Israel policy allows settlers to rampage unchecked

Thumbing nose to our Vice President...Cut support of$3 Billion dollars given each year to Israel. Seventy years ago Gen Patton said, "The third world war will be started in Israel."

Eitan, throw your analogy out the window. East Prussia and Srpska Krajina involve ethnic groups that have existed in Europe for centuries. The Jewish immigrants from Europe have no part in the history of Palestine. They are invaders. Colonists. Compare them to the French in North Africa and Indochina, the British in India, Africa, etc. Eventually, all foreign colonials are ejected as the body ejects invading cancer cells.

No Jews remained alive in the West Bank territory occupied by Jordan. All were left alive were ethnically cleansed. Jews were also forbidden any access to the holy sites in Jerusalem. By the way, as Issacharoff is certainly aware, the US demand is NOT the 1967 lines-- it's the 1967 lines with adjustment (land trades) for population centers. Nonetheless, the timing of this announcement was incredibly stupid.

People with any sense and a few decent values believe it was not OK for Jordan, as the occupying power, to treat Jews the way they were treated. People with any sense and a few decent values ALSO believe it is not OK for Israel, as the occupying power, to treat the Palestinians the way they have been and still are being treated.

to nr. 29, oliver, anti-semitism can better be replaced in this case by anti-judaism or even by anti-zionism or anti-jewish. anti-semitism means anti or against the semitic peoples. jews, arabs and palestinians are semitic peoples, children of sem, one of noach"s sons. see the bible eventually. for the rest i can agree with you.

You just quoted the line prohibiting the forcible transfer of protected persons **OUT** of occupied territory. That, of course, has nothing to do with the transfer **IN** of citizens of the occupying power. That's covered by the last line of Art 49: "The Occupying Power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies." NOTE: that line says "transfer", and not "forcible transfer" i.e. colonizing occupied territory with your own citizens is UNCONDITIONALLY prohibited.

what they are looking for is a final demonstration that the two states solution is impossible and thus obtain the dream of one state for two peoples governed by Netaniahu et all. a sad end for a dream

Two main differences are that those who found themselves in an annexed area after world war one were given the citizenship of the new country....west bank pals are not given this privilege...and that if they chose to leave; they had a country of origin to go back to (ie germans in the then poland could go to germany). Truly there is no comparison...

I agree with you, there is nothing stopping Jews from moving to within the Palestinian Authorities borders...as long as they want to be Palestinian Jews, more power to them. But stop taking my tax money to protect, transport, give energy and health care for the people who insist on living in another country. We don't this for any other israeli's who live abroad...and when you cross that green line you are abroad. Period. This IS international law.

Next time Israeli dignitaries visit the US it should be announced by the state department that the US will be cutting it's military aid to Israel. Truly these thugs in power have no tact... Lieberman thinks he can be brutish with visiting diplomats...well it isn't wise to bite the hand that feeds you. Bibi and Yvet are embarrassments of the first caliber. The time for a regime change is now. The Israeli government has been hijacked by a group of right wing nutters whose policies are seeming less like what the majority of the country wants.

Such twaddle! If the fence were truly for Israel's security, it would be on the internationally recognized border of Israel. Since it is not on the border, it is apparent that the wall is primarily for stealing still more land.

"Rampage"? Exactly what is meant by "rampage"? By "rampage", is it meant that after decades of Palestinian violence, threats, theft, and disrespectful treatment of Jewish women, that there are young ,hot headed Jewish guys that are reacting and acting out. Any other group nwould have gone on a "rampage" long ago! As to "International law", it seems that,per our naive apologists for the Palestinians that there is one rather expansive set of "International Laws and rights" for Palestinians and another, more limited, set of "Intenational Laws" for the rest of us.

much different from pals who only slain children and inocents only for rejoicing themselves.

It'll last until the Mashiah comes. Why go through the motions? Mr. Biden, go home and tell Mr. Obama that unless he gets really tough, those trips, those talks, those photo-ops are a total waste of time and public money.

good walls make good neighbors. China, America, Saudi Arabia, all good. Israel always had walls... She always needed them due to the philistines now called palestinans.

BUILD ISRAEL BUILD!!!!

I'll double it and you'll lose as do the pals on a regular basis. Imagine the peace if there were no pals.....

so, relax and enjoy Israel's glory.

you neglected to say... 8,000 9,000? Bet you know quite well although you don't post it. USA hates Gaza and all terrorists.

just need to stop lying...we are not stupid and you are not honest nor einstein

but, when has any Pal ever been expected to tell the truth? It is an unknown, they actually now think they are Jews!! OY VEZ MER!

but, when has any Pal ever been expected to tell the truth? It is an unknown, they actually now think they are Jews!! OY VEZ MER!

Realist, I understand why the wall was built. But if Israel really believed that the WB was within its national boundaries I don't think it would have ceded so much precious territory for that purpose. It wanted to keep the WB separated because it is not Israel. That's why Eitan is wrong.

...to keep the settlers on the other side of it.

The anti-terrorist fence was built for security reasons, to obstruct the Palestinian suicide murderers. It has already saved hundreds if not thousands of lives. That is why it has been so bitterly condemned by the Hamas and Fatah terrorists as well as by their supporters around the world.

"The EU reiterates that settlements are illegal under international law," Ashton said in a statement. "They undermine current efforts for restarting peace negotiations ... and threaten to make a two-state solution impossible." http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3860934,00.html

As the west bank belongs to Israel anyway as you state, then why was the separation wall built? To separate Israel from Israel?

The settlers are a deterrant to peace. They harbor an attitude of good versus evil and sustain that attitude in their children. This is not something that can be overcome through education within one generation. Settlers will continue to incite and threaten peace.

It took the 1973 war to bring peace between Egypt and Israel, an 18 year violent resistance in Southern Lebanon to get Israel out of Lebanon, an intifada to bring Israel to the Oslo peace accords. For the past 22 years since the PLO renounced terrorism and declared Israel's "right" to exist they got the shaft. Do you see a pattern?

"The US needs to know that its policy is delusional and its actors are useless" And how about its money?

Look no further when you ask why anti-Semitism is growing. Fear for the future.

There are real, extremely difficult and complex issues here. Today is a sad, pessimistic day, rather more so than days which have preceded it. Israel does not have many friends in the world and it needs to be careful in its dealings with America. There are rumblings here from people and organizations which would not normally rumble. Israel would surely be better advised to nurture those who currently are neutral towards her, rather than potentially adding them to the lenghthening list of antagonists. It is worth noting that in almost every case, hubris is followed by nemesis.

There's nothing warped about a prohibition on "individual or mass forcible transfers" per the Geneva Convention. Where was your expert commentary when the Croats ethnically cleansed the Serbs from Srpska Krajina? I don't recall any protest over that illegal act. To look at the letter of the law and call it "warped" is to whine when your worldview fails to jibe with reality. If you want to invent your own jurisprudence, ask Al-Azhar whether they're still accepting new hadiths.

If Israel keeps insisting on destroying the two state solution - in which the 1967 borters must be respected - Israel will have its wish - one state for Jews and Palestinians, including the Palestinian refugees.

Mark is arguing that ultimately, an enemy can launch a genocidal war on you, and that you will need to tidily return any land forfeited by that enemy due to military losses. Mark, the status of the West Bank is between Jordan and Israel to decide. Since Jordan annexed the West Bank from the now-defunct British Mandate of Palestine, which in turn parceled it off from the Ottoman Caliphate, you've proven to us all that Jordan needs to return the West Bank to Israel. Nice work.

Thank you Sir for a breath of truth amongst all this hate and misinformed posts. My Eretz Israel will build wherever we have need. What WAS the 1967 war all about anyway????

No court with proper jurisdiction ever judged the settlements illegal. The International Court in the Hague gave an opinion of the situation, not a judgment. This is major point that most people ignore. They refused to give a judgment because they lack proper jurisdiction. Without an entity being judged illegal by a court having proper jurisdiction, how can that entity be illegal?

I am glad Haaretz has finally figured out what has been going on for decades. The Government of Germany pretended it did not approve of Krystal Nacht. But it did and everyone with a brain understood that it did. There were decent Germans who didn't like what was going on, but they had no influence and were afraid to act. There are decent Israelis, but they have no influence, and besides, what is out of sight behind the separation fence is out of mind. . . I too live in a nation which forsake all decency for the harlot of the lunatic right. The culprits might be out of power, but we have not been able to regain our honor. We probably never will.

Wow what an article this one is. Can find no fault with anything said. For those still questioning the illegality of the settlements it's an exercise in futility as no one is listening other than those who think the same. The settlements by international law are illegal, period. Jerusalem is not recognized as the capital of the jew State, period.

Excellent article. Fair. Devastating and honest. Glad we have Haaretz and real investigative journalists.

... for Jordan to kill and drive out all Jews from WB between 48 and 67. Jews who had lived there forever. When Jordan walked away from the WB after 67, somehow it is not OK for Jews to rebuild there. Can somebody explain this to me?

Your opinion perverts US law, international law and the Geneva Conventions. It is warped legal analysis such as yours that gave us the term "enemy combatants" and "pre-emptive war", resulting in an un-American legal conundrum at Guantanamo Bay and an illegal onging war in Iraq.

israel was allocated all of this land by international treaty ;its recapture from jordan and egypt is totally legal . the peace treaties with both entities show just that !

Acquisition of land through war should not be illegal, it should be a deterrent. Kind of like "if you punch me in the nose, I'll break your arm." Next time, you'll think twice... Just my .02 cents.

the PA has become a fairly impotent body which suits Israel just fine! ( as long as they don't get in the way) Time to get real and put the ball completely in the Israeli court. You don't want 2 states? Fine, make it one than!

Eitan, you've forgotten the rest of international law, namely the following principles: the inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory by war and the prohibition of the transfer of civilians of the occupying Power to the occupied territory. Both are to prevent colonisation of occupied territories.

The whole situation is not black and white. From my perspective, when Israel formed, they were happy to finally have a "home." The Arabs decided that this was unacceptable and attacked from all fronts immediately. Fledgling Israel, defended itself with it's limited resources and repelled the attacks, and conquering some land as it pushed the enemies back. These are the spoils and gains of war. They shouldn't have attacked, and then to have the balls to cry demanding their land back. Tough crap. That said, expansionism into the Palestinian territories and creating outposts and settlements in these areas, do nothing to help the situation. If the Palestinians don't see hope for themselves, their families and their homes, there cannot be any stability or peace. Keeping them down has only fed the extremist element through desperation. The game playing needs to end or there will never be peace and only more bloodshed on both sides. Quite frankly, I find Israel's actions embarrassing.

Georg Cohn, an author of Article 49 of the Geneva Convention, explained to the Danish foreign ministry at the time that by this wording, he sought to prevent such acts as Germany's deportation of its own Jews to slave and extermination camps in Poland and other occupied countries, as well as Germany's forcible transfer of Germans to portions of Poland and other occupied countries. Nevertheless, many journalists habitually bandy about the notion of using the same international law (the Geneva Convention) - which aimed in particular to secure the safety of Jews and other WWII victims - to craft a noose with which to hang Israeli Jews residing in territory forfeited by Jordan as a result of the latter's declaration of war upon Israel in 1967. Under international law, Israel need not abandon towns inside the formerly Jordanian West Bank, nor do Poles and Russians need to restore East Prussia to Germany.

The authors of this article assume, as do many, that some international law prohibits Israeli Jews from residing beyond the 1949 Green Line. If this assertion were taken from the Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, it should be noted that this passage states clearly: ?Individual or mass forcible transfers, as well as deportations of protected persons from occupied territory to the territory of the Occupying Power or to that of any other country, occupied or not, are prohibited, regardless of their motive.? In other words, voluntarily establishing residence in territory gained as a result of war is not illegal, especially in lieu of previous tenants on the land (typical of the Jordan Valley) or where adjacent tenants lack registered title and/or deed to the land under the government(s) that previously administered said territory (namely, the Ottoman Empire, the British Mandate, and Transjordan/Jordan).

This article is completely misleading. The decision on the housing units wasn't made by "Israel" (re Kissinger) or the "government", and they're not exactly "sandwiched in" as a look at a map will tell you. Likewise, "Denmark" wasn't responsible for a cartoon in a newspaper. Likewise the Silwan demolitions were in the context of giving retro-active permits to the many houses already there! And "based on the 1967 borders" is not the same as exactly along the 1967 borders," which is what the whole brouhaha is about to begin with. So the article is ya'ani, as if it were giving an accurate account, but is in no way doing so.

The 2-state option is dead. Killed by incitement. The US needs to know that its policy is delusional and its actors are useless.

The Palestinians should engage in direct talks with Israel, state their position, make it public to the entire world. Their position, in the minds of the international community, is very reasonable, very comprimising. Israel will obviously reject. The Palestinians' next step would then be to disolve the PA and struggle for equality in the same vain as the 1960's Civil Rights movement. It appears Israel is not interested in two states. They don't want one state either. The last thing the Palestinians should do is play Israel's Fake Peace Process Game....

The strange thing about all this is that people can say with a straight face that any opposition to Israel's policies is based purely on anti-semitism, and there are no valid grounds for suggesting Israel should consider the law in making its decisions.

It's quite clear, Israeli policy was never about promoting and building towards peace...its about promoting and continuing a never ending peace "process". One day we'll wake up and the find that the West Bank is Cantonized into Bantustans, and 60 percent is designated for Israeli settlers and military. We'll have segregated roads, and segregated systems. One day we'll wake up to this...oh wait it's today...

... anywhere, anyhow... no ya'ani about it... Pals will be the victims anyhow, anywhere... no ya'ani about that either... anyway, ya'ani is mainly for USA and EU consumption... Israelis are not freiers, on either side of the divide...

This is a very commendable piece. I'm always impressed when I hear voices of reason from amongst the Israeli elite on these contentious issues. Israeli leaders should move away from this siege mentality and prepare their people for peace.The steps they take today will determine the prospects of the Jewish state they seek to establish. And they should bear in mind that Palestinian children are being born into occupation and would not need to be incited because the facts on ground would not give a different impression from reality.

... whenever you can... and to h*ll with the rest...

... it's all downhill, as far as battered truth-and-conciliation are concerned...