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Extremist action that will lead to more radicalisation

Jan 23,2016 - Last updated at Jan 23,2016

The Jordan Valley region will become a focal point for future confrontations and bloodshed, rather than the oasis for peace and plenty King Hussein and Yitzhak Rabin envisioned 22 years ago when they signed a peace treaty.

Historical records show that the region accommodated 11 million inhabitants who lived in plenty and peace some centuries ago.

This week, Israeli military authorities shattered the dreams of many Arabs and Israelis who looked to a future of coexistence, comprehensive peace and the two-state solution.

The Israeli government announced what it termed as “reclassification” of 371 acres of Jordan Valley land, equal to 1,500 dunums, which are to be confiscated and considered state property, a first step before granting it to a new wave of extremist ultra-orthodox settlers. 

The confiscated Palestinian land is near Jericho and adjacent to the Jordanian border.

The Arabs tilling their land there will be evicted to new arid areas, as the military authorities decreed, in total violation of the Geneva Convention that considers null and void any decision by the occupation authorities that exiles the occupied population, confiscates their properties, or alters the status of occupied territories demographically or geographically.

The Palestinian envoy to the United Nations is expected to lodge a new complaint against the flagrant Israeli violations of Geneva Conventions and international law, as evidenced by 33 existing Security Council resolutions condemning Israeli actions in the occupied Palestinian territories.

The Likudnik Israeli Cabinet in power now has no concern about one more Security Council resolution of condemnation, since it does not lead to any punitive action by the world body anyway.

Given the current state of the Obama administration, considering that it is an election year when the powerful pro-Israel lobby AIPAC carefully watches the behaviour of present and potential politicians in the US, no party is expected to alienate Benjamin Netanyahu’s Cabinet by supporting a resolution in favour of Palestinians.

Moreover, the Russian President Vladimir Putin is too involved in the Syrian quagmire to take any action that might infuriate Tel Aviv, with whose army generals his military staff daily coordinates the Sukhoi 24 sorties that target Daesh and other militias fighting the Syrian regime.

The decision by the Israeli government to reclassify the Jordan Valley region as state land is an open invitation to the 600,000 settlers to expand their activities into new areas.

It is such a threat to future peace negotiations that made the American ambassador to Israel, Dan Shapiro, take a commendable stand and criticise openly Israeli settlement activity.

 

The Israeli move to confiscate land in the Jordan Valley region will radicalise the desperate new generations of Palestinians, fuelling the third Jerusalem Intifada.

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