Settlement expansion: 'Israel’s' soft terror
Netanyahu’s right-wing extremist government works against the clock to ramp up the process of settlement construction despite international condemnation.
Colonial procedures to beef up Israeli settlements have intensified since the early formulation of Netanyahu’s hardline government, reflecting the occupation’s "soft" strategies to swallow Palestinian lands and advancing settlers' terror acts.
Since fascist extremist figures came to power in “Israel”, an unprecedented jump in colonial settlement construction has been recorded. The recently-elected extremist government uncovered plans to set up more than 14,000 new housing units regarded as the largest terrorist scheme to complete the occupation of the West Bank and increase the Israeli presence in Palestine.
Earlier this year, the number of terrorist attacks carried out by Zionist settlers reached more than 1250 attacks varying between killing unarmed Palestinians, setting fire to private properties, and seizing natural resources. The occupation authorities systematically control pivotal Palestinian-owned lands and convert them to outposts for new settlers under the custody of the Israeli military. These steps give Zionists the green light to practice terrorism against Palestinians.
Christian sanctities in occupied Al-Quds were also subjected to 40 violent attacks by fascist settlers, which included attacks on Christian priests, cemeteries, and tombstones, in addition to storming churches to implement the Zionist project.
Observers said the current surge of settlement activity led by the ultranationalist government aims at destabilizing the situation amid different calls released by extremist figures in Netanyahu’s government to seize more lands.
“We will carry on developing the settlement project and strengthen the Israeli control of the territory,” Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said after ratifying a deal with Netanyahu to bypass the six-stage process for building settlements.
Settlers' daily attacks undermine the lives of Palestinians by blocking their access to their lands and farms and impose a constant threat to their lives which, in turn, force Palestinians to defend themselves and their properties. During August 2023, Palestinians confronted 113 settler attacks in the West Bank, according to statistics released by the Palestinian Information Center.
Palestinians see settlement expansion as a dangerous geographic game-changer that can lead to escalating the situation in the West Bank, especially after the series of new settlement construction permits issued by the Israeli far-right government.
The occupation entity is enforcing a cruel apartheid and domination system against indigenous Palestinians which subjugates and controls their basic rights. Under the umbrella of the far-right government, the unlawful killing and systematic expulsion of Palestinians reflect the current colonial intentions to maintain a system of oppression and domination.
With its unrivaled financial, military, and diplomatic support of the apartheid-prolonged belligerent military colonization, the American administration is complicit in exacerbating Palestinian security and social conditions. Biden’s government did nothing to Palestinians except allow the Israeli military and security forces to use excessive deadly force against innocent Palestinians with full impunity. The American unwavering cooperation with the occupation entity brought devastating consequences in terms of Palestinian human rights abuses and rigid violations of international norms.
Furthermore, the accelerated rate of normalization ties with Arab countries enabled the Israeli occupation to press ahead in carrying out its colonial strategic schemes to control Palestinian lands amid ultimate ignorance of all regional and international condemnations.
Palestinians have been living under Israeli colonial humiliation for more than seven decades during which they witnessed an enormous number of collective punishments, deadly bloodshed, sweeping mass arrests, and illegal land seizures.
The catastrophic cost of the Israeli apartheid system left no choice for Palestinians but to resist their occupier, especially after the miserable failure of all diplomatic efforts made by the Palestinian leadership. Palestinians profoundly believe that the occupation authorities are buckling time to eradicate and efface truths of the Palestinian heritage and existence. Hence, all successive Israeli governments utilized all possible tools to maintain Zionist supremacy and expel the presence of the Palestinian population.
The occupation entity keeps flagrantly infringing international laws by accelerating the process of building settlements without being held accountable for its violations. Palestinians are facing Israeli terror by all possible means, which could be not enough if it wasn’t accompanied by serious steps taken by international powers to dismantle and end settlement expansion. The only available choice for Palestinians to stop settlement expansion is to fight and resist against the Zionist regime until it is defeated.