UN Warns Israel Over Al-Quds Settlements

A new Israeli plan to build a new settlement in Al-Quds (occupied East Jerusalem) is inviting huge condemnations with the United Nations warning Israel that its actions deal deadly blows to peacemaking.
“The Secretary-General is deeply concerned at continued efforts to advance planning for new Israeli settlements in occupied East Jerusalem,” UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said in a press release late Friday, October 14, Reuters reported.
“Recent developments in this regard have been unacceptable, particularly as efforts are ongoing to resume (Israeli-Palestinian) negotiations, and run contrary to the Quartet’s call on the parties to refrain from provocations.”
Israel announced plans to build new 2,600 units in the Givat Hamatos settlement, nearly cutting off Arab neighborhoods of Al-Quds from West Bank communities.
The new units would be the first new Israeli settlement in occupied Al-Quds since the building of Har Homa settlement in 1997, which was approved by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during his first term in office.
If built, the project would make it harder to create a Palestinian state with contiguous borders and a capital in Al-Quds, Palestinians say.
The plans followed calls by the “Quartet” of Middle East peace negotiators, the United States, Russia, the European Union and UN, on Israel and the Palestinians to avoid provocative actions and urged them to resume stalled peace negotiations.
“The Secretary-General reiterates that settlement activity in East Jerusalem and the remainder of the West Bank is contrary to international law,” Ban said, adding such activity “must cease.”
The Israeli move came three weeks after Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas presented a request to the United Nations for full membership of a Palestinian state.
The request came after the collapse of the US-sponsored peace talks over Israel’s refusal to halt settlement building in the occupied West Bank.
There are more than 164 Jewish settlements in the West Bank, eating up more than 40 percent of the occupied West Bank.
The international community considers all settlements on the occupied land illegal.

Anger

The new settlement plan invited the anger of Israeli groups, who accused the government of killing all options for the two-state peace solution.
“This one is really bad,” Hagit Ofran of Peace Now, the Israeli anti-settlement group, told the Los Angeles Times on Saturday, October 15.
“This would block the potential of a two-state solution.”
According to Peace Now, the project would isolate the Palestinian communities of Beit Safafa and Shurafat, which are considered to be part of Al-Quds, from the West Bank city of Bethlehem.
It would be built on land that Israel now considers to be part of southern Jerusalem.
To mitigate criticism, the Givat Hamatos proposal might also clear the way for several hundred new housing units for Palestinians who own private land in the area.
As much as one-third of the project — or 900 of the 2,610 units — could be built as an expansion to the Palestinian community of Beit Safafa, Peace Now estimated.
However, history has proved that Palestinian units never materialize on the ground as Israel had promised to allow expanded Palestinian housing at Har Homa, but that those units were never built.
“It could be very hard for private Palestinian owners to get approval to build,” Ofran said.
“But even if they did, that would leave 1,700 units [for Jewish residents], which is still enough to destroy the two-state solution.”
Israel occupied the holy city in the 1967 war and later annexed it in a move not recognized by the international community or UN resolutions.
Since then, Israel has adopted a series of oppressive measures to force the Palestinians out of the city, including systematic demolition of their homes and building settlements.
Al-Quds is home to Al-Haram Al-Sharif, which includes Islam’s third holiest shrine Al-Aqsa Mosque, and represents the heart of the Arab-Israeli conflict.

Source: OnIslam & News Agencies