On this day in 1967, the Israeli Army occupied the West Bank and Gaza Strip, claiming emergency powers with a military decree that greatly restricts the rights of the occupied. The ongoing occupation is the longest in the modern era.

The Israeli Army action took place in the context of the Six Day War, fought between Israel and a coalition of Arab states. The status of the West Bank as a militarily occupied territory has been affirmed by the International Court of Justice and, with the exception of East Jerusalem, by the Israeli Supreme Court.

According to Human Rights Watch (HRW), the military proclamation issued by the Israeli Army on June 7th, 1967 permitted the application of the Defense (Emergency) Regulations of 1945.

These regulations empowered, and continue to empower, authorities to declare as an "unlawful association" groups that advocate for "bringing into hatred or contempt, or the exciting of disaffection against" the authorities, and criminalize membership in or possession of material belonging to or affiliated, even indirectly, with these groups.

HRW goes on to state that these and other broad restrictions on the occupied population violate international law: "The Israeli army has for over 50 years used broadly worded military orders to arrest Palestinian journalists, activists and others for their speech and activities - much of it non-violent - protesting, criticizing or opposing Israeli policies. These orders are written so broadly that they violate the obligation of states under international human rights law to clearly spell out conduct that could result in criminal sanction."

Following the military occupation of the West Bank, Israel began expropriating the land and facilitating Israeli settlements in the area, broadly considered a violation of international law. While Israelis in the West Bank are subject to Israeli law and given representation in the Israeli Knesset, Palestinian civilians, mostly confined to scattered enclaves, are subject to martial law and are not permitted to vote in Israel's national elections.

This two-tiered system has inspired comparisons to apartheid, likening the dense disconnected pockets that Palestinians are relegated to with the segregated Bantustans that previously existed in South Africa when the country was still under white supremacist rule.

Megathreads and spaces to hang out:

reminders:

  • 💚 You nerds can join specific comms to see posts about all sorts of topics
  • 💙 Hexbear’s algorithm prioritizes comments over upbears
  • 💜 Sorting by new you nerd
  • 🌈 If you ever want to make your own megathread, you can reserve a spot here nerd
  • 🐶 Join the unofficial Hexbear-adjacent Mastodon instance toots.matapacos.dog

Links To Resources (Aid and Theory):

Aid:

Theory:

  • Yeat [he/him]
    ·
    23 days ago

    is project 2025 even a legitimate thing or is it just liberal fear mongering to convince people to vote for genocide joe

    • hello_hello [they/them, comrade/them]
      ·
      23 days ago

      Project 2025 is just republicans flexing on democrats who continually lose any support they once had while republicans keep making waves.

    • InevitableSwing [none/use name]
      ·
      23 days ago

      I agree with hello_hello. It's certainly PR for the GOP to show their strength. If Trump wins and the GOP controls congress - they GOP will do as much of it as they want to. One thing I'm sure they'll do is take an ax to as many federal government jobs as possible. They'll also pack "non-political" jobs with as many political hacks as they can. They'll damage the federal government. Because the GOP controls the supreme court too - even if they do unlawful or unconstitutional stuff - they'll probably get away with it.

      For me the problem isn't the GOP. It's the democrats. They'll have no plan other than their annoying and moronic idiocy of lecturing the public "Elections have consequences!" and telling the public to "Vote!" When libs annoy me with their condescending tone and they tell me Biden isn't perfect but who is - I tell them I won't vote for the democrat Uvalde cops who just stand there and do nothing in the face of GOP mass shooters killing kids. Why would I vote for that?

    • plinky [he/him]
      ·
      23 days ago

      its kinda same thing bush/reagan did, i believe, but dems wont remember them shoveling heritage foundation guys wherever

    • bbnh69420 [she/her, they/them]
      ·
      23 days ago

      Both probably, republicans probably will go beast mode once Trump is back in office, democrats can not and will not do anything to stop it