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.

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  • hexaflexagonbear [he/him]
    ·
    6 months ago

    I had a meeting at work this week about transitioning some department away from proprietary software that is increasing licensing costs drastically. So the Microsoft recall news is my second "Stallman was right" of the week.

    (I know he's problematic but also he's right about free software)

    • hello_hello [comrade/them]
      ·
      6 months ago

      (I know he's problematic but also he's right about free software)

      Don't apologize about that. He's a product of his time (he was born in 1953 in the US of A) and is a liberal politically and has terminal America brain (which includes commenting on everything and everyone while also being 2 state solution lib with chronic electorism fatigue with a bernie obsession) and can speak multiple languages and has done presentations in multiple countries. Drew Devault's great writeup is pretty consistent with how sex was viewed at the time he lived in and Stallman is still just a nerdy cis het white man in America, of course he would be problematic by default (as white people should be). I've just noticed people who don't know who Stallman was or his writings just end up rewriting all his ideas again, which proves their timelessness. We aren't culturally poisoned (as Devault puts it, which I disagree with) by rms, we are just bigger and more diverse than him.

      Stallman was proven right because the ideas he was championing, though he himself is a demsucc at best, were socialist in nature as free software (right to repair etc.) ensures that workers are able to control and manage technology to the benefit of the majority instead of to rent seeking tech capitalists

      EDIT: people still post Norman Finkelstein memes and appearances even though he is a huge fucking chud and loser on anything besides occupied Palestine (in which is what he's a certified expert).