The Jewish Settlements and What Britain is Doing About It

After looking at this map how would anyone even think the Palestinians will have a "country?" The West Bank is pockmarked with Jewish settlements. We can be sure that the Jewish settlers will have priority over the Palestinians in matters of water and land disputes.

The current war Israel is waging on Gaza is part of the unsettled question of a Palestinian country. The Palestinians deserve a country. These lands were as much theirs as any claim the Israelis make. I have no faith in someone who claims lands are theirs because some "magical being" told them so. Really why believe a supernatural being who doesn't appear to us now to settle this question?

Unlike our catatonic government the British and Austrians are actively petitioning the Israeli government to stop the expansion of settlements in the West Bank.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown recently instructed the Foreign Office to issue a warning to British citizens against the purchase of houses and real estate in the settlements.

Other measures recently imposed by London on West Bank settlements include tying the upgrade of relations between the European Union and Israel to the cessation of construction in the settlements in the West Bank and putting special labels on products denoting that they were made in West Bank settlements.

An excellent step by the British and Austrians. It might not sound like a lot but any anti-Israeli settlement talk is most welcome. The Israeli government has no intention of stopping the construction of settlements in occupied lands. International law is not what the Israelis follow. Now if a few badly aimed rockets land in open space in Israel then the Israelis whine.