Nothing to dispute

Tribune journalists Christi Parsons and Batsheva Sobelman announce that the “U.S. drops demand for settlement freeze” in the territories which Israel has occupied since 1967 (Spokesman-Review, Dec. 8). And they refer to the occupied territories oddly as “disputed territory.”

First, it’s good to remember that there is no dispute. According to international law, neither East Jerusalem nor the rest of the West Bank are part of Israel. Israeli settlement by exercise of arbitrary force is prohibited.

Second, speaking of “Israeli settlements” is a euphemism that masks Jewish-only settlements. Palestinians who hold Israeli citizenship are not allowed to colonize the occupied territories.

Third, the Jewish-only settlements of the occupied territories are simply an extension and intensification of the apartheid that has existed in Israel since 1948. The “Jewish and democratic state” is premised on racism.

Fourth, the settlements are a device by which extraterritorial Israeli Jewish citizens and soldiers concentrate, constrain and control the stateless Palestinians who ended up in Gaza and the West Bank when the Zionists cleansed 78 percent of Palestine in 1948.

Fifth, the settlements are built on land that is simply taken away from its Palestinian owners by (il)legal subterfuge and outright theft.

Wayne B. Kraft

Spokane