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Amona settlement first test of UN resolution

The Israeli government's plan to relocate the evicted Amona settlers to land owned by Palestinian "absentee landlords" directly defies UN Security Council Resolution 2334.
Israeli youths stand atop a water tank and attach banners in Hebrew reading "Amona will not fall for the second time" and "The government will not survive the eviction of Amona", in the Jewish settler outpost of Amona in the West Bank December 15, 2016. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun - RTX2V5JX
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Not even two weeks after the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 2334 demanding an end to all Israeli settlement activity, Israel is already giving the world the finger. Two years ago, Israel's Supreme Court had ordered the evacuation of the West Bank settlement of Amona. But the latest developments in this ongoing saga recall Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's refrain regarding the criminal investigation against him: “Nothing will come" of this because there was nothing there. Now, everyone around him appears to be saying exactly the same thing about Resolution 2334.

According to Resolution 2334, the demographic makeup, character and status of the Palestinian territory occupied by Israel in 1967 and including the ensuing land confiscation constitute a violation of international law. The Security Council expressed “grave concern” that the settlement activities are “dangerously imperiling” the prospects of a two-state solution based on the 1967 borders. It reminded Israel of its commitment, in accordance with the Middle East Quartet’s 2003 Road Map to Peace in the Middle East, to freeze settlement activity and dismantle all settlements established since March 2001.

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