Free Republic

In the West Bank there has been an explosion of attacks by Palestinians throwing Molotov cocktails at vehicles driven by Israeli civilians. There were 75 Molotov cocktail attacks on Israeli civilians in 2020 and 1,022 in 2021. It’s a constant danger for Israelis driving in Judea and Samaria who could, were an attack successful, be burned alive. A report on the death of a Palestinian boy who was hurling a Molotov cocktail, and the predictable UN expression of disapproval of Israel, is here: “UN upset by IDF killing of Palestinian teenage Molotov cocktail thrower,” by Tovah Lazaroff and Khaled...

The United Nations has called on Israel to back down after it advanced the construction of more than 2,300 housing units for Judea and Samaria communities. “The expansion of settlements has no legal effect and constitutes a flagrant violation of international law,” United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Nickolay Mladenov said in a statement Wednesday. “By advancing the effective annexation of the West Bank, it undermines the chances for establishing a Palestinian state based on relevant UN resolutions, as part of a negotiated two-state solution.” Israeli construction “must cease immediately and completely,” he demanded. The plan...

Three lectures took place last week in three different cities in the Netherlands: Nijkerk, Leeuwarden and Woerden. The lectures were delivered by attorney Nati Rom, founder of "Lev Ha'olam" which fights BDS and assists businesses in Judea and Samaria. Hundreds of participants attended the lectures, accompanied by a presentation explaining the situation in Judea and Samaria and the importance of investment in Judea and Samaria. The participants expressed great interest and asked about the products Rom brought with them from Judea and Samaria. The lecture in the city of Woerden took place in a synagogue that survived the Holocaust. After...

An Israeli company located in Judea and Samaria is working to combat the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement through a monthly box subscription that allows supporters throughout the world the opportunity to be part of the Israel experience. Aryeh Powers, the director of marketing for Lev HaOlam, told Breitbart News that these gift boxes — which include items that are boycotted by anti-Israel entities as part of the BDS movement — reach thousands of people worldwide. “We send thousands of packages to people in multiple countries per month,” he said. These packages are sent to over 40 countries...

The Israel Security Agency (also known as Shin Bet or Shabak for short), in conjunction with the Israel Police, announced the discovery of an Arab cell that had solicited the help of a driver at the French consulate to smuggle weapons to Judea and Samaria. Romain Franck, a 24-year-old French national who worked at the French Consulate in Jerusalem smuggled weapons five times in recent months in a vehicle belonging to the French Consulate, which received eased security checks and restrictions at the border crossing security checkpoint, as is customary for such vehicles. Franck thus smuggled approximately 70 pistols and two assault...

<p>This past week, the United Nations High Commissioner for “Human Rights” Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein presented his “findings” on the current situation in Judea, Samaria, East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights, as seen from the perspective of the United Nations. The document “describes the expansion of the settlement enterprise of Israel, examines the existence of a coercive environment in occupied East Jerusalem, and addresses issues relating to Israeli settlements in the occupied Syrian Golan.”</p>

US President Donald Trump is expected to recognize thousands of new housing units in Judea and Samaria, and to approve the erection of a new town for Amona's expellees, reported Israel's Channel 2. According to the reports, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu will later agree to limit building in Judea and Samaria, while advancing building in the existing "settlement blocs." However, Netanyahu's aides have said the report is inaccurate, and it is not clear how the Likud and Jewish Home parties will react to the final policy. On Sunday, the White House and Israel published a joint readout announcing four...

Egypt’s foreign minister paid a rare visit to Israel on Sunday, saying that his country remains a “steadfast and unwavering” supporter of a peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians but warning that conditions for achieving that are deteriorating. Sameh Shoukry’s trip was the first official visit to Israel since 2007 and reflected the strong but low-profile ties that have developed between the two countries in recent years. The Egyptian Foreign Ministry said Shoukry’s visit was aimed at reviving the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. …

Leftist Jewish MK Dov Khenin of the near completely Arab Joint List party spoke with the British Sky News on Sunday, and claimed that Israel is committing an "ethnic cleansing in a very sophisticated way" in Judea and Samaria. Khenin referred to the demolition of illegal Arab construction in Area C, an array of regions classified as being under full Israeli control by the 1994 Oslo Accords, and said that the Israeli government is trying to conquer the land so Israelis can settle there in the future. .....

Meretz Chairman MK Zahava Gal-On intends to petition the Attorney General to stop plans from Minister of Construction Uri Ariel (Jewish Home) to house immigrants from France in Judea and Samaria. Ariel sent a letter asking the Yesha Council where the flow of immigrants from France could settle, as France reels from a string of anti-Semitic attacks. France led the list of countries from which Jews made aliyah to Israel in 2014, with almost 7,000 new French immigrants, more than double the 3,400 who came last year. Aliyah is only expected to increase after the latest spate of anti-Semitic attacks....

Senior Hamas leader Mahmoud Al-Zahar declared on Sunday that the terrorist movement is planning to develop its capabilities to carry out terror attacks against Israel from Judea and Samaria, and that it intends to continue to lead the Palestinian camp which advocates for armed struggle until Israel is destroyed. Al-Zahar, who spoke in Gaza, said that the movement views the carrying out of terror attacks from Judea and Samaria as important, and plans to use available means and new methods, such as stabbing and hit-and-run attacks, against Israelis. He further said that in the last war, Hamas’s rockets reached as...

U.S. President Barack Obama said at the Saban Forum on Saturday that there must not be another Gaza in the Palestinian Authority-assigned areas of Judea and Samaria. Israel pulled out of Gaza in 2005, as part of the “Disengagement”. This resulted in Hamas taking over the region and escalating rocket attacks at southern Israel. Obama warned that in the event of a final agreement between Israel and the PA, there would be a "transition period" to ensure that Judea and Samaria does not become a security threat akin to Hamas-ruled Gaza. He said that the PA would have to accept...

Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz called, Thursday, for Israeli law to be applied in Judea and Samaria and to cut off relations with the Palestinian Authority (PA). Responding to reports about Hamas entering the Palestine Liberation Organization, the parent to the PA, the Likud lawmaker said, "Recently I heard that Hamas celebrated its 30th anniversary and that it was proud it had murdered 1,350 Jews. I have not heard of people who celebrate the murder of Jews since the period of the Nazis." During a ceremony in Karnei Shomron, in which he was given honory citizenship of the town and named...

The Wednesday Ritual by Ari Bussel Yitzchak (Isaac) and Talia Emes, 47 and 45 year old, recently celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary with their six children, the oldest 24, the youngest 5. The family was looking forward to a golden anniversary in 25 years. They studied together in the former Soviet Union, emigrated to Israel and built a home. Many of their friends are Russian-speaking. Despite economic difficulties, they did not complain but focused instead on building and giving. Every Wednesday, Yitzchak came to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, his area of expertise, a love and focus of his activities....

What if, in response to intense diplomatic pressure from the world community, the United States government one day issued the following statement? “We have determined that it is in the national best interest of the United States to disengage from the state of Indiana.” WHAT?

The historical record makes it nonsense to regard the formation of a Palestinian state as anything other than a collective, internationally-approved land grab in itself in an area mandated by the League of Nations as a Jewish homeland. For too much truth, at first sight, ne’er attracts. - George Gordon, Lord Byron, Don Juan, Canto XIV The Israeli government’s present intention of holding on to a sliver of the West Bank within the perimeter of the security fence is an issue of serious import and is widely regarded as an illegal land grab. Yet the issue is by no means...

WASHINGTON – The UN Security Council is set to convene next week to discuss a proposal calling on Israel to halt the expansion of "illegal West Bank settlements". The proposal, which has been pushed in recent weeks by a number of Arab countries, mainly Saudi Arabia, followed Israeli Housing Minister Ze'ev Boim's announcement according to which 800 new housing units would be built in Har Homa and Givat Ze'ev. The plan was immediately slammed by UN chief Ban Ki-moon, who said it constituted a violation of international law. The US and Europe also criticized the announcement, and members of the...

In 2006, reports the Israeli Interior Ministry, the Jewish population of the Territories grew by 5.2 percent to 267,163 - just about the same as the population of Haifa. Since Haifa is about 10 percent Arab, there are actually more Israeli Jews now living in the West Bank than in the coastal town. And many residents of the West Bank - or Judea and Samaria, terms as historically and geographically valid as Galilee - actually live in good-sized towns themselves. The four largest are now Modi’in Illit, population 34,514; Maaleh Adumim, 33,259; Betar Illit, 29,355; and Ariel, 17,723. Given that...

Louis Rene Beres07 April 2002 Email this story Print this story [The following article was originally written by Professor Beres in June 1992.] Media references to territories administered by Israel since the June 1967 war now routinely describe them as "occupied." Yet, this description conveniently overlooks the pertinent history of these lands, especially the authentic Israeli claims supported by international law, the unwitting manner in which West Bank and Gaza fell into Israel´s hands after sustained Arab aggression and the overwhelming security considerations involved. Contrary to widely disseminated but wholly erroneous allegations: a sovereign State of Palestine did not exist...