Bethlehem Three-quarters of Americans think that Israel should not build settlements on occupied Palestinian land, according to an opinion poll released on Wednesday.
The poll, organized by WorldPublicOpinion.org, a project run by researchers at the University of Maryland, found that one third of Americans “show more sympathy for Israel than the Palestinians, substantially more than the 12 percent who express more sympathy for the Palestinians.”However the largest number, 51 percent, expressed “equal levels of sympathy for each side. The percentage expressing equal levels of sympathy is up 10 points from 2002.”
Even those respondents who said they sympathize more with Israel“feel that it should not be building settlements in the West Bank by a clear majority (64%), as do those who sympathize equally with Israel and the Palestinians (80%), and those who sympathize more with the Palestinians (96%).”
“Opposition to settlements is found among majorities of Republicans (65%), Democrats (83%) and independents (74%),” the survey of 1,004 respondents found.
The argument used by the researchers was suggested by the Palestinian delegation at the UN and read as follows: “UN resolutions 242 and 338, which were endorsed by nearly all members of the UN, including the US, called for Israel to withdraw from territories it invaded in the 1967 war. Thus, for Israel to build new settlements in these areas is illegal under international law."
The Israeli embassy in Washington suggested the following argument in favor of settlement: "Israel has a right to build settlements in the West Bank and Gaza because Jews have lived in these areas for centuries and have legitimate historical claims to property there." source
4 years ago
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Israel's first Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion infamously proclaimed,
----“We must use terror, assassination, intimidation, land confiscation, and the cutting of all social services to rid the Galilee of its Arab population.” ---
---“To maintain the status quo will not do. We have to set up a dynamic state bent upon expansion.”Relinquishing conquered territory, ending occupation, halting further settlement activity (let alone dismantling existing ones), stopping home demolitions or anything deemed to conflict with this fundamental objective will never be (seriously) considered.----
For over 60 years if Israel commits an atrocity, it is still an atrocity, and simply being Israel doesn't excuse it from the responsibilities of civilized statehood.
Unfortunately calling into question or openly criticizing the actions and policies of the state of Israel is silenced by accusations of anti-semitism ,Hitlerism ,Holocaust denier etc. etc .
It is seldom heard that after the 1948 war in Palestine the UN passed General Assembly Resolution (UNGA) 194, which mandated compensation for the Palestinian refugees and assured their right to return home.
The UN made Israel’s own membership in the world body contingent on Israeli acceptance of 194 and the rights of Palestinians to return to their homes.
UN Resolution 273 of 11 May 1949, welcoming Israel into the UN, established that the new state’s entry was based on Israel’s representations regarding its ability and willingness to implement 194.
After over 60 years of brutal Ethnic Cleansing by Israel in Palestine culminating in the carnage in Gaza after Palestinian children were reduced to eating grass to survive the Israeli blockade it is time the World gave this conflict its undivided attention.
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