Dividends In Division

With an emboldened Israel pushing forward with its construction of illegal settlements in Palestinian territory, one of the world’s most disputed areas has become the site of an unlikely real estate boom

- Liam Aran Barnes

On the evening of 3 November last year, the eyes of the world fixed on the fates of two septuagenarian men. It would eventually take six weeks for Joe Biden to officially beat Donald Trump and be declared the 46th president of the United States. But that same night—in the northern Jordan Valley, a cool 10,000 or so kilometres from Washington DC— bulldozers operating under the cover of darkness sealed the grim fates of 11 families within a matter of hours.

For the second time in a week, the Palestinian village of Khirbet Humsa was demolished, leaving 74 people homeless and helpless. As their lives turned to rubble around them, it was unlikely that the inhabitants had time to pay heed to what was unfolding in the US.

Yet the policies of former president Trump helped clear the way for the Israeli government’s destruction of Khirbet Humsa and other villages like it and its ongoing illegal occupation of the West Bank.

In January 2020, Trump unveiled a controversial plan dubbed Peace to Prosperity, which essentially endorsed Israel’s right to build in the territory and shifted the US’s 40-year stance that such settlements are “inconsistent with international law”.

Although most of the international community continues to view them as illegal, the proposed agreement, signed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and swiftly dismissed by the Palestinians, specified that Israel should be the only state with full sovereignty and control over the entire area west of the Jordan River. Such an annexation would make a potential Palestinian state almost impossible.