Settlers build new illegal outpost near Nablus

[Jefferson23]

NABLUS (Ma'an) -- Israeli settlers erected a new outpost on Sunday on a hilltop east of Nablus, a Palestinian Authority said.

Ghassan Daghlas, who monitors settlement activities in the northern West Bank, said residents of the Elon Moreh settlement installed 10 mobile homes in Ras Hazim fields, a few hundred meters from Deir al-Hatab village.

Settlers used bulldozers to dig a road to Ras Hazim, Daghlas told Ma'an.

He said farmers would no longer be able to access 100 acres of private Palestinian land.

http://maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=570978

[azurnoir]

1. I'm sure the Israeli government will be right on this just like this

The Israeli governments have implemented a consistent and systematic policy intended to encourage Jewish citizens to migrate to the West Bank. One of the tools used to this end is to grant financial benefits and incentives to citizens - both directly and through the Jewish local authorities. The purpose of this support is to raise the standard of living of these citizens and to encourage migration to the West Bank.

Most of the settlements in the West Bank are defined as national priority areas (A class or B class). Accordingly, the settlers and other Israeli citizens working or investing in the settlements are entitled to significant financial benefits. These benefits are provided by eight government ministries: the Ministry of Construction and Housing (reduction of price of the land and generous loans for the purchase of apartments, part of which is converted to a grant); the Israel Lands Administration (significant price reductions in leasing land); the Ministry of Education (Compulsory Education Law from Age Three, the long school day, extension of the school year, incentives for teachers, and subsidized transportation to school); the ministries of industry and trade, tourism, and agriculture (grants for investors, development of infrastructure for industrial zones, indemnification for loss of income resulting from custom duties imposed by countries of the European Union); the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs (incentives for social workers); and the Ministry of Finance (reductions in income tax for individuals and companies). In 2003, the Ministry of Finance cancelled the income tax reduction that residents of settlements previously received.

The Ministry of the Interior provides increased grants for the local authorities in the territories relative to those provided for communities within Israel. In the years 2000 to 2006, the average per capita grant in the settlements in the West Bank was approximately 57 percent higher than the average per capita grant in authorities inside Israel. According to the report of the accountant general in the Ministry of Finance, which summarizes the total budget transfers the state made to local authorities in 2007, the per capita support given to the three municipalities and six regional councils in the West Bank was significantly higher than the per capita support given to municipalities inside the Green Line.

http://www.btselem.org/settlements/migration

so I wonder who supplied the bulldozers

[Jefferson23]

2. The imbalance of power is intense.

Here we have a speech excerpt from the US at the recent AIPAC conference and said with such
pride:

Wherever he goes in the world, he makes clear that although we want better relations with Muslim-majority countries, Israel’s legitimacy and our support for it is not a matter of debate. There is no light. It is not a matter of debate. (Applause.) It’s simple, and he means it: It is not a matter of debated. Don't raise it with us. Do not raise it with us. It is not negotiable. (Applause.)

As recently as last year, the only country on the United Nations Human Rights Council to vote against -- I think it’s 36 countries, don't hold me to the exact number -- but the only country on the Human Rights Council of the United Nations to vote against the establishment of a fact-finding mission on settlements was the United States of America.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2013/03/04/remarks-vice-president-aipac-policy-conference