Israeli Parliament Votes for Making #Apartheid Official. #Fetterman: “I Haven’t Been Following It.”

Israel’s Parliament voted in favor of annexing the #WestBank. Other Democrats interviewed by The Intercept condemned the move.

Jessica Washington, July 26 2025

Excerpt: "The nonbinding resolution, which was advanced by Prime Minister Benjamin #Netanyahu’s coalition and passed 71-13 in the Knesset, won’t legally change the reality in the West Bank — but it marks an escalation in the Israeli government’s efforts to annex the territory.

"Four Democrats in the Senate and House who spoke to The Intercept condemned the Israeli government’s vote. Others said they hadn’t been following the issue. Fetterman was one of three senators who told The Intercept on Thursday they were unaware of the Knesset vote. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, declined to comment.

"The resolution in the Knesset, or Parliament, called to apply 'Israeli sovereignty, law, judgment and administration to all the areas of Jewish settlement of all kinds in Judea, Samaria and the Jordan Valley' — which is how most Israelis refer to the West Bank.
Currently, 3 million Palestinians reside in the West Bank, alongside over 500,000 Israeli settlers, who’ve established settlements in the occupied territory in violation of international law.

"Annexation of the West Bank would be at odds with the U.S. official policy goal for two states — one for Palestinians in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip, and one state for Israel comprising its pre-1967 borders.

"The two-state solution has won official backing from successive presidents dating back to the late 1990s — except for Donald #Trump — to assuage concerns over Israel having permanent control over millions of Palestinians without full civil rights.

"Though the conditions already exist — there is a growing consensus that Israel in an apartheid state — making this control officially permanent would make apartheid indisputable.

"Both Democratic and Republican administrations have repeatedly undermined the possibility of a two-state solution by arming Israel as it continues to attack Palestinian people and seize their territory, which lawmakers in Congress have made excuses for.
As public sentiment turns against Israel, however, with voters increasingly opposing the Netanyahu government’s genocide in Gaza, some members of Congress have been more willing to criticize the Israeli regime."

Full article:
https://theintercept.com/2025/07/26/fetterman-israel-annex-vote-apartheid/

Archived version:
https://archive.ph/LgGMf

#TwoState #FreePalestine #FreeGaza #OccupiedPalestine #WorldPol #EndTheBlockade #GazaGenocide #IsraeliWarCrimes #BibiIsAWarCriminal #Starvation #WarCrimes #StolenLand #USPol #JohnFetterman

From 2021: #Palestine’s forgotten oil and gas resources

A fair distribution of #Oil and gas resources in the Levant Basin will be needed to achieve a lasting political and economic settlement between Israel and Palestine.

by Mahmoud Elkhafif
Published On 21 Jun 2021

Excerpt: "The prolonged closure and recurrent military operations in Gaza have left more than half the territory’s population living below the poverty line and cost $16.7bn in lost GDP annually. This figure does not account for the huge opportunity cost of preventing the Palestinian people from using their natural gas field off the shores of Gaza.

"The 1995 Israeli-Palestinian Interim Agreement on the #WestBank and #GazaStrip, known as the #OsloII Accord, gave the #PalestinianAuthority (PA) maritime jurisdiction over its waters up to 20 nautical miles from the coast. The PA signed a 25-year contract for gas exploration with the#BritishGas Group in 1999, and a large gas field, #GazaMarine, was discovered at 17 to 21 nautical miles off the coast of Gaza the same year. However, despite initial discussions between the Israeli government, the PA and British Gas on the sale of gas from this field and the provision of much-needed revenue to the occupied Palestinian territories, the Palestinians have not realised any benefits.

"Since the blockade of Gaza in 2007, the Israeli government has established de facto control over Gaza’s offshore natural gas reserves. The contractor, British Gas, has since been dealing with the Israeli government, effectively bypassing the Palestinian government regarding exploration and development rights.

"Israel has also taken control of the #Meged oil and natural gas field, located inside the occupied #WestBank. Israel states that the field lies west of the armistice line of 1948, yet most of the reservoir is situated beneath the #PalestinianTerritory occupied since 1967.

"More recently, Israel has begun to develop new oil and gas finds in the Eastern Mediterranean, solely for its own benefit.

"In commandeering and exploiting Palestinian oil and gas resources, Israel is acting in violation of the letter and the spirit of #TheHague Regulations, the Fourth #GenevaConvention and a body of international #humanitarian and #HumanRights law that addresses the exploitation of common resources by an occupying power, without regard for the interest, rights and shares of the #occupied population."

https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2021/6/21/palestines-forgotten-oil-and-gas-resources

#OccupiedPalestine #FreePalestine #WorldPol #FreeGaza #FreePalestine #EndTheBlockade #GazaGenocide #RoyalDutchShell #IsraeliWarCrimes #BibiIsAWarCriminal #IsraeliIsAPetroState #BritishGas #PetroCriminals #ShellOil #BigOilAndGas #Oiligarchy #LevantBasin #Starvation #WarCrimes #StolenLand

Behind #Israel’s ‘#EndGame’ for #Gaza: Theft of #OffshoreGas reserves

By Betsey Piette
November 14, 2023

"In 1999, #BritishGas (BG) discovered the existence of natural gas in the Gaza Marine fields, 20 nautical miles off the coast of Gaza, at a depth of 610 meters below the surface. Further exploration by BG through two successful wells — Gaza Marine 1 and Gaza Marine 2 — determined the field could contain up to 1 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. (EgyptOil-Gas.com, April 5, 2018)

"The Palestinian Authority was 'granted' the right to exercise sovereignty over its own maritime territory by the Oslo Accords in 1995. Four years later, following the findings of the offshore natural gas, the PA gave the international consortium BG a 25-year, 90% stake in a license to explore, develop any discovered fields, and install the required infrastructure. Since that time Israel has consistently blocked this development.

"In 2002, the PA approved BG’s proposals to construct a pipeline to a processing facility in Gaza. However, the Israeli state delayed this development, arguing that the pipeline should run to an Israeli-controlled port, and that Palestinians would have to supply Gaza Marine surplus fuel to Israel at far below market price.

"When Hamas won the Palestinian legislative elections in Gaza in 2007, Israel established a militarized naval blockade, prohibiting further offshore development. Around the same time, #YamThetis, an Israeli gas consortium, challenged the awarding of the contract to BG, further delaying the process.

"In December 2008, in total contravention of international laws, Israel declared sovereignty over the Gaza Marine area, and BG closed its offices in Tel Aviv.

"#RoyalDutchShell bought out BG’s interests in the #GazaMarineFields for $52 million in 2016. By March 2018, Royal Dutch Shell backed out of their investment, leaving the PA to search for a replacement company to develop the field. (EgyptOil-Gas.com, April 5, 2018)."

Read more:
https://iacenter.org/2023/11/15/behind-israels-end-game-for-gaza-theft-of-offshore-gas-reserves/

#WorldPol #FreeGaza #FreePalestine #EndTheBlockade #GazaGenocide
#IsraeliWarCrimes #BibiIsAWarCriminal #IsraeliIsAPetroState #BritishGas #PetroCriminals #ShellOil #BigOilAndGas #Oiligarchy #LevantBasin #Starvation #WarCrimes #StolenLand

What good are #TreatyRights if the fish are poisoned?

Monday, July 14, 2025
By George Ochenski, Daily Montanan

"By virtually any measure, the #ConfederatedSalishKootenai Tribal Nation is an incredible success story against all odds. Forcibly removed from their homeland in the Bitterroot Valley, despite not having waged war against the white settlers or army, their own '#TrailOfTears' brought them to the Flathead Valley to live within the boundaries of the vastly reduced lands they retained in the #HellgateTreatyOf1855.

"Although the #HellgateTreaty is widely regarded as one of the best treaties signed by any of the nation’s #IndigenousPeople, even land supposedly reserved for the exclusive habitation of the #SalishKootenai was opened to purchase by non-tribal #settlers by the #DawesAct of 1887.

"The act’s intentions were to allocate reservation lands the tribes already owned to individual families as private property and, as part of the 'civilization' of #NativeAmericans, it required tribal members to register with the federal government to receive their 'allotment.'

"The entire debacle was part of the #AllotmentAndAssimilationEra from 1887 to 1934. Simply put, the federal government’s plan was to force Native Americans to be 'assimilated' into #EuropeanAmerican culture.

"Importantly, any reservation lands not allocated to tribal members was deemed
'surplus' land and opened to purchase by non-tribal settlers. This excursion into #ReservationLands was further exacerbated by the ability of tribal members to sell their allotment parcels to non-tribal members.

"The fracturing of the Salish-Kootenai’s tribal lands through sales to non-tribal members continues to cause serious problems today, including the long and on-going battle to retain their #water, #hunting and #fishing #TreatyRights.

"Article III of the Hellgate Treaty could not be more clear regarding the Tribe’s fishing rights: 'The exclusive right of taking fish in all the streams running through or bordering said reservation is further secured to said Indians; as also the right of taking fish at all usual and accustomed places…'

"Yet, just last month the Confederated Salish-Kootenai Tribal Nation issued a very serious warning to tribal members regarding the fish they have treaty rights to catch because they are poisoned.

CSKT Fish Consumption Advisory

"The Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes issued a fish consumption advisory on June 24, 2025, warning tribal citizens not to eat fish due to the presence of Polychlorinated biphenyls (#PCBs), #dioxins and #furans at levels deemed unsafe for humans: Source: Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes

"The #FishConsumptionAdvisory urges 'all tribal members to avoid consuming all species and sizes of fish harvested from the lower Clark Fork River from the Bitterroot River near Missoula to the Flathead River near Paradise. Recent testing has confirmed the presence of polychlorinated biphenyls, dioxins and furans in fish at levels that are unsafe for consumption by Tribal peoples. It is also advisable to avoid consuming rainbow trout and northern pike harvested from the Bitterroot River and the upper Clark Fork River above the Bitterroot River to Rock Creek, and, to avoid consuming rainbow trout from the Blackfoot River.

"As the Advisory explains: 'These contaminants pose a health risk to all fish consumers, and an even greater health risk to the most sensitive members of the Tribal population including women of child bearing age, pregnant nursing women, and young children. These contaminants have been linked to negative health effects in the immune, and nervous systems and may be associated with birth defects…PCBs and dioxins are classified as probable and definite #HumanCarcinogens, respectively.'

"So what good are treaty fishing rights if you can’t eat the fish because they’re poisoned? Are they really 'rights' — or is this just another in our nation’s long and shameful history of abrogating its treaties with Native Americans?

"Moreover, #Montana’s poison fish affect us all. Just as our government has failed the Salish-Kootenai, they have likewise failed to uphold our rights to the 'swimmable/fishable waters' guaranteed by the #CleanWaterAct — because no one, tribal or non-tribal, is immune to poisoned fish."

Source:
https://indianz.com/News/2025/07/14/george-ochenski-another-shameful-chapter-in-treatment-of-tribal-nations/

#WaterIsLife #TribalNations #NativeAmericanNews #WaterPollution #PoisonedFish #StolenLand #LandBack #EPAFail

Add #SovereignTribalNations to the list of 25 states resisting #Trump's #BudgetCuts !

#NativeCommunities could lose $24.5B under #Trump administration proposal
If upheld by the courts, the proposed freeze on #FederalGrants would affect nearly every tribe

by Amelia Schafer

Excerpt: " 'Nearly all Tribes would be affected by a federal grant freeze, with many facing the prospect of losing tens or even hundreds of millions of dollars — funding that is critical for supporting some of the most historically underserved communities in the United States,' the report concluded.

" 'When the federal government withholds funding from #Tribes and #NativeAmerican people, it’s not just a policy change. It’s a violation of those commitments — putting essential services at risk and undermining Tribal governing capacity.'

"A federal appeals court will decide if the administration has the legal authority to mass-suspend the grants, with arguments set in coming months in a lawsuit filed by the state of New York against President Donald Trump and his top administrators.

" 'as litigation around OMB’s funding freeze continues, it is essential that federal decisionmakers recognize the unique basis of funding for Tribes and #NativeAmerican people,' the report states. 'Funding to #IndianCountry is rooted in longstanding, legally-binding agreements between the United States and sovereign Tribal nations — not race, climate, or DEI.'

"At the beginning of President Donald Trump’s second term, the OMB issued a sweeping order announcing a halt to federal grants nationwide, throwing tribal programs into turmoil.

"Although the grant freeze was temporarily halted, the administration continues to push for its implementation, and tribes continue to report difficulties in accessing the already-approved funds, the report notes.

"The bulk of the at-risk funding is dispersed through programs such as the Department of Health and Human Services [#DHHS], the Bureau of Indian Affairs [#BIA] and the Bureau of Indian Education under the Department of the Interior, the Department of Commerce and the #EnvironmentalProtectionAgency.

"If the funding freeze clears legal hurdles, critical projects across the country will be at risk, the Brookings report said. These projects include a $35 million grant to the #OglalaSioux Tribe for #broadband development, a $3 million grant to urban #NativeHealth board for community health worker training, and a $200,000 grant to the #Chickahominy Indian Tribe for preliminary #engineering and #environmental work towards a #childcare center.

" 'This is the building block of how the U.S. government pays back tribes for the land it took,' Maxim said.

"The report does not include the sweeping cuts approved under Trump’s so-called '#BigBeautifulBill' by Congress, which includes cuts to #Medicaid, #FoodStamps and other social programs that include Native people as well as others, Brookings officials said.

"The Brookings Institution is a nonprofit, nonpartisan research organization based in Washington, D.C. Maxim co-authored the report with Glencora Haskins, research associate and applied research manager."

Read more:
https://ictnews.org/news/tribes-could-lose-24-5b-under-trump-administration-proposal/

#TribalSovereignty #CulturalGenocide #RespectTheTreaties #TrumpLies #TrumpBudgetCuts #USPol #TrumpSucks #FirstNations #StolenLand #LandBack #NativeAmericanNews #NativeCommunities

At the Palestine rally yesterday. 🇵🇸

Stop the genocide. Sanction Israel now. And stop bloody sending them weapons.

If you're not speaking up about the genocide of Palestinians you are complicit.

#freepalestine #kaurnayerta #stolenland

#EnoughISEnough

Aujourd'hui, ils disent ASSEZ !

There are no #Immigrants in a #StolenLand

Ils n'y a pas de migrant sur une terre colonisée et volée aux nations indigènes !

#LosAngeles #IceOutOfLA #FuckIce

https://video.liberta.vip/w/tjHsVJZfKtvMAYAzz69N4N

Ancient DNA confirms New Mexico tribe’s link to famed Chaco Canyon site

By CHRISTINA LARSON
Updated 4:12 PM EDT, April 30, 2025

"For the first time, a federally recognized #Indigenous tribe in the U.S. has led research using DNA to show their ancestral history.

"The #PicurisPueblo, a sovereign nation in #NewMexico, has oral histories and cultural traditions that link the tribe to the region of #ChacoCanyon, one of the ancient centers of #Pueblo culture and society.

" 'We’ve been telling our stories as long as time immemorial,' said Picuris Lt. Gov. Craig Quanchello. But he said those traditions were often 'overlooked and erased.'

"As members of the Picuris Pueblo seek a greater voice in shaping decisions about the future of Chaco Canyon, where debates about oil and gas drilling loom, leaders including Quanchello decided that using DNA sequencing to complement or corroborate their oral histories could be a useful tool. The group began a collaboration with an international team of geneticists.

" 'The DNA could help us protect' our heritage, he said. 'Now we can say, ‘This is ours, we need to protect it.' "

Read more:
https://apnews.com/article/picuris-pueblo-chaco-canyon-dna-a86588a281c70921e0c1920ff7b6b5d7

#CulturalErasure #CulturalGenocide #Colonialism #LandBack #StolenLand #IndigenousHistory