The israeli response to the Arab peace initiative: 20,000 new settlement units in occupied Jerusalem.
This is all illegal and it is criminal... and it is done solely because the American tax-payer finances it. No money = no additional illegal settlements = no additional conflict. If we look at the broader picture of the Arab/Israeli conflict, we might actually be able to say that the American tax-payer is financing the US's own downfall... because the Israeli/Palestinian conflict is now having repercussions directly on the US. Afghanistan..., Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, Iran... it is ALL related to the Palestinian problem and thus to Israel. The Zionist lobby will however do its utmost to always convince the Americans of otherwise... until the Middle East and United States are finally both destroyed.
http://www.wafa.ps/english/body.asp?id=10033
PLO Calls International Community to Stop Israeli Plan to Build new Illegal Neighbourhoods in Jerusalem
RAMALLAH, May 11, 2007, (WAFA)- Head of Negotiation Department at PLO, Dr Saeb Erikat, called on the international community to immediately intervene to curb an Israeli decision to build new three colonial neighbourhoods in the occupied East Jerusalem.
In separate letters to the EU envoy Mark Otté, Assistant US Secretary for Near Eastern Affairs David Welch, UN Secretary General Special Representative and ninety six representatives and ambassadors, Urikat a..called them to end the Israeli plan of building new (illegal) neighborhoods in the holy city.
Israeli colony plan, on building 20, 000 housing units on lands occupied in 1967, was approved by Jerusalem's municipality.
Israeli Haaretz newspaper quoted head of the municipality's planning committee Yehosua Pollak as saying the aim of establishing the new Jewish neighbourhoods was to form a geographical connection between Jerusalem and southern districts and Tel Aviv's colonies.
The plan was approved ten days ago, the paper added. The new plan will isolate Jerusalem from all Palestinian cities, including Ramallah, Bethlehem, and Jericho.
S.A.S. (20:12 P) (17:12 GMT)
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http://www.aljazeera.com/me.asp?service_ID=13375
Israel to build huge Jerusalem settlement
5/11/2007 9:00:00 AM GMT
The Israeli government plans to build three new Jewish neighborhoods in Arab East Jerusalem, an area considered occupied under international law.
The plan, under which 20,000 new homes would be built for Jewish settlers, is aimed at creating a contiguous Jewish residential area linking East Jerusalem with major West Bank settlement blocs, said Yehoshua Pollak, Jerusalem's deputy mayor.
Several months ago, the Jerusalem municipality canceled a similar plan to construct 20,000 homes on hills in the western part of Jerusalem following opposition by environmentalists.
"After (that) plan was scrapped, the city had to look for other alternatives to provide housing for its growing population," Pollak said.
According to Israel’s Haaretz newspaper, the plan still needs approval from other authorities; a process that could take several months.
Israel seized East Jerusalem in 1967, and annexed the area is 1981 in a move not recognized by the international community.
About 260,000 Jewish settlers and 2.5 million Palestinians live in the West Bank. The World Court has branded all Israeli settlements as illegal.
Moreover, settlement expansion and construction in the occupied West Bank violate a U.S.-backed Israeli-Palestinian peace plan known as the "road map", which calls for an independent state for the Palestinians.
Peace or settlements?
Denouncing the new Israeli plan, Palestinian chief negotiator, Saeb Erekat, said the move destroys efforts to resume the stalled peace process.
“The Israeli government must choose between settlements and peace. They can not have both,” Erekat said.
Jerusalem is one of the most obstacles to reaching a final peace agreement between the Israelis and the Palestinians.
Israel considers all of Jerusalem its eternal capital.
The Jewish state built its major settlement blocs on West Bank land just outside east Jerusalem, and says it would hold on to it in any final peace deal.
On the other hand, the Palestinians want East Jerusalem as the capital of any future Palestinian state. They fear the territory would never be split between them and the Israelis, making peace impossible.
-- AJP and Agencies
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http://www.france24.com/france24Public/en/administration/afp-news.html?i...
AFP News brief
UN 'concerned' about reported plans for Israeli settlement expansion
UN chief Ban Ki-moon is "concerned" about reports of plans for Israeli settlement expansion in East Jerusalem, his spokeswoman said here Friday.
"The Secretary General is concerned about the media reports of plans for new settlement construction in East Jerusalem," spokeswoman Michele Montas told a press briefing.
She said that Ban and his top advisers planned to raise the issue with "appropriate Israeli officials" and with the UN's partners in the diplomatic Quartet on Middle East peace -- the United States, the European Union and Russia.
"A halt to settlement expansion is one of the basic obligations" in the Quartet's so-called roadmap for peace, Montas added. The three-stage plan was issued by the Quartet in 2003 with the goal of creating a Palestinian state living side by side with Israel.
"Furthermore East Jerusalem is occupied territory, and its ultimate status is subject to negotiations between the parties," Montas noted.
Thursday, Israel's Haaretz daily disclosed plans to build three new Jewish neighborhoods around Jerusalem in the occupied West Bank sparking Palestinian condemnation.
The plan which foresees the construction of more than 20,000 housing units has been drawn up by a municipal committee and must still be approved by national authorities, the paper said.
Israel conquered east Jerusalem in the 1967 war and later annexed it. A dozen new neighborhoods have since been built there and house more than 200,000 Israelis. Another 245,000 Palestinians live in that part of the city.
News of the project follows a report that Israel is concerned by figures showing that, over the past decade, the number of Arabs living in Jerusalem has grown twice as fast as the city's Jewish population.