There is not enough here for a column, but the reading public should have interest.
Since the 7 October attack by Hamas, Israelis living in Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian West Bank have killed over 100 Palestinians, wounded over 2,000, and evicted 1,500 from their homes. No West Bank Palestinians attacked Israel, or Israelis following the Hamas attack, although in accordance with international law, the Palestinians have a legal right to attack Israel with violence to resist their illegal occupation.
The Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories are illegal. They violate Article 49, paragraph six of the Fourth Geneva Convention which explicitly stipulates that “the occupying power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies.”The UN International Court of Justice ruled that Israeli provision of infrastructure, land, funding, schools, synagogues, water, electricity, roads, etc., constitutes transfer of civilian population to occupied territory, and thus the settlements violate international law and are illegal,” as did: Amnesty International, the Human Rights Watch, and the European Union. The Conference of the Convention of the High Contracting Parties of the Geneva Convention declared in 2001 the Israeli settlements on the West Bank are illegal.
Violations of the Geneva Convention are prosecutable as war crimes before the International Criminal Court (ICC) in the Hague.