Abdul-Qader: U.S. stances weak, unable to stop illegal Israeli settlement expansion

Tuesday September 08, 2009 01:22 by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC & Agencies

Hatem Abdul-Qader, who is in charge of the Jerusalem file at the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah, reported Monday that the week stances of the United States are not enough to oblige Israel to stop its illegal settlement activities. 

Abdul-Qader added that the Arab states must transfer the file of settlement to the Security Council due to the ongoing Israeli violations. 

He also demanded the Palestinian Authority to stop the security coordination with Israel, and to refrain from holding any talks, on any level, with the country. 

His statements came after Israeli Defense Minister, Ehud Barak, approved the construction of 450 housing units in West Bank settlements.  

Also on Monday, Israel’s National Infrastructure Minister, Uzi Landau, slammed Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, for what he described as “partial plan to freeze settlement construction in the West Bank. 

Landau said that the “Palestinians are occupiers”, and added that any limits on settlement activities are violations of human rights.

His statement came as fundamental Israeli lawmaker and hundreds of fundamental settlers were ‘celebrating’ the establishment of a new illegal settlement, and a settler-only road linking the occupied East Jerusalem with illegal settlements in its suburbs. 

Israeli Supreme Court Judge, Eliyakim Rubenstein, and Information Minister, Yuli Edelstein, attended the illegal ceremony.

Mansi deplores illegal Israeli settlement expansion in Jerusalem and W. Bank

[ 08/09/2009 - 11:28 AM ]

GAZA, (PIC)--

Palestinian minister of public works and housing Dr. Yousuf Al-Mansi strongly denounced on Tuesday the Israeli persistence in expanding illegal settlements in occupied Jerusalem and the West Bank and its refusal to freeze settlement activities.

Dr. Mansi said that Israel flouted all agreements and treaties it signed with Palestinians and intensified its settlement activities in Jerusalem and the West Bank.

He warned that the resumption of settlement activities threatens the Palestinian housing sector and turns thousands of Palestinian dunums into Zionist housing units and settlements.

The minister underlined that the settlement activities in Jerusalem and the West Bank reflect Israeli  deep-seated hatred against Palestinians and confirm Israel’s racist policies.

In the same context, Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum stated in a press statement to the Palestinian information center (PIC) that the shy American attitudes demonstrated by US president Barack Obama emboldened Israel to persist in its dangerous settlement projects.

Barhoum urged the Arab countries to use more forceful language against the Zionist entity to force it to stop its dangerous practices in Palestine.

The spokesman noted that the Zionist entity is working on isolating the holy city of Jerusalem through obliterating its Arab and Islamic landmarks and streets and making a demographic change in favor of the Jews.

He stressed that the policy of double standards pursued by the international community conferred legitimacy on the criminal Zionist entity and denied it to the rightful owners of the occupied Palestinian land, adding that this unjust policy is the cause of all problems in the world and the main reason for Israel’s crimes against the Palestinian people.

Illegal Israeli settlers hold 'groundbreaking ceremony' for major new settlement in East Jerusalem

Tuesday September 08, 2009 02:04 by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC News

A few Israeli protesters from the group 'Peace Now' were the only visible opposition to a gathering of hundreds of extreme rightwing illegal Israeli settlers, government ministers and Knesset (Parliament) members who carried out a groundbreaking ceremony Monday, under the protection and with the full support of the Israeli police, of a planned new settlement called Mevaseret Adumim.

The group included many prominent politicians and members of the current Israeli government administration, who said that they would continue construction and expansion of settlements on Palestinian land despite any negotiated agreement, international law, or US pressure.

Some of those who attended the ceremony were Ministers Daniel Hershkowitz (Habayit Hayehudi) and Uzi Landau (Yisrael Beitenu), as well as Knesset Members Danny Danon (Likud), Zeev Elkin (Likud) and Uri Orbach (Habayit Hayehudi).  Those who led the ceremony promised that the groundbreaking was just a beginning, and that the settlement they plan to construct on the land will "soon become a reality".

In fact, the Israeli government has invested some 200 million NIS ($50 million USD) into infrastructure and planning of the settlement in question as part of the so-called 'E1 corridor', beginning in 1999.  This corridor would encircle East Jerusalem with Israeli settlements, thereby displacing the nearly 500,000 Palestinian residents and excluding them from the city of their birth.

Monday's ceremony came at the same time as an announcement by the Israeli Defense Minister, Ehud Barak, that 500 new units would be allowed to be constructed before the implementation of a six-month 'hold' on settlement construction meant to please the US government.  The planning, design, and infrastructure development for new settlements would continue throughout the six-month long hold.

Israeli occupation government defense minister to allow settlement expansion settlers say it's not enough

Monday September 07, 2009 11:23 by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC News

The Israeli occupation government defense minister, Ehud Barak, is scheduled to announce that he will allow the expansion of Israeli settlements in the West Bank (all of them are illegal) by several hundred units before implementing a temporary six-month hold on further expansion. But Israeli settlers, who live on Palestinian territory in contravention of international law, have called the plan a 'mockery', arguing that they should have a right to expand without restrictions.

Barak said that he will allow 500 new housing units to be built mainly in Har Gilo, Maaleh Adumim, and Givat Zeev, before imposing a brief moratorium on expansion.
 
Israeli police approved a ceremony by settlers inaugurating a new settlement, Mevaseret Adumim, which will consist of 3 -5,000 new housing units constructed on Palestinian land in East Jerusalem. The settlement was initially approved by the Israeli government in 1999 as part of the 'E1 Plan' to encircle East Jerusalem with Israeli settlements in order to displace the indigenous Palestinian population of East Jerusalem and create 'facts on the ground' that will supercede any negotiations between the Israeli government and the Palestinian Authority.
 
Plans for Mevaseret Adumim and dozens of other East Jerusalem settlements have continued since the E1 plan was introduced, including the investment of tens of millions of dollars in the development of roads and infrastructure, as well as the planning, researching and designing of housing developments.
 
According to Shaul Arieli, who has documented the Israeli government's E1 Plan, “Israel envisions a road plan for the area that includes: Constructing a road connecting Ramallah and Bethlehem that bypasses East Jerusalem (NIS 120 million-worth of which has been constructed before works were halted, while the other half, known as trans-Ezzariyeh, is pending an Israeli High Court of Justice ruling); Constructing the southern 'Ma’ale Adumim Bypass' for Palestinians, who would subsequently be prevented from using Road 1 (The [Israeli military]’s Central Command chief approved the expropriations orders for the road [in 2007]); Construction of Mevaseret Adumim (E-1); and the completion of Israel’s barrier in a political, rather than security, trajectory. (The southern part of route is pending an Israeli High Court of Justice ruling.)”
 
The municipal governments of a number of Israeli settlements have complained that the Israeli government has prevented them from expanding as much as they would like to, and are now criticizing Barak's announcement that 500 new units will be allowed. They argue that tens of thousands of new units should be allowed right now, with many more to come, in order to allow their settlements to expand.
 
All Israeli settlements are constructed on Palestinian land seized by military force from the indigenous Palestinian population, and are thus considered illegal under international law and the Fourth Geneva Convention, to which Israel is a signatory.