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From Palestine Chronicle
Empirical historical evidence combined with little common-sense are enough to tell us the type of future options that Israel has in store for the Palestinian people: perpetual apartheid or ethnic cleansing, or a mix of both.
The passing of the "Regularization Bill" on 6 February is all we need to imagine the Israeli-envisaged future. The new law allows the Israeli government to retroactively recognize Jewish outposts built without official permission on privately-owned Palestinian land.
All settlements -- officially recognized settlements and unauthorized outposts -- are illegal under international law. The verdict has been passed numerous times by the United Nations and, more recently, pronounced with unmistakable clarity in UN Security Council Resolution 2334.
Israel's response was the announcement of the construction of over 6,000 new housing units to be built throughout the Occupied Palestinian territories, the construction of a brand new settlement (the first in 20 years), and the new law that paves the way for the annexation of large swathes of the occupied West Bank.
Undoubtedly, the law is the "last nail in the coffin of the two-state solution," but that is not important. It never mattered to Israel, anyway. The talk of a solution was mere smoke and mirrors as far as Israel was concerned. All the "peace talks" and the entirety of "peace process," even when it was in its zenith, rarely slowed down the Israeli bulldozers, the construction of more "Jewish homes" or ended the unceasing ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians.
Writing in Newsweek, Diana Buttu described how the process of building settlements is always accompanied by the demolition of Palestinian homes. 140 Palestinian structures were demolished since the beginning of 2017, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in the Occupied Territories.
Since Donald Trump was sworn in as president of America, Israel has felt liberated from its obligation to doublespeak. For decades, Israeli officials spoke passionately about peace, and did everything in their power to hinder its attainment. Now, they simply do not care. Period.
They have perfected their balancing act simply because they had to, because Washington expected it, demanded it. But Trump had given them a blank check: do as you please; settlements are not obstacles to peace; Israel has been "treated very, very unfairly" and I will correct that historical injustice, and so on.
Almost immediately after Trump was inaugurated as president on 20 January, all masks came off.
On 25 January, the real Benjamin Netanyahu resurfaced, dropping his act altogether, and declaring in enviable brazenness: "We are building, and we will continue to build" illegal settlements.
What more is there to talk about with Israel at this point? Nothing. The only solution that mattered to Israel is Israel's own "solution," always driven by blind American support, European uselessness and always imposed on the Palestinians and other Arab countries, by force if needed.
The guardians of the grand charade of the two-state solution, who shrewdly crafted the "peace process" and danced to every Israeli tune are now bewildered. They have been outed by Israel's dreadful plans that shot their "solution" right between the eyes, leaving Palestinians to choose between subjugation, humiliation or imprisonment.
Jonathan Cook is right. The new law is the first step towards the annexing of the West Bank or, at least, most of it. Once small outposts are legalized, they would need to be fortified, ("naturally") expanded and protected. The military occupation, in effect for 50 years, will no longer be temporary and reversible. Civil law will continue to apply to Jews in Occupied Palestinian Territories and military laws on occupied Palestinians.
It is the very definition of Apartheid, in case you are still wondering.
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