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Tag: East Jerusalem

  • Over 20 nations join EU, UN in opposing Israel’s illegal E1 settlement plan

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    The United Kingdom, Australia and Japan are among 21 countries that have condemned Israel’s plans to build a controversial illegal settlement in the occupied West Bank, which they say renders a future two-state solution for Palestinians impossible.

    “We condemn this decision and call for its immediate reversal in the strongest terms,” the 21 countries said in a joint statement on Thursday, describing Israel’s construction plans as a “violation of international law”.

    The statement follows news this week that Israel will formally move forward with a settlement on a 12-square-kilometre (4.6-square-mile) tract of land east of Jerusalem known as “East 1” or “E1”.

    The development, which will include 3,400 new homes for Israeli settlers, will cut off much of the occupied West Bank from occupied East Jerusalem while also linking up thousands of illegal Israeli settlements in the area.

    East Jerusalem carries particular significance to Palestinians as the top choice for the capital of a future Palestinian state.

    The group of 21 nations said any plans for a two-state solution will become impossible “by dividing any Palestinian state and restricting Palestinian access to Jerusalem”.

    The group includes Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden.

    The illegal settlement also “risks undermining security and fuels further violence and instability, taking us further away from peace”, the group said, while bringing “no benefits to the Israeli people”.

    The Palestinian Authority, the European Commission and United Nations chief Antonio Guterres have all voiced opposition to plans for the E1 settlement since Israel first announced the news last week.

    “Coupled with ongoing settler violence and military operations, these unilateral decisions are fuelling an already tense situation on the ground and further eroding any possibility for peace,” the European Union said in a statement on August 14.

    Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said settlements such as E1 will help erase Palestine from the map, even as Palestinian statehood gains increasing international recognition from UN member states.

    “This reality finally buries the idea of a Palestinian state, because there is nothing to recognise and no one to recognise,” Smotrich said last week.

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  • Fact Check: Video Shows 'Israelis Running Over Children' with Hatchback Car?

    Fact Check: Video Shows 'Israelis Running Over Children' with Hatchback Car?

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    Claim:

    A video posted to X in December 2023, captioned as “Israelis running over children,” authentically shows two children being struck by a driver in a hatchback car.

    Rating:

    Rating: True

    Rating: True

    Context:

    The video was recorded on Oct. 8, 2010, in the Silwan neighborhood of East Jerusalem. In other words, it was not directly related to the Israel-Hamas war that was ongoing in late 2023.

     

    The protracted, often bloody Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which exploded into a hot war on Oct. 7, 2023, when the militant Palestinian group Hamas launched a deadly attack on Israel and Israel retaliated by bombarding the Gaza Strip, dates back to the early 20th century. It began when British authorities facilitated the mass immigration of Jews to Palestine to establish a Jewish homeland, which ultimately led to the forcible displacement of Palestinian Arabs by Zionist military forces to make way for the modern state of Israel. In the current Israel-Hamas war, more than 11,000 people, the vast majority of them Palestinians, had been killed as of Nov. 10, and the internet is rife with war-related misinformation, which Snopes is dedicated to countering with facts and context. You can help. Read our latest fact checks about the ongoing conflict. Submit questionable rumors you’ve encountered. Become a Snopes Member to support our work. We welcome your participation and feedback.

    Warning: The embedded video and some external links in this story contain graphic imagery. Viewer discretion is advised.

    On Dec. 4, 2023, a video of two boys being struck by a driver in a hatchback car was posted on X with the caption, “Israelis running over children.”

    This was a real video. It was recorded on Oct. 8, 2010, in the Silwan neighborhood of East Jerusalem. In other words, despite when it was reposted on X, the clip had nothing to do with the Israel-Hamas war in late 2023.

    As for the caption, it was true that an Israeli person was reportedly behind the wheel of the car and that the boys were Palestinian, as The Associated Press previously published in a description of one of its YouTube videos. The reporting also provided context regarding what was believed to have led to the incident in the streets:

    [The] tensions come after Israeli troops killed two senior Hamas members in an early-morning raid that same day in the West Bank city of Hebron, the Israeli military and Hamas officials said.

    The two were wanted in connection with the killing of four Israelis near Hebron on August 31. Media aligned with Hamas in the Gaza Strip also said the men were behind the attack.

    CBS News previously reported that one of the Palestinian boys who was struck by the hatchback suffered a broken leg. The reporting also mentioned El’Ad, a Jewish settlers’ group:

    Some of the incidents have become violent, like one on October 8. Boys were throwing stones at passing cars; two of the boys got hit by a car.

    The driver was, of all people, the head of El’Ad. He later went to the police and said he hadn’t stopped because he felt his life was in danger. Both boys survived, one with a broken leg.

    For more information and context surrounding these events, we refer readers to our sources below.

    Sources:

    “Controversy in Jerusalem: The City Of David.” CBS News, 14 Oct. 2010, https://www.cbsnews.com/news/controversy-in-jerusalem-the-city-of-david-14-10-2010/.

    Diehl, Jackson. “ISRAELIS, ARABS PROTEST HOUSE SEIZURES BY JEWISH SETTLERS.” Washington Post, 21 Dec. 1991, https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1991/12/21/israelis-arabs-protest-house-seizures-by-jewish-settlers/68ee62ea-52d9-4b3e-8013-6f4ad60ee80a/.

    “Palestinian Boy Run over in Jerusalem, Hamas Demo.” YouTube, The Associated Press, 8 Oct. 2010, www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjTQx-Sar94.

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