ISRAEL will build more houses in occupied Palestine

[Drawn_Sword_of_God]

Israel approves 1,100 settler homes in Gilo, Jerusalem

Israel has approved the construction of 1,100 homes in the Jewish settlement of Gilo on the outskirts of Jerusalem.

The move comes days after Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas called for full UN membership for a Palestinian state.

The US has repeatedly urged Israel to stop building settlements on occupied Palestinian land.

Almost 500,000 Jews live in settlements on occupied territory. The settlements are illegal under international law, though Israel disputes this.

US-brokered peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians are deadlocked over the issue of Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.

The latest plan includes the construction of small housing units, public buildings, a school and an industrial zone, according to the Ynet news website.

"It's a nice gift for Rosh Hashanah [Jewish New Year]," Yair Gabay, a member of the Jerusalem planning committee, told Ynet.

The authorities have now approved the building of almost 3,000 homes in Gilo over the past two years.

The US and United Nations criticised earlier announcements of building projects.

Israel built the settlement at Gilo on land it captured in 1967. It later annexed the area to the Jerusalem municipality in a move not recognised by the international community.

Israel says it does not consider areas within the Jerusalem municipality to be settlements.

Gilo lies across a narrow valley from the Palestinian village of Beit Jala. It became a target for militants during the second Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation in 2000.

LINK: BBC News - Israel approves 1,100 settler homes in Gilo, Jerusalem

---------- Post added at 07:48 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:46 PM ----------

This is peace loving nation that claims to be a democracy

 

[Birbal]

This is punishment against the Palestinians for trying to gain UN recognition.

You can't negotiate with countries like Israel. You have to use force against them.

 

[TARIQ BN ZIYAAD]

Israelies know only one language that is force, no matter how many houses they built and how many ppl they kill

this zionist state is gonna go at end

TARIQ

 

[Solomon2]

Almost 500,000 Jews live in settlements on occupied territory. The settlements are illegal under international law, though Israel disputes this.

A lot of fun can be had trying to pin down various diplomats on what makes the settlements "illegal". After all, the British Mandate set aside the whole of Palestine for Jewish settlement, at first on privately-purchased land and later on state lands. That included the empty lands around Jerusalem, and of course lands owned by Jews before 1947 when they were forcibly evicted by the Jordanian Army. (Jordan's annexation of the West Bank was rejected by all countries save Pakistan and Britain as illegal, and ultimately the Jordanians withdrew their claim, leaving Pakistan red-faced. The West Bank remains under the system of the British Mandate.)

 

[Last Hope]

They are bastards. Israelis are as big of a bastard as the creation of Israel was.

They are gonna make this over lives of innocent Phalestianians, over their resources, blood and money.
Hope they get hit by string of attacks by the freedom fighters, fighting for their motherland, rights, peace and livelihood.

Oh wait, terrorists, thats the word you use right? Lame.

 

[HZR2011]

Good work!!! Nice move Israel..

Just my opinion..

 

[fd24]

Glad you see the hardship of others as hardship. Go and read this zion lover.

Legal interpretation of the demolition of homes in the Occupied Palestinian Territories

You are being found out by the rest. You are liars thieves and of course dont forget lowest form of........(you know the rest

 

[karan.1970]

Just so that I understand it better, what real problems do these settlements create for Palestinians ?? Honest question, since I dont have much knowledge about that part of the world..

 

[Solomon2]

Sk, it's way too biased an account. Most of the resolutions cited don't back up the author's claims. Israel demolishes the homes of terrorists or the homes of illegal settlers, both Arab and Jewish. The number of homes demolished is way too small to be an instrument of ethnic cleansing, as claimed in the article.

I note that the Pakistani Army not only demolishes the homes of terrorists but the homes of those harboring them AND their relatives (ref: PBS documentary earlier this year, discussed here at PDF). Israel is much more merciful - or perhaps less thorough? - than that.

 

[fd24]

Just so that I understand it better, what real problems do these settlements create for Palestinians ?? Honest question, since I dont have much knowledge about that part of the world..

The White House yesterday expressed exasperation with Israel over a plan to build 900 new houses on the West Bank at a time when Barack Obama is trying to broker a Middle East peace agreement.

Although Obama is mainly focused on a tour of south-east Asia, the White House took time out to express disappointment over approval of the new houses at Gilo, a controversial settlement on the outskirts of east Jerusalem.

It is politically risky for Israel to snub Obama so publicly. The White House has been pressing Israel for at least a week not to take this course of action. The White House spokesman, Robert Gibbs, said it was "dismayed" by the decision. "At a time when we are working to relaunch negotiations, these actions make it more difficult for our efforts to succeed," he said.

Obama brought together the Israeli leader, Binyamin Netanyahu, and his Palestinian counterpart, Mahmoud Abbas, in New York in September but failed to secure the restart of negotiations. Abbas said he would not enter negotiations while Israel continued to build settlements on the West Bank. The Jerusalem municipal planning committee approved the Gilo expansion yesterday.

The Palestinians denounced the move as a provocation. Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said: "We condemn this in the strongest possible terms. It shows that it is meaningless to resume negotiations when this goes on."

Since the failure to secure a resumption of talks in September, Obama, US secretary of state Hillary Clinton and Middle East special envoy George Mitchell have been working to close the gap between the two sides.

The Palestinians want a complete freeze on settlement construction first while Netanyahu has offered a temporary freeze, excluding 2,500 houses he insists are already in the pipeline. The Gilo expansion is in addition to those.

Jerusalem and settlements are key sticking points in Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. Israel captured east Jerusalem in 1967. It insists that east Jerusalem is part of Israel and rejects efforts to restrict building there. Palestinians consider the Jewish neighbourhoods there to be settlements.

In a statement, Netanyahu's office defended the plan. "This concerns a routine procedure of the district planning commission," it said. "The neighbourhood of Gilo is an integral part of Jerusalem."

Although the Obama administration has been more critical of Israel than the Bush administration and has expressed disapproval of settlement expansion in the West Bank, a reprimand such as yesterday's is still relatively rare.

The US state department expressed its disapproval yesterday and the White House could have chosen to leave it at that but opted instead to join the criticism.

Gibbs, reflecting White House unhappiness, said: "Neither party should engage in efforts or take actions that could unilaterally pre-empt, or appear to pre-empt, negotiations.

"The US also objects to other Israeli practices in Jerusalem related to housing, including the continuing pattern of evictions and demolitions of Palestinian homes. Our position is clear: the status of Jerusalem is a permanent status issue that must be resolved through negotiations between the parties."

Although Gilo is on the Palestinian side of the 1967 Green Line, the border before that year's war, Israel claims it is not on the West Bank so is not a settlement.

The Palestinians want east Jerusalem as their capital.

On Friday, Gibbs had expressed regret over reports of the new construction, saying Obama did not accept the legitimacy of continued settlement expansion.

Britain also criticised the plan yesterday. The Foreign Office said: "The foreign secretary has been very clear that a credible deal involves Jerusalem as a shared capital. Expanding settlements on occupied land in east Jerusalem makes that deal much harder. So this decision on Gilo is wrong and we oppose it."

US 'dismay' at Israel over Gilo plan | World news | The Guardian

This act by Israel is simply putting up 2 fingers at the world and in particular Palestine

 

[Solomon2]

Just so that I understand it better, what real problems do these settlements create for Palestinians ?? Honest question, since I dont have much knowledge about that part of the world..

As I understand it, private Arab land is sometimes seized - under the usual "eminent domain" rules common in most countries - for roads. And the security situation has meant checkpoints, but the number of these is declining as matters improve.

The basic Arab objection to Jewish settlement has been the same for a century: Al Yahud Kelabna - "The Jews are our dogs!" It is Arab racism, pure, simple, unadulterated, and murderous. This, not "Islam", is what Pakistanis are endorsing when they join with Arab rejectionists to advocate the genocide of Israel's Jews.

 

[karan.1970]

US 'dismay' at Israel over Gilo plan | World news | The Guardian

This act by Israel is simply putting up 2 fingers at the world and in particular Palestine

so its more of a diplomatic and political problem than being a real one for common Palestinians ?

 

[fd24]

Now karen.1970 - Brother you have an answer from both sides of the argument.^^^ You have a think which one suggests an aggressive act, in particular with the timing of this announcement. Thanks

 

[Birbal]

The Israeli regime is fascist. Plain and simple.

 

[PteX]

What part of "Jerusalem is the one, undivided capital of Israel" did you not understand?
Jerusalem will never be divided, ever.

I`d suggest you deal with it.