SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
Israel OKs 1100 New Buildings in East Jerusalem
Construction of 1,100 housing units cleared, despite Palestinian demands for settlement freeze to renew peace talks.
Sep 27, 2011
Israel's government has granted the go-ahead for construction of 1,100 new housing units in illegally occupied east Jerusalem, raising already heightened tensions fuelled by last week's Palestinian move to seek full UN membership.
Israel's interior ministry said on Tuesday that the homes would be built in Gilo, a Jewish enclave in southeast Jerusalem. It said construction could begin after a mandatory 60-day period for public comment, a process that is largely a formality.
The Palestinians claim east Jerusalem as their future capital. They have demanded that Israel halt all settlement construction in east Jerusalem and the adjacent occupied West Bank - territories captured and illegally occupied by Israel since1967 - as a condition for resuming peace talks.
Israel says all of Jerusalem, home to Jewish, Muslim and Christian holy sites, is part of its capital and will not be divided.
Saeb Erekat, the chief Palestinian negotiator, swiftly condemned the Israeli decision, saying it amounted to "1,100 no's to the resumption of peace talks."
He urged the United States, Israel's closest and most important ally, to change its position and support the Palestinians in their quest for UN membership.
With peace talks stalled for the past three years, the Palestinians last week asked the UN to recognise an independent Palestinian state in the West Bank, east Jerusalem and Gaza Strip.
The US opposes the measure and has vowed to veto the request in the Security Council. Like Israel, the US says a Palestinian state can only be established through negotiations.
In an interview published Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said he would not freeze settlement construction again.
Speaking to the Jerusalem Post, he said that a 10-month moratorium on new construction last year failed to yield results. He said he saw no need for another freeze.
Netanyahu says negotiations should begin without any preconditions.
'Counterproductive'
The European Union's chief diplomat on Tuesday lamented Israel's green-light to expand the Gilo settlement and urged the government to reverse its decision.
"It is with deep regret that I learned today about the decision to advance in the plans for settlement expansion in east Jerusalem, with new housing units in Gilo," said Catherine Ashton, EU foreign policy chief.
"This plan should be reversed. Settlement activity threatens the viability of an agreed two-state solution and runs contrary to the Israeli-stated commitment to resume negotiations," Ashton told the European parliament.
She recalled that the Quartet of Middle East peacemakers - the EU, Russia, the UN and the US - have pleaded with Israelis and Palestinians to "refrain from provocative actions" if talks are to resume.
Richard Miron, spokesman for UN Mideast envoy Robert Serry, said the Israeli decision was "very concerning'' and ignored the Quartet's appeal.
"This sends the wrong signal at this sensitive time,'' he said.
Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton, US secretary of state, called Israel's decision to expand its settlement "counterproductive".
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Israel's government has granted the go-ahead for construction of 1,100 new housing units in illegally occupied east Jerusalem, raising already heightened tensions fuelled by last week's Palestinian move to seek full UN membership.
Israel's interior ministry said on Tuesday that the homes would be built in Gilo, a Jewish enclave in southeast Jerusalem. It said construction could begin after a mandatory 60-day period for public comment, a process that is largely a formality.
The Palestinians claim east Jerusalem as their future capital. They have demanded that Israel halt all settlement construction in east Jerusalem and the adjacent occupied West Bank - territories captured and illegally occupied by Israel since1967 - as a condition for resuming peace talks.
Israel says all of Jerusalem, home to Jewish, Muslim and Christian holy sites, is part of its capital and will not be divided.
Saeb Erekat, the chief Palestinian negotiator, swiftly condemned the Israeli decision, saying it amounted to "1,100 no's to the resumption of peace talks."
He urged the United States, Israel's closest and most important ally, to change its position and support the Palestinians in their quest for UN membership.
With peace talks stalled for the past three years, the Palestinians last week asked the UN to recognise an independent Palestinian state in the West Bank, east Jerusalem and Gaza Strip.
The US opposes the measure and has vowed to veto the request in the Security Council. Like Israel, the US says a Palestinian state can only be established through negotiations.
In an interview published Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said he would not freeze settlement construction again.
Speaking to the Jerusalem Post, he said that a 10-month moratorium on new construction last year failed to yield results. He said he saw no need for another freeze.
Netanyahu says negotiations should begin without any preconditions.
'Counterproductive'
The European Union's chief diplomat on Tuesday lamented Israel's green-light to expand the Gilo settlement and urged the government to reverse its decision.
"It is with deep regret that I learned today about the decision to advance in the plans for settlement expansion in east Jerusalem, with new housing units in Gilo," said Catherine Ashton, EU foreign policy chief.
"This plan should be reversed. Settlement activity threatens the viability of an agreed two-state solution and runs contrary to the Israeli-stated commitment to resume negotiations," Ashton told the European parliament.
She recalled that the Quartet of Middle East peacemakers - the EU, Russia, the UN and the US - have pleaded with Israelis and Palestinians to "refrain from provocative actions" if talks are to resume.
Richard Miron, spokesman for UN Mideast envoy Robert Serry, said the Israeli decision was "very concerning'' and ignored the Quartet's appeal.
"This sends the wrong signal at this sensitive time,'' he said.
Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton, US secretary of state, called Israel's decision to expand its settlement "counterproductive".
Israel's government has granted the go-ahead for construction of 1,100 new housing units in illegally occupied east Jerusalem, raising already heightened tensions fuelled by last week's Palestinian move to seek full UN membership.
Israel's interior ministry said on Tuesday that the homes would be built in Gilo, a Jewish enclave in southeast Jerusalem. It said construction could begin after a mandatory 60-day period for public comment, a process that is largely a formality.
The Palestinians claim east Jerusalem as their future capital. They have demanded that Israel halt all settlement construction in east Jerusalem and the adjacent occupied West Bank - territories captured and illegally occupied by Israel since1967 - as a condition for resuming peace talks.
Israel says all of Jerusalem, home to Jewish, Muslim and Christian holy sites, is part of its capital and will not be divided.
Saeb Erekat, the chief Palestinian negotiator, swiftly condemned the Israeli decision, saying it amounted to "1,100 no's to the resumption of peace talks."
He urged the United States, Israel's closest and most important ally, to change its position and support the Palestinians in their quest for UN membership.
With peace talks stalled for the past three years, the Palestinians last week asked the UN to recognise an independent Palestinian state in the West Bank, east Jerusalem and Gaza Strip.
The US opposes the measure and has vowed to veto the request in the Security Council. Like Israel, the US says a Palestinian state can only be established through negotiations.
In an interview published Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said he would not freeze settlement construction again.
Speaking to the Jerusalem Post, he said that a 10-month moratorium on new construction last year failed to yield results. He said he saw no need for another freeze.
Netanyahu says negotiations should begin without any preconditions.
'Counterproductive'
The European Union's chief diplomat on Tuesday lamented Israel's green-light to expand the Gilo settlement and urged the government to reverse its decision.
"It is with deep regret that I learned today about the decision to advance in the plans for settlement expansion in east Jerusalem, with new housing units in Gilo," said Catherine Ashton, EU foreign policy chief.
"This plan should be reversed. Settlement activity threatens the viability of an agreed two-state solution and runs contrary to the Israeli-stated commitment to resume negotiations," Ashton told the European parliament.
She recalled that the Quartet of Middle East peacemakers - the EU, Russia, the UN and the US - have pleaded with Israelis and Palestinians to "refrain from provocative actions" if talks are to resume.
Richard Miron, spokesman for UN Mideast envoy Robert Serry, said the Israeli decision was "very concerning'' and ignored the Quartet's appeal.
"This sends the wrong signal at this sensitive time,'' he said.
Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton, US secretary of state, called Israel's decision to expand its settlement "counterproductive".
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.
To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good.
News & Opinion
Trending
Common Dreams, Inc. Founded 1997. Registered 501(c3) Non-Profit
Privacy Policy