Israel Authorizes Controversial New Settlements in Revenge for Palestine’s UN Bid
The location of the new settlements are intended to break the contiguity of Palestinian territory in the West Bank, negating two-state solution
Following the overwhelming UN vote for implicit recognition of Palestinian statehood, Israel has authorized the construction of 3,000 more housing units in East Jerusalem and the West Bank and is also speeding up the processing of 1,000 additional planning permissions.
According to the New York Times, the bulk of the new housing units are set to be built “in a controversial area of East Jerusalem known as E1, where Jewish settlements have long been seen as the death knell for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.”
Other parts of the construction projects will connect Jerusalem and the illegal Jewish settlement of Maale Adumim, and “therefore make it impossible to connect the Palestinian cities of Ramallah and Bethlehem to Palestinian neighborhoods of East Jerusalem.”
Connecting Jerusalem to Maale Adumim “will create geographical continuity between the capital and its northern suburb, a move that the US and European countries have warned against,” Haaretz reported.
The Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has refused to comment on the decision, but many observers view it as a deliberate impediment to the the two-state solution, in revenge for the Palestinians’ peaceful diplomatic efforts to national self-determination at the UN, which was supported by an overwhelming international consensus.
Israel, and especially the administration of Benjamin Netanyahu, simply refuses to accept a Palestinian state. Their efforts, including this latest settlement authorization, to colonize Palestinian territory and undermine the viability of a Palestinian state is representative of their refusal to give up the prospect of a Greater Israel with full sovereignty over all of historic Palestine.
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Jan Burton
November 30th, 2012 at 1:46 pm
What's the difference? Israel has been stealing the land for decades. All they did was speed it up a tad.
Ultimately it will be Israel's own desire for liebensraum – and the resulting demographic shifts – that will be her undoing.
Cause of Israel's death: suicide.
persnipoles
November 30th, 2012 at 2:20 pm
85-4[...]the following shall be regarded as grave breaches of this Protocol, when committed willfully and in violation of the Conventions or the Protocol:
85-4 (a) the transfer by the Occupying Power of parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies, or the deportation or transfer of all or parts of the population of the occupied territory within or outside this territory, in violation of Article 49 of the Forth Convention. [...]
85-5 Without prejudice to the application of the Conventions and of this Protocol, grave breaches of these instruments shall be regarded as war crimes.
mojo
November 30th, 2012 at 3:23 pm
The last chance for the world to act and act accordingly, boycott Israel by all means, political and economic, there is no other language that Israel will understand then the language of their own. Let them feel how it feels when they take the freedom of Palestinians, how it feels when they let people in Gaza starve and be humiliated.
the Lion
November 30th, 2012 at 5:20 pm
One could be wondering whether the Israelies are going on a building spree FOR the Palestinians!
Ben_C
November 30th, 2012 at 6:41 pm
I'm not entirely sure what the 'issue' is Glaser…this sounds like just another one of Israel's various "humanitarian" 'missions'… I'm just amazed Israel isn't already overextended with the philanthropic projects they're currently involved in…and even capable of taking on 'new' "causes"…
"…
(Ehud) Barak said there is an “urgent need ” to topple Syrian President Assad’s regime.
“It’s criminal behavior on a global scale, what he’s doing to his own people, using jet fighters and helicopters and artillery and tanks, killing his own people. The whole world is watching,” he said.
…"
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2012/11/leon…
What's next? Remodeling Iran's nuclear facilities and military bases…100% covered by the Israeli taxpayers…possibly even partnering with the US? Will it ever end?
Jerk
November 30th, 2012 at 7:58 pm
It's less offensive to the international community when you commit your genocides slowly in response to periodic false flags.
Walter Cole
November 30th, 2012 at 11:44 pm
What´s next is for the Palestinians to bring Israel to the International Criminal Court, where they are very long overdue.
Otto
December 1st, 2012 at 12:16 am
NACISTS
tadzio308
December 1st, 2012 at 12:58 am
Shovel Ready Genocide.
richard vajs
December 1st, 2012 at 5:09 am
I fail to see how Jewish settlements on Palestine land should stop a just "two-state" division. Just enforce the 1967 borders and let the chips fall where they may. The illegal "settlements" will all be in Palestine and the inhabitants will have to be Palestinian citizens – paying Palestinian taxes, obeying Palestinian laws, etc. If the "settlers" insist upon being Israeli citizens, they should be allowed to move to where their hearts are. (However, Good Luck on getting a good price on the old homestead without a legal title to the stolen land).
persnipoles
December 1st, 2012 at 9:12 am
I wonder if that's part of the draw into 'settlements' -what are prices like?
Danigo
December 1st, 2012 at 11:05 am
It's not revenge. It's just part of the plan to squease all the Palestinians out of Israel. This is what Zionism is all about. Nothing new. If no one can stand up to Israel it will go on. The real question is why don't the Israelis leave? They cannot be proud of what they are doing. How can they enjoy seeing all those repulsive pictures? Like looking into a mirror and wondering who is it?
richard vajs
December 1st, 2012 at 11:25 am
From what I understand, the State of Israel subsidizes construction there, and of course – the land is FREE. A lot of the "settlers" are fresh off the plane from some Eastern European Hellhole like Odessa. They newcomers are basically told "Welcome to your ancestral home – now go out and steal you a piece of it – once you wipe out all of the Arabs, then we'll burden you with a mortgage." Also homesteads in the Occupied Territories are larger and less congested than in Tel Aviv. A settler family" can have their own swimming pool, while the Palestinians get polluted water.
Sabah
December 1st, 2012 at 12:38 pm
Palestine can join the Rome Statute for the International Criminal Court and file a Complaint with the ICC against the illegal settlements and settlers, who are committing war crimes.
Palestine can join the Statute for the International Court of Justice, sue Israel at the World Court, and break the illegal siege of Gaza.
Palestine can join the Law of the Sea Convention and get its fair share of the enormous gas fields lying off the coast of Gaza, thus becoming economically self-sufficient.
Palestine can join the International Civil Aviation Organization and gain sovereign, legal control over its own airspace.
Guest
December 1st, 2012 at 1:40 pm
Actually COD – hubris.
shira
December 1st, 2012 at 4:27 pm
With American & Canadian help they have shown the world the finger and can anyone do anything about that. Guest
Augustbrhm
December 1st, 2012 at 4:45 pm
Go to the head of theclass "bright boy"and with yankee taxpayers money.
Andrewp111
December 1st, 2012 at 8:01 pm
3000 houses is just a token amount, enough to tweak the noses of their opponents.
Eventually, Israel has to expel the Palestinians. When the "Arab Spring" reaches Jordan and overthrows the King, there will be a convenient place to deport them to. I think this is Israel's plan.
Andrewp111
December 1st, 2012 at 8:03 pm
This won't work unless they arrest key Israelis first. Any Israeli official or settler would be a fool to travel to a country that belongs to the ICC, especially in Europe.
John Watson
December 1st, 2012 at 8:46 pm
There is only one solution: one State and it can only be Palestinian.
As for the Zionists, since the US and Canada and Germany too, it would seem, love the so much, they could very well welcome them and look after them.