Al Mayadeen English

  • Ar
  • Es
  • x
Al Mayadeen English

Slogan

  • News
    • Politics
    • Economy
    • Sports
    • Arts&Culture
    • Health
    • Miscellaneous
    • Technology
    • Environment
  • Articles
    • Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Blog
    • Features
  • Videos
    • NewsFeed
    • Video Features
    • Explainers
    • TV
    • Digital Series
  • Infographs
  • In Pictures
  • • LIVE
News
  • Politics
  • Economy
  • Sports
  • Arts&Culture
  • Health
  • Miscellaneous
  • Technology
  • Environment
Articles
  • Opinion
  • Analysis
  • Blog
  • Features
Videos
  • NewsFeed
  • Video Features
  • Explainers
  • TV
  • Digital Series
Infographs
In Pictures
  • Africa
  • Asia
  • Asia-Pacific
  • Europe
  • Latin America
  • MENA
  • Palestine
  • US & Canada
BREAKING
Hamas Gaza chief Al-Hayya: We extend our deep appreciation to those who shared our blood and battle with us from our nation in Yemen, Lebanon, Iraq, and the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Hamas Gaza chief Al-Hayya: We extend our great appreciation to those who stood in solidarity with us from among the free people around the world.
Hamas Gaza chief Al-Hayya: We received guarantees from mediators and the US administration that the war is completely over.
Hamas Gaza chief Al-Hayya: 250 prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment and 1,700 prisoners from the Gaza Strip will be released.
Hamas Gaza chief Al-Hayya: Today, we announce an agreement to end the war and aggression against our people and to begin implementing a permanent ceasefire.
Iran works on peace now, Tehran supports Gaza deal: Trump
Trump says he will be going to Egypt to attend the ceasefire signing ceremony.
Al Mayadeen's correspondent: Israeli occupation forces bombing the Gaza Strip
Al Mayadeen's correspondent: Ceasefire in Gaza takes effect
The Kremlin: Negotiations toward a settlement in Ukraine are currently at a complete standstill

Trump greenlights murder, plundering and genocide with his settlement move

  • Hamzah Rifaat Hamzah Rifaat
  • Source: Al Mayadeen English
  • 2 Feb 2025 11:35
5 Min Read

If the international community does not call out the Trump administration’s bigotry now, it will once again lose its moral compass by turning a blind eye to the death, destruction, and occupation of Palestinians.

Listen
  • x
  • Settlements not only economically strangulate the Palestinian economy, but are now being enabled politically to eliminate Palestinians as Trump panders to the inbuilt ethos of Zionist supremacy. (Al Mayadeen English; Illustrated by Zeinab el-Hajj)
    Settlements not only economically strangulate the Palestinian economy, but are now being enabled politically to eliminate Palestinians as Trump panders to the inbuilt ethos of Zionist supremacy. (Al Mayadeen English; Illustrated by Zeinab el-Hajj)

Few can doubt that the Biden administration’s legacy on Palestine was a controversial one. Fewer still, could have expected that anyone could ‘trump him’ after he brazenly greenlighted billions of dollars of military aid to "Israel" and remained indifferent to the destruction, decimation, and deprivation of Palestinians under occupation.

However, days after his predecessor took office, Biden has been truly ‘trumped’ and that too by Donald Trump himself. The 47th President of the United States has adopted a knee-jerk, parochial, bigoted, and nativist stance on Israeli settlements on occupied Palestinian territories, which not only greenlights Palestinian extermination but deliberately enables it through state sponsorship. With such policies being implemented, the Trump era spells further doom and gloom for Palestinians.

The international community should not remain silent to such crass approval of apartheid.

Here’s why:

Trump’s Settlement Executive Order for Execution

 

Related News

Contrasting melodies at the UN General Assembly

US engagement with Mali junta exposes double standards

Among a slew of executive orders that Trump passed since assuming office such as enabling a mass deportation drive, revoking birthright citizenship, closing the border with Mexico, and proclaiming a national emergency to prevent mass immigration, is the draconian lifting of sanctions on Israeli settlements on occupied Palestinian territories. This includes 30 settler groups which were previously sanctioned by the Biden administration and prevented from accessing the American financial system, purchasing American property, or owning American assets. The sanctions also target organizations such as Amana Ltd, who are notorious for violent and extremist activity against the Palestinians on their own land.

The broad consensus of the international community is that Israeli settlements, instrumentalised by the Zionist regime since the 1967 war, are illegal colonies built on Palestinian land. These settlements mirror the creation of Bantustans in Apartheid South Africa by the white minority government which targeted the majority Black African population as a racially segregated population. Regardless of their controversial reputation, however, Israeli settlements have proliferated since 1967 with subsidies granted and political support extended by the Israeli government to ensure that the business enterprise thrives through the plundering of Palestinian lands, farms, children, and women. As per Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, these settlements violate international law with the destruction of private or state-owned property of an occupied population constituting a war crime. This is also stated by the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court and many other national laws.

Barring mild condemnation however, the United States made no effort to upend the settlement enterprise where varsities, such as Ariel University, which were built by expelling Palestinians and disbarring them from accessing their own land, continued unabated. This allowed "Israel" to deflect international criticism and ignore rulings and advisory opinions from the International Court of Justice on the enterprise. American castigation of Israeli settlement adventurism has also been limited to academic and civil society advocacy instead of Congress officially sanctioning the Israeli state for enabling it. Recall too that in 2024, Joe Biden sanctioned settlements months before Trump’s inauguration, which hints at political powerplay from the Democrats rather than any sincere attempt to ban 21st century apartheid.  

Donald Trump, however, has gone a step further. The US President who is known for his conservative leanings has given a free pass to Israeli settlers who are notorious for their hardcore Zionist beliefs, resolve towards eliminating Palestinians, ‘Biblical’ claims to the occupied lands, arson, extrajudicial killings, and confiscation of Palestinian property. With cosmetic sanctions from Joe Biden now lifted, the toxic combination of far-right extremism and conservative approval from Washington D.C. is set to wreak further havoc on Palestinians. Such crass political acceptance of settlements is made worse by Trump’s calls to have Palestinians expelled to neighboring Jordan and Egypt. This not only paves the way for a mass displacement drive, which has been a recurring feature for Palestinians since the 1948 Nakba, but is a nod to settlers to take over the West Bank and annex it into Israeli territory.  

To understand the gravity of what is unfolding, one should simply reflect on how groups such as the Hilltop Youth, an extremist, religious, Kahanist organization which has set up illegal Israeli outposts, have remained undeterred in the face of sanctions from the Biden administration. In 2024 and prior to Trump’s lifting of sanctions, approximately 4,250 Palestinians were displaced due to Israeli settler violence in the West Bank, which was completely ignored by the Israeli authorities. The former Police Minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir who is also a settlement advocate, is also responsible for abetting and colluding with the settlers to ensure that they destroy close to a staggering 1,760 structures in the occupied West Bank.

It is clear that settlements not only economically strangulate the Palestinian economy but are now being enabled politically to eliminate Palestinians as Trump panders to the inbuilt ethos of Zionist supremacy. His lifting of sanctions has given a further push to the proliferation of this menacing enterprise which is one of the glaring impediments towards a future Palestinian state. By not only defying international law and the collective conscience of the majority of UN member states, Donald Trump is greenlighting further Palestinian suffering to the point of their elimination, expulsion, and destruction.  

If the international community does not call out the Trump administration’s bigotry now, it will once again lose its moral compass by turning a blind eye to the death, destruction, and occupation of Palestinians.   

The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect Al Mayadeen’s editorial stance.
  • Donald Trump
  • United States
  • Israel
  • Benjamin Netanyahu
  • Israeli Settlements
  • Palestine
Hamzah Rifaat

Hamzah Rifaat

A host/anchor, analyst, and visiting fellow at the Stimson Center in Washington D.C.,2016.

Most Read

All
Charlie Kirk Murder Mysteries Multiply

Charlie Kirk Murder Mysteries Multiply

  • Analysis
  • 26 Sep 2025
From the beginning, GB News has been a Zionist asset. Is there any part of UK society that is not infiltrated and colonised by the Zionist movement? (Al Mayadeen English; Illustrated by Zeinab el-Hajj)

Reform UK, GB News and the Zionist infiltration of the British far right

  • Opinion
  • 28 Sep 2025
Barrack explicitly asserted that the US is supplying the Lebanese army to fight its own people, even laughing at the idea that this support is intended to confront "Israel". (Al Mayadeen English; Illustrated by Zeinab el-Hajj)

Why the US is so open about its intentions for Lebanese civil war

  • Opinion
  • 30 Sep 2025
There is a great uncertainty over how the president will use the remaining three years of his term, to say nothing about his prospects for re-election. (Al Mayadeen English; Illustrated by Batoul Chamas)

Iranian opponents of diplomacy have definitively won the debate

  • Opinion
  • 4 Oct 2025

Coverage

All
War on Gaza

More from this writer

All
Remembering Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah- The ‘Sayyed’ of Resistance and Liberation

Remembering Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah- The ‘Sayyed’ of Resistance and Liberation

There is little doubt that many developing countries continue to be dismayed by reckless US adventurism as well as Europe’s indifference to the plight of their economies. (Al Mayadeen English; Illustrated by Mahdi Rtail)

Understanding the Global South: Missed opportunities or a rising force?

Beyond the United States are critical leftist perspectives which underline the reawakening of the Arab left. (Al Mayadeen English; Illustrated by Zeinab el-Hajj)

The Reawakening of the Arab Left: Amman to Tunis, new voices challenging empire and capital

Russia in Africa: Strategic Realignment and Open Embracement

Russia in Africa: Strategic Realignment and Open Embracement

Al Mayadeen English

Al Mayadeen is an Arab Independent Media Satellite Channel.

All Rights Reserved

  • x
  • Privacy Policy
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Authors
Android
iOS