EDITOR: Illegal? Really?
The UN has just discovered that Israeli demolishing and building in East Jerusalem is illegal… Well, they only done it for 43 years, which you would have thought is enough time for the UN to find out about this? Maybe not enough for the UN.
UN chief says East Jerusalem demolition plan ‘illegal’: BBC
The demolition plans are strongly opposed by the Palestinians
UN chief Ban Ki-moon has said the plan to demolish Palestinian homes in East Jerusalem to make way for a tourist park is illegal and unhelpful.
On Monday Jerusalem City Council approved the plan to demolish 22 Palestinian homes in Silwan – part of a major redevelopment of the area.
The move has drawn criticism both at home and from the Obama administration.
Mr Ban said the plan was “contrary to international law” and “unhelpful” to efforts to restart peace negotiations.
The scheme is still in an initial stage.
Settlement activity
“The Secretary-General is deeply concerned about the decision by the Jerusalem municipality to advance planning for house demolitions and further settlement activity in the area of Silwan,” Mr Ban’s office said in a statement.
Israel’s government had a “responsibility to ensure provocative steps [were] not taken” that would heighten tensions in the city, he said.
On Tuesday, the US State Department criticised the move, saying it undermined trust and increased the risk of violence.
Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak also criticised Jerusalem’s municipality for “bad timing” and poor “common sense”.
Under the plan, 22 Palestinian homes would be demolished to make room for an Israeli archaeological park. Another 66 buildings constructed without Israeli permission would be legalised.
Israel has come under international pressure over its settlement plans in East Jerusalem, including the construction of 1,600 housing units in a Jewish neighbourhood there.
Under international law the area is occupied territory. Palestinians want East Jerusalem as the capital of a future state.
UN urges Israel to rethink East Jerusalem construction plans: Haaretz
Secretary-General calls move to raze Arab homes in Silwan ‘unhelpful’ and ‘contrary to international law.’
The United Nations late Wednesday called Israel’s plan to demolish Arab homes in East Jerusalem for the purpose of settlement construction “unhelpful” and “contrary to international law.”
“The Secretary-General is deeply concerned about the decision by the Jerusalem municipality to advance planning for house demolitions and further settlement activity in the area of Silwan,” UN Chief Ban Ki-moon’s press office said in a statement. “The planned moves are contrary to international law, and to the wishes of Palestinian residents.”
Ban’s remarks came days after the municipality approved preliminary plans to demolish 22 Palestinian homes in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan as part of an initiative to build a recreational area there. The U.S. State Department criticized the decision, calling it the kind of step that undermines the trust fundamental to progress in the proximity talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.
“The secretary-general reminds the Israeli government of its responsibility to ensure provocative steps are not taken which would heighten tensions in the city,” added Ban’s statement. “The current moves are unhelpful, coming at a time when the goal must be to build trust to support political negotiations.”
Earlier Wednesday, Israeli right-wing groups threatened to forcibly evict four Palestinian families they claim are living on property belonging to Jews in the Silwan neighborhood of East Jerusalem.
MK Uri Ariel (National Union) announced from the Knesset podium yesterday that the settlers would hire private security firms to evict the four families, consisting of 40 persons, unless they evacuate by July 4.
The right-wing groups and settlers are furious that the police, probably on instructions from the Prime Minister’s Office, are not carrying out the eviction orders issued to the Palestinian families, who live in a building that served in the pre-state era as a synagogue.
The synagogue was built in the 19th century for the small Yemenite community in Silwan. For the past 50 years the Abu Nab family, who claims ownership of the building, has been living there.
In recent years heirs of the Yemenite community have reclaimed the building, supported by the nationalist association Ateret Cohanim, which holds the two adjacent buildings – the controversial Beit Yonatan and Beit Hadvash.
Beit Yonatan, a seven-story residential structure, was built illegally in the heart of the predominantly Palestinian neighborhood by Ateret Cohanim.
Despite police discussions in preparation for the evacuation of Beit Yonatan several weeks ago, the implementation has been postponed until at least the end of the month.
A standing order was issued two years ago to evacuate and seal Beit Yonatan, where 10 Jewish families reside. Jerusalem municipal officials have yet to enforce the order, despite court rulings and orders from the former attorney general.
The Beit Yonatan settlers said Wednesday that police have not evicted the Palestinian families due to political constraints; they have warned they would take matters onto their own hands next month. The settlers are justifying the eviction by claiming deeds for the property evidence that it was owned by Yemenite Jews who lived there from the late 19th century until the 1948 War of Independence.
Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch said, in response to a parliamentary question, that the police are prepared to evacuate the structure, but that he has been instructed to delay the action due to political considerations.
“There is discrimination in everything related to the enforcement applied by the state and the prosecution in Jerusalem,” said a spokesperson for the Jewish community in Silwan. “It is unclear why the state insists on evacuating Beit Yonatan despite a proposed compromise over the matter. Meanwhile, the same authorities do not implement a court order that unequivocally called for the evacuation of Arab families who had invaded a synagogue belonging to Jews.”
Israel opposition attacks Binyamin Netanyahu for easing blockade: The Guardian
Tzipi Livni, leader of centrist Kadima party, said Israel has to make decisions based on its own interests, not those of others
Tzipi Livni, the Israeli opposition leader, today attacked Binyamin Netanyahu for the way he eased the three-year blockade of the Gaza Strip, following pressure from the international community over its deadly interception last month of a flotilla attempting to break the siege.
“In the neighbourhood where we live Israel has to take decisions on the basis of its own interests and not under pressure,” she said. “Acting under pressure signals weakness and we cannot allow ourselves to do that.”
Livni, who heads the centrist Kadima party, said the prime minister had to realise that “policies require tough decisions, and those will not be made without understanding that an agreement is not a gift for the Arabs or the president of the United States but rather is in our own interest.”
Netanyahu has described the measures easing the Israeli blockade as undermining the propaganda of Hamas, the Islamist movement that controls Gaza.
European MPs to Israel: Lift Gaza blockade completely: Haaretz
PACE resolution calls on Israel to allow in goods by sea, ‘without prejudice to its own security.’
The Council of Europe parliamentarians Thursday called on Israel to completely end its siege of the Gaza Strip, days after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered an ease of the land blockade.
Israel should allow goods to be delivered to the coastal enclave by land and sea, “without prejudice to its own security,” so Palestinians can enjoy “normal living conditions,” said the resolution adopted by a large majority of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE).
PACE, consisting of parliamentarians from the 47 members of the Council of Europe, meets four times a year to debate topical issues and give policy advice to the European Parliament in Strasbourg.
The parliamentarians also criticized the Israeli raid of a Gaza- bound aid flotilla last month as a breach of international law, calling it “manifestly disproportionate.”
The group additionally called on Israel to halt the construction of new settlements in occupied territories and East Jerusalem.
Israel’s recent easing of the Gaza blockade was described as a “first step” by the assembly. But completely lifting the blockade is “essential” to lower tensions and revive the dialogue between Israelis and Palestinians, the Italian social democrat and assembly rapporteur Piero Fassino said.
As part of its efforts to bring peace to the Middle East, PACE regularly brings together members of the Israeli Knesset and the Palestinian Legislative Council for talks.
Gaza: State of siege: The Guardian Editorial
The only way out of these failing policies is to actively seek Palestinian reconciliation, rather than veto it
It did not take long for the optimism generated by Israel’s decision to ease the blockade of Gaza to evaporate. The intention of moving from a system in which Israel states what it is prepared to allow in, to one in which it explicitly states what it would ban, was to increase the flow of goods into Gaza. Sweets, chocolate, nutmeg, vinegar, toys, stationery, mattresses and towels have no conceivable dual military use for the Hamas-run enclave. But until recently, dangerous spices such as sage and suspicious sweets such as halva were banned, in an exercise that was always designed to be a form of collective punishment for 1.5 million Gazans. The end of such an odious and self-defeating policy is obviously welcome, except that yesterday it emerged that the new list of forbidden materials could be thousands of items long. The real shortages in Gaza – medical instruments, aluminium, steel and cement – may not be addressed. A blockade that the US, Britain and the EU all insist is “unacceptable and unsustainable” could thus be set to continue.
Even if life on the ground in Gaza is not going to change radically, the new rules still represent a political retreat for the prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, three weeks after his naval commandos stormed a flotilla, killing nine Turkish activists. If anyone is going to claim a moral victory, it will be Turkey, and the tactic of challenging the naval part of the blockade by sending more ships will surely continue, with participants from Arab countries, possibly even Saudi Arabia, taking part.
For its part, the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas now has even less reason than it had before to be reconciled with the Palestinian Authority by signing a document drawn up by the Egyptians, by which it would accept the PLO agreement to recognise Israel. Why would Hamas stop being Hamas, after all Gaza has endured, and follow Fatah down its fruitless 17-year path searching for peace, at the very moment at which international support, particularly in Europe, for its contined isolation appears to be crumbling? The longer the stalemate continues, the more Hamas becomes part of the landscape. Even if it were incapable of governing, maintaining some form of collective discipline with other armed factions, Hamas would still retain its legitimacy. There is still, after four years, no convincing evidence that Hamas is losing the support it won in the only free election to be mounted in the Arab world. Political isolation has not worked any better than physical isolation. The only way out of these failing policies is to actively seek Palestinian reconciliation, rather than, as at present, to veto it. This has as much to do with US and the Quartet as it has to do with Israel. Conditions that demand the unilateral surrender of Palestinian militants before they even get to the negotiating table should be shelved and replaced by objectives that are achievable, such as a general ceasefire.
As things are, any attempt to allow Hamas into the ring would be regarded as a move against the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas. This is a lose-lose situation for each side. The Palestinian president is losing authority by saying that now is not the time for the naval blockade to be lifted. But he is equally losing by failing to secure the three core demands of a viable Palestinian state – borders, the right of return and East Jerusalem as its capital. For Hamas, it means that the test of political negotiation – of keeping unity while redefining political goals in the light of what is achievable – can for ever be put off for another day. The pressure on both wings to react to the next hammer blow does not go away: the threatened resumption of large-scale settlement construction, the withdrawal of residency rights and the demolition of Arab homes in East Jerusalem. In the absence of peace, Israel continues to expand into the space surrendered by a divided Palestinian leadership.
Staking claim underneath east Jerusalem: BBC
By Jane Corbin
A freeze on new Jewish settlements in the West Bank drew protests
It has been called the ‘volcanic core’ of the conflict and if there is ever to be peace between Palestinians and Israelis it will have to be made in the alleyways of this ancient city – holy to Jews, Christians and Muslims.
Jerusalem was first divided into east and west in 1948 when the state of Israel was created and then the east of the city was annexed by the Israelis in 1967 following war with its Arab neighbours.
Israel claims the city as its eternal undivided capital but the Palestinians believe that east Jerusalem is theirs and one day must become the capital of a Palestinian state.
My aim in coming here was to walk through the Holy Basin – the area of east Jerusalem outside the old city walls – to find out if Israel was trying to strengthen its claim to these Arab areas by changing the facts on the ground.
My first stop was Sheikh Jarrah to the north, recently targeted by Israeli settler groups. These religious nationalists believe they have a right to live in the ancient biblical area of Israel and have recently taken over several Palestinian houses. One hundred people from three extended families have been evicted and 26 more families are at risk of losing their homes.
Eviction orders
Under an olive tree, I met the Hanoun family as they watched settlers come and go from their house.
Last August, the family lost a 37 year legal battle when Israeli police threw them out at dawn. The settlers claimed through the courts they had owned the land but the Hanouns say they were given their properties in 1948 by the Jordanians – who controlled east Jerusalem – and the United Nations.
“The Israeli courts and police help the settlers,” Maher Hanoun told me. “We are fighting not just a settlers’ organisation but the whole government.”
I walked on to the Mount of Olives and the Arab neighbourhood of Ras al-Amoud where one of the largest Jewish settlements is growing.
“In 10 years we hope to have 250 families here,” said Arieh King, a settler. “Then we will be the majority in this area.”
Mr King is a key figure in the drive to change the demographics of east Jerusalem. He digs in the archives, identifies houses owned by Jews before 1948 and gets relatives, often abroad, to lay claim to them.
At night, accompanied by Israeli soldiers, he serves eviction orders.
“I am at the heart of the struggle for Jerusalem, to prevent it from being divided,” Mr King said. “My aim is to get Jews all over this area.”
I walked on through ancient olives groves into Silwan – a poor and overcrowded Arab village beneath the old city walls.
Demolition threat
As I arrived, Israeli bulldozers were moving in to knock down buildings constructed, like many here, without planning permission.
A local activist, Jawad Siam, led me through the back streets to a scene of devastation.
Palestinians screamed and threw stones at impassive black-clad Israeli riot police standing in front of the massive machines as chunks of concrete rained down.
“This is ethnic cleansing in east Jerusalem,” yelled Mr Siam. “By the most racist state in the world!”
He pointed out the only tall building in the area – a block where Israeli settlers live. It was built illegally and has a demolition order, yet it is still standing.
“The Israelis have a clear transfer agenda though they don’t say it,” said Mr Siam. “They want to get Palestinians out and bring in Israel families – Jewish settlers.”
The threat of demolition also hangs over 88 houses in Silwan which are in the way of a proposed tourist park.
The Palestinians say they are being squeezed out of east Jerusalem with only 13% of land allocated for them to build on and nearly 60% earmarked for settlements and parks.
‘Planning gaps’
Nearly 10 times more building permits are given to Jews in west Jerusalem than to Palestinians in the east of the city.
“You are right,” said Nir Barkat, the Mayor of Jerusalem. “There are gaps in the planning system – both in east and west Jerusalem.”
But he was adamant that the municipality had to act when houses were built illegally in what Israelis Jews consider to be parkland that has strategic importance in terms of the religious archaeology in the area.
Underneath Silwan, I trekked through the eerie tunnels of the City of David – one of Israel’s most visited archaeological sites.
It is controversial because it is run by Elad, a settler organisation which has bought up around 60 Arab houses in the streets above.
“This place is a goldmine,” Doron Spielman, from Elad explained. “The cornerstone of the archaeology of the Bible throughout the world.”
The Palestinians accuse Elad of undermining them both by digging under their houses and emphasising only Jewish history here.
Mr Spielman said no Arab history had been unearthed at the site, although some archaeologists disagree.
“Israel is the sovereign entity here,” said Mr Spielman. “And if we can enable more Jewish people to live here, more archaeology to become known here then I am proud of that.”
The Israeli Cabinet has authorised the Jerusalem municipality to strengthen Israel’s claim to east Jerusalem by building parks and trails which would link Jewish settlements and extend Israeli control over east Jerusalem.
My walk around the Holy Basin revealed how this is happening on the ground as settlers move in and archaeological sites and parks spread. The Israelis say Jerusalem is not negotiable – it must remain united – but the Palestinians will only take part in peace talks if east Jerusalem is part of the deal. A solution seems as far away as ever.
Ignoring the tsunami: Haaretz
The superpower under whose patronage we shelter is becoming increasingly weak and increasingly distant, and the Middle East is becoming unstable.
By Ari Shavit
Things have never been better: The number of millionaires in the country soared by 43 percent between 2008 and 2009, with 2,519 new ones joining the 5,900 we already had, for a total of 8,419 Israeli millionaires. Their total net assets rose by about 41 percent, from $30.1 billion at the end of 2008 to $42.4 billion at the end of 2009. No wonder it’s impossible to find a luxury apartment to buy or to reserve a table at a top restaurant in Tel Aviv, or that tickets for “Nabucco” were so hard to get. Never was so much owned by so few Israelis. Never has life been so good here for so wealthy an elite, as the country is poised at the brink of the abyss.
Things have never been worse. The superpower under whose patronage we shelter is becoming increasingly weak and increasingly distant. As a result of these two mutually amplifying processes the Middle East is becoming unstable. There is no one to stop Iran’s rise or Turkey’s growing extremism, or to provide security for the moderates in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Palestine. The states to the east fear the U.S. withdrawal from Iraq, while those to the north are building up their forces in anticipation of a nuclear Iran. And a firestorm of hatred for Israel raging throughout the world. Israel’s legitimacy as well as its deterrence are eroding. It’s no wonder that the national security adviser is nostalgic for the first term of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, or that the army chief of staff pines for the days when Ehud Barak was chief of staff. The geostrategic situation is grave. And we are partying on the beach while ignoring the tsunami already visible on the horizon.
Never has the gap between our economic and international situations, or between the state of our consciousness and our security situation, been greater. Not even in the days leading up to the Yom Kippur War were we in such a deep state of denial. Everything’s great: Inside Israel the economy is booming, there is general jubilation – la dolce vita at its sweetest. But all around, the siege is tightening. No reasonable remedy is in sight for the twin threats of missiles and of a nuclear Iran, nor does an end to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict appear imminent.
While 8,419 millionaires increase their own capital using Israel’s uniquely excellent human capital, millions of Arabs and Muslims wondering whether the Jewish state will last. They see a declining West that turns its back to Israel and a rising East that challenges Israel. They see an Israel that repeatedly demonstrates shortsightedness. Many of our neighbors are starting to have secret, dangerous thoughts.
Israel is not weak. If any of its neighbors makes a mistake, it will receive a knockout punch. But if there is a government in Jerusalem it must make every effort to stop the decline, to revive the peace with Egypt and with Jordan, to leave no stone unturned on the Syrian track, to expedite the territorial division, to create a common forum for cooperation with the United States and with the moderate Arab states, and to create a stabilizing process to counterbalance the destabilizing process that threatens the Middle East. The government understands everything but does nothing. Its inaction constitutes negligence, as does Kadima’s unwillingness to let the government change its shape and its course. Netanyahu’s foot-dragging on the one hand and Tzipi Livni’s pettiness on the other perpetuate a catastrophic paralysis.
The Israeli public will not take to the streets. It is exhausted and confused and despairing. But the economic elite, the 8,419 Israelis who became so much richer last year, can bring about change. If they were to use their wealth and influence to demand that Netanyahu, Barak and Livni join hands, they would very likely succeed. It’s time for those who have benefited greatly from living here to accept responsibility. Given the gravity of Israel’s situation, wealth is not only privilege, but also obligation.
Jewish dance group stoned in Hanover, Germany: BBC
Page last updated at 14:38 GMT, Thursday, 24 June 2010 15:38 UK
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German police are investigating the stoning of a Jewish dance group trying to perform on the street in the city of Hanover.
Youths reportedly shouted “Juden Raus” (Jews Out) as they attacked the dancers of the Chaverim (“Friends” in Hebrew) dance troupe last weekend.
Police said several Muslim immigrant youths were among the attackers and two youths were being questioned.
A German Jewish leader said she feared growing anti-Israeli sentiment.
‘So awful’
The group was trying to perform in Hanover’s Sahlkamp district, which has a large immigrant community.
One of the dancers was injured in the leg and the troupe cancelled the performance after the attack.
Police said one German suspect aged 14 and a 19-year-old of North African origin were being questioned.
Alla Volodarska, of the Progressive Jewish community of Hanover, told Associated Press news agency she had spoken to the dancers involved.
“What happened is just so awful. The teenagers started throwing stones the moment our dance group was announced, even before they started dancing.”
Charlotte Knobloch, president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, told the Die Welt newspaper that anti-Semitic feelings were widespread in both far-right and Muslim communities in the country.
“It particularly saddens me that those anti-Semitic views can already be seen with such vehemence among children and youths,” she said.
Infrastructure Minister warns Hezbollah: Israel will fight for its gas fields: Haaretz
Landau responds to Lebanon MPs’ accusations that Israel’s off-shore drilling violated naval territorial lines.
Israel will not hesitate to use force to protect its gas fields from being claimed by Lebanon, Infrastructure Minister Uzi Landau warned this week in an interview with Bloomberg News.
Lebanon parliament speaker Nabih Berri earlier this month urged his government to start exploring its offshore natural gas reserves, claiming that otherwise Israel would claim the resources.
“Israel is racing to make the case a fait accompli and was quick to present itself as an oil emirate, ignoring the fact that, according to the maps, the deposit extends into Lebanese waters,” Berri said. “Lebanon must take immediate action to defend its financial, political, economic and sovereign rights.
Hezbollah weighed in soon after Berri submitted a bill to launch exploration of potential offshore reserves, warning Israel not to touch what it called Lebanon’s resources.
In response to the warnings, Lebanon told Bloomberg that Israel would “not hesitate to use our force and strength toprotect not only the rule of law but the international maritime law.”
“Whatever wefind, they will have something to say,” he added. “That’s because they’re
not challenging our findings and so-called occupation of the sea. Our very existence here is a matter of occupation for them. These areas are within the economic waters of Israel.”
Lebanon’s former PM and current member of parliament Fouad Siniora also urged the Lebanese government to take the issue of offshore gas reserves in the Lebanese territorial waters very seriously on Saturday, and said he had looked into the matter when he was finance minister and prime minister.
The Lebanese complaints are not new. They arose last year as well with the Dalit and Tamar natural gas discoveries.
The the head of petroleum and natural gas exploration in the National Infrastructures Ministry, Dr. Yaakov Mimran, called the claims “nonsense.” He said they were just trial balloons and that the latest offshore discoveries in the Leviathan field, as well as the earlier Tamar and Dalit finds, are absolutely within Israeli territory.
Mimran explained that the Israel-Lebanon border is not perpendicular to the coast and Israel’s exclusive offshore economic zone includes all the fields. “Those noises occur when they smell gas. Until then they sit quietly and let the other side spend the money,” he added.
Senior Israeli officials said it was Lebanon that set the limits on its own territorial waters after it had given out exploration licenses exactly along these borders. “What are they complaining about now?” asked one official. “That is how Cyprus acted, which set the border of its exclusive economic zone between countries at a distance of 200 kilometers from Israeli shores and sold the [licenses] for exploration to private entrepreneurs along this line,” said an official.
Israel still has yet to declare its exclusive economic zone, though this usually applies to what is in the sea, such as fish, and not what lies under the continental shelf. Problems may arise when the continental shelf is shared by more than one country, such as can occur in the Mediterranean, explains Prof. Moshe Hirsch of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, an expert in international law. He said the gas is under Israel’s continental shelf, so there was no need to declare an exclusive economic zone.
When one country’s continental shelf is within the 200-kilometer zone of another nation, the countries must agree to the boundaries, he said.
Israel asks UN to shelve aid ship raid inquiry: BBC
Page last updated at 01:47 GMT, Tuesday, 22 June 2010 02:47 UK
E-mail this to a friendPrintable version Israel says it is easing the land blockade against the Gaza Strip
Israel has asked the UN to suspend attempts to organise an international inquiry into a deadly raid on a ship trying to break the blockade of Gaza.
Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak said any inquiry should be shelved because new attempts to breach the blockade were still being organised.
Nine pro-Palestinian activists died when Israeli soldiers stormed a Turkish aid ship in May.
The UN has called for an impartial and credible inquiry into the raid.
Israel has announced its own inquiry but some governments have expressed scepticism about its credibility.
Mr Barak spoke after talks with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who has been trying to organise the international inquiry called for by the Security Council.
Lebanon warned
“We expressed our view that for the time being, as long as new flotillas are in preparation, it is probably better to leave it on the shelf for a certain time and we are moving ahead with our independent investigation, which we believe is clearly independent, reliable, credible and should be allowed to work,” Mr Barak said.
Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak: ”We are moving ahead with our independent investigation”
He said one ship was preparing to leave Lebanon and he warned that Israel would hold Lebanon responsible for any resulting violence.
“About the coming flotilla, we’ve heard in the media that some organisation, probably backed by a terror organisation, (is) once again trying to send a vessel into Gaza,” he said.
“We think it’s a bit irresponsible to do that.”
The Turkish ship Mavi Marmara had been part of a six-ship flotilla trying to bring aid to the Gaza strip when Israeli commandos boarded it on 31 May.
Israel insists its soldiers were attacked and opened fire in self defence, but activists deny this.
The Israeli siege is aimed at pressuring the Islamist Hamas movement, which runs the Gaza Strip. But its dire impact on Gaza’s economy has drawn strong criticism.
Israel, under fierce international pressure, announced last Thursday that it would ease the land blockade on Gaza.
Israel will allow items unless they feature on a new list of banned goods.
The move will let in humanitarian aid, food and building supplies, Israel says.