13 juli 2010
US official slams Israeli right wing
Though Obama administration has not commented on homes to be built in Pisgat Ze'ev, official blames Right for attempt to complicate peace talks
WASHINGTON – An official US source told Ynet Tuesday that the construction of 32 new housing units in Pisgat Ze'ev, Jerusalem land conquered in 1967, was another attempt by the Israeli Right to complicate peace talks.
Original Report
32 homes approved in Pisgat Ze'ev / Ronen Medzini
Jerusalem planning committee allows construction of units on land conquered in 1967, Likud faction head insists 'we will continue to build in all neighborhoods'. Meretz: What do they think, Obama doesn't know?
Full Story
A week after the latest meeting between US President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the Obama administration refrained from bringing up the subject of the newly-announced construction.
But a US source commented on the matter, saying, "We recognize that Jerusalem is a deeply important issue to Israelis and Palestinians, to Jews, Muslims, and Christians everywhere. And we believe it is possible to reach an outcome that both realizes the aspirations of all parties for Jerusalem, and safeguards its status for the future."
Meanwhile, the renewal of home demolitions also sparked condemnation throughout the world. The European Commission said the move would undermine negotiations with the Palestinians.
EC President José Manuel Barroso expressed his concern at recent developments in the capital during a press conference in Brussels with Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad.
Barroso said he was "concerned", and that both settlement construction and the demolitions were violations of international law. Fayyad added that the construction in Pisgat Ze'ev was inconsistent with the two-state solution.
The 32 homes are part of a larger project, which outlines 220 homes to be built near the Palestinian neighborhood of Hizma. An additional 48 homes are scheduled to be approved by the Jerusalem district planning committee next week.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3919469,00.html
Israeli bulldozers raze 4 east Jerusalem buildings
JERUSALEM: Israeli bulldozers destroyed six buildings, including at least three homes, in contested east Jerusalem today, resuming the demolition of Palestinian property after a halt aimed at encouraging peace talks.
Jerusalem house demolitions are a volatile issue because of conflicting Israeli and Palestinian claims to the city's eastern sector. Israel sees it as part of its capital city, while Palestinians want it for their own future capital.
The municipality said none of the structures razed were homes, and that all had been illegally built and were not populated. The demolitions were carried out by a court order, the municipality said in a statement.
But Palestinians disputed those claims, saying three of the demolished structures were homes and one was a warehouse. Two daybeds and bags crammed with children's clothing and kitchen utensils were strewn outside one of the buildings.
Basem Isawi, 48, an unemployed contractor, stood stony-faced amid the rubble of his unfinished home, forbidding his six children to come out of the nearby house where they currently live to see what had happened to it.
Isawi said he built the almost-finished home illegally for about USD 25,000 because he was convinced the municipality would deny him a permit. He had been notified of the impending demolition but did not know when it was slated to happen, he said.
"We watched them destroy the house, and we couldn't do anything," Isawi said. Police said the demolitions were carried out without incident.
Since October, no houses had been demolished in the eastern sector of the city until today. The demolitions seemed to indicate a move a way from the unofficial freeze on them, which Israel imposed after much criticism from Washington.
Yesterday, a Jerusalem municipal committee gave preliminary approval to 32 new apartments in a Jewish neighbourhood in east Jerusalem, rolling back a decision earlier this year to quietly put new projects on hold. And in recent weeks, the municipality has begun demolishing small, uninhabited structures, such as sheds, built without permits in east Jerusalem.
http://fwd4.me/06Cx
For first time in nine months, Israel razes Palestinian homes in East Jerusalem
Municipality says structures were not homes but witnesses report Palestinian family removing belongings.
Israel razed on Tuesday an inhabited Palestinian home in East Jerusalem for the first time in eight months, effectively ending an unofficial freeze of such internationally condemned demolitions.
A Reuters photographer witnessed a Palestinian family removing its belongings from the house in East Jerusalem's Beit Hanina neighborhood before an Israeli excavator tore into the dwelling.
"They can build hundreds of settlements but I'm not entitled to live in a shack?" asked Linda al-Rajabi outside the demolished dwelling she shared with her husband and their five children.
Israel's Jerusalem municipality said the home was built without a city permit.
The demolition seemed certain to draw a new wave of international criticism of Israeli policy toward Palestinians in East Jerusalem, an area captured in the 1967 Six-Day War and annexed by Israel in a move that has not won international recognition.
The dwelling was razed a week after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held White House talks with U.S. President Barack Obama to patch up relations strained by Israeli settlement policy in East Jerusalem and the West Bank.
Netanyahu promised Obama "concrete steps" - confidence-building measures - within weeks to try to coax the Palestinians back into direct peace negotiations.
Washington has publicly urged Israel not to demolish Palestinian homes built without permits. Palestinians, who want East Jerusalem as the capital of a future state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, say it is impossible to obtain construction approval from Israeli authorities.
Israel had refrained from implementing demolition orders since November in the politically sensitive Jerusalem area, after U.S. pressure not to take steps that could jeopardize peace talks with the Palestinians.
Netanyahu intervened several months ago to postpone city plans to demolish about 20 homes in another part of East Jerusalem, where the Israeli municipality is planning a new housing project.
Earlier on Tuesday, Israel razed two unfinished Palestinian homes and part of a factory in East Jerusalem.
Dozens of armed border police guarded an excavator as it tore apart the foundations of the cement structures in the Issawiya section of East Jerusalem. There was no violence, a police spokesman said.
Palestinian resident Basem Isawi, 48, an unemployed contractor, said one of the structures was his own unfinished home. He built it illegally, he said, spending about $25,000, because he knew the municipality would not give him a permit.
He had been notified of the impending demolition but did not know when it was slated to happen, he said.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/for-first-time-in-nine-months-israel-razes-palestinian-homes-in-east-jerusalem-1.301681
(2:13) Israel destroys more Palestinian homes in Occupied East Jerusalem 23 nov 2010, 21:03 , Respect
Maria 15 juli 2010
Palestinians unite on housing rights
A Palestinian family stands on top of the rubble of their home in Beit Hanina after it was destroyed by Israeli authorities on 13 July 2010.
The al-Rajabi family of the Beit Hanina neighborhood in occupied East Jerusalem were made homeless on Tuesday, 13 July, after Israeli demolition vehicles razed their home to the ground. Five other homes and structures were destroyed earlier in the day in the Issawiya and Jabal al-Mukabber neighborhoods, also in East Jerusalem.
Speaking to Sherine Tadros of Al-Jazeera English following the demolition, Linda al-Rajabi, mother of five children, said that Israeli police ordered her family to immediately evacuate their home and remove all of their belongings from inside. "They demolished the house without giving a warning or anything," al-Rajabi told Tadros. "[The Israelis] can build 600 settlements, and I am in a shack ... and they demolished it" ("Israel destroys Palestinian homes," 13 July 2010 [video]).
Israeli officials ordered the demolition of the al-Rajabi home because it was "built without permits," a long-standing policy of justification of home demolitions. In a statement, the Israeli government said the homes were "illegally built and uninhabited." Through a court order, the buildings were destroyed.
The al-Rajabi home was rebuilt a second time last year after Israeli bulldozers destroyed the first home in 2008. With assistance from local nongovernmental organizations, including the Israeli Committee Against Home Demolitions (ICAHD), the home had been reconstructed as the family worked with an attorney to obtain legal building permits -- to no avail.
"The Jerusalem municipality demolished six houses in East Jerusalem claiming they were built illegally, ignoring the fact that the municipality makes it impossible for Palestinians to obtain permits in order to build legally," ICAHD stated in a press release. "These demolitions come after an unofficial six-month halt to home demolitions in East Jerusalem, although within that period several uninhabited Palestinian-owned structures were nevertheless demolished.
The suspension of demolitions came as a result of pressure from the international community, particularly from the US administration which has repeatedly criticized the practice" ("Jerusalem Municipality demolishes 6 houses across East Jerusalem," 14 July 2010).
The US State Department, upon hearing that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government demolished the homes in East Jerusalem, urged "all parties to avoid actions that could undermine trust." State Department spokesman Philip Crowley added that the US was "concerned" about Tuesday's demolitions.
These demolitions come on the heels of Monday's decision by the Jerusalem municipal committee to pre-approve 32 new Jewish-only apartment units in the illegal Pisgat Zeev settlement in occupied East Jerusalem. Pisgat Zeev abuts the Beit Hanina neighborhood.
ICAHD added in its statement that Netanyahu's government has declared new "building plans for East Jerusalem settlements," solidifying this plan with the resumption of home demolitions. "Both actions are a clear declaration that the Government of Israel is not interested in good faith negotiations. Instead, the government and settlers continue creating facts on the ground intended to Judaize East Jerusalem and strengthen Israeli sovereignty over it, thereby preventing the possibility for a future division of the city in which East Jerusalem could form the capital of a Palestinian State," ICAHD reported.
Meanwhile, about 35 kilometers west of occupied East Jerusalem, also on Tuesday, hundreds of Palestinian, Israeli and international activists led a demonstration through the city of Ramle near Tel Aviv to protest the planned demolition of 13 homes in the Dhammash village, sandwiched between Ramle and Lydd. For months, the Palestinian residents of Dhammash have been living in constant threat of losing their homes in their village, which has been "unrecognized" by the State of Israel since 1948. Residents of Dhammash are Israeli citizens and pay taxes, but do not receive any services as the state refuses to acknowledge their presence.
The residents were able to petition the court several months ago to suspend the demolition orders while they attempted to pressure the government into officially recognizing the village, which would finally grant the village municipal services and basic infrastructure.
But that court order expired this week, and Israeli officials stated that the homes would be demolished because they still lacked the proper building permits. As the entire village is officially "unrecognized," the government has classified the homes as "illegal," thereby exposing them to imminent demolition. Dhammash residents told The Electronic Intifada in March that the municipality plans to construct Jewish-only condominium complexes on the village's land.
The Petach Tikva municipal court is currently holding hearings on whether or not to go ahead with the government's plan to raze the homes in Dhammash. Approximately 600 persons currently live in 70 houses in the village.
Tuesday's demonstration culminated in a plan to protest outside the courthouse on Wednesday. Internationally-renowned hip hop group DAM set up a flatbed truck in the middle of the village and performed for the crowd. DAM's members, all from the neighboring city of Lydd, have helped to organize a weeks-long summer camp in Dhammash -- for local and international children and adults -- to bring attention to the critical situation in the village and to build widespread solidarity.
On Wednesday, 14 July, following the demonstration in Ramle, the municipal court decided to once again freeze the demolition orders for three months and to resume court hearings in October. Members of the local popular committees stated in a press release that they believe the decision to suspend the demolitions was a direct result of expanded and successful community organizing and growing media attention focused on Dhammash. Attorneys for Dhammash residents are also planning to appeal the demolition orders entirely before the court hearings resume in October.
Several weeks ago, residents from the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah -- where violent takeovers of Palestinian homes by Jewish settlers have been ongoing but met with sustained protest -- joined dozens of activists and came to Dhammash to show unity in struggle. In turn, Dhammash villagers have been active in the regular protests in Sheikh Jarrah.
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article11395.shtml
US official slams Israeli right wing
Though Obama administration has not commented on homes to be built in Pisgat Ze'ev, official blames Right for attempt to complicate peace talks
WASHINGTON – An official US source told Ynet Tuesday that the construction of 32 new housing units in Pisgat Ze'ev, Jerusalem land conquered in 1967, was another attempt by the Israeli Right to complicate peace talks.
Original Report
32 homes approved in Pisgat Ze'ev / Ronen Medzini
Jerusalem planning committee allows construction of units on land conquered in 1967, Likud faction head insists 'we will continue to build in all neighborhoods'. Meretz: What do they think, Obama doesn't know?
Full Story
A week after the latest meeting between US President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the Obama administration refrained from bringing up the subject of the newly-announced construction.
But a US source commented on the matter, saying, "We recognize that Jerusalem is a deeply important issue to Israelis and Palestinians, to Jews, Muslims, and Christians everywhere. And we believe it is possible to reach an outcome that both realizes the aspirations of all parties for Jerusalem, and safeguards its status for the future."
Meanwhile, the renewal of home demolitions also sparked condemnation throughout the world. The European Commission said the move would undermine negotiations with the Palestinians.
EC President José Manuel Barroso expressed his concern at recent developments in the capital during a press conference in Brussels with Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad.
Barroso said he was "concerned", and that both settlement construction and the demolitions were violations of international law. Fayyad added that the construction in Pisgat Ze'ev was inconsistent with the two-state solution.
The 32 homes are part of a larger project, which outlines 220 homes to be built near the Palestinian neighborhood of Hizma. An additional 48 homes are scheduled to be approved by the Jerusalem district planning committee next week.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3919469,00.html
Israeli bulldozers raze 4 east Jerusalem buildings
JERUSALEM: Israeli bulldozers destroyed six buildings, including at least three homes, in contested east Jerusalem today, resuming the demolition of Palestinian property after a halt aimed at encouraging peace talks.
Jerusalem house demolitions are a volatile issue because of conflicting Israeli and Palestinian claims to the city's eastern sector. Israel sees it as part of its capital city, while Palestinians want it for their own future capital.
The municipality said none of the structures razed were homes, and that all had been illegally built and were not populated. The demolitions were carried out by a court order, the municipality said in a statement.
But Palestinians disputed those claims, saying three of the demolished structures were homes and one was a warehouse. Two daybeds and bags crammed with children's clothing and kitchen utensils were strewn outside one of the buildings.
Basem Isawi, 48, an unemployed contractor, stood stony-faced amid the rubble of his unfinished home, forbidding his six children to come out of the nearby house where they currently live to see what had happened to it.
Isawi said he built the almost-finished home illegally for about USD 25,000 because he was convinced the municipality would deny him a permit. He had been notified of the impending demolition but did not know when it was slated to happen, he said.
"We watched them destroy the house, and we couldn't do anything," Isawi said. Police said the demolitions were carried out without incident.
Since October, no houses had been demolished in the eastern sector of the city until today. The demolitions seemed to indicate a move a way from the unofficial freeze on them, which Israel imposed after much criticism from Washington.
Yesterday, a Jerusalem municipal committee gave preliminary approval to 32 new apartments in a Jewish neighbourhood in east Jerusalem, rolling back a decision earlier this year to quietly put new projects on hold. And in recent weeks, the municipality has begun demolishing small, uninhabited structures, such as sheds, built without permits in east Jerusalem.
http://fwd4.me/06Cx
For first time in nine months, Israel razes Palestinian homes in East Jerusalem
Municipality says structures were not homes but witnesses report Palestinian family removing belongings.
Israel razed on Tuesday an inhabited Palestinian home in East Jerusalem for the first time in eight months, effectively ending an unofficial freeze of such internationally condemned demolitions.
A Reuters photographer witnessed a Palestinian family removing its belongings from the house in East Jerusalem's Beit Hanina neighborhood before an Israeli excavator tore into the dwelling.
"They can build hundreds of settlements but I'm not entitled to live in a shack?" asked Linda al-Rajabi outside the demolished dwelling she shared with her husband and their five children.
Israel's Jerusalem municipality said the home was built without a city permit.
The demolition seemed certain to draw a new wave of international criticism of Israeli policy toward Palestinians in East Jerusalem, an area captured in the 1967 Six-Day War and annexed by Israel in a move that has not won international recognition.
The dwelling was razed a week after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held White House talks with U.S. President Barack Obama to patch up relations strained by Israeli settlement policy in East Jerusalem and the West Bank.
Netanyahu promised Obama "concrete steps" - confidence-building measures - within weeks to try to coax the Palestinians back into direct peace negotiations.
Washington has publicly urged Israel not to demolish Palestinian homes built without permits. Palestinians, who want East Jerusalem as the capital of a future state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, say it is impossible to obtain construction approval from Israeli authorities.
Israel had refrained from implementing demolition orders since November in the politically sensitive Jerusalem area, after U.S. pressure not to take steps that could jeopardize peace talks with the Palestinians.
Netanyahu intervened several months ago to postpone city plans to demolish about 20 homes in another part of East Jerusalem, where the Israeli municipality is planning a new housing project.
Earlier on Tuesday, Israel razed two unfinished Palestinian homes and part of a factory in East Jerusalem.
Dozens of armed border police guarded an excavator as it tore apart the foundations of the cement structures in the Issawiya section of East Jerusalem. There was no violence, a police spokesman said.
Palestinian resident Basem Isawi, 48, an unemployed contractor, said one of the structures was his own unfinished home. He built it illegally, he said, spending about $25,000, because he knew the municipality would not give him a permit.
He had been notified of the impending demolition but did not know when it was slated to happen, he said.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/for-first-time-in-nine-months-israel-razes-palestinian-homes-in-east-jerusalem-1.301681
(2:13) Israel destroys more Palestinian homes in Occupied East Jerusalem 23 nov 2010, 21:03 , Respect
Maria 15 juli 2010
Palestinians unite on housing rights
A Palestinian family stands on top of the rubble of their home in Beit Hanina after it was destroyed by Israeli authorities on 13 July 2010.
The al-Rajabi family of the Beit Hanina neighborhood in occupied East Jerusalem were made homeless on Tuesday, 13 July, after Israeli demolition vehicles razed their home to the ground. Five other homes and structures were destroyed earlier in the day in the Issawiya and Jabal al-Mukabber neighborhoods, also in East Jerusalem.
Speaking to Sherine Tadros of Al-Jazeera English following the demolition, Linda al-Rajabi, mother of five children, said that Israeli police ordered her family to immediately evacuate their home and remove all of their belongings from inside. "They demolished the house without giving a warning or anything," al-Rajabi told Tadros. "[The Israelis] can build 600 settlements, and I am in a shack ... and they demolished it" ("Israel destroys Palestinian homes," 13 July 2010 [video]).
Israeli officials ordered the demolition of the al-Rajabi home because it was "built without permits," a long-standing policy of justification of home demolitions. In a statement, the Israeli government said the homes were "illegally built and uninhabited." Through a court order, the buildings were destroyed.
The al-Rajabi home was rebuilt a second time last year after Israeli bulldozers destroyed the first home in 2008. With assistance from local nongovernmental organizations, including the Israeli Committee Against Home Demolitions (ICAHD), the home had been reconstructed as the family worked with an attorney to obtain legal building permits -- to no avail.
"The Jerusalem municipality demolished six houses in East Jerusalem claiming they were built illegally, ignoring the fact that the municipality makes it impossible for Palestinians to obtain permits in order to build legally," ICAHD stated in a press release. "These demolitions come after an unofficial six-month halt to home demolitions in East Jerusalem, although within that period several uninhabited Palestinian-owned structures were nevertheless demolished.
The suspension of demolitions came as a result of pressure from the international community, particularly from the US administration which has repeatedly criticized the practice" ("Jerusalem Municipality demolishes 6 houses across East Jerusalem," 14 July 2010).
The US State Department, upon hearing that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government demolished the homes in East Jerusalem, urged "all parties to avoid actions that could undermine trust." State Department spokesman Philip Crowley added that the US was "concerned" about Tuesday's demolitions.
These demolitions come on the heels of Monday's decision by the Jerusalem municipal committee to pre-approve 32 new Jewish-only apartment units in the illegal Pisgat Zeev settlement in occupied East Jerusalem. Pisgat Zeev abuts the Beit Hanina neighborhood.
ICAHD added in its statement that Netanyahu's government has declared new "building plans for East Jerusalem settlements," solidifying this plan with the resumption of home demolitions. "Both actions are a clear declaration that the Government of Israel is not interested in good faith negotiations. Instead, the government and settlers continue creating facts on the ground intended to Judaize East Jerusalem and strengthen Israeli sovereignty over it, thereby preventing the possibility for a future division of the city in which East Jerusalem could form the capital of a Palestinian State," ICAHD reported.
Meanwhile, about 35 kilometers west of occupied East Jerusalem, also on Tuesday, hundreds of Palestinian, Israeli and international activists led a demonstration through the city of Ramle near Tel Aviv to protest the planned demolition of 13 homes in the Dhammash village, sandwiched between Ramle and Lydd. For months, the Palestinian residents of Dhammash have been living in constant threat of losing their homes in their village, which has been "unrecognized" by the State of Israel since 1948. Residents of Dhammash are Israeli citizens and pay taxes, but do not receive any services as the state refuses to acknowledge their presence.
The residents were able to petition the court several months ago to suspend the demolition orders while they attempted to pressure the government into officially recognizing the village, which would finally grant the village municipal services and basic infrastructure.
But that court order expired this week, and Israeli officials stated that the homes would be demolished because they still lacked the proper building permits. As the entire village is officially "unrecognized," the government has classified the homes as "illegal," thereby exposing them to imminent demolition. Dhammash residents told The Electronic Intifada in March that the municipality plans to construct Jewish-only condominium complexes on the village's land.
The Petach Tikva municipal court is currently holding hearings on whether or not to go ahead with the government's plan to raze the homes in Dhammash. Approximately 600 persons currently live in 70 houses in the village.
Tuesday's demonstration culminated in a plan to protest outside the courthouse on Wednesday. Internationally-renowned hip hop group DAM set up a flatbed truck in the middle of the village and performed for the crowd. DAM's members, all from the neighboring city of Lydd, have helped to organize a weeks-long summer camp in Dhammash -- for local and international children and adults -- to bring attention to the critical situation in the village and to build widespread solidarity.
On Wednesday, 14 July, following the demonstration in Ramle, the municipal court decided to once again freeze the demolition orders for three months and to resume court hearings in October. Members of the local popular committees stated in a press release that they believe the decision to suspend the demolitions was a direct result of expanded and successful community organizing and growing media attention focused on Dhammash. Attorneys for Dhammash residents are also planning to appeal the demolition orders entirely before the court hearings resume in October.
Several weeks ago, residents from the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah -- where violent takeovers of Palestinian homes by Jewish settlers have been ongoing but met with sustained protest -- joined dozens of activists and came to Dhammash to show unity in struggle. In turn, Dhammash villagers have been active in the regular protests in Sheikh Jarrah.
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article11395.shtml