Israeli Settlement Plan in West Bank Faces Backlash
The Israeli government announced plans on Monday to build 5,700 new homes in the West Bank. The announcement drew criticism from Palestinian and United States officials.
Growing tension: The settlement plan comes amid heightened tensions between Israelis and Palestinians in the disputed territory. Violence surged last week in two altercations after Israel used helicopters to evacuate troops and then, a few days later, conducted a drone strike. It was the first time helicopters and drones were used in the region since the Second Intifada two decades ago.
Cementing Israeli ownership: There are normally several phases before settlement expansion is approved, taking security and political concerns into account. This time, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu cut through the red tape and streamlined the process.
As Islamist terrorist attacks increase in the region, Israel has been forced to push back. Netanyahu prioritizes housing plans as one way to do that. Increased construction projects and more residents in the area cement Israel’s ownership of the territory.
Backlash: Wasel Abu Yousef, a Palestinian official, referred to the decision as part of an “open war against the Palestinian people,” testifying that “all settler colonialism in all the occupied Palestinian territories is illegitimate and illegal.”
U.S. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said that the U.S. was “deeply troubled” by the Israeli government’s settlement plans:
We believe that settlements are an impediment to a negotiated two-state solution along 1967 lines, which ultimately we believe is the best way to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The West believes to achieve peace the Jews need to sign away strategically valuable land in exchange for a slip of paper. History shows that the Arabs can’t be bought this way. The belief that land can be exchanged for peace is built on the belief that both sides actually want peace.
Power behind Palestine: Iran backs Palestinian terrorists through weapons, funding and military training. Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in 2000, “We regard Palestine as an organ of our body.”
The West Bank is Iran’s backdoor into Israel. This is part of its stated goal to “wipe [Israel] off the map,” as former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said. Palestine, which is really just a vital “organ” of Iran, has no interest in pursuing a “two-state solution.” The peace process fails because it ignores the cause of the conflict: The Arabs want to annihilate the Jews. Two nations cannot coexist when one is pursuing a genocidal goal.
American-enabled terrorism: America’s response to the new Israeli settlement plan is not surprising. It is becoming increasingly clear with whom the U.S. stands.
Iran wants to destroy Israel, and America is helping it do it. Why this betrayal?
Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry answers that question in his booklet The King of the South. In Chapter 2, he discusses the 2015 nuclear deal in which President Barack Obama helped Iran advance its nuclear program because Obama “shares the goal to ‘blot out the name of Israel’!” America is pursuing even more extreme nuclear policies today. It is still Obama behind it all, as explained in Mr. Flurry’s free book America Under Attack.
Learn more: Bible prophecy warns that the clash between Israel and Iran will continue to intensify. However, these events also lead to the greatest and most inspiring event to ever occur: the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. Please request a free copy of The King of the South to understand the biblical truths surrounding this fighting and to see where it is leading.
