The recent government-sanctioned Levy Report on settlement outposts unmasks the comfortable lie that Israeli government lawyers have told the courts and the rest of the world for decades, namely that Israel’s presence in the West Bank is temporary and measures designating Palestinian land and natural resources for Israeli use are motivated by security concerns. By Sari Bashi Last week, a committee appointed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to recommend disposition of about 100 Israeli outposts in the West Bank established in violation of Israeli military zoning laws released its conclusions (English summary here). The committee members, hand-picked by Netanyahu, were expected to recommend…

Just weeks after the Supreme Court ruling against any further delay in evacuating the outpost settlement of Migron, the government is now working industriously to legalize or otherwise legitimize the status of Givat Ha'ulpana, a neighborhood of the West Bank settlement of Beit El, near Ramallah. In 2008, human rights organization Yesh Din petitioned to have the neighborhood dismantled on behalf of its Palestinian owners; in September 2011, the Court found that Givat Ha'ulpana was indeed built on privately-owned Palestinian lands – in simple terms, this is property theft. The state agreed to demolish the neighborhood (Hebrew) then, and the…

As illegal settler outposts in the West Bank continue to circumvent law and only expand, Palestinian homes that have been around for decades longer are demolished over and over again.  This week, national-religious MK Zevulun Orlev (Habayit Hayehudi) was interviewed on an Israeli news show called London & Kirschenbaum about his proposal for a bill to legalize illegal settler outposts in the West Bank (yes, you read correctly -  to make legal what is illegal). The private bill, which has been tabled due to the Prime Minister's objection, would bar the state from demolishing and evacuating settler outposts in the West…

Not only is he a liar and war-mongerer, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu ruins economies, too! His corporate capitalism will make sure Israelis won't see the economic fruits of ending the occupation (not that it will ever happen on his watch, anyway...) Bibiconomy I swear to God, if I see one more person write that Israelis suffer economically because of the settlements, I’ll lose it. Or if someone says #J14 protesters should demonstrate against the occupation because the State poured $100 billion into the territories since the 70's, and that’s money that they would have seen otherwise, I’ll go bonkers. Those…

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu announced yesterday his intention to legalize dozens of tiny settlement outposts in the West Bank, which were built over the last decade, without formal authorization by the Israeli government, reports Haaretz. At the same time, he declared his intention to dismantle “immediately” all the outposts built on private Palestinian land. According to the report, only three outposts with several hundred families will be affected, even though the number of outposts built on private land is much higher. It should surprise few that the announcement is just another smokescreen – a fraud, really – that is meant…