planet earth looks blue

Pillage is defined as “to rob using violence, especially during wartime.”  This is exactly what Israel is doing in the West Bank according to the Israel human rights group Yesh Din, and it is illegal.  Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967, and since the occupation they have taken advantage of the area’s natural resources.  Every year three quarters of mined rock and gravel in the West Bank is sold in Israel.  How Israel justifies this action and why they believe it is alright to take resources from the Palestinians is unclear.

Yesh Din has petitioned the UN High Court for - “the illegal practice of brutal economic exploitation of a conquered territory to serve the exclusive economic needs of the occupying power.”  They want their country to stop ravaging another people’s land.  In the 1970s Israel issued permits to itself and the international community.  Having already taken the original Palestinian lands, leaving the Palestinians to the fringe territories, I am not sure how they came to believe the had a right to exploit the West Bank.  Maybe they don’t even believe that they do.

Without small groups like Yesh Din, this information wouldn’t even be addressed. Israel military spokesman Miki Galin defends the mining, claiming that they have agreements with the Palestinians.  Because of the human rights group pushing its government Israel is going to look into the issue.  As of now, Israel has plans to mine the area for the next 30 years, which would obstruct any plans for a Palestinian state.