On Sunday, dozens of people gathered near the Aish Hatorah synagogue in Thornhill, Ont., to protest an event that organizers say was aimed at helping people in the Toronto area buy property in Israel. They were met with pro-Israeli counterprotestors and Jewish leaders took issue with the Sunday protest taking place outside a synagogue.

But Pro-Palestinian protestors say companies associated with the event market property in the West Bank, where over two million Palestinians live under Israel’s military occupation, according to the United Nations (UN).

The UN, alongside Canada, consider Israeli settlements in the occupied territories to be in violation of international convention, with the federal government saying they “constitute a serious obstacle to achieving a comprehensive, just and lasting peace.”

“There was no sales for anything in the West Bank, anything on disputed territory,” she said, noting the projects on offer were being built on “existing” and “established” areas.

  • 【J】【u】【s】【t】【Z】@lemmy.world
    115·
    8 months ago

    Man, these settlements have tens of thousands of people living in them and they’ve been there for 50 years, not exactly a robbery in progress. You think Israel should give them back?

    Give them back to who?

      • 【J】【u】【s】【t】【Z】@lemmy.world
        16·
        8 months ago

        The statehood of Palestine is a symbolic gesture. It’s not actually a state. It was founded in 1988 after it was already fully occupied by Israel’s for twenty years. It’s not a full, legitimate, sovereign country, and never was.

        But there was a long time there where Israel just might have given it away, or Palestine could have built an international coalition with enough juice to pressure Israel to a two state resolution, even through the decades of suicide bombings, even through the decades of rocket attacks.

        At some point though, if you want to dress up and play state, I don’t know, how about behaving like a state? How about following any international law for how a state must operate? How about putting your military in uniform? How about having a justice system that’s based on something other than a far right interpretation of Islam where the preferred punishment is publicly stoning people to death? How about stop targeting civilians? How about not having government by assassination? Stop taking hostages? And this isn’t international law, but it’s just personal for me, how about start having elections? Their response? “Nah.”

        It’s complex and I understand most people here do not see this as I do, but for me it’s about same reasons Lafayette and the French made sure America wasn’t smothered in its crib by actual monarch imperialists: only democracy can grant lasting human rights. And such rights as I describe will for damn sure never come from far right religious extremists who will literally say anything or do anything to get what they want.

        • ???@lemmy.world
          7·
          8 months ago

          My great grandfather died aged 100. He lived to see the Ottoman Empire fall. The area was always called Palestine. When he died, he was already much older than Israel itself. He died a Palestinian whether you like it or not or whether you think we Palestinians need to wait for you or the US or someone to validate our existence or not (hint: nope we don’t).

          Palestine exists. Palestinians exist. A national Palestinian identity exists. Whether you and Spencer and all your funny biased writers and heros believe that or not.

          The Palestinian people deserve self determination. And anything less is probably purely out of racism :)

    • ???@lemmy.world
      7·
      8 months ago

      No one should be dehomed again. They can stay… in democratic Palestine.