- 19 mei 2011
Construction of 1,550 Jerusalem homes OK'd
Message to Obama? Construction in contentious Jerusalem neighborhoods approved.
Next crisis with US underway? The Interior Ministry's district committee for construction and planning approved Thursday evening two major plans for some 1,550 housing units in contentious Jerusalem neighborhoods.
The construction plans for Har Homa and Pisgat Ze'ev, both located beyond the Green Line, were given the go-ahead as President Barack Obama was delivering his major Mideast policy speech.
Despite Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's departure to Washington Thursday evening, the government secretary ordered the committee to proceed with the touchy session.
'Clear message to world'
The two plans, for 930 housing units in Har Homa and 620 units in Pisgat Ze'ev, were scheduled to be brought up for discussion at the beginning of last month, but the session was postponed.
"The timing for the discussion of the Har Home plan is not coincidental," one committee member, Yair Gabai, told Ynet. "The district committee never convenes at such late hours. This is a declaration of a diplomatic nature meant to clear the fog around the Jerusalem question, so that nobody in the world would think that the Israeli government intends to discuss Jerusalem's division."
"Israel's government decided to say today openly and clearly to the whole world that Jerusalem is not up for negotiations and will remain united," he said. "This is the best gift we could have received for the upcoming Jerusalem Day.
Gabai urged the government to advance plans for thousands of other housing units "In order to provide a response to the many young couples who wish to live in Jerusalem."
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4071324,00.html
Plans to erect 1,500 new settler homes in Jerusalem
NAZARETH, (PIC)-- Plans have been mapped out for 1,500 settlement homes in the occupied city of Jerusalem, Israeli sources have revealed.
The plans comes just hours before Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visits the US.
The Jerusalem municipality's planning and construction committee will consider Thursday a plan to erect the new houses in the Pisgat Ze'ev and Har Homa settlements, Israeli channel ten said.
The channel added that the matter would be discussed a day before Netanyahu meets with US President Barack Obama in the White House.
http://fwd4.me/01my also http://fwd4.me/01nM 7 jan 2012, 21:32 , Respect -
Maria 20 mei 2011
PA condemns latest Israel settlement plan
Palestinian officials denounce Israeli plan to build 1,550 housing units on annexed land around Jerusalem, authorized the day Israeli Prime Minister set off for talks in Washington.
Palestinian officials on Friday condemned an Israeli plan to build 1,550 housing units around Jerusalem, authorized the day Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu set off for talks in Washington.
An Israeli Interior Ministry spokeswoman said a planning committee had approved two building projects in Pisgat Zeev and Har Homa. These urban settlements were built on land that Israel annexed after a 1967 war, in a move not recognized internationally, and that it sees as Jerusalem neighborhoods.
The spokeswoman did not say when construction was expected to start.
Saeb Erekat, a senior aide to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, said the Israeli move further hampered US efforts to revive Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, which collapsed last year shortly after they began because of settlement building.
"When the whole world and US President Barack Obama are working to revive the negotiations and the peace process, the Israeli government is determined to undermine and sabotage these efforts," Erekat said.
Netanyahu is due to hold talks with Obama on Friday in what could be a tense meeting after the American leader on Thursday endorsed a longstanding Palestinian demand that the borders of any future state should be based on 1967 lines.
Netanyahu, who has had strained relations with Obama, headed for Washington saying the president's vision of a Palestinian state along these borders could leave Israel "indefensible".
What about peace talks?
Obama's emphasis on 1967 borders went further than before in offering principles for resolving the stalemate between Israel and the Palestinians. But he stopped short of presenting a formal US peace plan or suggesting how talks should resume.
Abbas welcomed Obama's efforts to renew negotiations, and had made plans to convene an "emergency" session of Palestinian and Arab officials to weigh further steps, a senior aide said.
But Abbas did not comment on Obama's firm rejection of a Palestinian drive to seek recognition of their statehood at the United Nations in September at the annual meeting of the UN General Assembly.
Peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians, brokered by Washington, collapsed last year after Netanyahu refused to extend a moratorium on Jewish settlement-building in the West Bank and Abbas refused to carry on negotiations.
Israel angered Washington in March 2010 when an announcement of plans to build hundreds of housing units in a settlement was made during a visit by US Vice President Joe Biden.
Palestinians say settlement plans are regularly unveiled when senior Israeli politicians are due to meet their US counterparts.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4071500,00.html 7 jan 2012, 21:32 , Respect -
Maria 21 mei 2011
Obama's Middle East Policy a Farrago of Fiction
(6:22) 'Obama's ME policy, a farrago of fiction'
Israel has given the final approval for the construction of 620 settlement units in Pisgat Zeev in northeastern Al-Quds (Jerusalem) and another 900 in Har Homa in the south of the city. The move comes on the eve of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's meeting with US President Barack Obama, despite calls on Tel Aviv to halt its settlement activity. In an interview with Press TV, Ralph Schoenman, a political commentator from Berkeley, California, discussed the issue.
Abu Zuhri: Netanyahu’s statement proves failure of settlement option
GAZA, (PIC)-- Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu’s statement that there would be no return to the 1967 borders proved failure of the negotiations process, Dr. Sami Abu Zuhri, a Hamas spokesman, said on Saturday.
He said that the statement proved futility of negotiations with Israel and that wagering on the settlement option was a mistake.
Abu Zuhri stressed his movement’s insistence not to recognize Israel on any Palestinian land.
The spokesman called for a unified Arab, Palestinian strategy based on resistance and insistence on rights and constants in face of such Israeli arrogance.
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Maria 22 mei 2011
Peace Now: Israel approves new West Bank settler homes
JERUSALEM (AFP) -- Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak has approved construction of 294 new homes in the West Bank settlement of Beitar Ilit, anti-settlement NGO Peace Now reported on Sunday.
Peace Now made its announcement as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was in Washington, preparing to address the US Congress and the powerful pro-Israel lobby, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.
It said Barak also approved building of homes for the elderly and a shopping center in the illegal settlement of Efrat.
The group could not say exactly when Barak signed off on the two projects.
In response to AFP's queries, the defense ministry issued a brief statement saying only that "since the end of the freeze period a few building permits have been approved for communities situated in the [settlement] blocs to meet their living needs."
Peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians have been on hold since late September, when a 10-month, partial Israeli settlement freeze expired and Netanyahu refused to renew it.
Peace Now said on Sunday that since the moratorium was lifted settlers had started construction on about 2,000 homes in 75 different settlement sites.
As President Barack Obama was delivering a key speech on Thursday in which he called for Israel to make a complete pullout from land it occupied in the 1967 Six Day war, a government committee approved more than 1,500 Jewish-only homes in occupied East Jerusalem.
Peace Now called that decision "not just miserable timing but a miserable policy" and said it sent a "clear message to the Americans."
The Palestinians have insisted they will not talk while Israel builds on land they want for a future state, and Israel has attracted fierce international criticism for its settlement policy.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=390040
UK minister 'deeply disappointed' in settlements call
BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- UK foreign office minister for the Middle East Alistair Burt called on Israel Friday to "cease unhelpful and destabilising activity" of settlement construction, in the wake of a decision to build 1,500 new Jewish-only homes in occupied East Jerusalem.
"I am deeply disappointed with Israel’s announcement on 19 May to build up to 1500 settlement units in the East Jerusalem settlements of Har Homa and Pisgat Zeev," the minister said in a statement.
Burt noted that the announcement for the continued construction "came on the same day as [US] President [Barack] Obama’s important speech on the Middle East, which set out a clear path towards peace between the Palestinians and Israelis."
"Settlement activity is a recognised obstacle to this path. It is illegal under international law and should stop," he said.
Following Burt's condemnation, Israel's watchdog group Peace Now announced that plans had been pushed through for 294 new homes in the West Bank settlement of Beitar Ilit.
The Israeli announcements were peppered with condemnations from officials in Europe and North America.
Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is in Washington for a six-day visit, where he responded to demands from Obama to engage in peace talks based on the 1967 borders by saying the internationally accepted idea was out of the question.
A return to peace talks would require Israel to halt settlement activities, a position Palestinian negotiators took in 2009, saying the construction of Jewish-only housing on land that would be a Palestinian state indicated a lack of seriousness on Israel's behalf.
In a January http://fwd4.me/022W interview with Ma'an, Burt said about a Palestinian move to take the issue of statehood to the UN that the UK would "consider any draft resolution carefully," the policy of the government remained a return to direct negotiations.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=390071
7 jan 2012, 21:32 , Respect -
Maria 25 mei 2011
Report: Israel to expand Jerusalem settlement
BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) -- Israel's minister of interior Eli Yeshai and Jerusalem mayor Nir Barkat signed Wednesday a plan to expand the jurisdictions of the municipality at the southern front of Jerusalem, reports said.
As a result, lands that are adjacent to the settlement of Ramat Rachel will be annexed to Israel, according to a report by Israel's Walla news site. The expansion of the municipality will establish 1,600 housing units.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=391115 7 jan 2012, 21:32 , Respect -
Maria 26 mei 2011
MKs attend controversial settlement announcement
JERUSALEM (AFP) - The speaker of Israel's parliament and two ministers attended the dedication on Wednesday of new Jewish settler homes in east Jerusalem in what an Israeli NGO called "a dangerous provocation."
Among the first of the VIPs to arrive at the site in the city's annexed Arab eastern sector were speaker Reuven Rivlin, Environment Minister Gilad Erdan and Education Minister Gideon Saar, all of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's right-wing Likud party.
The ceremony, in which Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat also took part, came the day after Netanyahu reaffirmed Israel's claim to all Jerusalem -- half of which was occupied in 1967 and illegally annexed to Israel in the 1980s. East Jerusalem is not officially recognized as part of Israel's capital.
"I think that the prime minister expressed the consensus in Israeli society that a united Jerusalem is the capital of Israel," Erdan told reporters at the settler ceremony.
The new homes are in the Jewish-only enclave of Maaleh Zeitim, in the Palestinian neighborhood of Ras Al-Amud, where another 50 settler apartments were completed in 2003. On the slopes of the Mount of Olives, overlooking the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, it is close to the centre of Palestinian East Jerusalem.
Rivlin welcomed the latest completions.
"I am happy about all building in Jerusalem, which is part of the state of Israel," he told reporters.
A third phase of the development is subject to a Jerusalem magistrates court hearing set for Thursday in which a Palestinian family whose home is slated for demolition because it stands in the path of further settler building are to fight an eviction order.
Maaleh Zeitim was financed by American millionaire Irving Moskowitz, according to Israeli NGO Ir Amin, which advocates equitable division of Jerusalem between Israel and the Palestinians.
Moskowitz has bankrolled other settlement projects in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem.
"The continuing settlement activity in east Jerusalem, which has gained support of government ministers and Knesset members, is a dangerous provocation that is intended to sabotage any chance of reaching a political settlement to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict," Ir Amim said in a statement.
In an address to the US Congress on Tuesday, Netanyahu rejected Palestinian claims to occupied East Jerusalem, which is hoped to be the capital of a future state.
"Jerusalem must never again be divided. Jerusalem must remain the united capital of Israel," he said.
The international community has repeatedly called on Israel to stop new building projects in the area, which remains illegal under the Fourth Geneva Convention.
Peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians collapsed after Netanyahu's government refused to extend a partial moratorium on settlement expansion in September 2010.
Also Wednesday, Israeli interior minister Eli Yishai was to sign an agreement with Barkat incorporating about 24 hectares (60 acres) of orchards belonging to southern Jerusalem kibbutz Ramat Rachel into the city's jurisdiction, his spokesman said.
A spokeswoman for settlement watchdog Peace Now told AFP that although a small part of the land jutted into the demilitarized zone between Israel and the West Bank it was territory which had never been under Jordanian control and was therefore not considered occupied.
"It's not a drama on the scale of Israel annexing new territory," Hagit Ofran said. "This is land which has always been considered part of Israel."
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=391243 7 jan 2012, 21:32 , Respect -
Maria 6 juni 2011
Israel to approve 4,100 settlement units in Jerusalem
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- An expert planning researcher has revealed that an official board in Israel is on the verge of approving the construction of 4,100 houses in Jewish settlements in Jerusalem.
The Israeli interior ministry tasked the board two months ago to see that settlement construction increases in Jerusalem, said Attorney Qais Nasser, who specializes in monitoring settlement activity in holy city.
In its first session scheduled for June 14, the committee is expected to approve plans to erect 4,100 homes in Ramat Shlomo, Gilo, Pisgat Ze'ev, and Har Homa.
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Maria 9 juni 2011
Israel approves oxymoronic 'tolerance' museum on Muslim cemetery
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- Israeli occupation's Jerusalem municipality planning committee has approved a plan to build a so-called ”tolerance museum” in the city's center.
But the oxymoronic Jewish museum of ”tolerance” is planned to be built on the historic Muslim Ma'manullah cemetery and would require the removal of hundreds of ancient skeletons of Muslims dating back to Medieval times.
According to Israeli media, the project was designed by the Simon Wiesenthal Center, the self-proclaimed Nazi hunter that works to stop anti-Judaism.
The Jerusalem municipality delayed approval of the project for the last two years in order for changes to be made on the architectural plan.
Ma'manullah cemetery, located west of Jerusalem's Old City 2 km away from Al-Aqsa Mosque's Al-Khalil gate, is the largest Islamic cemetery in Jerusalem, with an area of some 200 dunums.
http://fwd4.me/03Xs 7 jan 2012, 21:33 , Respect -
Maria 13 juni 2011
Israeli High Court Freezes Construction in Ofra Settlement
Jerusalem - PNN - The Israeli High Court of Justice ordered the freeze of construction on new settlement homes in the Ofra settlement in central West Bank.
The Ofra settlement is the first settlement to be built in the West Bank under the orders of former Minister of Security, Shimon Peres, currently the president of Israel.
The Israeli court has frozen the construction of 48 new houses after being petitioned by the residents of Silwad and Ein Yabrud, two Palestinian villages on whose land the settlements are being built. The court did not say how long the freeze will last.
According to sources, the court position came after a deal was reached between the representative of the settlers and the Israeli state prosecutor, in which the new construction would be frozen in return for the residents of Silwad and Ein Yabrud dropping the charges.
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7 jan 2012, 21:33 , Respect -
Maria 15 juni 2011
Israeli Jerusalem Municipality Plans 7900 Settler Homes in the City
Jerusalem - PNN - The Israeli human rights group, Ir Amim, announced in a press release today that the Israeli municipality of Jerusalem has discussed plans to build 7900 settler homes in East Jerusalem.
According to the press statement, the plan was proposed by what is known as the Israeli Sub-Committee to Advance Settlements. Ir Amim explained that the new settler homes would be added to the 4400 settler units already existing in East Jerusalem.
The Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu asked the municipality of Jerusalem to form the Sub-Committee to Advance Settlements, in an attempt to lower the prices of real estate and quicken the building of settler homes in East Jerusalem.
Ir Amim explained that to achieve the lower real estate prices, plans will be implemented to build 940 homes in Har Homa and 942 homes in Gilo, two settlements located between Bethlehem and Jerusalem. There are also plans to build 1,500 homes in Ramat Rahil.
In the northern part of Jerusalem, the planning committee discussed plans of 625 settler homes in Bisgat Zaiv, in addition to 1600 homes in the settlement of Chufat. The settlement in Chufat drew condemnation by the US administration last year.
There are currently half a million Israeli settlers living in the West Bank including East Jerusalem. All Israeli settlements are illegal under international law. In September 2010, Washington started peace talks between Palestinians and Israelis. Those talks reached a deadlock two weeks after they started, when Israel refused to freeze construction of West Bank settlements in East Jerusalem.
http://fwd4.me/03x9 7 jan 2012, 21:33 , Respect -
Maria 19 juni 2011
Israel approves expansion of 2,000 settler homes
JERUSALEM (AFP) -- Israel's Jerusalem municipality approved the expansion of 2,000 homes in the settlement district of Ramat Shlomo in occupied East Jerusalem on Sunday, allowing each Israeli home to add an additional room, a council press statement said.
The announcement of new settlement activity came as Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak told France 24 television that, "there is no real way to announce an end to construction. There's half a million people living there."
Palestinian Authority officials were quick to condemn the statement.
All settlement activity is considered illegal under international law and settlements are one of the major obstacles to a peace agreement.
Israel has occupied the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem since 1967.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=398011
PA condemns Barak statements on settlements
RAMALLAH (Ma'an) -- The Palestinian Authority has condemned a statement by Israeli Defense Minister, Ehud Barak, regarding Israeli settlement construction in the West Bank.
In an interview conducted with France 24 TV network, Barak said "there is no real way to announce an end to construction. There's half a million people living there."
The PA immediately issued a condemnation, saying it "considers such a statement unacceptable, as it ignores the fact that settlement construction is illegal under international laws.
"Settlements are built on Palestinian land inside the 1967 borders, in violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention.
"While building settlements reserved only for their citizens, the Israeli authorities prevent Palestinians obtaining building permits in some areas in the West Bank.
"Meanwhile they continue to demolish Palestinian homes in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem" the Government Media Center in Ramallah said.
The PA called on the international community to intervene to stop illegal settlement activity on Palestinian land, noting that it is in direct contravention to international law.
Settlement construction is one of the major obstacles to the peace process.
In September 2010, peace talks collapsed after Israeli PM Netanyahu refused to extend a settlement moratorium.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=397979
Cabinet votes to curtail Barak's power to veto West Bank settlement construction
Decision moves control of the World Zionist Organization's Settlement Division from the Agriculture Ministry to the Prime Minister's Office.
The cabinet voted on Sunday to curtail Defense Minister Ehud Barak's authority to supervise construction in West Bank settlements.
The proposal revokes Barak's right to veto West Bank construction by the World Zionist Organization's Settlement Division. The division budgets NIS 25 million a year for this purpose.
The Settlement Division was set up in 1967 after Israel conquered the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Golan Heights and Sinai Peninsula. For years, it was tasked with building settlements in the West Bank and did not deal with the Negev or Galilee at all.
The decision which the cabinet approved on Sunday moves the division from the Agriculture Ministry, headed by Orit Noked of Barak's Atzmaut Party, back to the Prime Minister's Office, where it would be subject directly to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Attorney Talia Sasson's report on illegal West Bank settlement outposts, which was published in March 2005 and later adopted by the cabinet, said the division mainly set up unauthorized outposts in the West Bank, without the government's approval, including some that were on privately-owned Palestinian land.
Sasson recommended disbanding the division. The state comptroller has also castigated the division's activity.
http://fwd4.me/04Ho 7 jan 2012, 21:33 , Respect -
Maria 20 juni 2011
Israel to build wall on occupied Golan
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- The Israeli government agreed on Sunday to build a wall along the borders of the occupied Syrian Golan Heights to block infiltration of Palestinians through the border town of Majdal Shams.
The second Israeli TV channel revealed that work would start soon in the border wall that would be eight meters high along an area of four kilometers near Majdal Shams.
It said that Benny Gantz, the chief of general staff, ordered conclusion of work at the wall by September that is before the UN vote on recognizing a Palestinian state.
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France 'concerned' by expansion of Jerusalem homes
Foreign Ministry says state-approved plan to allow 2,000 homes in Ramat Shlomo to add rooms 'illegal,' urges Israel, Palestinians to resume talks.
France is deeply concerned over Israel's authorization to expand 2,000 homes built in east Jerusalem, the French Foreign Ministry said Monday.
"Our position is constant: Settlement construction is illegal in the eyes of international law, in the West Bank as well as in east Jerusalem," Foreign Ministry spokesman Bernard Valero said.
The Interior Ministry's planning and construction committee on Sunday approved the expansion of 2,000 homes in the neighborhood of Ramat Shlomo, allowing each home to add a room.
France called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas to resume peace talks based on proposals made by French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe when he visited the region earlier this month.
"We call on the parties to resume negotiations based on principles contained in the French initiative presented by Alain Juppe to Mr. Netanyahu and Mr. Abbas during his recent visit to the Middle East, and to refrain from unilateral gestures which undermine the trust necessary for this resumption," Valero said.
Barak to meet Juppe
Sunday's announcement by the Israeli government coincides with a meeting between Netanyahu and the European Union's head of dipolmacy, Catherine Ashton.
Alain Juppe is expected to meet with Defense Minister Ehud Barak, who is currently in France, on Tuesday. "This meeting is an opportunity to address the continuing French efforts to resume peace talks before September," Valero said.
Israel's blockade on the Gaza Strip and the upcoming Gaza-bound flotilla are also to be discussed at the meeting.
According to the European organizers of the flotilla initiative, 15 ships are expected to depart from Mediterranean ports towards Gaza by the end of June, aiming to break the blockade on the territory.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4084806,00.html 7 jan 2012, 21:33 , Respect -
Maria 23 juni 2011
Palestinians easing demands for settlement freeze
Senior official says Palestinians willing to tolerate partial construction moratorium to restart talks.
A senior Palestinian official said the Palestinians are ready to drop their demand for a complete settlement freeze to get peace talks with Israel back on track.
Talks have been stalled since September over Palestinian demands for a halt to all Israeli housing construction in the West Bank and east Jerusalem.
In the absence of negotiations, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has agreed to reconcile with the rival Hamas militant group and pledged to ask the UN for recognition of their independence.
But with both of those efforts now in trouble, the official said the Palestinians are willing to tolerate limited settlement construction if Israel accepts a recent peace plan floated by President Barack Obama.
He spoke on condition of anonymity because no final decisions have been made.
Abbas said Monday he would forgo a September declaration of state at the UN if the United States could provide a better suggestion.
"I don't know if the US has another option, but if it does, we will not go to the UN," Abbas told Lebanese television station LBC.
He added that the two "problematic" issues stalemating negotiations were "borders and security". The rest, he says, can be solved.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4086331,00.html
7 jan 2012, 21:33 , Respect -
Maria 23 juni 2011
Leaked Peace Docs Prove Palestinians Never Asked For Settlement Freeze In Past
(4:05) Leaked Peace Docs Prove Palestinians Never Asked For Settlement Freeze In Past
Netanyahu's aides: Leaked papers prove Palestinian demands for Jerusalem are 'ridiculous'
The Palestinian Authority's demand for Israel to halt construction in Jerusalem has been proven to be "ridiculous," associates of Prime Minister Benjamin said Monday in response to the Palestine papers leaked a day earlier by Al-Jazeera and The Guardian.
The biggest leak of confidential documents in the history of the conflict has revealed that Palestinian negotiators secretly agreed during negotiations with former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to accept Israel's annexation of all but one of the neighborhoods, Har Homa, built in East Jerusalem.
In its first response to the expose, Netanyahu's aides declared Monday that the "documents show that the Palestinian demand over the last year and a half to freeze construction in Jewish neighborhoods in East Jerusalem is ridiculous, since it is clear that they had already conceded the aforementioned neighborhoods in negotiations during Olmert's tenure."
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Monday denied offering secret concessions to Israel and said that reporting of purportedly leaked documents had presented Israeli positions as those of his own negotiators.
http://fwd4.me/07jz 7 jan 2012, 21:33 , Respect -
Maria 2 juli 2011
Israel municipality to erect thirty settler houses in E. Jerusalem
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- Israeli sources say the Jerusalem municipality is planning on erecting some thirty settler houses in the East Jerusalem district of Ras al-Amud.
The municipality has given locals sixty days to file petitions against the construction decision before it would discuss and finally approve the decision, said the Israeli leftist group Peace Now.
The group said the construction would take place on Ras al-Amud’s main road some 50 meters from the local police station.
If approved, settlers would be enabled to broaden their existence largely in the Palestinian neighborhood, Peace Now warned, adding that the structures would be ensued by an increase in security and infrastructure and would therefore change the neighborhood.
Meanwhile, Israel’s Jerusalem municipality has earmarked 5 millions dollars to construct nine roads between planned settlements in East Jerusalem.
The move comes as an attempt to “fill gaps” between east and west Jerusalem, a municipality official told Israel Radio.
Elsewhere, Israeli occupation forces continue to bulldoze land amid plans to expand four settlements in areas in Salfit province in northern West Bank.
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