Gaza and the West Bank: is Israel going too far?
An Israeli planning committee has approved a project to expand Jewish settlements in a particularly sensitive area of the West Bank, effectively dividing the Palestinian territory in two. Meanwhile, the Israeli army is advancing on Gaza City. During a visit to troops there, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that he would begin negotiations with Hamas immediately. European media assess Israel's actions in both locations.
Fragile security
El Mundo doesn't see the settlement plans as viable:
“The words of Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich highlighted the Israeli government's blatant disregard for international law. Yesterday he boasted about plans for the construction of 3,400 Jewish homes to put an end to the 'fraud' of the two-state solution - a peace plan backed by the United Nations foreseeing a Palestinian state consisting of three zones: the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip. ... Israel has the right to protect its security, but that security will be fragile if the Palestinians are deprived of any hope of sovereignty and if the goal is to push something through at the expense of the country's democratic values.”
Settlements not necessarily permanent
The taz is not convinced that the Jewish settlements mean the definitive end of the two-state solution:
“Israel has given up settlements twice already in the context of 'land for peace'. The first time was in 1982 in the Sinai, where among other places the small town of Yamit was violently cleared and razed to the ground. The second was in Gaza in 2005 under Ariel Sharon, when around 10,000 settlers were also forced to leave their homes against their will - some after more than 30 years of living there. ... It's not the settlements that are preventing a two-state solution but above all a lack of political will. This will is completely absent, and not only on the Israeli side.”
Shameful rhetoric masking evil deeds
The Israeli prime minister is blinded with rage, Le Monde stresses:
“Benjamin Netanyahu is furious at France's announcement that it will recognise Palestine, a long-standing intention whose belated implementation takes on special significance in the context of Israel's bloody ethnic cleansing in the Gaza Strip and stepped-up settlement policy in the occupied territories of the West Bank. The fact that other countries such as Canada, the UK and Australia are following suit only adds to the Israeli prime minister's anger. ... By resorting to the ultimate argument of antisemitism against all those who challenge his policies, Netanyahu is adding a shameful rhetoric to a disastrous downward slide for Israel.”
Negotiations at gunpoint
La Repubblica analyses Netanyahu's tactics in Gaza:
“With the full support of the US, Benjamin Netanyahu seems convinced that he can achieve the hostages' release, Hamas' surrender and the conquest of the entire Gaza Strip by using war as a means of negotiation. At least that is what the contradictory statements made by the Israeli authorities, government and army since the beginning of August, when the major invasion of the Gaza Strip was announced, suggest. ... Yesterday the prime minister said he had instructed his people to begin immediate negotiations for the 'release of all hostages and an end to the war on terms acceptable to Israel'.”
At the expense of the people on both sides
For Der Standard the Israeli government is pursuing a pure patronage policy:
“The offensive [in Gaza] represents a new burden also for the Israeli reservists. Up to 130,000 must risk their lives in a war that critics have long considered politically motivated. All that is left for Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his far-right coalition partners is a shameful victory: at the expense of the Palestinians as well their own people, they are implementing a policy of cronyism through which everyone else will lose.”