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JERUSALEM, Dec. 3 (Xinhua) -- The Jerusalem Municipality is set to authorize a new Jewish neighborhood in east Jerusalem later this month beyond the 1967 lines on annexed Palestinian territories.
Deputy Mayor of Jerusalem Kobi Kahlon confirmed to the Jerusalem Post on Monday that the final authorization of the neighborhood, Givat Hamatos, is set to include 2,610 housing units and will be given on Dec. 19.
The U.S. Administration intensified criticism of Israel’s decision to proceed with construction at the E-1 site near Ma'ale Adumim in response to indications that the move was meant to “retaliate” against U.S. President Barack Obama for his refusal to endorse the 2004 Sharon-Bush letter on settlement blocs.
JERUSALEM — Britain, France, Spain, Sweden and Denmark summoned the Israeli ambassadors to their countries on Monday to protest ’s plans for increased settlement construction, an unusually sharp diplomatic step that reflected the growing frustration abroad with Israel’s policies on the issue.
CANBERRA (Reuters) -- Australia summoned the Israeli ambassador on Tuesday to protest against Israel's decision to expand Jewish settlements in East Jerusalem and the West Bank and withhold tax revenue from the Palestinian Authority.
Australia's move followed similar actions in Europe including Spain, France, Britain, Sweden and Denmark in the wake of the Palestinians winning de facto UN recognition of statehood.
WASHINGTON, Dec 3 (Reuters) - The United States on Monday ratcheted up criticism of Israel over plans to expand Jewish settlement building on occupied land, urging it to reconsider despite Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's refusal to back down.
The Obama administration's tougher-than-usual words for close ally Israel came after five European governments summoned Israeli ambassadors in their capitals to express concern over the new settlement projects. But Washington stopped short of threatening any concrete measures against the Jewish state.
JERUSALEM —Israel is moving forward with plans for two major settlement projects in east Jerusalem, a spokeswoman said Tuesday, even as a senior Palestinian official warned that his government could pursue war crimes charges if Israel doesn't halt such construction.
International anger over Israeli settlement construction has snowballed in recent days, following last week's U.N. recognition of a state of Palestine — in lands Israel occupied in 1967 — as a non-member observer in the General Assembly.
RAMALLAH, Dec. 3 (Xinhua) -- Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat said in a special interview with Xinhua on Monday that the Palestinians are ready to resume the peace talks with Israel based on new references after the United Nations granted the Palestinians the status of a non-member observer state.
JERUSALEM, Dec 3 (Reuters) - Israeli police arrested three Jewish settlers on Monday whom they suspect of arson and other attacks on Palestinian property in the occupied West Bank.
At a time of heightened diplomatic tension over claims to the land, the men were found carrying fuel and spikes shortly after a car was torched in a Palestinian village near Hebron. A police spokesman said they had appeared to be about to conduct a second attack in another village nearby when they were detained.
UNITED NATIONS —The U.N. General Assembly has overwhelmingly approved a resolution calling on Israel to quickly open its nuclear program for inspection and backing a high-level conference to ban nuclear weapons from the Middle East which was just canceled.
GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- Senior Hamas official Mahmoud al-Zahar on Monday urged Fatah members to join the armed resistance.
"Come to the program of resistance and stop wasting time and efforts, let’s put our hands together and carry the gun," al-Zahar said at a ceremony to honor the victims of Israel's war on Gaza.
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is accusing the Syrian government of serious violations of the 1974 agreement that separated Israeli and Syrian forces in the Golan Heights and is calling on both countries to halt firing across the cease-fire line.
Ban urged Syria to stop deploying troops and military equipment in the disputed zone.
Dec. 3, Washington, DC -- The American Task Force on Palestine (ATFP) today urged the Obama administration to use all its good offices with Israel to ensure that settlement expansion reportedly being considered in the highly sensitive “E1 corridor" not take place.
You can't say Israel and United States didn't warn each other, or that they didn't see this coming.
The Americans anticipated a potential Israeli overreaction to the Palestinian United Nations status upgrade to "nonmember observer state." And there was one measure they particularly wanted to prevent: new Israeli settlement construction in the hypersensitive E1 corridor near Jerusalem.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel seems determined to escalate a crisis by retaliating against the Palestinians after the United Nations General Assembly voted to elevate Palestine to observer state status.
Instead of looking for ways to halt a downward spiral, Mr. Netanyahu on Monday defiantly dug in on his plans to build 3,000 more housing units in contested areas east of Jerusalem and in the West Bank, and to continue planning a development in the most contentious area known as E1.
The real story behind Operation Pillar of Defense in Gaza has not yet been investigated, but now that the explosions have stopped, we are obligated to delve into the truth. The decision to kill Hamas military chief Ahmed Jabari, which was the opening shot of the operation, was made even though he was involved in negotiations on signing a long-term cease-fire agreement.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's decision to freeze the transfer of funds to the Palestinian Authority and build 3,000 housing units in the West Bank is nothing less than reckless behavior. The decision to punish the PA has provoked a confrontation with the international community, which voted overwhelmingly to accept the Palestinians as a nonmember observer state at the United Nations.
Following is the speech that the prime minister of Israel should have delivered at the UN General Assembly after Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' address:
"I would like to congratulate the president of the Palestinian Authority on the courageous step you took. In coming to the UN General Assembly seeking recognition of Palestine as a nonmember state, you have embarked on the path toward a historic compromise between the Jewish national movement - Zionism - and the Palestinian national movement.
Remember November 2012. Remember the month in which Bibi and Lieberman gave Hamas the seal of approval and essentially affixed the state of Hamastan in Gaza.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s speech at the UN was a bad one. I could explain that he was speaking to his own public after a war in which Palestinians were killed, and his people were angry.
I could point out that throughout the world experts noted that the one real loser of the Gaza war was Abbas and his Palestinian Authority.
Israel's ambassadors to Britain and France must have spent an uncomfortable few minutes on Monday as they were called in to hear of official displeasure in London and Paris at their government's decision to expand settlements in a key area of the occupied West Bank.
Sweden, Denmark and Spain also summoned Israeli envoys for a slap on the wrist. Even Germany, often cautious about criticism of Israel, issued a public protest.
The vote to grant Palestine observer state status at the UN last month brought a rare promise of hope to a land where it has been in short supply. It is disappointing, however, that European countries failed to endorse the bid unanimously. As former European heads of state, we find such a lack of coherence difficult to reconcile with the European Union's support for a two-state solution.
Now that the fog of war over Gaza has lifted and the ceasefire appears to be settling in, a number of strategic questions and lessons emerge. Many are relevant not just to the Israel-Hamas confrontation.
The West condemned Israel’s settlement plan Monday in no uncertain terms, but the 3,000 planned new homes are just the latest in a well-established policy by the Jewish state.
The takeover of Palestinian land seized in 1967 via settlements has been a creeping plan by Israel to change the reality of the situation over the past 45 years.
Ehud Olmert is running. Or maybe he's not. He insists he'll only make an announcement about his political future on Israeli soil, though he seems to take great pleasure in dropping hints. Either way, the former Israeli prime minister had a two-pronged message on this weekend's trip to America: Benjamin Netanyahu can be beaten in the upcoming elections in January. And peace with the Palestinians is still possible.
What are the implications of the Palestinians' achieving non-member observer status at the United Nations, and the Israeli response announcing more settlements, including in areas east of Jerusalem delineated in maps as possibly part of a future Palestinian state?
There are two scenarios. In one word: Nothing. In one acronym: A LOT, meaning A Lot Of Trouble.
Following Thursday’s U.N. vote granting non-member state observer status to Palestine, Netanyahu’s security cabinet voted to advance plans to build in the area between Jerusalem and Ma’ale Adumim known as E1, which would cordon off East Jerusalem from the West Bank, making a future contiguous Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital impossible. This would probably deal a fatal blow to the two-state solution given that borders and Jerusalem are two of the four final status issues that must be negotiated.
Links:
[1] http://www.americantaskforce.org/print/29181
[2] http://www.americantaskforce.org/printmail/29181
[3] http://www.americantaskforce.org/printpdf/29181
[4] http://www.americantaskforce.org/rss/wpr
[5] https://www.americantaskforce.org/civicrm/contribute/transact?reset=1&id=1
[6] http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2012-12/03/c_124040969.htm
[7] http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/u-s-angered-by-claim-that-new-building-at-e-1-aimed-at-obama-not-palestinians.premium-1.482197
[8] http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/04/world/middleeast/5-nations-summon-israeli-envoys-to-protest-settlement-plans.html?ref=middleeast&_r=0
[9] http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=544708
[10] http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/us-intensifies-criticism-of-israel-on-settlement-plan/
[11] http://www.statesman.com/ap/ap/top-news/israel-could-face-palestinian-war-crimes-charges/nTMKY/
[12] http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2012-12/04/c_124041021.htm
[13] http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/israel-arrests-settlers-suspected-of-wbank-attacks/
[14] http://www.statesman.com/ap/ap/defense/un-calls-on-israel-to-open-nuclear-facilities/nTMHr/
[15] http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=544620
[16] http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/un-chief-accuses-syria-of-violating-golan-accord-with-israel.premium-1.482199
[17] http://www.americantaskforce.org/in_media/pr/2012/12/03/1354510800
[18] http://www.nowlebanon.com/NewsArticleDetails.aspx?ID=463385
[19] http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/04/opinion/benjamin-netanyahus-strategic-mistake.html?ref=opinion
[20] http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/why-did-israel-kill-jabari.premium-1.482224
[21] http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/reckless-behavior-1.482221
[22] http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/netanyahu-s-missed-opportunity.premium-1.482223
[23] http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4314607,00.html
[24] http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Columnists/Article.aspx?id=294474
[25] http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/dec/03/middle-east-conflict-path-to-peace
[26] http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/dec/03/europe-chance-two-state-solution-reality
[27] http://forward.com/articles/166928/where-gaza-has-left-us/
[28] http://www.dailystar.com.lb/Opinion/Editorial/2012/Dec-04/197092-settling-reality.ashx#axzz2DzpBAqst
[29] http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2012/12/03/the_case_against_benjamin_netanyahu
[30] http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2012/al-monitor/netanyahutwostatesolution.html
[31] http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/12/03/bibi-is-bluffing-on-e1.html
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