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cliffside

(1,848 posts)
Wed Jun 17, 2026, 10:42 PM Wednesday

Israel Set to Rapidly Expand West Bank Settlement

Full article at link

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/11/world/middleeast/israel-west-bank-settlements.html?unlocked_article_code=1.rFA.F2oS.Cmfbw_H7g-vC&smid=url-share


"Israel’s government is expected to allocate hundreds of millions of dollars in the coming days to rapidly expand Jewish settlement across the occupied West Bank ahead of national elections this fall.

... Mr. Netanyahu’s government has long focused on expanding West Bank settlement with the stated goal of preventing the rise of a Palestinian state on the territory. Most of the world views the settlements as a violation of international law.

Israel argues that the West Bank land is disputed territory and its fate should be determined in negotiations. But there have been no Israeli-Palestinian negotiations for more than a decade and none are on the horizon. Many in the government want Israel to declare sovereignty over at least part of the West Bank.

... The expansion push follows a surge in settler violence in the West Bank in recent years. With the world largely distracted by wars in the Middle East, extremist settlers have intensified their attacks on Palestinians and their property across the West Bank in a violent campaign of intimidation that has emptied out entire Palestinian villages...'

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cliffside

(1,848 posts)
2. Who will stop them? - Netanyahu Says Israel Will Control 70 Percent of Gaza, Squeezing Hamas
Thu Jun 18, 2026, 12:22 AM
Thursday

Millions of people displaced, nobody seems to care about them.

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/28/world/middleeast/israel-gaza-hamas-70-percent.html?unlocked_article_code=1.rFA.WVtH.uaY2uQv5Mr52&smid=url-share

"Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel said Thursday that he had directed the Israeli military to expand its control of the Gaza Strip to 70 percent of the Palestinian enclave, ratcheting up the pressure on Hamas, the militant group that rules the rest..."



AloeVera

(4,597 posts)
3. The Two-State-solution mantra of Western leaders was a lie. A charade.
Fri Jun 19, 2026, 10:27 PM
Friday

I hope that is clearer now.

If it had been real, we would have seen real, authentic outrage, sanctions and red lines holding - and Gaza would not have been allowed to be destroyed and its people slaughtered mercilessly. There would not have been 50+ years of creeping settlement expansion in the West Bank with no real push-back or consequences.

But ordinary people the world over do care. Just not those in power and those in thrall to the idea of Israel but willfully blind or not caring about the reality of its apartheid, its history of ethnic cleansing and its brutality and expansionist aims since its founding.

I don't know how this harm to morality and humanity can be reversed. There is too much power and pressure from the MIC (aside from the billions made, defense contractors loved Gaza for the real-life testing of their shiny new weapons, reducing the people of Gaza to guinea-pigs), the Israeli lobby embedded in Western politics, the Donor Class, Big Oil, Big Corporations (making big bucks off occupation and war), so-called Christians, oh and throw in some racism, fear-mongering and decades of narrative control - the list goes on and on.

No end in sight to the suffering though, that's the only thing for sure.


cliffside

(1,848 posts)
4. Those nice words have been "an out" for too many politicians for way too long, but I do think times are changing ...
Sat Jun 20, 2026, 11:30 PM
7 hrs ago

way too slow for the tens of thousands killed in Gaza. Think the number of displaced people in Iraq was 25% of the population, in Gaza it is 100%, not sure about Lebanon but it is a significant amount.

Speaking of the MIC there was a documentary years ago about how contracts were divided up among different states, you get x number of jobs/money etc, keep the people happy/voting for a particular person.

The internet is both a remedy and a curse, people are learning more about other nationalities/religions but are also becoming more ingrained to their limited beliefs, so a bit of a quandary.

Hopeful and also frustrated at the lack of humanity with some individuals and also some in power.



"If you smile at me, I will understand
'Cause that is something everybody everywhere does
In the same language"



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