Regular visitors to this website may have noticed the regular appearances of BICOM – and of Liam Fox at their We Believe in Israel conference last June. Why Liam Fox and his side-kick Werritty should have needed extra funding to promote the interests of Israel and military effectiveness is mysterious – except that (item 6) Mr. Fox supported a 2-state solution and criticised the settlements and supported peace with the Palestinians, see post above

Left-wing activists went to Anatot settlement last Friday to support Yassin Rafaeli who has set up a tent inside on land he says he owns. Settlers beat up the protesters claiming they were responding to their throwing stones. A phone record obtained by Ynet show they had intended violence from the start. Reports from Ynet and 972 magazine

Long Netanyahu’s best ally in Europe in blocking UN recognition of Palestine , Angela Merkel is very angry that all her moves to get talks restarted have been thwarted by the announcement of a new 1,100-home Jewish settlement in Jerusalem

Tent city summer was also the summer of demolitions of Palestinian homes and amenities especially in the Jordan valley, long coveted by Israelis for its water and fertility. ICAHD counts the cost for Palestinans who have lost homes, land and water to the settlements’ grab for resources

New research by Peace Now documents the extensive building in the illegal settlements – tellingly, given the tent protests, at twice the per capita rate as new building in Israel. The planning, building and marketing of homes and community facilities has to be approved by the state.

Joel Beinin examines the effect, or lack of it, of the Arab Spring on the players in Palestine’s future and concludes the 2-state solution is dead; 2nd, at a forum on Palestinian statehood, Samah Sabawi argued that the PA’s bid is a doomed strategy for resuming negotiations with Israel and will remain symbolic.

The establishment of illegal settlements on the West Bank was enforced by laws discriminating between Arabs and Jews; some on the Israeli Left protested – most ‘remained passive and uncritical’. Result – a gutted Left says Raja Shehadeh .

Despite the centrality of a freeze on settlement building on Palestinian land to any ‘peace process’, on Monday Israel announced new building, claiming settler distress at lack of housing and high prices

Neve Gordon, former director of Physicians for Human Rights, argues that the boycott act is a turning point in the drive to crush Israeli human rights groups and, after the High Court of Justice has ruled it unconstitutional, to cripple the court

The Israeli Knesset, the “worst for democracy in the history of Israel”, is expected to to pass a bill making it a felony to support a boycott of settlement products . NGOs are covered by the bill, jeopardising their tax status.

An AP Exclusive quotes a Palestinian official as saying they (the PA presumably) are offering to drop demands for a freeze on Israeli settlements if peace talks can begin on the basis of the 1967 borders as Obama proposed

On the eve of Naksa-day, 10-20,000 Israeli activists from many groups marched in Tel Aviv, for Palestinian statehood, for states based on the 1967 borders, against settlements, against war.

Whatever the machinations of the Syrian government, grievances of dispossessed Syrians are genuine

In the region’s ‘only democracy’, activist Bassem Tamimi is put on trial under military law and not allowed to make this speech in his own defence

So, despite its formal opposition to Israeli settlements, Obama and the US decided to stand alone and veto a resolution at the Security Council condemning Israel’s settlement policy. 14 voted for the resolution, including Britain, Russia, Brazil, 1 against — and no abstentions.
Various commentators give their immediate reactions and assess the implications.

Peace Now’s Settlement Watch has produced updated maps of settlements on the West Bank and in East Jerusalem. It is well-worth taking a closer look at the high-resolution PDF available for download.

Steve Clemons has posted a letter in the Washington Note from an array of concerned policy commentators and practitioners, academics, and former government officials about the resolution pending at the United Nations Security Council on illegal Israeli settlements in Occupied Territory. It represents a serious attempt to encourage Obama to match his words with action on this subject. But dare Obama rile Congress on this issue? And is it anyway too little too late?

We in JfJfP, as part of our policy of boycotting the occupation, support the campaign to boycott Veolia in the UK where it is a major provider of municipal waste collection services. The North London Waste Authority is moving towards awarding a new contract and plans are afoot to lobby its members…

Uri Avnery exposes the rampant McCarthyism behind the Faina Kirschenbaum bill to investigate the sources of funding of left organisations in Israel. But he says that if “an even-handed law had been enacted, I would have welcomed it. I am very curious about the origin of the money that supports the settlers and the other extreme-rightist organizations.” He goes on to discuss what is known, but not known: “If a serious inquiry committee investigates the financing of the extreme right, it will discover that much of it comes straight from the pocket of the American taxpayer. That is one of the great scandals: the US government is financing many of the settlements. For dozens of years, it has turned a blind eye to the American organizations that are providing funds to the settlements – settlements that are illegal even in the official policy view of the US government. In the US, one can donate tax-free money for humanitarian purposes – but not for political purposes. Almost all the money flowing to the extreme right in Israel is officially marked as devoted to humanitarian purposes…”

Rachel Shabi investigates Israeli government involvement in the construction of settlements on occupied Palestinian land. “In Jerusalem – just as in the rest of Israel – decades of state planning has priced people out of the city and into settlements in Palestinian East Jerusalem and the West Bank. Meanwhile, ideologically-motivated budgeting has resulted in enticements and benefits for Israelis who live on occupied Palestinian land… Peace Now estimates that settlements cost Israel $556m (around £355m) a year – and it is clear that this cost is keenly felt by those living within Israel, since the state seems to prioritise settlements at their expense.”