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The Fading Two-State Solution

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Written by NY Times Editorial Board NY Times Editorial Board
Published: 23 January 2016 23 January 2016

.....Speaking at a security conference, Mr. Shapiro said, correctly, that Israel’s quick-moving expansion of settlements on Palestinian lands “raises honest questions about Israel’s long-term intentions” and commitment to a two-state solution. What really enraged his critics was an observation that during a time of increased violence in Israel and the West Bank, “Too many attacks on Palestinians lack a vigorous investigation or response by Israeli authorities, too much vigilantism goes unchecked, and at times there seem to be two standards of adherence to the rule of law: one for Israelis and another for Palestinians.” A statement from Mr. Netanyahu’s office denounced the second comment as “unacceptable and incorrect.”

Read more: The Fading Two-State Solution

Demand Airbnb Stop Listing Rentals in Israeli Settlements

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Written by USPCN USPCN
Published: 21 January 2016 21 January 2016

Demand Airbnb Stop Listing Rentals in Israeli Settlements  

Did you know that Airbnb, the online accommodation service, is listing homes in illegal Israeli settlements for people to rent?
 

There are 13,000 Airbnb listings in Israel, but investigations have proven that many of the properties are actually located in settlements built on stolen Palestinian land in the West Bank.

Sign the joint petition from USPCN, American Muslims for Palestine, CODEPINK: Women for Peace, Jewish Voice for Peace, and US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation--demand that Airbnb Say No to Stolen Homes!

This campaign is especially timely following the recent release of a Human Rights Watch report that called on businesses to comply with their human rights responsibilities by discontinuing to  operate in, finance, service, or trade with Israeli settlements.

By allowing users to list and rent these properties and taking 9-15% from hosts and guests, Airbnb is profiting off of Israel’s colonization and continued military occupation of Palestinian land, and supporting settlement activity.


Please take action, and demand that Airbnb end its complicity in Israel's colonization of Palestinian land!


Thank you,

USPCN

Occupation, Inc. How Settlement Businesses Contribute to Israel’s Violations of Palestinian Rights

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Written by Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch
Published: 19 January 2016 19 January 2016

Summary

Almost immediately after Israel’s military occupation of the West Bank in June 1967, the Israeli government began establishing settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories. From the outset, private businesses have been involved in Israel’s settlement policies, benefiting from and contributing to them. This report details the ways in which Israeli and international businesses have helped to build, finance, service, and market settlement communities. In many cases, businesses are “settlers” themselves, drawn to settlements in part by low rents, favorable tax rates, government subsidies, and access to cheap Palestinian labor.[1]

In fact, the physical footprint of Israeli business activity in the West Bank is larger than that of residential settlements. In addition to commercial centers inside of settlements, there are approximately 20 Israeli-administered industrial zones in the West Bank covering about 1,365 hectares, and Israeli settlers oversee the cultivation of 9,300 hectares of agricultural land. In comparison, the built-up area of residential settlements covers 6,000 hectares (although their municipal borders encompass a much larger area).

Read more at Human Rights Watch

OCHA Press Release: UN officials call for an immediate revocation of plans to transfer Palestinian Bedouin in the Jerusalem area

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Written by UN OCHA UN OCHA
Published: 19 January 2016 19 January 2016

UN OCHA PRESS RELEASE
 
UN officials call for an immediate revocation of plans to transfer Palestinian Bedouin in the Jerusalem area

Jerusalem, 19 January 2016
 
Today, the Coordinator for Humanitarian and UN Development Activities for the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt), Robert Piper, and the Director of UNRWA Operations West Bank, Felipe Sanchez, called for an immediate end to Israeli plans to transfer Palestinian Bedouin currently living within the occupied Palestinian territory in the Jerusalem area. The call follows a visit today with diplomats from 17 countries* to the Palestinian Bedouin community of Abu Nuwar, the site of recent demolitions and aid confiscations by the Israeli authorities. 
 
Twenty-six Palestine refugees, among them 18 children, including four with disabilities, were displaced on 6 January 2016 following the destruction of their homes, and other basic structures. On 10 and 14 January 2016, Israeli authorities confiscated eight donor-funded residential tents that had been provided to the families as post-demolition humanitarian response.
 
“We came to Abu Nuwar to hear firsthand what residents have been through,” said Mr. Piper. “We left with a strengthened resolve to continue our support to them.”
 
Abu Nuwar is located in the E1 area, planned by the Israeli authorities for the expansion of Ma’ale Adummim settlement, long opposed by the international community as a violation of international law and an obstacle to the realization of the two-state solution. Abu Nuwar is among 46 communities located in the central West Bank – the majority Palestine refugee communities – slated for transfer to three designated sites away from their current location. A forced relocation of Bedouin communities to urbanized townships would threaten their culture and livelihoods. Bedouin families that were already “relocated” in the 1990s lost their income sources while their communities’ social fabric was severely damaged.
 
The UN Secretary-General has placed on record that implementation of plans to transfer Bedouin communities in Area C would amount to forcible transfer and forced evictions, contravening Israel’s obligations as an occupying power under humanitarian law and human rights law.
 

Read more: OCHA Press Release: UN officials call for an immediate revocation of plans to transfer Palestinian...

Israeli ministers vote to impose new measures on human rights groups

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Written by Kate Shuttleworth in Jerusalem Kate Shuttleworth in Jerusalem
Published: 27 December 2015 27 December 2015
Transparency bill requires organisations to provide details of countries funding their activities, fining those who fail to do so

Israeli ministers have voted in favour of a bill that will crack down on human rights groups receiving funds from abroad, a move EU officials said was reminiscent of totalitarian regimes.

Read more: Israeli ministers vote to impose new measures on human rights groups

More Articles ...

  1. New U.S. Group to Enlist pro-Israel Faculty to 'Catalyze Campuses'
  2. Brookings conference on ‘future for Israelis and Palestinians’ featured zero Palestinians
  3. What We Can Expect From Hillary Clinton on Israel/Palestine
  4. Kerry, at contentious U.S.-Israel confab, asks Israel to consider perils of single state
  5. Leading anthropologists group overwhelmingly passes BDS resolution at Denver conference
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