Israel begins construction of over 500 homes after the end of freeze moratorium

[News_Editor]

Israel begins construction of over 500 homes after the end of freeze moratorium

2010-10-22 18:16:05 GMT+7 (ICT)

GAZA STRIP (BNO NEWS) -- Israel on Thursday announced that it has begun the construction of over 500 homes in the West Bank after the end of the settlement freeze moratorium three weeks ago, local media reported.

According to the Jerusalem Post, Israeli settlers are building new homes in the West Bank at a very quick pace as they have started 544 houses in three weeks, more than four times faster than in the last two years.

"This figure is alarming and is another indicator that Israel is not serious about the peace process, which is supposed to be about ending the occupation," said Ghassan Khatib, spokesman for Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

On September 26, the Israeli government lifted its 10-month freeze on new settlement construction in the disputed West Bank area. In consequence, Palestine halted peace negotiations with Israel and demanded a new settlement freeze moratorium to continue the direct talks.

However, Israel seems to continue ignoring the demands as some of the new homes being constructed are located in areas that the Palestinian claim to be their territory as agreed in the 1967 borders.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the settlement construction has no real effect on the way for a possible peace agreement despite Palestinian threats to walk away from negotiations if demands are not met.

Peace Now, an organization of Israeli pacifists for Palestinian self-determination within 1967 borders, said that over 600 homes are being built in the West Bank. The organization said that the invasion of the 1967 borders is an Israeli attempt to expand its frontiers in the West Bank area for a possible future agreement.

Last month, Peace Now informed that as much as 11,000 new homes could be constructed if the freeze was not extended. Nearly 300,000 settlers currently live in the West Bank, along with 2.2 million Palestinians.

Israeli settlers have covered the territory, which was seized by Israel in the 1967 Mideast war along with Gaza and east Jerusalem, with an increasingly web of established communities and nearly 100 unauthorized hilltop outposts.

-- © BNO News All rights reserved 2010-10-22

[nong38]

This really dose not help to find a peaceful solution does it, I am not Jewish or Palestinian, just looking at this impartially, why dont the Isrealis not see this.

[Ulysses G.]

This really dose not help to find a peaceful solution does it, I am not Jewish or Palestinian, just looking at this impartially, why dont the Isrealis not see this.

Because the "Palestinians" have no valid claim to Jerusalem and if the Jews stop building it will give the Arabs demand credibility. There has been a majority of Jews living there for well over a hundred years and Jews have had a presence there for many centuries.

Israel has never said that they will not build in Jerusalem and there is nothing illegal about doing so.

MYTH

"Under UN Resolution 242, East Jerusalem is considered 'occupied territory.' Israel's annexation of Jerusalem therefore violates the UN resolution."

FACT

One drafter of the UN Resolution was then-U.S. Ambassador to the UN Arthur Goldberg. According to Goldberg, "Resolution 242 in no way refers to Jerusalem, and this omission was deliberate....Jerusalem was a discrete matter, not linked to the West Bank." In several speeches at the UN in 1967, Goldberg said: "I repeatedly stated that the armistice lines of 1948 were intended to be temporary. This, of course, was particularly true of Jerusalem. At no time in these many speeches did I refer to East Jerusalem as occupied territory."²¹

Because Israel was defending itself from aggression in the 1948 and 1967 wars, former President of the International Court of Justice Steven Schwebel wrote, it has a better claim to sovereignty over Jerusalem than its Arab neighbors.²²

^MYTH

^{"Israel has not acknowledged Palestinian claims to Jerusalem."}

^FACT

^{Jerusalem was never the capital of any Arab entity. Palestinians have no special claim to the city; they simply demand it as their capital.}

^{Israel has recognized that the city has a large Palestinian population, that the city is important to Muslims, and that making concessions on the sovereignty of the city might help minimize the conflict with the Palestinians. The problem has been that Palestinians have shown no reciprocal appreciation for the Jewish majority in the city, the significance of Jerusalem to the Jewish people or the fact that it is already the nation''s capital.}

^{The Israeli-Palestinian Declaration of Principles (DoP) signed in 1993 left open the status of Jerusalem. Article V said only that Jerusalem is one of the issues to be discussed in the permanent status negotiations. The agreed minutes also mention Jerusalem, stipulating that the Palestinian Council's jurisdiction does not extend to the city. Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin said that Jerusalem will "not be included in any sphere of the prerogatives of whatever body will conduct Palestinian affairs in the territories. Jerusalem will remain under Israeli sovereignty."}

http://www.jewishvir...usalem.html#q13

[canuck1941]

Back when the territory of Palestine was being divided into Israel and Palestine, the decision at the time was to leave the status of Jersulam out of the equation because it was recognized as an "international city." Now the Jews want it all to themselves, forever. What about the Christians in Jerusalem? Don't they have any say in the matter? Does Israel give a dam_n? Frankly, the way I see it, the status of Jerusalem is the final deal maker or breaker, the last card to play in the search for peaceful co-existence for these warring Semitic tribes. If Isreal does not share this so called "Holy City" with the Arabs and the Christians, a nuclear holocaust looms. Not that Jerusalem was mentioned in the story but there you are, eh?

[Ulysses G.]

What nonsense. When have they ever said anything about not sharing access with other religions?

JERUSALEM - Whose City?

An eminent historian looks at the interests of Jews, Muslims and Christians

Condensed from The New Republic, Martin Gilbert (Reader's Digest, September 1995)

In 1937, when Britain raised the possibility of separate Jewish and Arab states in Palestine, the Jewish Agency proposed a partition of Jerusalem itself based on the two groups' main areas of urban settlement. The Arab states around Palestine refused to accept the idea of Jewish statehood and rejected this compromise. A violent decade followed, culminating in the battle for Jerusalem in 1948.

At that time 100,000 Jews and 65,000 Arabs inhabited the city. The Jewish Agency accepted a plan for a United Nations administration, calling it a "heavy sacrifice" that nevertheless would serve as "the Jewish contribution to the solution of a painful problem." The Arabs rejected this proposal too.

While Israel declared statehood, the Arab countries denied statehood to the Palestinian Arabs. Jordan annexed the land not occupied by Israel. And while Israel built Jerusalem up as a capital, with its parliament building, law courts and government ministries, the question never arose in 19 years of Jordanian rule of making East Jerusalem the Palestinian capital.

The population growth between 1949 and 1966 underlined this disparity of interest. While the Arab population increased to only 70,000, the Jewish population rose to 195,000. This number included many Jewish emigrants from Morocco, Iraq and other Arab lands where they had long been harassed and persecuted.

When on June 5, 1967, Jordanian troops joined in the Six Day War, the die was cast. The Israeli government had urged Jordan's King Hussein not to enter the war. His decision to do so was decisive for the future of Jerusalem and has determined its situation until today.

Within two days the Jordanian sector of the city was under Israeli control. The physical barriers were thrown down. "We earnestly stretch out our hands to our Arab brethren in peace," declared Moshe Dayan, the minister of defence, "but we have returned to Jerusalem never to part from her again."

East Jerusalem, one fifth of the built-up area of the city, was incorporated by Israel, and the city was given new municipal boundaries. By the end of 1993, the Jewish population had risen to more than 400,000, the Arab population to 155,000.

As a result of the policies of Teddy Kollek, mayor of Jerusalem from 1965 to 1993, facilities were provided for the Arab minority far beyond anything introduced under Jordanian rule, including a sewer and piped water system, clinics, libraries, parks and gardens. With reunification, Israel pledged to uphold freedom of access and worship, and this pledge has been kept. But while maintaining open access to the holy sites of Christianity and Islam, each Israeli government since 1967 has been committed to maintaining Jerusalem both as its capital and as an undivided city.

http://christianacti.../whosecity.html

[SergeiY]

modern day colonialism.

[hobanse]

The mother of the worldterrorism need more land from Palestine. 7,5 million Israelis need new homes! Just take never give!!

Israel´s Illegal land-grab and other crimes

http://www.imemc.org/

[canuck1941]

"Today, the status of Jerusalem remains one of the core issues in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. Israel annexed East Jerusalem and considers it a part of Israel, although the international community has rejected the annexation as illegal and considers East Jerusalem occupied territory.^[16][17][18] The international community does not recognise Jerusalem as Israel's capital and most foreign embassies are located in Tel Aviv and its suburbs.^[19][20]"

^{From Wikipedia, (I almost said Wikileaks.)}

^{I was never so ashamed of my government as when it supported Israel abandoning Tel Aviv as its capital, which worked for everyone, to move to Jerusalem, and got bupkas for it.}

[Ulysses G.]

In 1990, Congress passed a resolution declaring that “Jerusalem is and should remain the capital of the State of Israel” and “must remain an undivided city in which the rights of every ethnic and religious group are protected.” During the 1992 Presidential campaign, Bill Clinton said: “I recognize Jerusalem as an undivided city, the eternal capital of Israel, and I believe in the principle of moving our embassy to Jerusalem.” He never reiterated this view as President; consequently, official U.S. policy remained that the status of Jerusalem is a matter for negotiations.

“I would be blind to disclaim the Jewish connection to Jerusalem.”

— Sari Nusseibeh,President of Al Quds University