Trump stand on settlement encourages Israel’s land grab
The rise of the right in Israel and beyond, particularly in the United States, is helping Israel's colonists seize more Palestinian land and displace more Palestinians from their homes.
Nowhere has this land grab been more apparent than in the Israeli parliament's passagelast week of a law that will retroactively legalise 16 West Bank outposts that were, like the recently evacuated Amona outpost, built by Israeli settlers on private Palestinian land, which was illegal under Israeli law.
Unfortunately, US President Donald Trump has given Israel several encouraging signs to accelerate its project of colonial expansion.
On Tuesday, Trump's administration suggested that a solution to the conflict may not come in the form of two independent states, making it difficult to envision the US taking any action against the settlement enterprise.
Since Trump's inauguration, Israel has approved the construction of more than 6,000 homes for Israeli citizens in the occupied Palestinian territories (OPT).