Palestine weekly: Settlement sanctions spark diplomatic crisis

This past week, a flurry of Western countries announced forthcoming sanctions on Israel – limited, for now, to its illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank. Israel’s response was swift and aggressive: on September 9, it gave the United Kingdom 30 days to close its consulate in occupied East Jerusalem.As Israel hardened its international defiance, such diplomatic moves did little to slow the dispossession of Palestinian land and identity in Jerusalem and the West Bank, as well as the ongoing killings and deterioration of basic conditions in Gaza.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3Private schools become a costly choice for struggling parents in Gazalist 2 of 3How Israel systematically dismantles Palestinian life in occupied West Banklist 3 of 3Burnham must establish an inquiry into Britain’s role in the Gaza genocideend of listSuch efforts can be difficult to grasp as a single, coordinated process. But a newly released B’Tselem report attempts to do exactly that, describing the overarching colonial system as being driven by aspirations of “elimination” – “the sustained undermining of the conditions that allow Palestinians to exist as an independent collective with lan...