Palestinians in the West Bank say they are being driven from their homes by a campaign of terror waged by armed civilians determined to take their land

The girls, aged 14 to 16, have come for settler training to learn how to occupy Palestinian land — breaking international law. “God promised us this land and told us if you don’t take it, bad people will try and take it and you will have a war,” says Emuna Billa, 19, one of the camp supervisors. “Why do we have a war in Gaza? Because we don’t take Gaza.”

Their guru is Daniella Weiss, a 79-year-old grandmother in a long skirt and patterned headscarf. Founder of the Nachala or Homeland movement, she has been setting up illegal settlements for 49 years and was recently put under international sanctions. “You will be the new emissaries,” she tells the 50 or so girls at the camp. “I call it redeeming, not settling and this is our duty.”

She unfurls a map of Israel and the Palestinian territories dotted with vivid pink house symbols to represent existing and proposed Jewish settlements. Not only are these all across the West Bank, but also in Gaza. Already 674 people have signed up for beachside plots there, she tells me, and “many more want to join”. When someone asks her about settling Lebanon she smiles and says, “Yes, there too”.

  • @[email protected]English
    2•20 days ago

    And again you are cherry picking facts and show very simplistic and one sided version of the historical events, where you blame only Palestine of the collapse of the Oslo accords, but conveniently forget to mention that Yitzhak Rabbin was killed by a far right settler, and that Bibi who was back then in opposition called the Oslo accord mortal threat to Israel.

    The same far right leader who is governing Israel, who has been accused of war crimes, who is surrounded by other far right and even more extremist ministers, etc. This is the same like in Germany the kanzler to be from AfD, how happy are you going to be then?

    And then I asked you to give me statistics of how many settlers had received effective convictions over unprovoked violence against the Palestinian population? You once again dodged to reply to the question by vaguely claiming that Israel was better before the war, but the reality is that even then, those incidents weren’t uncommon and Israel was doing very little to rein it and prevent it from happening.

    Another question for you, how many kids below 14 have been killed on both sides in the last let’s say 20 years? Because with all due respect kids below 14 cannot be persecuted in Germany, correct?

    And about Nakba, I really wonder if tomorrow Russia expels 700K Ukrainians, and tell them that they cannot return to their homes you will again shrug it off and say that it is war and that’s what happens in war.

    Oh and another challenge for you. I dare you to find a single human rights organisation that’s not affiliated with the state of Israel that is claiming that all the human rights of the Palestinians in Israel are well protected.

    • @[email protected]English
      -2•19 days ago

      Yes, the Oslo accords also had resistance in Israel. However Israel still made a peace offer and Arafat refused and launched the second intifada. Look up Intrafada to see political murders among Palestinians of the time.

      Sure settlers suck and need to be stopped.

      The number of dead is asymmetric because Palestinians send their children to attack, including as suicide bombers. Israel is vastly superior in equipment, training, and organization. Of course less Israelis are killed. This tells you nothing about morality, only which side is stronger. Would you be happier if the numbers were equal?

      And about Nakba, I really wonder if tomorrow Russia expels 700K Ukrainians, and tell them that they cannot return to their homes you will again shrug it off and say that it is war and that’s what happens in war.

      Do you think the great-grandchildren of Ukrainians who fled to Poland today will massacre Russians at a festival in 70 years?

      German terrorists don’t shoot unguided rockets at Danzig. Polish terrorists don’t blow up buses in Lviv.

      Yes, the human rights situation for Palestinians is bad. It’s especially bad under the Islamist dictatorship of Hamas and the police state of Abu Mazen.