On illegal Israeli colonies in the West Bank (and their legality or otherwise)

The Trump administration recently announced that illegal Israeli settlements in Palestine don’t violate international law (a view held by virtually nobody).

I was interviewed by international broadcaster TRT World about the decision:

Despite the enormous pressure from Israel and divided leadership, most Palestinians still want to stay in their homeland at any cost.

“The truth is that despite decades and decades of violent Israeli actions, the vast majority of Palestinians are not leaving and are not seeking asylum and are not looking for alternative places. They are staying here,” said Antony Loewenstein, a Jerusalem-based independent journalist and author.

“Some are leaving, particularly in Gaza, but the majority of Palestinians are not going anywhere,” Loewenstein told TRT World.

Despite a grim political outlook for Palestinians at the moment there is a growing global solidarity with the Palestinian cause, which has yet to produce tangible results, but is helping them fight the occupation, Loewenstein added.

Loewenstein said Israelis have a “delusion” that some kind of economic peace with Palestinians can bring ultimate peace.

“Israel will give 250,000 jobs to Palestinians to work in Israeli settlements and the hope is that Palestinians will accept that and they go home happy,” Loewenstein said.

“The truth is that is just delusional. But that is somewhat increasingly the [current] Israeli Zionist vision that ‘We can buy off Palestinians’. The Trump administration feels exactly the same way.”

Text and images ©2024 Antony Loewenstein. All rights reserved.

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