It started last week when the United Nations began considering a deeply one-sided resolution calling on Israel to end all Jewish settlement building in disputed areas of the West Bank and even East Jerusalem without a single word calling on Palestinians to end violent attacks on civilians or do anything else. (http://www.cnbc.com/2016/12/27/obama-and-trump-are-engaged-in-a-3-billion-game-of-chicken-over-israel-commentary.html)
This abstention has created a good deal of hysteria among various groups although this is not the first time the UN has condemned the settlements. It also did it in 1979 and 1980 and Israel continued to populate more and more settlements. Independently Canada and the United Kingdom have held the settlements to be illegal though American legal experts feel they are legal. In theory, the condemnation could be more than words as it could lead to sanctions against Israel, though I doubt that will happen. So it is just words, as nearly as I can tell.
As it is, Israel seems to be taking sanctions against those who voted for the resolution. Is anyone else bothered by Netanyahu's attempts to run U.S. foreign policy? [He] reportedly told New Zealand’s foreign minister that support for a UN resolution condemning Israeli settlement-building in the occupied territories would be viewed as a “declaration of war”.
(https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/dec/28/netanyahu-told-new-zealand-backing-un-vote-would-be-declaration-of-war) He is lucky we didn't vote for the resolution. Since 13 other countries were involved in the decision, Netanyahu has declared a WW!
Ronald Reagan had one of the mildest opinions on the West Bank settlements; however,
In Reagan’s view, Israeli settlement was not illegal, but merely “ill-advised” and “unnecessarily provocative.” (http://www.cmep.org/content/us-statements-israeli-settlements_short)
Actually, Israel has conceded about two dozen settlements are illegal and promised to remove them, but nothing has been done. (http://www.cnbc.com/2016/12/27/obama-and-trump-are-engaged-in-a-3-billion-game-of-chicken-over-israel-commentary.html)
1967 War
In 1967, Israel was attacked by Egypt, Syria, Jordan and Iraq in what is called the Six Day War.* In this war, Israel captured the Sinai and Gaza Strip from Egypt, the Golan Heights from Syria and the West Bank and East Jerusalem from Jordan.
East Jerusalem
East Jerusalem has been occupied by Israel since 1967 and was effectively annexed by Israel in 1980, an act internationally condemned. On 27–28 June 1967, East Jerusalem was integrated into Jerusalem by extension of its municipal borders and was placed under the law, jurisdiction and administration of the State of Israel.[10][11] In a unanimous General Assembly resolution, the UN declared the measures trying to change the status of the city invalid.[12
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Following the 1967 war, Israel conducted a census in East Jerusalem and granted permanent Israeli residency to those Arab Jerusalemites present at the time of the census. Those not present lost the right to reside in Jerusalem. Jerusalem Palestinians are permitted to apply for Israeli citizenship, provided they meet the requirements for naturalization—such as swearing allegiance to Israel and renouncing all other citizenships—which most of them refuse to do. At the end of 2005, 93% of the Arab population of East Jerusalem had permanent residency and 5% had Israeli citizenship.[65]
Between 2008 and 2010, approximately 4,500 Palestinians resident in East Jerusalem applied for Israeli citizenship, of which one third were accepted, one third rejected, and one third had the decision postponed.[66]
As residents, East Jerusalemites without Israeli citizenship have the right to vote in municipal elections and play a role in the administration of the city. Residents pay taxes, and following a 1988 Israeli Supreme Court ruling, East Jerusalem residents are guaranteed the right to social security benefits and state health care. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Jerusalem)
Golan Heights After 19 yrs of sniping and other attacks, Israel captured the Golan Heights** in the Six Day War and formally annexed it in 1981 for defensive purposes at which time military rule was replaced by civilian rule.
Sinai
Eventually, Israel ceded the Sinai back to Egypt in a peace agreement that recognizes Israel's existence and Israel even withdrew its settlements, military bases, and oil land in 1982.***
Gaza Strip
The Gaza strip had long been a hybrid property that was claimed by Egypt but never formally annexed it nor made the residents Egyptian citizens.*** The Israel occupation lasted until 2005 when Israel formally withdrew and removed Jewish inhabitants (some by force). Egypt had renounced Gaza also in 1979 so the tiny Gaza Strip became a Palestinian land.***
East Jerusalem
Israel has annexed East Jerusalem and combined it with West Jerusalem to unify the city and make it the capital of Israel.
West Bank
About 300,000 Israeli settlers live in the West Bank along the Israeli West Bank barrier (and a further 200,000 live in East Jerusalem and 50,000 in the former Israeli–Jordanian no-man's land).[citation needed] The barrier has many effects on Palestinians including reduced freedoms, road closures, loss of land, increased difficulty in accessing medical and educational services in Israel,[42][42] restricted access to water sources, and economic effects. Regarding the violation of freedom of Palestinians, in a 2005 report, the United Nations stated that:[47] ...it is difficult to overstate the humanitarian impact of the Barrier. The route inside the West Bank severs communities, people's access to services, livelihoods and religious and cultural amenities. In addition, plans for the Barrier's exact route and crossing points through it are often not fully revealed until days before construction commences.[43] This has led to considerable anxiety among Palestinians about how their future lives will be impacted...The land between the Barrier and the Green Line constitutes some of the most fertile in the West Bank. It is currently the home for 49,400 West Bank Palestinians living in 38 villages and towns.***
It has seemed clear to me that the West Bank is not a "bargaining chip" in an effort to trade land for peace but that Israel informally annexed it decades ago (some of it is even on the Israel side of the barrier wall). After all, the 1967 War will have its 50th anniversary next year, less than a week away. The rest of the world pretends the West Bank not to be Israel's but occupied territory, however, Israel steadily keeps building settlements there, in spite of decades of objectons. I call it "taking over the West Bank one settlement at a time." And you can see why Israel might want to keep it because the previous boundaries left Israel with a narrow neck of land less than 10 mi. across in its most narrow place. One argument has been to use the West Bank for defensive purposes and has been used Israel for keeping the West Bank.
While I understand the Israel need for the West Bank for defensive purposes, I do feel they should treat the Palestinian inhabitants better. They did leave the Gaza Strip and gave the Sinai back to Egypt in a peace deal after destroying the houses. So it is clear the West Bank is something different for them.
* https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=112427639902898514#editor/target=post;postID=8607618832097246103
** http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Peace/golan_hts.html
*** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israeli-occupied_territories
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