East Jerusalem settlements: World outrage against Israel on the rise
Tuesday December 04, 2012 05:43:16 PM,
Agencies
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Sydney: Australia on Tuesday became the
latest country to summon its Israeli ambassador to convey concerns
over plans to build new settlements in east Jerusalem and the West
Bank.
Australia joined Britain and France in opposing Israeli settlement
activity.
Foreign Minister Bob Carr said the Israeli proposal, and plans to
withhold tax revenue from the Palestinian Authority, “enormously
complicate the prospects for resuming negotiations between the two
sides.”
“Australia has long opposed all settlement activity,” he added.
“Such activity threatens the viability of a two-state solution
without which there will never be security in Israel.”
Israel, whose settlements on occupied or annexed Palestinian land
have long been a thorn in the side of peace efforts, has refused
to back down.
Its move is seen as payback for the Palestinians winning
non-member observer state status at the United Nations on
Thursday.
Some of the 3,000 homes are to be built in a corridor of land
called E1, an area of the occupied West Bank that runs between the
easternmost edge of annexed east Jerusalem and an existing Israeli
settlement, Maaleh Adumim.
Britain, France, Denmark, Spain and Sweden have all summoned
Israeli ambassadors to express deep concern, while U.N. Secretary
General Ban Ki-moon called the plans a “fatal blow” to the
two-state solution.
But Israel, whose settlements on occupied or annexed Palestinian
land have long been a thorn in the side of peace efforts, remained
defiant, insisted it would not back down and laid out revised
plans for an additional 1,600 homes.
Israeli settlement plans always raise hackles but Friday’s
proposals, seen as payback for the Palestinians winning non-member
observer state status at the United Nations on Thursday, are
considered particularly contentious.
Palestinians believe construction on E1 will ultimately connect
Jerusalem to Maaleh Adumim, largely dividing the northern and
southern West Bank and making the creation of a contiguous
Palestinian state almost impossible.
Israeli plans for construction in E1 have been on the cards since
the early 1990s but have never been implemented due to heavy
pressure, largely from the United States.
The international outcry since Friday’s move has been intense.
The U.S. State Department warned on Monday that the E1 area “is
particularly sensitive and construction there would be especially
damaging to efforts to achieve a two-state solution.”
President Barack Obama’s spokesman Jay Carney ramped up the
pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu later in the
day, directly calling on him to change course.
“We urge Israeli leaders to reconsider these unilateral decisions
and exercise restraint as these actions are counterproductive and
make it harder to resume direct negotiations,” Carney told
reporters at the White House.
Obama has had a history of strained ties with Netanyahu that date
back to the U.S. leader’s failed efforts to secure a durable
freeze on Israeli settlement activity early in his term.
Since then, the Obama administration has routinely criticized
settlement construction announcements, but this time went further
than usual in detailing its concerns and publicly asking Israel to
reverse course.
The U.S. response is expected to be tempered by recognition that
Netanyahu may be taking a tough stand on settlements ahead of a
Jan. 22 Israeli national election, but that any actual building
could take a long time to place in motion.
It was not immediately known whether Israel gave the United States
advance notice of its settlement-building plan.
Meanwhile, Germany, Russia and Japan also criticized the Israeli
plans.
But despite the clamor, Israel dug in and even went further by
reviving a plan to construct 1,600 new settler homes in the east
Jerusalem neighborhood of Ramat Shlomo.
“Israel continues to insist on its vital interests, even under
international pressure. There will be no change in the decision
that has been made,” a source in Netanyahu’s office said earlier.
Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas slammed the Israeli decision,
and called on the international community to “take the necessary
steps to avoid the collapse of everything,” his spokesman Nabil
Abu Rudeina said in a statement.
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