areas of the West Bank and making the prospect of establishing a viable, independent state even more remote. During his first term, President Donald Trump's administration broke with decades of US foreign policy by supporting Israel's claims to territory seized by force and taking steps to legitimize the settlements. Former President Joe Biden, like most of his predecessors, opposed the settlements but applied little pressure to Israel to curb their growth. The top United Nations court ruled last year that Israel's presence in the occupied Palestinian territories is unlawful and called on it to end, and for settlement construction to stop immediately. Israel denounced the non-binding opinion by a 15-judge panel of the International Court of Justice, saying the territories are part of the historic homeland of the Jewish people. Calls for settlements in war-ravaged Gaza Israel withdrew its settlements from the Gaza Strip in 2005, but leading figures in the current government have called for them to be re-established and for much of the Palestinian population of the territory to be resettled elsewhere through what they describe as voluntary emigration. Palestinians view such plans as a blueprint for their forcible expulsion from their homeland, and experts say the plans would likely violate international law. Israel now controls more than 70% of Gaza, according to Yaakov Garb, a professor of environmental studies at Ben Gurion University, who has examined Israeli-Palestinian land use patterns for decades. The area includes buffer zones along the border with Israel as well as the southern city of Rafah, which is now mostly uninhabited, and other large areas that Israel has ordered to be evacuated. The war began with Hamas' Oct. 7 attack, in which the group stormed into Israel, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting 251. Hamas still holds 58 hostages, around a third of them alive, after most of the rest were released in ceasefire agreements. Israeli forces have rescued eight and recovered dozens of bodies. Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed over 54,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which does not say how many of the dead were civilians or combatants. Israeli strikes killed at least 13 Palestinians overnight in Gaza, according to local hospitals. Four were killed in a strike on a car in Gaza City late Wednesday and another eight, including two women and three children, were killed in a strike on a home in Jabaliya. A strike on a built-up refugee camp in central Gaza killed one person and wounded 18. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military, which says it only targets militants and blames civilian deaths on Hamas because the militants are embedded in populated areas.
LBCI
21-05-2025
- Politics
- LBCI
Israel recalls senior Gaza hostage negotiators, leaves team in Doha
Israel on Tuesday said it was recalling its senior Gaza hostage negotiators from Doha "for consultation," days after launching an intensified campaign in the Palestinian territory. "After about a week of intensive contacts in Doha, the senior negotiation team will return to Israel for consultation, while working levels will remain in Doha for the time being," reads a statement from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office, accusing Hamas of refusing to accept a deal. AFP
