Quote (Goomshill @ Nov 12 2023 12:28pm)
Since Israel has taken control of the west bank, palestinian cities and villages there have multiplied in size- up about a million population in 10 years. Israel doesn't systematically seize Palestinian lands by force, evict their residents and build on it. Rather, Israel has allowed existing settlements to increase in size, mostly started from unoccupied land, either with no owner after the six day war, or purchased by Israelis- transactions which Israel recognizes and Arabs don't. At the same time, they've demolished illegally built Palestinian housing that expands past their permits- Israel is the controlling authority and when Palestinian expand their settlements without authorization, Israel goes in and dismantles them and we get the narrative of "israel bulldozing Palestinian homes and displacing families". That, and apartments being torn down by their owners to build new housing on it. This accounts for virtually all "expelled Palestinians", with demolitions as punishment to counter the martyr fund being a tiny fraction- 918 out of 935 buildings demolished or seized in the west bank in 2022 were torn down for lack of building permits.
So its important to frame any discussion about settlements and demolitions in what the actual reality of the Israeli controlled west bank is. Its not like they've built the Combine Smart Barrier of HL2 and are crushing Palestinian cities and putting up synagogues and bagel shops in their place. When Israel took control of the west bank, Ma'ale Adumim was nothing but empty desert with no recognized landowner and Abu Dis was miles away. Now the israel settlement and palestinian city have both grown so much larger they border each other with opposing homes on either side of a highway. Israel has the military control, and they've used it to tamp down on Palestinian expansion without lawful permits that they recognize, while Palestine doesn't recognize any Israeli land claims as legitimate at all.
I dont know enough about the topic to respond in detail. When you say Arabs, is it not a true statement to say Arabs, and the majority of the United Nations of the world (accepting Israel and the US voted against?) do not recognize "transactions" re: settlements? What about those maps shown earlier in the thread showing an ever reducing Palestinian map?
on a separate note, if Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank are breeding like rabbits, and noting that the West Bank is landlocked, and contained within Israel, then the natural conclusion is that ever there will be problems in the region, unless the Palestinians are re-located. in terms of gaza, i mean how are you going to relocate 2.1M people? your not. so that means gaza will exist in some shape after this war, and the same problems will perpetuate.