The latest Israeli plan to build 2,000 more illegal apartments in the West Bank is a blatant violation of the Oslo Accords, and international law. The Netanyahu government is ready to ignore any legal obligation, and any chance of encouraging the peace process, in order to punish the Palestinians for becoming full members of Unesco.
The right-wing government has a very clear agenda to annex and keep the West Bank in the long term. It has no intention of withdrawal, and its shocking Foreign Minister, Avi Lieberman, has even gone so far as to call for the expulsion of all Palestinians living inside Israel. The unspoken programme of this Israeli government is to build an exclusively Jewish state which stretches from the Mediterranean to the Jordan River, regardless of the fact that the Palestinians live there today.
This latest outrage was hatched earlier this month when the eight senior-most government ministers — led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — decided to accelerate construction in West Bank communities close to occupied east Jerusalem. These ideas have received widespread international condemnation, but are not backed by firm sanctions, so the Netanyahu government feels able to ignore any international disapproval and do exactly as it wishes.
