Israel approves settlement homes following Trump inauguration

[highplainsdem]

Source: BBC

Israel has approved hundreds of new settlement homes in occupied East Jerusalem, after the staunch pro-Israel US President Donald Trump took office.

Jerusalem Deputy Mayor Meir Turgeman told AFP: "Now we can finally build."

Israel's PM reportedly delayed approval given the opposition of Barack Obama, who infuriated Israel by allowing a UN resolution against settlements to pass.

Settlements in East Jerusalem are considered illegal under international law, though Israel disputes this.

-snip-

Read more: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-38711701

[muriel_volestrangler]

1. Mr Turgeman said: "I was told to wait until Trump takes office ...

... because he has no problem with building in Jerusalem.

"The rules of the game have changed with Donald Trump's arrival as president. We no longer have our hands tied as in the time of Barack Obama."

So, Trump enables the breaking of international law on his 2nd full day in office.

[AuntPatsy]

2. Exactly

[karynnj]

3. I think Tom Friedman will be proven correct -Netanyahu will miss

Obama and Kerry. Tom Friedman did a long Q&A with Kerry at Davos last week. He argued that Netanyahu has used the fact that the Obama administration would be angry to moderate some of the people in his government to the right of him. With Trump, he suggested Netanyahu has a President to his right.

Yesterday, Haaretz spoke of Bennett, whose party is very pro settlers, wanting to go forward on this even as Trump advisers were wanting Israel to wait until Netanyahu and Trump met and worked out policy.

Clearly, that did not happen. Sadly, I suspect the right in Israel is invigorated by Trump - even as they do not listen to him. On top of that, Israel will be defended now by a Trump administration that might be less popular worldwide than the 37 percent approval they come into office with. Netanyahu will likely find it is better to have the Obama administration protecting them from most resolutions and speaking out with the integrity and credibility they have than over the top support by Trump, who really does not have a fraction of that credibility.

[Coventina]

4. As I said in another thread: Welcome to intifada 3.0

[Bettie]

6. Except this time the Orange Baboon

will send US troops to exterminate the Palestinian population.

[Mosby]

5. A 2013 French court decision said the settlements are legal

A largely forgotten landmark 2013 French court ruling has received renewed attention this week following the international diplomatic summit held in Paris last Sunday at which Israeli settlements were portrayed as illegal.

In an editorial published on Wednesday, the Wall Street Journal wrote, “The conference was a failure, but the conferees could have helped themselves by first checking what French courts have to say about those settlements before scoring Israel again…In 2013 the French Court of Appeals in Versailles ruled that, contrary to Palestinian arguments, Jewish settlements don’t violate the Geneva Conventions’ prohibition against an occupying power transferring ‘its civilian population into the territory it occupies.’ The law, the court held, bars government efforts to transfer populations. But it doesn’t bar private individuals settling in the disputed territories.”

https://www.algemeiner.com/2017/01/19/following-paris-peace-summit-largely-forgotten-2013-french-court-ruling-that-israeli-settlements-are-legal-receives-renewed-attention/