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The Jerusalem City Council on Monday approved a divisive redevelopment plan to demolish 22 Palestinian homes in Arab-dominated East Jerusalem, potentially reigniting a debate over Israeli construction on land it seized in 1967.
The approval threatens to renew friction between Israel and the Obama administration just as the former is battling a surge of international pressure over its policies in the Gaza Strip.
At the request of the Al-Julani family, the body of the man shot dead in Jerusalem last week was exhumed just after midnight on Thursday morning for autopsy.
The body of the 38-year-old Zaid was taken from its place of internment at the Al-Asbat Gate cemetery near Al-Aqsa Mosque under the watch of doctors from the Abu Kabir Institute for forensic medicine and clerks from Israel's Magistrates Court and Ministry of Justice, and moved to a secure autopsy facility in Jerusalem.
Israel's District Attorney ordered an investigation into the incident that left an American protester in a persistent coma, now in its 15th month.
US activist Tristan Anderson was shot in the head with a high-velocity tear-gas canister as he supported Palestinian protesters in the village of Ni'lin on 13 March 2009. A court found the investigation into the incident was wrought with "grave negligence" during an appeal session on Wednesday.
The Palestinian president warned Thursday that Israel's plan to expel four Hamas politicians from Jerusalem could pose a new obstacle to peace and set a dangerous precedent for expelling Arabs from the disputed city based on their political views.
The expulsions of the three Palestinian lawmakers and a former Cabinet minister could start as early as Friday.
The Helou family is so worried about getting expelled to Gaza by Israeli authorities that they're all but trapped in this West Bank town. They couldn't even leave to get their disabled son the best possible surgery to let him walk.
Some 20,000 Palestinians in the West Bank live under the same fear, because they hold residency papers from the Gaza Strip and Israeli authorities refuse to allow their papers to be updated — though they have lived in the West Bank for years.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas warned on Thursday that the Israeli measures in East Jerusalem jeopardize the peace process.
"The Israeli practices in East Jerusalem hinder peace talks," Abbas told a press conference here with the visiting Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann.
The Palestinian president was apparently referring to Israel's recent plan to demolish Palestinian houses in East Jerusalem for the purpose of settlement construction.
The Hamas-run al-Aqsa TV station in Gaza announced that its broadcast through the French-based satellite provider Eutelsat will be forced stop within six hours.
"Talks with the French government to call off the ban decision have failed and the order will come into force tonight at 8:00 p.m. local time (1700 GMT)," a press release by the TV station said.
France ordered last week that the al-Aqsa Channel not be broadcast through Eutelsat, claiming that the TV incites hatred and violence against Jews and Israel.
The Council of Europe parliamentarians Thursday called on Israel to completely end its siege of the Gaza Strip, days after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered an ease of the land blockade.
Israel should allow goods to be delivered to the coastal enclave by land and sea, "without prejudice to its own security," so Palestinians can enjoy "normal living conditions," said the resolution adopted by a large majority of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE).
The United Nations late Wednesday called Israel's plan to demolish Arab homes in East Jerusalem for the purpose of settlement construction "unhelpful" and "contrary to international law."
"The Secretary-General is deeply concerned about the decision by the Jerusalem municipality to advance planning for house demolitions and further settlement activity in the area of Silwan," UN Chief Ban Ki-moon's press office said in a statement. "The planned moves are contrary to international law, and to the wishes of Palestinian residents."
Malaysia, backed by the Arab states, has initiated a UN debate regarding the Turkish flotilla events, which is slated to be held during Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's visit to Washington. The Arab states and Non-Aligned countries are working to keep the issue on the international agenda.
Arguing that “history is moving away from attempts to accommodate competing national aspirations in a single state,” Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman on Thursday issued a highly specific demand for “an exchange of populated territories” that would place many Israeli Arabs inside a new Palestinian state.
In an op-ed that appears in Thursday’s Jerusalem Post, he stressed that this would not require “physical population transfer or the demolition of houses,” but rather “creating a border where none existed, according to demographics...”
The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results,” Albert Einstein once said.
Since 1993, successive governments, supported by the international community, have tried to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict using the flawed paradigm of land for peace. Each time, the same formula was attempted, but failed every time because of Arab recalcitrance.
On Monday Jerusalem City Council approved the plan to demolish 22 Palestinian homes in Silwan - part of a major redevelopment of the area.
The move has drawn criticism both at home and from the Obama administration.
Mr Ban said the plan was "contrary to international law" and "unhelpful" to efforts to restart peace negotiations.
The scheme is still in an initial stage.
The satellite's high resolution camera would significantly boost Israel's intelligence gathering, officials told local media.
Israel's defence ministry said the Ofek 9 was launched from Palmachim air force base on its south coast near Tel Aviv.
It is one of at least four Israeli spy satellites currently orbiting the Earth.
"This provides Israel with greater operational flexibility, since we now have another set of eyes on a target," Chaim Eshed, the director of Israel's military space programme, told The Jerusalem Post.
I moved to Beirut from New York nine months ago and began looking for an apartment. After 10 continuous years in America, I wanted to return to the Arab world – and returning to my family's roots in Palestine wasn't an option.
I knew that in Beirut, I likely wasn't going to be renting from a faceless, impersonal property company; real people mostly own the real estate here – and often, they are interested in knowing their tenants personally. That's how I learned, to my dismay, that being a Palestinian in Beirut is mostly a liability; anti-Palestinian racism is a fact of life here.
The Israeli liberal daily Haaretz carried a very illuminating article this week, written by Ari Shavit, who argued that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Ehud Barak are regarded by many Israelis as "twins", dependent on one another.
Shavit reveals that while the atmosphere between Netanyahu and the White House is frosty, Vice President Joe Biden gets along just fine with Barak. For this reason and others, Netanyahu treats Barak with "respect".
Links:
[1] http://www.americantaskforce.org/print/13754
[2] http://www.americantaskforce.org/printmail/13754
[3] http://www.americantaskforce.org/printpdf/13754
[4] http://www.americantaskforce.org/rss/wpr
[5] https://www.americantaskforce.org/civicrm/contribute/transact?reset=1&id=1
[6] http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-jerusalem-housing-20100622,0,3121741.story
[7] http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=294345
[8] http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=294257
[9] http://www.statesman.com/news/nation/abbas-slams-israeli-plan-to-expel-4-hamas-766283.html
[10] http://www.statesman.com/news/nation/fearing-expulsion-palestinians-stay-home-766020.html
[11] http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2010-06/24/c_13367763.htm
[12] http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2010-06/24/c_13367688.htm
[13] http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/european-mps-to-israel-lift-gaza-blockade-completely-1.298107
[14] http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/un-urges-israel-to-rethink-east-jerusalem-construction-plans-1.298040
[15] http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3910354,00.html
[16] http://www.jpost.com/Israel/Article.aspx?id=179366
[17] http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Op-EdContributors/Article.aspx?id=179333
[18] http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/10400282.stm
[19] http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/10387608.stm
[20] http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/jun/24/middleeast-palestinian-territories
[21] http://www.jordantimes.com/?news=27732
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