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ISRAEL TODAY REVEALED to build 3,000 settler homes in east Jerusalem and the West Bank in response to a historic UN vote recognising Palestine as a non-member state.
A senior PLO official decried the move as an act of aggression “against a state” and called on the international community to act.
In the landmark Thursday vote in New York, the United Nations General Assembly overwhelmingly backed a resolution recognising Palestine within the 1967 borders as a non-member observer state.
It was a major diplomatic coup for the Palestinians but a stinging slap in the face for Israel, which had lobbied hard against it, arguing that it would cripple peace hopes.
Reports of the decision to build the 3,000 housing units in response to the UN vote emerged on Friday afternoon, with an official source confirming it to AFP.
“It’s true,” he said, without specifying exactly where.
Media reports said some construction would be in a highly contentious area of the West Bank known as E1, a corridor that runs between the easternmost edge of annexed east Jerusalem and the Maaleh Adumim settlement.
“It is an act of Israeli aggression against a state, and the world needs to take up its responsibilities,” PLO official Hanan Ashrawi told AFP.
“What was announced today is just part of a comprehensive settlement plan,” she said.
Palestinians bitterly oppose the E1 project, as it effectively cuts the occupied West Bank in two, north to south, and makes the creation of a viable Palestinian state highly problematic.
The Palestinians want east Jerusalem as capital of their state and vigorously oppose expansion plans for Maaleh Adumim, which lies five kilometres (three miles) from the city’s eastern edge.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that by going to the UN, the Palestinians had “violated” previous agreements with Israel, such as the 1993 Oslo Accords, and that his country would “act accordingly.”
A report on the Ynet news website said the latest construction decision was taken by Netanyahu’s inner circle, the Forum of Nine, on Thursday.
‘Unilateral initiatives’
Earlier on Friday, Deputy Prime Minister Silvan Shalom mooted the idea of building in E1 as a response to the UN move.
“Israel can also take unilateral initiatives such as applying Israeli sovereignty in the territories or connecting Maaleh Adumim and Jerusalem,” he told public radio.
Linking the settlement and the city is an idea espoused by hardliners within Netanyahu’s rightwing Likud party but strongly opposed by Washington.
Israel has long feared that if the Palestinians won the rank of a UN non-member state, they could pursue the Jewish state for war crimes at the International Criminal Court in The Hague — particularly over settlement.
Two days before the UN vote, Palestinian UN envoy Riyad Mansour warned that if Israel continued “to illegally build settlements — which is a war crime from the point of view of the ICC and the Rome statute — then we will consult with all of our friends, including the Europeans, to (ask) them what should we do next to bring Israel into compliance” with UN resolutions.
With their newly acquired status, the Palestinians now have access to a range of UN agencies as well as to the ICC, but officials said they had no plans to immediately petition the tribunal.
“If Israel refrains from settlement activities and so on… there’s no immediate pressing reason to do that. If Israel persists in its violations, then certainly it will have to face accountability,” Ashrawi said on Wednesday.
Friday’s decision to build more settler homes was denounced by Peace Now, Israel’s settlement watchdog.
“Instead of punishing the Palestinians, this government is punishing Israel by making peace harder to achieve and showing that Israel does not want peace,” said Hagit Ofran. “That is very dangerous.”
Arab east Jerusalem was captured by Israel with the rest of the West Bank in the 1967 Six Day War and later annexed in a move not recognised by the international community.
Israel considers all of Jerusalem as its “eternal, indivisible” capital, and does not view construction in the eastern sector to be settlement activity.
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47! Wow I didn’t realise it was that many. RIP all very brave men
Most people don’t. ….but will quiet happily post comments slagging off or putting down our Defence Forces.
Good to hear.
In fairness though the Lebanese government only has delicate control of the country, don’t have a monopoly on military power and in a country of 4 million they have a million refugees.
Very difficult for them to resolve the issue.
..I would love to see our own president do more for the DF, he is rarely seen promoting the service & I’m almost pretty sure he hasn’t yet visited any of our troops overseas since his inauguration..
David the SLA was controlled and directed by Israel, they also killed thousands of Lebanese citizens, so I have no doubt the Lebanese government is serious about doing everything in their power to assist the Irish government.
About time …it was a case of shoot any Irish soldier they could get there hands on.
…it was a case of shoot any Irish soldier they could get there hands on.”
Such is the nature of war.
One of the chief suspects was arrested in us a few months ago where he was working as an icecream man after claiming asylum. Never heard what happened to him after though
He was allowed to immigrate to the USA because he was a member of the SLA, an Israeli controlled Paramilitary. The US authorities knew where he was all along but where reluctant to act because of his connection with Israel. He was deported back to Lebanon recently because of a campaign by Irish army veterans who managed to embarrass the US government in the media.
Boganity Brazzi is still being held in he US and has been for a number of months while they wait for the final part of the deportation process to complete. Minister Coveney met with Lebanese government to gain assurance that once he is deported back they will take action against him.
Proud to have marched with my comrades for this fight for justice.
Apologies, I thought they had already deported him. That March on the US embassy sent a powerful message, marching up in formation and standing to attention in front of the embassy in complete silence, was so different to the usual rowdy demonstrations that US embassy’s are used to meant it stood out and would have been noticed at the highest levels in Washington.
Our boys and girls are at serious risk due to Iran having armed Hizbullah to the teeth with long and short range missiles which are in tunnels right under where the UN has positioned our troops. Perhaps Mr Coveney could persuade his Lebanese counterparts to disarm these terrorists or else take our people out of the unnecessary danger they have been put in.
Such an evolved hu-man race that still use war and weapons to kill others.
Behind both sides is the unseen hand which few people know of.
There’s no conspiracy in war, war is just a testament to the brilliance of nature and it’s process of natural selection. It’s natures way of ensuring the hairless-monkey sitting at the top of the food chain has a predator. Nature has deemed that, in the absence of any other predator, the hairless-monkey is its own predator. These brave Irish soldiers risking their lives on UN peace keeping missions are part of the process of rising above that.
Uncle Mort just curious…how much are Mossad paying their internet trolls these days ?
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