Hard power is needed to halt Israel’s reckless quest to redraw the borders of the Middle East in pursuit of “Greater Israel”. The power Israel lost to dictate the terms of peace on Iran, it has sought to regain in Lebanon. And Israel is now also focussing on Turkey (this has not gone down well with Trump).
In Jenin in the Palestinian West Bank, Israel is building the first (illegal) permanent military base in Area A since the Oslo Accords in the 1990s. Tens of thousands of Palestinians in the West Bank remain displaced from their homes, with no legal justification offered for blocking their return.
Israel ramps up attacks on Gaza ■ Israeli pressure on West Bank Palestinians coming from all directions ■ Expect US boots on the ground in Lebanon, Israel, says official ■ Surprise! Israel already breaking promise to Lebanon
It’s taboo to talk about exactly what happened on that day, and it’s taboo to talk about how Israel’s abuses provoked the attack. How many of the 1,195 people killed were actually killed by Israeli forces? Did Israel deliberately leave its people undefended? We don’t know, and we’re not allowed to know.
With Religious Zionism dominating key institutions of the Israeli state, police and courts fail to hold its adherents accountable for attacks on Christian communities
Israeli soldiers “prevented us from even passing near [our own land], then they bulldozed it all… They left us with nothing to live on.” Israeli forces have bulldozed hundreds of olive trees in the West Bank.
Instead of “voluntary migration,” call it “plan for free movement” ■ Chipping away at the Palestinian character of Hebron ■ Israel wants to teach how to be Jewish ■ More
The new Lebanese-Israeli framework is described as a first step. But beneath this diplomatic language lies a familiar problem: Israel keeps the power to decide when it feels secure enough to withdraw, the US presents itself as mediator while acting as Israel’s strategic protector, and Lebanon is asked to implement security obligations that its own political and social reality may not allow.
“My children, my grandchildren, and I are all living through the same suffering. [Israel] wants to take the land. It’s fertile, and there’s water. They don’t have water there, but South Lebanon is a paradise.”
Israel’s latest wall in the northern Jordan Valley is cutting Palestinian farmers off from their land, destroying crops, and accelerating displacement