- 15 aug 2011
Israel approves 227 new homes in West Bank settlement of Ariel
(24:21) Building Barriers-News Analysis-08-15-2011
Defense Minister Ehud Barak okays largest housing project in single settlement since establishment of the Netanyahu government.
Defense Minister Ehud Barak has approved the building of 277 apartments the West Bank settlement of Ariel, defying U.S. criticism of continued settlement construction.
Barak authorized the construction in Ariel, the core of the settlement bloc deepest inside the West Bank. One hundred of the apartments will house Israelis evacuated in 2005 from a Gaza Strip settlement.
The new housing units are set to be built in Ariel's Noyman neighborhood. 100 homes are intended for evacuees of the Gaza settlement of Netzarim, while the rest of the housing units are set to be sold freely.
The building permits for the homes were handed out a while ago, but marketing the lands to contractors was delayed due to diplomatic considerations until now. The construction is expected to conclude in about three years.
This marks the largest construction project in a single settlement since the establishment of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government.
A spokesman for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had no immediate comment Monday on the diplomatically charged move.
Since the establishment of Netanyahu's government, very few building permits were handed out. In 2009, 492 housing units were approved in various West Bank settlements. In March of 2011, following the murder of a family in the settlement of Itamar, Netanyahu announced his intention to construct 500 homes in the area, but the land has yet to be marketed to contractors.
In recent weeks, Israel has also moved ahead on two other construction projects in east Jerusalem, the Palestinians' hoped-for capital. The U.S. was critical of those plans.
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Mansour and Erakat: Continued Settlement Expansion is Illegal
Dr Riyad Mansour, Permanent Observer of Palestine to the United Nations and Chief Palestinian Negotiator Saeb Erakat have both issued declarations echoing many other international diplomats that continued Israeli settlement expansion is illegal.
In letters to the Secretary General of the United Nations, Chairman of the United Nations and the Chairman of the General Assembly, Mansour declares the illegality of Israels plans to build 900 new housing units in Har Homa settlement, as well as 1600 new ones in Ramat Shlomo. Both settlements, located in East Jerusalem, are illegal under international law.
Ambassador Mansour said the illegal action of continuing the construction and expansion of settlements is a unilateral step that shows that Israel does not want peace, but instead wants to continue to the colonisation of Palestine. He called upon Israel to abide by international law, stop their expansionist policies and put into motion steps that will help end the Israeli occupation and bring about a viable and just two-state solution.
Lastly he stressed the need to question Israel and hold the Israeli government to account for any war crimes they have committed, and any perpetrators of abuses should be brought to justice.
Dr Saeb Erakat, Palestine’s Chief Negotiator, also slammed Israel’s expansionist policies claiming that “Israel regards itself as a state above International law and accountability”.
Erakat continued claiming “This approval and the reported plan for additional expansion in illegal settlements across the occupied Palestinian Territory, especially occupied East Jerusalem, is further proof that this government is committed to investing in occupation rather than peace”
“In the past few days, members of the international community, including all members of the Quartet, condemned the expansion of the illegal settlement of Har Homa. Today, Israel has responded to this international consensus with intransigence and wilful disregard”
“It is now abundantly clear that with the continued illegal settlement expansion, Israel aims to turn its occupation of Palestine into a permanent annexation. Without effective and proactive measures from the international community, Israel will be further encouraged to stay on the path of colonization and further entrench its enterprise of occupation, land grab, and impunity” “The international community has a permanent responsibility to uphold international law, protect the Palestinian people, support the Palestinian State and hold Israel accountable for its persistent violations.”
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Gaza: New Israeli settlement plan violates international law
GAZA, (PIC)-- The government in Gaza has strongly condemned Israel’s new settlement venture as a “blatant violation of all international norms and conventions”.
The statement comes after Israeli Interior Minister Eli Yishai recently approved a plan to build 4,300 settlement units in Jerusalem.
In the statement, the Gaza Ministry of Justice described the move as “gorging of the land of Palestinians living under occupation”, and called it “one link in a chain of links to Judaize Jerusalem and displace its indigenous people for the interest of settlers, in violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949, particularly Article 47”.
“The legal status of Jerusalem is a land under Israeli occupation. Accordingly, the provisions of the 1907 Hague Convention apply, as it involves the demographic change of the population structure of the occupied Palestinian territories,” the ministry said.
The statement calls on the UN Security Council to pressure Israel into abiding by its decisions deeming Jerusalem an integral part of the Palestinian territories occupied in 1967.
It also called for Arabs and Muslims to help thwart Israel’s practices aimed at Judaizing the holy city, “given that the issue is is an Islamic and Arab issue, affecting every Arab and Muslim”.
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UK foreign minister: Israel settlement build 'deeply disappointing'
BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- UK Foreign Secretary William Hague condemned Israel's approval of a new batch of settlement homes in East Jerusalem, in a statement released late Friday.
The decision was "deeply disappointing," Hague said.
"I am concerned that Israel has ignored the international community’s calls for an end to this settlement action.
"At a time when all parties should be striving to return to talks, this announcement undermines trust and -- by illegally changing the situation on the ground -- threatens the two state solution for which we are working hard."
Israel's interior ministry announced its sanction of 1,600 new homes in Ramat Shlomo, and impending approval of 2,000 more in Givat Hamatos and 700 in Pisgat Zeev on Thursday, a week after 900 housing units were announced in Har Homa.
Each settlement fringes East Jerusalem, a strategic location for Israeli authorities who claim the whole city as their capital, while Palestinians insist the east be the capital of their future state.
Negotiations between Palestinians and Israelis have stalled since Israel renewed construction of settlement in September 2010. Palestinian officials argue they cannot enter talks while Israel builds on lands they claim for an independent Palestinian state.
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Maria 16 aug 2011
Hamas warns of repercussions after new settlement plans
GAZA, (PIC)-- Hamas has warned Israel against serious repercussions after Israeli war minister Ehud Barak allowed an additional 277 settlement units to be built in the West Bank Ariel settlement.
The project comes in the framework of a vast new settlement project in occupied Jerusalem including some 4,300 new units.
In a press statement, Hamas warned the Israeli occupation authorities against continuing settlement projects, holding them responsible for the repercussions that come after those decisions.
“The encroachment of settlements expanding throughout the West Bank confirms the failure of the alleged peace option with the occupation (Israel), and highlights the importance of reconsidering the national strategy for the Palestinians based on the principle of resistance, which is able to stop the expansion of settlement projects,” Hamas said in the statement, calling on the world community and Arab states to pressure Israel to stop its crimes against the Palestinians.
In a separate statement, Palestinian MP Jamal Sakik called for support of the resistance in the West Bank in order to address the settlement expansion issue.
He also emphasized the need for abolishing the Palestinian Authority’s security coordination with Israel
Ariel, located in the West Bank governorate of Salfit, to the southwest of Nablus city, is one of the largest Jewish settlements in the West Bank.
100 of the new units are slated to house Jewish settlers evacuated from the Gaza Strip after Israel’s military withdrawal in 2005.
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Quartet 'concerned' by Israeli settlement move
UNITED NATIONS (AFP) -- The United States, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations on Tuesday attacked Israel's move to build new Jewish-only housing in the West Bank as a threat to peace efforts.
"The Quartet is greatly concerned by Israel's recent announcements to advance planning for new housing units in Ariel and east Jerusalem," the four said in a statement.
"This comes at a critical juncture with Quartet efforts ongoing to resume negotiations which are the only way to a just and durable solution to the [Israel-Palestinian] conflict," added the statement.
Efforts to bring the Israelis and Palestinians back to direct talks have been deadlocked since September last year when Israel ended a moratorium on settlement building.
Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak on Monday gave the green light to build 277 new homes in Ariel, a Jewish settlement inside the occupied West Bank. More than 2,700 new settler homes have now been approved by Israel in the past two weeks, prompting a furious response from the Palestinian leadership.
Israel is in turn angry at Palestinian plans to possibly seek full United Nations membership at the UN General Assembly in September.
"The Quartet reaffirms that unilateral action by either party cannot prejudge the outcome of negotiations and will not be recognized by the international community," said the statement.
"Jerusalem in particular is one of the core issues that must be resolved through negotiations between the parties, which underscores the urgent need for the parties to resume serious and substantive talks," the international powers added.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=413690
US condemns Ariel construction
Interior Ministry's planning and construction committee approves 277 new housing units in city of Ariel, located beyond Green Line. 'Unilateral actions not helpful to process,' says US Embassy spokesman.
The Interior Ministry's Planning and Construction Committee has approved the building of 277 new housing units in Ariel, defying international criticism of continued construction on land the Palestinians claim for a state.
The planned construction in Ariel – the core of the settlement bloc farthest inside the West Bank – is the third project on disputed lands to be advanced in the past week. Israel has recently moved ahead on plans to build more than 2,500 new apartments in disputed east Jerusalem, and Israeli officials say 2,700 more will be approved soon.
"We think unilateral actions by both sides, Israeli or Palestinian, are not helpful to the process to try to get both parties back to the table," US Embassy spokesman Kurt Hoyer said.
In Washington, the State Department called the new Israeli building "deeply troubling."
"These kinds of actions are counterproductive to the resumption of direct negotiations" between the Israelis and Palestinians, said spokeswoman Victoria Nuland.
Palestinian Authority Spokesperson Ghassan Khatib called the recent building announcements an "escalation" and called on the international community to pressure Israel harder.
"The policies of every single country in the world (are) that settlement expansion is illegal and an obstacle to peace," Khatib said. "Israel is not taking this seriously. I think these countries have to introduce elements of accountability to their relations with Israel."
The Prime Minister's Office refused to comment.
Palestinians oppose Israeli construction in the West Bank and east Jerusalem – lands they want for the core of a future independent state – and have suspended talks with Israel as a result.
The latest construction approval could further complicate American attempts to persuade the Palestinians to give up their UN statehood bid in eptember and enter negotiations with Israel instead.
Some 100 of the housing units are designated for families evacuated from Gush Katif during the 2005 Gaza disengagement. The construction is set to be complete in approximately three years.
Ariel Mayor Ron Nachman welcomed the decision, saying it was the largest construction project approved by the government in recent years. "In the past seven years, no more than 50 apartments were built here," he said.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4109125,00.html 7 jan 2012, 23:41 , Respect -
Maria 17 aug 2011
Settlements expand, while Area C is bulldozed
RAMALLAH (IRIN) -- Each year, hundreds of Palestinians in Area C have their homes demolished by the Israeli authorities because they are unable to obtain permits for their buildings, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
Area C covers 60 percent of the West Bank with a Palestinian population of about 150,000.
Israel retains military authority and full control over building and planning in Area C: as much as 70 percent of it is inaccessible to Palestinians, classified as Israeli settlement areas, firing zones, or nature reserves.
In the remaining 30 percent there are a number of other restrictions that reduce the possibility for Palestinians to obtain a building permit, reports OCHA.
In practice, Palestinian construction is normally permitted only within the boundaries of a plan approved by the Israeli Civil Administration, which covers less than 1 percent of Area C, much of which is already built-up, according to OCHA.
Many Palestinians living in Area C are left with no choice other than to build without a permit.
Israel says authorities have only demolished illegal structures, and that Jewish and Palestinian residents in Area C are subject to the same restrictions.
An August 2011 OCHA report highlights the concerns of 13 Area C communities, including restrictive and discriminatory planning and zoning policies which limit Palestinian construction and use of the land, and lack of effective law enforcement in response to settler attacks.
Also, movement and access restrictions, like those created by Israel's "Separation Barrier," limit access to land and water resources for many communities.
Khallet Zakariya
Residents of Khallet Zakariya, located in Area C south of Bethlehem, say Israeli authorities are demolishing their homes and settlers have destroyed their livelihoods in an effort to force the community to relocate.
Farmer Mohamed Khalil, 55, from Khallet Zakariya, says Israeli settlers ruined about half a hectare of his agricultural fields in June and spray-painted "death to Arabs" in black on the wall of his home, which is still visible.
"It's not the first time settlers destroyed my land," said Mohamed. "It takes 3-4 years to cultivate crops of grapes and plums."
The lost crops will affect income for three families, including 19 people. Mohamed has filed a complaint with Israeli police.
According to Mohamed, officials from the Civil Administration, the Israeli governing body that operates in the West Bank, came and offered to relocate his community of about 350 people to an area west of Bethlehem called Nahhalin.
"My father cultivated this land - we declined," he said.
Ido Hevroni, a resident of neighboring Israeli settlement Alon Shvut with a population of about 3,000, located south of Khallet Zakariya, says there is peace between his community and Palestinian families.
"I am against any illegal structure, Palestinian or Israeli," said Hevroni, as he and his eight-year-old daughter walked through Khallet Zakariya.
With settlement Bat Ayin located directly west and settlement Rosh Zurim directly to the north, residents of Khallet Zakariya say there is a strategy to force them out to allow settlement expansion.
However, expansion has mostly been in larger settlements over the past year, according to Israeli NGO B'Tselem.
Bulldozed
Fatima Saed, her husband Mahmoud, and their four children had 20 minutes notice to pack their belongings and evacuate their home in Khallet Zakariya before it was bulldozed by Israeli authorities on July 25.
"Our lawyer was not informed that we had lost our court case disputing the demolition order for our home," said Fatima. Her family is now living at her brother's house nearby, with 21 people crammed into two rooms.
"We built here without a permit, because my family owns the land," she said.
In the first six months of 2011, OCHA reports that the Israeli authorities demolished 342 Palestinian-owned structures in Area C, including 125 residential "structures", displacing a total of 656 Palestinians, including 351 children -- almost five times as many demolitions and people displaced as during the first half of 2010, according to OCHA.
Maj. Guy Inbar, Israeli coordinator of government activities in the occupied Palestinian territory (COGAT), told IRIN: "There is no policy to move people from their homes."
He acknowledges, however, that Israel has increased action to monitor illegal building, both in Jewish and Palestinian sectors within Area C.
"A similar number of illegal Israeli and Palestinian structures have been demolished by Israel so far in 2011," said Inbar, and "Israel is working to approve and authorize more areas within Area C that Palestinians will be permitted to live [in] and build [on]."
Few building permits
B'Tselem spokesperson Sarit Michaeli said: "Israeli settlements were built in contravention of international law in the West Bank, while the Palestinian population in Area C is under occupation and protected by international law."
Israeli NGO Bimkom, comprised of planners and architects to strengthen human rights in the field of planning, published a comprehensive report in 2008 detailing what it describes as separate planning systems for Israeli settlements that allow for growth and expansion.
From 2000 to 2007, the Civil Administration approved 5 percent of the applications for building permits submitted by Palestinians in Area C. The total number of building permits issued to Palestinians during these seven years was 91, an average of 13 building permits per annum, reports Bimkom.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=413851
Neve Daniel municipality secretly expanding settlement by night
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- The municipal council of the Israeli Neve Daniel settlement west of Bethlehem has been taking advantage of the Ramadan season to expand the illegal settlement founded on the land of the nearby Palestinian village of Al-Khadr.
As Palestinian Muslims break fast at sunset, the municipality brings out its bulldozers to carry out wide-ranging excavations on a 300-dunum (1 Dunum= 1000 square meters) area known as Ayn al-Qissis throughout the night.
The night digging has been going on for four days in an area barren of a Palestinian population, said Ahmed Salah, the coordinator for the local anti-settlement committee. He added that a number of local farmers related that when they go to tend to their farms, they have spotted damage caused by bulldozers. They said they have not seen related activity during the daytime.
Salah confirmed that a delegation from the anti-settlement committee later investigated and found that digging was actually taking place, and that roads were being etched bridging between the area and Neve Daniel.
The bulldozers dug in a way that blocked farmers from having access to their land, Salah said, adding that trailers had also been placed there, serving as a prelude to annexing the area.
Despite the locals’ lack of confidence in the Israeli legal system, petitions have already been filed against the activity. They suspect that the digging was done at night so that those responsible would deny it with the Israeli officials.
Elsewhere, Jewish settlers have also been working rapidly to expand a settlement outpost erected south of Nablus city in the northern West Bank, a Palestinian official responsible for monitoring Israeli settlements has reported.
The source added that 90 percent of Jewish settlements in the West Bank are currently under expansion works.
Also on Tuesday, in downtown Al-Khalil to the south, hundreds of Jewish settlers demonstrated, demanding that the government works to enhance settlement construction projects and confiscate more Palestinian land for that purpose.
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World powers condemn Israeli settlement move
UNITED NATIONS (AFP) -- The United States, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations attacked on Tuesday, Israel's move to expand a West Bank settlement, calling it a threat to peace efforts.
The latest public condemnation of Israel came amid intense efforts by Tony Blair, the envoy of the diplomatic Quartet, to get Palestinians and Israelis back into direct talks, diplomats reported.
"The Quartet is greatly concerned by Israel's recent announcements to advance planning for new housing units in Ariel and East Jerusalem," both areas on the Palestinian side of the pre-1967 border, the four powers said in a statement.
"This comes at a critical juncture with Quartet efforts ongoing to resume negotiations which are the only way to a just and durable solution to the conflict," added the statement.
Ministers from Blair's native country joined the voices of rebuke. "Israel has again ignored the calls of the international community to refrain from actions which make a return to negotiations more difficult," UK Foreign Office Minister Henry Bellingham said in a statement Tuesday.
"These repeated actions, illegal under international law, undermine confidence and threaten a two state solution."
Israel on Monday approved the building of 277 new homes in Ariel, a Jewish settlement inside the occupied West Bank, taking the total to more than 2,700 new settler homes approved in the past two weeks.
The planned expansion has brought a furious response from the Palestinian Authority, which has shunned direct talks since Israel ended a moratorium on settlement building in September last year.
Israel has rejected the international criticism, insisting that settlements built illegally on Palestinian lands are not an obstacle to direct talks.
"The Palestinians have negotiated many times when settlements were in existence," said Israel's UN ambassador Ron Prosor.
"Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu put in place a freeze on settlements, during which Palestinians waited nine months to come back to the table. Why? They have learned that it is better for them to sit back and do absolutely nothing."
The freeze, which was imposed unilaterally by Israel, did not include East Jerusalem. Palestinians leaders called it insufficient to prove a serious will to make peace, and only returned to the negotiations table under heavy US pressure.
With the negotiations stalled for almost a year, President Mahmoud Abbas is preparing to seek full United Nations membership at the UN General Assembly in September.
Israel says this is a threat to the peace process and the United States is expected to veto any application to the UN Security Council.
"The Quartet reaffirms that unilateral action by either party cannot prejudge the outcome of negotiations and will not be recognized by the international community," said the statement.
"Jerusalem in particular is one of the core issues that must be resolved through negotiations between the parties, which underscores the urgent need for the parties to resume serious and substantive talks," the international powers added.
The Quartet has itself been divided in recent months over how to end the conflict that it has been trying for years to settle.
UN chief Ban Ki-moon, EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov held a meeting in Washington in July and could not even agree on a statement about the encounter.
The European powers want the Quartet to take a stronger role in efforts to get the Palestinians and Israelis back to the negotiating table, even if this means setting out the parameters for talks. The United States has pushed back such a move, diplomats said.
Former British prime minister Blair, who has been the Quartet's special envoy since 2007, is working on a Quartet communique which he hopes could end divisions between the international powers and help get talks started again before the UN assembly.
"Those efforts are still going on. Tony Blair is in the center of efforts trying to find the relevant wording to move forward," said a senior diplomat at the United Nations.
"Mr Blair is making progress. If you are talking about success -- not yet," the envoy told reporters, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Ma'an staff writers contributed to this report
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=413746 7 jan 2012, 23:41 , Respect -
Maria 19 aug 2011
UN rights body urges halt to settlements
NEW YORK (Ma'an) -- A United Nations committee on Palestinian rights Friday called on the international community to take “credible and decisive action” to compel Israel to halt its settlement activity, the UN said.
“Recent Israeli settlement announcements undermine international efforts aimed at bringing the parties back to negotiations,” the Bureau of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People said in a statement quoted by the UN News Centre.
The statement voiced alarm at Israel’s “illegal” approval of 5,200 new housing units in occupied East Jerusalem in August.
“They have a corrosive effect on confidence and undermine goodwill, absent which serious and genuine permanent status negotiations are unlikely to succeed,” the statement added.
“All unilateral actions by Israel which prejudge the outcome of negotiations by creating faits accomplis on the ground have no legal validity.”
The bureau strongly condemned Israel’s “illegal and provocative acts,” which it said were aimed at encircling and separating East Jerusalem from the rest of occupied Palestinian territory, the news center said.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=414527 7 jan 2012, 23:41 , Respect -
Maria 21 aug 2011
UN CMTE condemns Israeli settlements
A meeting of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People
A United Nations committee on the rights of the Palestinians has strongly condemned Israel's settlement activities in the occupied West Bank.
“Recent Israeli settlement announcements undermine international efforts aimed at bringing the parties back to negotiations,” the Bureau of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People said in a statement on Saturday, the UN News Center reported.
The communiqué expressed concern over Israel's approval of 5,200 new settlement units in occupied East al-Quds (Jerusalem) in August alone.
“They have a corrosive effect on confidence and undermine goodwill, absent which serious and genuine permanent status negotiations are unlikely to succeed,” it stated.
“All unilateral actions by Israel which prejudge the outcome of negotiations by creating faits accomplis on the ground have no legal validity.”
The bureau condemned Israel for seeking to encircle and separate East al-Quds from the rest of occupied Palestinian territories behind a wall of settlements.
The committee noted that fragmenting the West Bank would help Israel prevent the formation of a sovereign Palestinian state based on the two-State solution enshrined in the Road Map.
The bureau called on Israel to immediately halt all its settlement activity in the West Bank and East al-Quds and dismantle outposts erected since 2001.
“The bureau calls for credible and decisive action to compel Israel to abide by its legal obligations and to protect Palestinian civilians under prolonged military occupation from the damaging effects of settlements and settlers,” the committee urged.
“The Security Council and the High Contracting Parties to the Geneva Conventions bear a special responsibility in this regard,” it concluded.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/194937.html 7 jan 2012, 23:41 , Respect -
Maria 28 aug 2011
Jerusalem parking lot 'to be built on private Palestinian land'
JERUSALEM (Ma’an) -- Israeli authorities in Jerusalem are to build a parking lot on privately-owned Palestinian land in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of the city, a local resident told Ma'an.
The compound is to be built on 4,000 square meters of land owned by Kamal Ubeidat, who told Ma'an that he has a deed from the Ottoman era proving ownership of the land.
A warrant signed by Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat was posted on the property, Ubeidat said.
The warrant said that following a request by the Shimon Hatsadiq association, the Mayor of Jerusalem had agreed to turn land opposite the tomb into "public parking," noting that the owners of the property had the right to appeal the decision in court within 60 days.
The municipality's decision is illegal, Ubeidat said, adding that he would challenge the decision.
“Why don’t they grant me a permission to build a parking of my own, when they admit the land is mine?’" He told Ma'an.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=416674 7 jan 2012, 23:41 , Respect -
Maria 4 sept 2011
Israeli settlement expansion in Ramallah signals isolating Palestinian towns
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- The Israeli ministry of war has signed a contract with the municipality of Beit Arye settlement in Ramallah governorate in the West Bank to construct an additional 100 units to the settlement, the Israeli Peace Now organization has reported.
Beit Arye was erected on land that belonged to the nearby Palestinian village of Abud.
Also included in the agreement were plans to complete a bypass road connecting the settlement with another settlement to the south, Ofarim. It further stipulated that expansion would be made to the settlement according to a planned route of the separation barrier around the settlement.
The report says that should Israel decide to complete construction of the portion of the barrier there that was initially planned to include the road and settlement expansion, it would permanently isolate Palestinian localities from one another.
Israel stopped building that portion of the barrier after Palestinians in neighboring Al-Lubban al-Gharbiya village filed petitions that it was cutting into their privately owned land. The barrier was then re-planned along a separate track, but its building was once again stopped because it was planned in the same place where Jewish settlers had plans to build houses.
According to the new deal, those settlers would be compensated and building of the bypass would continue.
http://fwd4.me/0AeV 7 jan 2012, 23:41 , Respect -
Maria 7 sept 2011
Report: Israel endorsed 3,050 settlement units last month
RAMALLAH, (PIC)-- The international relations department of the Palestinian liberation organization (PLO) reported that the Israeli occupation during last August approved the building of 3,050 new settlement units in the Palestinian occupied lands.
According to a report issued by this department on Israel's violations during the month, the Israeli occupation forces and its settlers killed 33 Palestinians including four children and one doctor.
The Israeli occupation authority sanctioned the construction of 2,780 housing units in the settlements of occupied Jerusalem, the report read.
It added that the Israeli police stormed in August the Aqsa Mosque and used force to expel Palestinian worshipers from it. They also ordered the closure of all stores in Qattanin market near the Aqsa Mosque in order to enable Jewish extremists to perform their rituals there.
The Israeli violations committed during the reporting period included seizure of Palestinian lands and property, raids on homes, arbitrary arrests and Jewish settlers' attacks on Palestinians under military protection.
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Peace Now: Settlement building doubles since freeze
BETHLEHEM (Reuters) -- According to Peace Now's latest report released Wednesday, construction in West Bank settlements has doubled since the end of a building freeze which ended US brokered peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians last year.
Peace Now's Settlement Watch Director of Projects Hagit Ofran told Reuters that the settlement construction rate over the past year has allowed settlers to bridge the gap created during a 10-month moratorium that ended last year.
"Our report shows that there were almost 2,600 units started in settlements after the settlement freeze which means that all of the freeze [achievements] was already erased," Ofran told Reuters in her Jerusalem office.
"The number of construction in Israel is half the number of construction in settlements and we believe that the government of Israel is working against the Israeli interest which is not to build in settlements and to make peace with the Palestinians," she added.
According to the report, based on the analysis of aerial photos of West Bank settlements and field visits in the ten months since the end of the building freeze, 2,598 new housing units were being built and the construction of 2,149 new housing units were completed.
The report showed that at least 3,700 units were under construction during the period of the last 10 months.
US brokered peace talks have been frozen since the Palestinians walked out in September last year over Israeli settlement building.
Ghassan Khatib, Head of Palestinian Governmental Press Office told Reuters that the report only reaffirms Palestinian claims.
"[The Peace Now report] reaffirms the danger of the situation in the occupied Palestinian areas.
"It also assures the credibility of the Palestinian Authority, which was always calling for international efforts to force Israel to respect the Palestinian international legitimacy and rights by halting the expansion of settlements, which are internationally illegal and are blocking any real peace process," Khatib said from the West Bank city of Ramallah.
In the absence of negotiations, Palestinians plan to apply in two weeks for full membership of the United Nations, as part of a campaign to win international endorsement of sovereignty within the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem.
Israel and the United States oppose the unilateral move, calling on Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to return to talks.
Israel disputes Palestinian claims to all of the West Bank, saying a return to pre-1967 war borders would jeopardize Israeli security and citing historical links to an area the government calls by its biblical name, Judea and Samaria.
Some 500,000 Jews live in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, also captured in the 1967 conflict. There are about 2.5 million Palestinians in the same territory.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=418276 7 jan 2012, 23:42 , Respect -
Maria 21 sept 2011
New Israeli housing committee approves 900 settlement units
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- Israel’s new National Housing Committee approved in its first meeting on Tuesday plans to build 900 settlement units in Jewish settlements in occupied southern Jerusalem, Israeli Channel Ten has reported.
“The Northern Regional Planning and Building Commission has also approved plans for 35,000 housing units in the north, which have not yet been implemented because of various obstacles,” said the Israeli Ministry of Interior.
The NHC was established on the pretext of solving the current housing crisis in Israel and holds that it is necessary to build more settlement units in Jerusalem in the coming period.
In a monthly report on settlements, Palestinian resistance group Hamas said Israeli occupation authorities approved plans for construction of more than 3,000 settlement units, most of them in Jerusalem, in the period of 16 August to 15 September.
Israel “is plotting against the Palestinian identity, memory, history, geography, and culture,” the report concludes.
The document, released by Hamas’s media bureau, also remarks on home demolitions, excavations, and burning of crops as well as the recent outbreak of attacks by Jewish settlers against the native Palestinian population.
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OIC slams Israel’s approval of 900 new settlement units
JEDDAH, (PIC)-- The Organization of Islamic Cooperation condemned Israel’s recent approval for the construction of 900 settlement units in Jewish settlements in occupied Jerusalem.
In a statement released on Wednesday, OIC secretary-general Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu said the decision to expand the settlements by Israel’s new national housing committee amounted to a “mockery of international will and a violation of international laws”, which classify Jerusalem as a Palestinian territory.
Ihsanoglu reiterated that Jerusalem is an integral part of the Palestinian occupied territories and that Jewish settlement is illegal and aimed at perpetuating the Israeli occupation and changing the demographic reality in those territories.
Ihsanoglu called on the UN Security Council and international Quartet to “take a firm stand to curb such provocative, illegal measures in all of the occupied Palestinian territories, with Jerusalem in particular.
http://fwd4.me/0C3q 7 jan 2012, 23:42 , Respect -
Maria 27 sept 2011
Israel OKs building 1,100 illegal homes
Israel has authorized a plan for the construction of 1,100 illegal settlement units in the Gilo neighborhood of East al-Quds (Jerusalem).
Israeli officials said the plan is one of the phases of a multi-year process for the expansion of the Gilo neighborhood, AFP reported on Tuesday.
According to Israeli officials, the project is expected to return to the district planning committee for final discussion.
In September 2010, Israel resumed expansion of illegal settlements in Palestine after a 10-month partial freeze, prompting the Palestinian Authority (PA) leaders to break off the US-sponsored talks with the Tel Aviv regime that had been resumed after a lengthy stalemate.
Acting Palestinian Authority Chief Mahmoud Abbas said on Sunday that new talks with the Israeli regime will not resume unless there is a complete halt in settlement expansion activities.
However, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ruled out a freeze on the illegal process on Monday, saying there was “no need for another moratorium on settlement construction.”
Abbas has also rejected a proposal by the so-called Middle East Quartet -- consisting of Russia, the EU, the UN, and the US -- that calls for unconditional talks with Israel, describing it as unacceptable.
On Friday, the Quartet called for the resumption of stalled talks between Israel and the PA within a month so that a final agreement can be reached by the end of 2012.
Abbas officially submitted his bid for UN recognition of a Palestinian state to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Friday.
The UN Security Council is scheduled to meet on Wednesday to formally consider the Palestinian bid for statehood and full UN membership.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/201447.html
US Blasts 'Counterproductive' Israeli Settlement
(1:35) US Blasts 'Counterproductive' Israeli Settlement
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says Israel's announcement of 1,100 new housing units in east Jerusalem is counterproductive to the Mideast peace talks.
AP Top Stories
(1:10) AP Top Stories
UN, allies attack Israel settlement plan
The United Nation Under-Secretary General for Political Affairs B. Lynn Pascoe
The United Nations, the European Union, the United States, and Britain have condemned Israel's illegal settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian territories.
The UN Under-Secretary General for Political Affairs, B. Lynn Pascoe, said Israel's recent approval of 1,100 new illegal settler unites is of 'particular concern,' addressing a UN Security Council meeting on the Middle East in New York on Tuesday, AFP reported.
"We have repeatedly stated that settlement activity is illegal and contrary to Israel's roadmap commitments," he said, referring to Tel Aviv's obligations under its Western-backed talks with the Palestinian Authority (PA).
Tel Aviv approved the constructions, which are slated to take place in the Gilo neighborhood in the occupied East al-Quds (Jerusalem), earlier in the day. They form part of a multi-year process for the locality's expansion.
The EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said the plan “undermines the talks with Palestinians and should be reversed.”
The US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton also denounced the initiative as 'counterproductive to the Mideast peace talks.'
The British Foreign Secretary William Hague also said that settlement expansion was illegal and corroded trust.
Chief PA negotiator Saeb Erakat, meanwhile, said the Israeli decision marked '1,100 'Nos'' to proposal by the Middle East Quartet of the UN, the US, Russia, and France for the resumption of the negotiations.
Direct talks between the PA and Israel broke down around three weeks after they had resumed in the US in September 2010 due to Tel Aviv's refusal to extend a partial freeze on the settlement construction.
On Sunday, the acting PA Chief Mahmoud Abbas reiterated the authority's stance that it would not restart negotiating with Tel Aviv in the absence of a complete freeze on the settlement activities.
A day later, however, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ruled out any such halt, saying there was 'no need for another moratorium on settlement construction.'
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/201537.html
Abbas: Don't budge to American pressure
by Khalid Amayreh
In a new brazen provocation that flies in the face of everyone and anyone wishing to retain a glimmer of hope for peace in this part of the world, Israel has announced plans to build more than a thousand settler units in occupied Arab land near Bethlehem .
The announcement is considered a real insult to the entire international community, whose representatives at the UN have just been affronted with a new dose of Benyamin Netanyahu's lies about Israel's desire for peace.
It is an insult to the Quartet (US, EU, Russia , and UN) which only a few days ago announced plans for the resumption of so-called peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians.
It is specifically an insult to America, which Israel and American Jews have flushed down history's toilet. The Obama administration, which shakes in fear at the very thought of upsetting Israel, firmly opposed the Palestinian bid to gain UN membership, arguing that Palestinian statehood could only be achieved through negotiations.
Needless to say, the Israeli affront should be quite embarrassing for American officials. However, in order for one to be embarrassed, one would have to have at least a semblance of honor, dignity and rectitude, qualities that most American politicians lost a long time ago.
In any case, one can't give what one doesn't possess.
True, the American State Department has issued statements critical of the Israeli decision. However, one doesn't have to have a high IQ to realize that such idle statements are disingenuous, meaningless, and have no real significance.
Indeed, hundreds of such statements had been issued, but Israel had always had its way, and the political whores of Washington had to shut up, because otherwise, they would be fired, even in a disgraceful manner. Remember Andrew Young.!!!
Now, how will PA President Mahmoud Abbas relate to the recommendation of the Quartet to resume talks between an arrogant Israel and weak PA, reduced to a vanquished supplicant that must beg even the oxygen of life from Israel?
Many Palestinians have been unduly carried away by the euphoria of the Abbas's speech at the UN General Assembly. The feeling, though genuine and understandable given decades of unrelenting Palestinian suffering, is never the less premature and certainly disproportionately exaggerated.
In the final analysis, speeches alone, even eloquent speeches, don't liberate a homeland and don't free a people from the nefarious stranglehold of the most evil and Nazi-minded foreign military occupation in history.
The Israeli announcement of plans to build more settlements is a real vindication of those Palestinians who reacted to Abbas's speech with a degree of reservation and circumspection, even suspicion.
It is hoped that with this latest deliberate affront by the Zio-Nazi government of Benyamin Netanyahu, and with the utter failure of the Obama administration to do anything about it -apart from issuing tired and disingenuous statements that we have heard ad nauseam- the Palestinian leadership will pay no attention to American assurances or promises. After all, all these have proven to be utterly mendacious and disingenuous.
Hence, Abbas must free himself and his leadership from the vulnerability to be deceived, cajoled and mesmerized by America's lies.
If he doesn't, however, and "Haleema returns to her old habbit," as the Palestinian adage goes, then I am afraid Abbas will lose esteem, stature and support among most Palestinians.
He must not agree to resume talks with this manifestly criminal government of Israel. This government doesn't want peace and anyone thinking otherwise is either drunk, or daydreaming or both.
How could Israel be truly seeking peace when the Zionist entity continues to build settlements on occupied land and transfer hundreds of thousands of its citizens to live on land that belongs to another people?
Israel claims that the occupied land of the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza is a disputed territory. Well, then why does Israel keep devouring the "disputed" piece of cheese to the point that very little of it is left anyway?
In light, there can be no peace with this Nazi-like entity.
Finally, the Israeli settlement expansion affront is also an insult to the new rulers of Egypt who only recently reasserted their commitment to the Israeli-Egyptian peace treaty of 1979.
It is an insult because none of that hapless treaty's terms stipulate that Israel has a carte blanch to steal and colonize Palestinian land in the West Bank.
This means that the Egyptian government has a legitimate right, even a national and Islamic duty, to abrogate or at least stop observing commitments stipulated under that treaty.
In any case, the Egyptian people and other Arab peoples everywhere will soon force their leaders to put an end the notorious and disgraceful discourse of complacency vis-à-vis the Zionist regime.
Complacency toward Israel can really be fatal and disastrous. Israel is a definitive malignancy which if not eradicated will metastasize everywhere, sowing death and decay.
http://fwd4.me/0CUi
EU slams Israel settlement expansion
EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton
The European Union has criticized Israel for its illegal expansion of settlement units in the occupied Palestinian territories.
EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said on Tuesday that Israel's plan to build 1,100 new illegal housing units in East al-Quds (Jerusalem) “undermines the talks with Palestinians and should be reversed,” AP reported.
Ashton also expressed “deep regret” over the ongoing settlement expansion activities.
Israel authorized a plan for construction of 1,100 illegal units in the Gilo neighborhood of East al-Quds (Jerusalem) on Tuesday. Israeli officials said the plan is one of the phases of a multi-year process for the expansion of the Gilo neighborhood.
Meanwhile, Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat described the recent plan as “1,100 No's” to the resumption of Israel-Palestine talks.
Victoria Nuland, the spokesperson for the US State Department, also expressed “deep disappointment” about the Israeli decision.
In September 2010, Israel resumed the expansion of illegal settlements in Palestine after a 10-month partial freeze, prompting the Palestinian Authority (PA) to break off the US-sponsored talks with the Tel Aviv regime that had been resumed after a lengthy stalemate.
Acting PA Chief Mahmoud Abbas said on Sunday that new talks with the Israeli regime would not be resumed unless there is a complete halt in settlement expansion activities.
However, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ruled out a freeze on the illegal process on Monday, saying there was “no need for another moratorium on settlement construction.”
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/201506.html
UN envoy says settlement plans send 'wrong signal'
BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- The United Nations envoy in Jerusalem said Tuesday that Israel's approval of new construction plans in occupied Jerusalem sent the "wrong signal" amid efforts to restart peace talks.
Robert Serry said the approval of the new settlement units in East Jerusalem "is very concerning, and ignores the Quartet’s appeal of last Friday to the parties to refrain from provocative actions.
"This sends the wrong signal at this sensitive time," Serry said in a statement.
"Settlement activity is contrary to the Roadmap and to international law, and undermines the prospect of resuming negotiations and reaching a two state solution to the conflict."
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=424189
PA slams Israeli settlement plans
BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- The Palestinian Authority on Tuesday slammed Israel's approval of construction plans to build 1,100 new housing units in a settlement in East Jerusalem.
Israel's regional planning and construction committee on Tuesday approved the plans, described by one committee member as "a nice gift for Rosh Hashanah," the Israeli news site Ynet reported.
Israel captured East Jerusalem in 1967 and illegally annexed it in a move not recognized by the international community. All settlements built on occupied territory are illegal under international law.
The last round of peace talks collapsed over Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's refusal to extend a partial freeze on illegal settlement building.
President Mahmoud Abbas said Sunday that he would not return to negotiations unless Israel stopped building Jewish-only settlements on occupied Palestinian land. Netanyahu indicated Tuesday that he was not about to offer one.
The Palestinian Authority accused Netanyahu of "putting concrete preconditions on the ground," in a statement.
"The Israeli Prime Minister claims to have no preconditions, but with this decision is putting concrete preconditions on the ground. He says there should be no unilateral steps, but there could be nothing more unilateral than a huge new round of settlement building on Palestinian land.
"The Israeli Prime Minister told the UN that he had come to tell the truth, but it is this decision which tells the truth."
PLO official Saeb Erekat described the approval as a “slap in the face to all international efforts to protect the fading prospects of peace in the region.”
He added: “Israel responded to the Quartet Statement and French Initiative with 1100 no’s. Netanyahu has embarrassed all those in the international community who insisted that there was a peace partner in Israel.”
On Tuesday, the US ambassador to Israel reaffirmed Washington's opposition to a Palestinian call to halt Israeli settlement building before peace negotiations can resume.
US envoy Dan Shapiro said Washington had never favored making a freeze a condition for negotiations: "We've never set that, in this administration or any other, as a precondition for talks," he told Israeli Army Radio, in response to a question on whether he favored the Palestinian demand.
Netanyahu signaled that another moratorium on construction in settlements in the occupied West Bank, following a 10-month partial cessation that ended last September, was not on the cards.
"We already gave at the office," Netanyahu said in an interview in The Jerusalem Post, a phrase meaning that he believed he had done enough last year.
Shapiro noted that the United States has long opposed Israeli settlements in the West Bank.
But he added: "What we have said consistently is that we believe direct talks are the only way to resolve this conflict, and (it) can only be resolved by the parties themselves in those talks, and they should be entered without preconditions."
In New York on Monday, a divided UN Security Council met behind closed doors for its first discussion of last week's application for full UN membership as a state -- a move seen as certain to fail due to Israeli and US opposition, despite substantial support among other world governments.
International mediators, trying to salvage the Middle East peace process, have urged preliminary negotiations be held within a month.
Reuters contributed to this report.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=424147 7 jan 2012, 23:42 , Respect -
Maria 27 sept 2011
Netanyahu suggests new settlement freeze unlikely
JERUSALEM (AFP) -- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu suggested in an interview published Tuesday that he would not seek to lure the Palestinians back to peace talks by renewing a freeze on settlement building.
"We already gave at the office," Netanyahu told The Jerusalem Post, referring to a 10-month partial settlement freeze that expired in late September 2010.
Peace talks with the Palestinians began nine months into the freeze, but ground to a halt shortly after the moratorium expired.
Netanyahu's comments came after the international peacemaking Quartet called Friday on both sides to return to peace talks within a month, with the goal of securing a deal before the end of 2012.
But the Palestinians say they will not hold talks while Israel builds on land they want for a future state, a position repeated by President Mahmoud Abbas on Sunday as he returned to the West Bank after submitting a bid for full UN membership in New York.
Netanyahu told the Post that the settlement issue was a "pretext."
"It is a pretext they use again and again, but I think a lot of people see it as a ruse to avoid direct negotiations," he said.
And the Israeli leader said he had no intention of interfering with plans for the construction of 700 new homes in the east Jerusalem settlement neighborhood of Gilo, which could be approved on Tuesday.
"I don't think there is anything new," he said of the planned building.
"We plan in Jerusalem. We build in Jerusalem. Period. The same way Israeli governments have been doing for years -- since the end of the 1967 war," he added.
"We build in Jewish neighborhoods, the Arabs build in Arab neighborhoods -- that is the way the life of this city goes on and develops for its Jewish and non-Jewish residents alike."
Netanyahu told The Jerusalem Post that the crux of the failure of talks lay in the refusal of the Palestinians to recognize Israel as a Jewish state.
"Of course it matters -- this is what this conflict is all about. It is not about the settlements; it is about the Jewish state. And it must be said over and over again," he said.
The prospect of a new settlement freeze is also anathema to much of Netanyahu's right-wing governing coalition, with his hawkish Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman vocally opposed.
Netanyahu was due to meet Tuesday with the Group of Eight, a grouping of his cabinet ministers, to discuss the Quartet's peace talks proposal, Israeli radio reported.
Some 500,000 Jewish settlers live in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.
Settlements are Jewish-only neighborhoods built on occupied Palestinian land captured by force in 1967.
All settlements are considered illegal under international law.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=424001
Abbas rejects talks sans settlement halt
The acting Palestinian Authority chief has ruled out new talks with the Israeli regime without a total halt to settlement expansion efforts on his return from New York to the occupied West Bank.
"We have confirmed to all that we want to achieve our rights through peaceful means, through negotiations -- but not just any negotiations," Mahmoud Abbas told a cheering crowd of thousands on his return to Ramallah on Sunday, Reuters reported.
"We will not accept (negotiations) until legitimacy is the foundation and they (Israelis) cease settlement completely," he said, two days after submitting an application for Palestinian statehood to the United Nations and addressing the annual session of its General Assembly in New York.
He rejected a proposal by the Middle East Quartet that calls for unconditional talks with Israel, calling it simply unacceptable.
On Friday, the Quartet (Russia, the EU, the UN, and the US) called for the resumption of stalled talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA) within a month so that a final peace agreement can be reached by the end of 2012.
He arrived directly at the Muqataa, the PA chief’s compound, which was packed to capacity for a welcome party in his honour.
Abbas told the Palestinians he had communicated their dreams of statehood to the international community.
"We went to the United Nations carrying your hopes, your dreams, your ambitions, your suffering, your vision and your need for an independent Palestinian state," he stated.
The Palestinian leader proclaimed that he has no doubt that the whole free world received the message we conveyed to them.
Abbas declared that the Palestinian people’s international diplomatic resistance has begun and they have a long road ahead.
"We must know with certainty that there are those who will punish us. There are those who will deny us justice and deny what is right but we will stand up to them," he cautioned.
The rival Palestinian Islamic Hamas movement, however, has expressed reservations about the PA effort at the UN arguing that the entire Palestinian territories occupied by the Israeli regime since 1948 must be returned to Palestinians and reestablished as the state of Palestine.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/201178.html
7 jan 2012, 23:42 , Respect -
Maria 28 sept 2011
Committee: Israel to build new bypass road south of Bethlehem
HEBRON (Ma’an) -- Israeli authorities notified the municipality of Beit Ummar on Wednesday of plans to build a bypass road which will annex over 800 dunams of village land, a local committee spokesman said.
Mohammed Awad, spokesman of the national committee against the wall, said the military order entails a bypass road starting from the junction of Kefar Etzion settlement and passing through Al-Arrub refugee camp and Beit Ummar village, south of Bethlehem.
According to the military order, work will begin next week leaving village residents no time to mount a legal challenge in Israeli courts, Awad said.
The road will displace dozens of families who depend on agricultural land for their source of income.
Awad said the popular committees will hold a number of activities in order to protest the road.
Extensive settlement infrastructure such as bypass roads place severe restrictions on Palestinian communities, often confiscating land and separating villages.
Some 500,000 Jewish settlers live in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.
Settlements are Jewish-only neighborhoods built on occupied Palestinian land captured by force in 1967.
All settlements are considered illegal under international law.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=424522
China 'opposes' East Jerusalem settlement build
BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- Chinese officials said the nation "regrets and opposes" Israel's expansion of the illegal East Jerusalem settlement Gilo, the official Xinhua news agency reported on Wednesday.
China urged Israel to act carefully as the world works to reinvigorate negotiations between Palestinians and Israel, Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei told reporters at a Wednesday press briefing, the Xinhua agency said.
Israeli authorities announced Tuesday its decision to press ahead with building 1,100 new homes in Gilo, to the north of Bethlehem.
Israel captured East Jerusalem in 1967 and illegally annexed it in a move not recognized by the international community. All settlements built on occupied territory are illegal under international law.
The last round of US-backed negotiations stalled shortly after re-launching in September in 2010, when the Israeli government refused to renew a partial freeze on Jewish-only settlement construction on occupied Palestinian land.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=424387
Egypt FM condemns Israeli settlement plan
CAIRO (Reuters) -- Egypt on Tuesday condemned an Israeli decision to construct 1,100 Jewish settlers homes in East Jerusalem and called the move a "provocation".
"This step reflects an Israeli choice to continue in its provocative policies and to challenge everyone in the international community that sees settlement construction as illegitimate," Foreign Minister Mohamed Kamel Amr said in a statement.
President Mahmoud Abbas applied at the United Nations on Friday for full Palestinian membership, a move opposed by Israel and the United States, which urged him to resume peace negotiations. Abbas says he will not do so unless Israel agrees to stop building new settlements in occupied territory.
On Tuesday an Israeli ministry approved the expansion of illegal settlement Gilo, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu indicated in an interview that he would not renew a settlement freeze, following a 10-month partial cessation that ended last September, nixing negotiation efforts.
Israel captured East Jerusalem in 1967 and illegally annexed it in a move not recognized by the international community. All settlements built on occupied territory are illegal under international law.
Relations between Israel and Egypt have grown more tense since the overthrow of former president Hosni Mubarak, a strategic ally of Israel and its main backer the United States, in February.
Ma'an staff contributed to this report.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=424476
Hamas: Ongoing settlement building a blow to negotiators
DAMASCUS, (PIC)-- Hamas said on Wednesday that ongoing Jewish settlement plans in the occupied Palestinian territories were a blow to parties bent on negotiating with Israel as more plans for settlements have unfolded after the PLO’s statehood request at the UN.
In the statement, Hamas said it strongly condemned the Zionist entity’s settlement plans as well as the displacement of the indigenous Palestinians by force.
The statement declared continued settlement plans illegal according to international law and described the peace process with Israel as “fruitless”, saying that Israel “only understands the language of force”.
The statement comes after the Israeli occupation authorities approved 1,100 settlement units in the outpost of Gilo southwest of occupied Jerusalem and passed a decision to confiscate land in Palestinian Batir village, west of Bethlehem.
The Palestinian resistance group called on the Palestinian Authority to develop a defensive strategy in place of negotiations after fully reconciling with other Palestinian parties.
Meanwhile, calls have been made for a Palestinian uprising for what has been described as the “encroachment” of Jewish settlers into Jerusalem, asserting that the Palestinian population has no other available options.
Diplomacy has failed at curbing Jewish settlement construction in light of U.S. support for Israel, said a statement by the Popular National Congress of Jerusalem, noting a sharp rise in construction, with recent plans to build 1,600 settlement units in Ramot Shlomo and 1,100 more in Gilo settlements.
Plans have been unveiled for a new settlement project northeast of Bethlehem that would divide the southern West Bank from Palestinian villages near Jerusalem.
The Arab studies society in Jerusalem said a new settlement dubbed Gifat Yail, to be established on the apartheid wall village of Walaja, would stretch to the Gilo settlement, isolating Palestinian communities.
On Wednesday, Israeli occupation authorities handed locals in Batir village in western Bethlehem governorate notices declaring confiscation of a 148 dunum area of land from the village.
The notices offered to purchase the farmland that lies some 2 km away from the 1948 armistice line before it would be confiscated for military and security purposes.
According to the village municipal chairman, some 40 families have rights to the land.
http://fwd4.me/0Ccz
Israel defends settlement expansion
Israeli officials said the plan is one of the phases of a multi-year process for the expansion of the Gilo neighborhood.
Israel has rejected international criticism over its plan to construct 1,100 new settler units in the occupied East al-Quds (Jerusalem).
Defending Israel's interior ministry decision to build new housing units in the Gilo neighborhood, a senior Israeli official said on Wednesday that the site is neither a settlement nor a settlement outpost but a neighborhood which constitutes an integral part of the center of al-Quds.
Palestinian leaders, however, say Tel Aviv's decision to expand Jewish settlements in Gilo, which mostly lies in the Arab east al-Quds, has effectively rebuffed a recent proposal by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the resumption of direct negotiations.
The United States, China and several European countries have also condemned the Israeli decision, saying it is against the two-state solution.
Gilo is built on the land captured by Israel in 1967. Tel Aviv later annexed the area to the al-Quds municipality in a move not recognized by the international community. Tel Aviv claims that areas within the Jerusalem municipality are not settlements.
The Israeli decision to expand Gilo by several hundred meters to the south came days after Netanyahu, in a speech in the UN General Assembly, invited Palestinians into direct talks, saying the decades long conflict between the two sides will only be resolved through negotiations.
Palestinians have repeatedly said that new round of talks with the Israeli regime cannot be resumed unless there is a complete halt in settlement expansion activities.
The controversial move also came days after Palestinian Authority Chief Mahmoud Abbas handed in his request for full UN membership for an independent Palestinian state.
Palestinians want East al-Quds as the capital of their future state.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/201666.html
Ministry Demands Quartet to Condemn Settlements
RAMALLAH, September 28, 2011 (WAFA) – The ministry of foreign affairs Wednesday demanded the international quartet to announce a very clear condemnation of the Israeli decision to build 1100 new housing units in Jerusalem, according to a press release by the ministry.
The release said that the ministry demanded the Quartet to immediately interfere to stop settlement activities as it is a major obstacle to Palestinian-Israeli peace talks.
The ministry said that,” the Israeli authorities continually and arrogantly refuse to abide by the international resolutions and continue to defy the international community through its decision to build 1100 housing units in Jerusalem, bringing the number of housing units to more than 1800 units, which were approved by the Israeli authorities in order to judaize Jerusalem and completely isolate it from the West bank.”
It held Israel fully responsible for the failure and the stalling of peace process through turning its back on the international terms of reference, the international resolutions, the signed agreements and the road map plan, as well through its continued land confiscation and settlement activities in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) since 1967.
It added that this decision constitutes a flagrant challenge of the international community’s will and aggression against human dignity. The decision reveals the true face of the Israeli government and its prime minister and ministers as well as the falsity of its statements at the United Nations General Assembly, at the same time it proves the validity of president Mahmoud Abbas’ political decisions, particularly, the Palestinian bid to UN.
It called for actual actions, not only international condemnations, to deter the Israeli arrogance and violations, in order to insure an immediate cessation of settlement activities and protect the two-state solution in accordance with the international terms of reference.
It also called upon all UN Security Council members to vote in favor of the Palestinian bid as it is a key to the success of the peace process and any future negotiations.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=17569
Serry Slams Israel’s Decision To Build 1100 Units
United Nations Envoy, Robert Serry, stated that with its new decision to build 1100 new settlement units in occupied East Jerusalem, Israel sends a wrong signal amidst the international efforts to ensure the resumption of the stalled peace talks.
Serry said that he is concerned regarding the Israeli approval of the new units, and that this decision ignores the Friday call of the Quartet for both sides to refrain from conducting any provocative acts.
“This decision send a wrong signal, especially amidst current sensitive time”, Serry added.
The UN official also stated that “settlement activities contradict with the Road Map Peace Plan, the International Law, and undermine the efforts that aim at resuming peace talks and reaching a two-state solution to the conflict.
The United States slammed the new decision but also claimed that Israel is showing “flexibility” in responding to the Quartet’s initiative for the resumption of peace talks.
Responding to the Israeli decision, Palestinian Prime Minister, Dr. Salaam Fayyad, stated that Netanyahu talks about “Israel’s readiness to hold talks with no preconditions, then approves more settlement construction and expansion”.
“The new Israeli decision to build the 1100 units is by itself a precondition and a unilateral move by Israel”, Dr. Fayyad added, “Nothing can be more unilateral than a decision to build this large number of settlement units on Palestinian lands”.
http://www.imemc.org/article/62129 7 jan 2012, 23:42 , Respect -
Maria 29 sept 2011
Erekat: International Community Must Act Against Settlement Activities
JERICHO, September 29, 2011 (WAFA) - PLO Executive Committee Member, Saeb Erekat, Thursday called on the international community to take actual measures against the Israeli government’s decision to build 1100 housing units in East Jerusalem settlement of Gilo.
In Separate meetings with the United Nations’ consuls and representatives, UN’s Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Robert Serry and representatives of India, South Africa, Norway, and Brazil, Erekat stressed that the Israeli government has officially responded to the statement of the international quartet by confirming its choice to continue constructing new housing units and to dictate, at the expense of peace and negotiations.
He questioned how a number of the international quartet members could first condemn the Israeli decision to build 1100 housing units in Jerusalem and then call to resume negotiations.
He praised members of the UN security council including: Russia, China, Brazil, and South Africa for their supportive positions of the Palestinian bid.
He called on the rest of the council members to support the Palestinian UN bid “if they truly want to preserve the option of the two-state solution”.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=17589
Palestinian officials who decry Gilo colony in public, offered it to Israel in negotiations
(2:52) Erekat condemns Palestine Papers
Palestinian officials in Ramallah have condemned Israel’s recently announced decision to expand by 1,100 Jewish-only housing units the illegal settlement of Gilo built on land stolen from the occupied West Bank villages of Beit Jala, Beit Safafa and Sharafat.
But what they say in public is at odds with their private willingless to hand the settlement over to Israel in its entirety.
Condemnation from “chief negotiator”
A 27 September press release states:
Chief Palestinian Negotiator Dr. Saeb Erekat strongly condemned the Israeli government’s approval of 1,100 new housing units in the illegal settlement Gilo, built on the land of Beit Jala in the Bethlehem District. Dr. Erekat described the approval as a “slap in the face to all international efforts to protect the fading prospects of peace in the region.” He added, “Israel responded to the Quartet Statement and French Initiative with 1100 no’s. Netanyahu has embarrassed all those in the international community who insisted that there was a peace partner in Israel.”
Erekat’s statement added, “By its illegitimate actions, Israel wants to guarantee that there will be no land left to implement the two-state solution.”
Gilo was offered to Israel in 2008
Israel’s colonization of the occupied territories is a blatant and grave violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention and thus constitutes a war crime under international law.
Erekat’s public condmenation of the Israeli action, however, is at odds with the positions put forward in high-level meetings between Palestiian, Israeli and American officials.
In early 2008, Palestinian negotiators offered to let Israel annex all settlements in and around Jerusalem except for one, as part of a “one for one land swap.” But the land swap proposals would have seen Palestinians receiving negligible land in the Jerusalem area; most would have been near Gaza, and south of Hebron.
The landowners of Beit Jala, Beit Safafa and Sharafat would not receive land near their villages in exchange for what was taken from them by Israel.
On 15 June 2008, top Palestinian officials, led by Ahmad Qureia, met in Jerusalem with an Israeli team headed by then Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, and an American team led by then US Secretary of State Condolozeea Rice.
Palestinian minutes of the 15 June 2008 meeting and others in which the settlements were discussed were leaked by Al Jazeera as part of the Palestine Papers.
During the meeting, Qureia stated, according to the minutes:
As for settlements, we proposed the following: Removal of some settlements, annexation of others, and keeping others under Palestinian sovereignty. This last proposition could help in the swap process. We proposed that Israel annexes all settlements in Jerusalem except Jabal Abu Ghneim (Har Homa). This is the first time in history that we make such a proposition; we refused to do so n [sic] Camp David.
Later in the same meeting, Erekat himself explains that under the Palestinian proposal, Israel would annex 310,000 settlers, or 70 percent of the settlers living illegally on occupied land at that time.
Yet Livni rejected the Palestinian offer as insufficient because it did not include the settlements of Maaleh Adumim, Efrat, Ariel, Giv’at Ze’ev or Hara Homa (Jabal Abu Ghneim) which all ring Jerusalem.
Responding to Livni’s complaint, Erekat affirmed what the proposal did include:
Why do I not say the opposite, that there are Zakhron Ya’cov [sic], the French Hill, Ramat Eshkol, Ramot Alon, Ramat Shlomo, Gilo, Tal Piot, and the Jewish Quarter in the old city of Jerusalem.
“Settlements have cornered us”
It is true that in the same meeting – and others – the Palestinian officials objected to ongoing settlement construction, because, as Qureia put it:
Settlement activities have cornered us and if they continue they will embarrass us before Palestinian public opinion and the Arab world which is urging us to negotiate but at the same time is demanding us not to make the negotiations an umbrella for the continuation of settlement activities.
Currently, the Palestinian Authority (PA) and the Palestine Liberation Organization, both of which are under the control of Mahmoud Abbas, are refusing to return to negotiations until Israel freezes settlements.
The Israeli government has rejected criticism of its expansion of Gilo colony. Ynet reported:
“Gilo is not a settlement nor an outpost. It is a neighborhood in the very heart of Jerusalem about five minutes from the centre of town,” Netanyahu’s spokesman Mark Regev said.
Gilo, Regev added, has “staid [sic] part of Jerusalem in every peace plan on the table in the past 18 years and therefore this planning decision in no way contradicts the current Israel government’s desire for peace based on two states for the two peoples.”
Erekat’s denials
(15:29) DAVID FROST PALESTINE PAPERS (1) SAEB EREKAT
(9:22) DAVID FROST PALESTINE PAPERS (2) SAEB EREKAT
Reached by telephone, a testy Erekat denied to The Electronic Intifada that any proposal had ever been presented to the Israelis which would include annexation of settlements including Gilo, and repeated his earlier allegations that the release of the Palestine Papers was part of a plot by the Al Jazeera Network to discredit him. But the record shows this is simply not true.
In February, weeks after the Palestine Papers were revealed, Erekat resigned from his post. Yet the “chief negotiator” never actually stepped down. He now explains this by saying that since his resignation was never accepted, it never become operative.
(2:09) Saeb Erekat Resigns
Erekat also alleged that recent Wikileaks revelations that former Al Jazeera Director General Wadah Khanfar had had discussions with American officials about the Network’s coverage confirmed his thesis.
When confronted with the specific documents detailing the Palestinian proposals to Israel and his own quoted words, Erekat asserted that any proposals made were not “official” or binding because of the principle that “until everything is agreed, nothing is agreed.”
Accepting that principle, however, does not change the fact that the Palestinian negotiators already told Israel, back in 2008, that Gilo would be theirs forever, and did so at repeated meetings and in the presence of the US Secretary of State. If that is not “official” then nothing is.
As Erekat notoriously put it, using Israel’s Hebrew name for Jerusalem and the vast colonies outside it, he and his colleagues had offered Israel “the biggest Yerushalayim in Jewish history.”
(3:52) "The biggest Yerushalayim in Jewish history"
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Turkey blasts new settlements in al-Quds
Turkey has strongly criticized Israel's decision to approve hundreds of new settlement units in the illegally annexed East al-Quds (Jerusalem) in the occupied West Bank.
The Turkish Foreign Ministry issued a statement late on Wednesday to condemn the new expansion of illegal Israeli settlements on Palestinian land as a clear violation of the international law and an unacceptable move, the Turkish daily Today's Zaman reported.
The statement came a day after Israel announced its approval for the construction of 1,100 new settlement units in the settlement of Gilo in southeast al-Quds, a move which drew condemnation from the Palestinians. The European Union, the United Nations and the United States also expressed disappointment over the new settlements.
The Turkish Foreign Ministry statement questioned the Israeli regime's sincerity seeking peace and raised serious suspicions about Tel Aviv's real intention at a time when the international community is focused on finding a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
It said Israel's seizure of Palestinian territories through illegal settlements by turning a deaf ear to reactions from the international community once more showed how rightful and timely it is to recognize Palestinian state at the United Nations.
The Palestinian Authority has demanded that Israel halt all settlement construction in the West Bank, as well as East al-Quds, as a condition for resuming talks.
Israel occupied the West Bank during the Six-Day war of 1967 and later annexed East al-Quds in a move never recognized by the international community.
Last week, the Palestinian Authority asked the UN Security Council, despite fierce opposition from Tel Aviv and Washington, to recognize an independent Palestinian state within the border of 1967.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/201813.html
Amr: Quartet’s position on UN bid to blame for new settlement plans
WASHINGTON, (PIC)-- Egyptian Foreign Minister Mohamed Kamel Amr said members of the international community were responsible for addressing Israel’s recent approval of 1,100 settlement units in east Jerusalem, an illegal move which constitutes a challenge to the Quartet which is working towards restoring the integrity of the Middle East peace process.
In a press statement from Washington, the Egyptian FM condemned Israel’s provocative approval of those settlement plans that came after Palestinian parties averted international pressure to resume peace talks and went ahead with a request for full Palestinian membership in the United Nations.
Amr said the new construction plans reflected Israel’s “choice to continue its provocative policies and challenge international consensus on the illegality of settlements” in East Jerusalem and the West Bank.
He highlighted that Israel was encouraged to go ahead with the step after the Quartet’s recent proposal for a timeline on peace talks failed to tackle the settlements issue.
Amr said Egypt felt “real concern” over the steady rise in settlement activity, with the last two months seeing the approval of more than 6,000 settlement units. He said the situation signaled “complete and irresponsible chaos in construction on Palestinian occupied territories”, calling on parties sponsoring the peace process to fulfill obligations in that regard.
Amr also held Israel fully responsible for what may be caused by such provocative policies in light of the exceptional circumstances in the region.
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Condemnation grows against Israel's settlement plans
(2:28) Israel criticized for new settlement plans
BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- Pressure is growing against Israel as Russia and Turkey added their voices to the international condemnation against the recent approval of 1,100 housing units in East Jerusalem.
"We are particularly concerned that decisions on such a sensitive matter should be taken at an extremely important time for the future of the peace process," the Russian foreign ministry said in a statement.
"We are counting (on Israel) so that the construction projects in East Jerusalem are reviewed."
The Turkish Foreign Ministry also issued a statement, saying: "Israel's decision raises serious suspicions about its sincerity and true intentions. This is a flagrant violation of international law and is not acceptable," Israeli news site Ynet reported on Thursday.
"Israel's continued construction of illegal settlements in Palestinian lands shows once more that the Palestinian demand to be recognized as a state at the United Nations is justified and timely," the statement said.
Europeans nations Britain, France and Italy also condemned the move, with China, Japan and Egypt also issuing statements.
Egyptian Foreign Minister Mohammed Amr called the move "provocative" while Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei told reporters in Beijing that it "regrets" Israeli settlement plans.
Quartet representative Tony Blair expressed concern on Wednesday about Israel's decision, official news agency WAFA reported.
“Our position has always been very clear in opposing construction in settlements, and any acts that are not in accordance with the obligations of the parties in the Road Map,” WAFA quoted a statement from Blair's office saying.
Israel's decision “is a cause for concern at a time when we are working to restart negotiations.”
“Last Friday's Quartet statement called on all the parties to refrain from provocative actions and I repeat that call today.”
The Quartet issued a statement calling on Palestinians and Israel to resume direct peace talks within a month and commit to seeking a deal by the end of 2012. The proposal did not mention a settlement freeze.
President Mahmoud Abbas met Wednesday with members of the central committee of his Fatah movement to discuss the Quartet's proposal and the UN move.
Fatah official Jamal Muhsein told Ma'an on Wednesday that a response to the Quartet's proposal will be made after the PLO's executive committee convenes on Thursday.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=424611
Japan: Israeli settlement plan goes against world efforts for peace
BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- Japan said on Thursday that Israel's building of new settler homes threatened to undermine a return to negotiations with Palestinians.
Japan "does not recognize any act that prejudges the final status of the territories in the pre-1967 borders" a statement from the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said, adding that the government "deeply deplores" Israel's move.
An Israeli ministry announced on Tuesday its approval of 1,100 new units in East Jerusalem settlement Gilo.
Israel captured East Jerusalem in 1967 and illegally annexed it in a move not recognized by the international community. All settlements built on occupied territory are illegal under international law.
President Mahmoud Abbas insists he will not return to negotiations with Israel while their authorities continue to build on land designated for a future Palestinian state.
Japan said the expansion of Gilo settlement "goes against the ongoing efforts by the international community to resume the negotiations for peace."
The Japanese government, the statement said, "reiterates its strong call to Israel to refrain from any unilateral act that changes the current situation in East Jerusalem and to not implement the above-mentioned plan of construction for the sake of the progress of the peace process."
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=424578 7 jan 2012, 23:42 , Respect -
Maria 30 sept 2011
Arab League: Israeli construction in Jerusalem is violation of international law
Secretary General Nabil al-Arabi says Israeli plans to build new homes in neighborhood of Gilo is proof Israel does not desire peace.
The Arab League said Thursday that Israel's plan to build new homes in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Gilo, which lies beyond the Green Line, was proof of its lack of desire for peace.
Secretary General Nabil al-Arabi described the construction as a "scandalous violation of international law."
He also criticized United States policy in the Middle East, saying that as a mediator between the Israelis and Palestinians it had failed to halt settlement activity.
The Jerusalem District Planning Committee announced Tuesday that it had approved the construction of 1,100 homes in Gilo, a neighborhood in southern Jerusalem built on land captured by Israel in the June 1967 war.
On Wednesday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected Western and Arab complaints that the planned construction of new homes in Gilo would complicate Middle East peace efforts, saying that Gilo is not a settlement or an outpost.
"Gilo is a neighborhood in the very heart of Jerusalem about five minutes from the center of town," Netanyahu's spokesman Mark Regev said.
In every peace plan on the table in the past 18 years Gilo "stays part of Jerusalem and therefore this planning decision in no way contradicts" the current Israel government's desire for peace based on two states for the two peoples, he added.
Netanyahu also stressed the construction approval announced on Tuesday was a "preliminary planning decision."
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AL condemns illegal Israeli settlement
Arab League (AL) Secretary General Nabil al-Arabi has slammed Israel's plan to construct new illegal settlement units in the Gilo neighborhood of the occupied East al-Quds (Jerusalem).
Al-Arabi called the decision a “scandalous violation of international law” and said it proves Israel's lack of desire for peace, dpa reported on Thursday.
He further criticized the policy of the US in the region, saying it had failed to act as a mediator between Israel and Palestine and to bring an end to the settlement constructions.
Meanwhile, a spokesperson for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had on Wednesday dismissed international calls to revoke the decision.
Mark Regev said that Gilo is built on land captured by Israel in 1967 and that the site is therefore neither a settlement nor a settlement outpost but a neighborhood which constitutes an integral part of the center of al-Quds.
Israel annexed the area after its capture, but the move was never recognized by the international community.
Tel Aviv authorized the plan on Tuesday, saying it was one of the phases of a multi-year process for the expansion of Gilo.
The approval, however, was immediately condemned by the United Nations, the European Union, the US as well as the UK.
Moreover, the decision came days after Netanyahu invited Palestinians for direct talks while addressing the UN General Assembly, saying the decades long conflict between the two sides could only be resolved through negotiations.
Palestinians have repeatedly said that new round of talks with the Israeli regime cannot be resumed unless there is a complete halt in settlement expansion activities.
The controversial move also came days after Palestinian Authority Chief Mahmoud Abbas handed in his request for full UN membership for an independent Palestinian state.
Palestinians want East al-Quds as the capital of their future state.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/201920.html 7 jan 2012, 23:42 , Respect -
Maria 1 oct 2011
Sabri calls on KSA to exclude Alstom from holy land railway bids
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- Former Jerusalem Grand Mufti Ekrima Sabri has called on Saudi Arabia to use its “economic weapons” to defend Jerusalem by not accepting offers for the multi-billion dollar Haramain high-speed rail project by Israel’s Jerusalem transportation partner Alstom.
The French-based transportation giant drew international criticism and has been blacklisted by Swedish pension fund AP7 and the Dutch ASN Bank after participating in the construction of the Jerusalem Light Railway due to its route passing through occupied Palestinian territories in East Jerusalem.
“We must prosecute and boycott companies that deal with the Zionist entity and seek out ‘clean’ companies that provide good and acceptable services,” said Sabri in a press statement on Friday, noting the possibility that Saudi officials were unaware of the company’s gloomy history.
“Dealing with companies that deal with the Zionist entity in projects to Judaize Jerusalem is normalizing relations with such an entity,” added Sabri, who also gives Friday sermons at Al-Aqsa Mosque.
Speaking on the ills of the Jerusalem Light Railway, Sabri said the 14-km long railway has inconvenienced the residents of occupied Jerusalem and constricted street space in addition to its aim of Judaizing Jerusalem by providing fast access by settlers in West Jerusalem to east Jerusalem, which the Israelis are trying to Judaize by uprooting Palestinians and replacing them with Jewish settlers.
European members of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement met in the Lebanese capital Beirut on Wednesday to launch a campaign against Alstom at a time when the company seeks to win bids on Haramain High Speed Rail Project, which will link the holy cities of Makkah and Medina in Saudi Arabia.
Also to go public in condemning hiring Alstom for the holy lands project was Muhammad Khatir, secretary-general of the Islamic-Christian Front in Jerusalem. He warned in a statement that to hire the company would be rewarding it for “major and serious violations” that it has been responsible for in occupied Jerusalem and would be “at the expense of Palestinian rights and Arab decisions to boycott similar companies”.
Khatir further warned that, if carried out, the deal would open doors for American and European companies to provide services to Jewish settlers in the occupied territories.
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