fact finder
The Israeli government is planning a Jewish settlement in the Gaza Strip and thereby making a two-state solution impossible, it is claimed on social networks. The misinformation is based on an incorrect translation.
“Netanyahu lays foundation for Israeli settlement in Gaza, again violating international law.” “First ignore all warnings, then shoot your own people, then flatten Gaza and found your new settlement today.” “The Butcher of Gaza Stealing Land.” Such claims are currently being spread on social networks.
The occasion: A post from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the short message service X in Hebrew.
Readers concluded that Israel was taking advantage of the war sparked by the October 7 Hamas attack to establish a settlement in the Gaza Strip.
Google translates incorrectly
If you use the automatic translation function of X provided by Google, you get the following text:
“Tonight the foundation stone will be laid in the Gaza Strip for the settlement of ‘Ofir’, named after the former chairman of the Negev Gate Council, the late Ofir Liebstein, who was assassinated by Hamas. (…)”
However, this is incorrect: the term used by Netanyahu does not describe the political entity of the Gaza Strip, but the entire region, including Israeli areas that lie on the border of the Gaza Strip. The newly founded settlement “Ofir” is also located on the Israeli side. So it is not an Israeli settlement on Palestinian territory.
The new settlement in the Negev Desert was named after Ofir Liebstein, the former head of the region’s regional council who was assassinated during the Hamas attack on October 7.
There have been no Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip since 2007
For several decades, since it was captured in the Six-Day War in 1967, the Gaza Strip was under Israeli occupation. In September 2005, political control was handed over from the Israeli government to the Palestinian Authority.
Israel then withdrew completely from the Gaza Strip, and there have been no Israeli settlements there since then. The radical Islamic terrorist organization Hamas has ruled there since 2007.
The situation is different in the West Bank. Several hundred thousand Israeli settlers live there in around 250 settlements. Most recently, the Israeli government legalized nine Israeli outposts in the West Bank this summer. Thousands of new residential units are to be built there. ….”
The situation is different in the West Bank. Several live there One hundred thousand Israeli settlers in around 250 settlements. Most recently, the Israeli government legalized nine Israeli outposts in the West Bank this summer. Thousands of new residential units are to be built there.
The measure triggered international criticism – among other things because it runs counter to a possible two-state solution: This would create facts that would make it more difficult for the Palestinians to be granted an autonomous state in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.