Sorry Folks, But Jew-Free Jerusalem Neighborhoods Won’t Bring Peace

...It wasn’t settlements that stopped them from grabbing independence but the fact that recognizing the legitimacy of a Jewish no matter where its borders are drawn was still anathema in their political culture. Indeed, when Hamas, which commands the support of the majority of Palestinians and far more than the Palestinian Authority and Mahmoud Abbas, speaks of the “occupation,” they are not referring to the West Bank but to all of pre-1967 Israel.

Jonathan S. Tobin..
Commentary Magazine..
03 October '14..

At first it seemed as if Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu escaped his meeting in the White House with President Obama yesterday without a renewal of their long running feud. But before the day was over, it was clear that the administration’s predilection for picking pointless fights with the Israelis hasn’t faded away even as the president appears to be more interested in fighting ISIS than in brokering Middle East peace. By focusing once again on Jewish building in Jerusalem and representing Israel’s actions as an obstacle, the U.S. was not only allowing itself to be distracted from the real problems in the Middle East. By reaffirming its opposition to Jews living in part of their capital, the Americans are also adopting a standard that will make real peace impossible.

As Eugene Kontorovich wrote earlier today, the willingness of the Obama administration to use the essentially deceptive terminology of marginal Israeli left-wing groups about settlements distorts the discussion. If you count every apartment built as a “new settlement” you get the impression that Israel is building hundreds, if not thousands of new neighborhoods and towns every year. In fact all they are doing is building homes in existing Jewish communities, the vast majority of which are located in areas that would, even under the parameters that have been suggested by the Obama administration, remain inside Israel even in the event of a peace treaty with the Palestinians.

But the arguments raised yesterday by the administration about new Jewish homes in Jerusalem—which echoed widespread condemnation of these projects by most of the international community—is troubling for more than just the usual reasons. If President Obama and his State Department truly believe that the presence of Jews in some neighborhoods in eastern Jerusalem is an obstacle to peace that must be removed in order for an accord to be reached, then what they are doing is tacitly endorsing an Arab demand for Jew-free zones in the ancient capital as well as a Judenrein Palestine.

Yet again, another Zionist crime against the Palestinian people

...I am expecting to hear that the US State Department, the EU and others find this action ‘unhelpful’ or worse. But I ask: who are the racists here? Who is trying to introduce apartheid? And who chooses to use violence?

Vic Rosenthal..
Abu Yehuda..
30 September '14..
Link: http://abuyehuda.com/2014/09/yet-another-zionist-crime-against-the-palestinian-people/

Here is a news story from Ha’aretz which describes yet another Zionist crime against the Palestinian people:

In a strategic move by the Elad nonprofit organization, dozens of young Jewish settlers [sic] entered some 25 apartments in seven buildings in the East Jerusalem village of Silwan on Monday night. This was the largest influx of settlers into buildings in that part of the city in 20 years.

The settlers’ entry was accompanied by police officers and privately hired security guards. Most of the buildings were empty, and thus there were no confrontations with Palestinian residents after the settlers arrived there.

In one building, however, there were residents who resisted and the Jews retreated. In another case, a confrontation broke out between a young Palestinian and the new tenants, and police separated them.

The newcomers have locked themselves in the buildings and they are being guarded by the police.

As in similar incidents in the past, the right-wing Elad organization is hiding behind a company registered abroad — in this case, Kandel Finance. Attorney Avi Segal, who represents the firm in Israel, would not provide any details about it or about the process involved in purchasing the property.

Residents of Silwan mentioned several local Palestinians, mostly members of a family that owns [sic] the structures, as having “betrayed” their relatives in exchange for large sums of money. …

In any event, this is an unprecedented success for Elad, which has managed over the past two decades to change Silwan beyond recognition, transforming it from a Palestinian locale into a mixed neighborhood with a highly successful Israeli tourism center at its heart …

The takeover of buildings earlier this week in Silwan occurred at the end of the most violent summer East Jerusalem has known in decades. Settlers living in that part of the city, who have been suffering from attacks of stone-throwing, firecrackers and firebombs almost every evening, complain that the police are ineffective in dealing with the Palestinian youths involved.

For their part, police officials have expressed optimism in recent days regarding an impending end to the wave of violence. Over the next few days, it will become clear whether the influx of new Jewish residents in Silwan will thwart progress toward a calmer atmosphere.

Do you see what the duplicitous Zionists are trying to do? They are permitting Jews to live in a part of Jerusalem which Arabs have decided must remain pure! Silwan is in eastern Jerusalem, which the Jordanian army wiped clean of Jews in 1948. And now the Zionists are bringing them back.

They are creating, God forbid, a mixed neighborhood.

Kiryat Arba-Hevron - Jewish families can return to Beit HaShalom

Defense Minister Ehud Barak authorizes seven-year-old sale, allowing families forcibly evacuated in 2008 to return.

Tovah Lazaroff..
Diplomacy and Politics/JPost..
11 October '12..

Jewish families can return to a four-story Hebron apartment building — known as Beit HaShalom — that the IDF forcibly evacuated in December 2008.

On Thursday evening Defense Minister Ehud Barak authorized the settlers' purchase of the building from its Palestinian owners for NIS 700,000 over seven years ago.

In addition, he decreed that Jewish families could live in the structure located in an otherwise Palestinian neighborhood in a section of the West Bank city under Israeli control.

Barak's approval comes one month after the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court ruled that Tal Investments and the Association for Renewing the Jewish Community in Hebron had legally purchased the structure through transactions that occurred in 2004 and 2005.

The court ordered the state to return the property to the settlers, but in addition Hebron's Jewish families needed Barak’s approval to actually return to the building.

Jewish community spokesman David Wilder said, “We are very pleased that the Israeli government has finally recognized the legitimacy of Jews purchasing property in Hebron.

Tobin - New Efrat Homes No Threat to Peace

Jonathan S. Tobin
Commentary/Contentions
13 December '11

http://www.commentarymagazine.com/2011/12/12/homes-efrat-peace-un/

Once again, the announcement of a small housing project by Israel is causing the United Nations to claim that such settlement building prejudices the peace process. But the overwrought statement from UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on this subject was even more off the mark than most such condemnations of Israeli actions. The plan that set off alarms at the UN and other Israel critics is for the building of 40 homes in the town of Efrat in the Gush Etzion bloc just outside of Jerusalem.

The place where the homes are being built is a town that even many Palestinians have conceded would remain part of Israel in the event of a peace deal. If there are to be the “land swaps” that President Obama has said would be part of his demand for negotiations on the basis of the 1967 lines, then there is no doubt that Efrat and Gush Etzion will be areas that are swapped. So how then would the addition of 40 new families or even 400 or 4,000 Jews to that settlement prevent a two-state solution in the event the Palestinians ever changed their minds and accepted one? More to the point, the history of Gush Etzion makes the effort by the Palestinians, and implicitly supported by the UN, to evict not only new settlers but also the existing inhabitations of Gush Etzion, particularly inappropriate.

Perhaps someone at the UN should point out to the secretary general that the Gush Etzion bloc was not a Jewish settlement that was created on disputed territory after the 1967 war. Rather, it was a Jewish community that existed prior to 1948 that was overrun by the Arabs and its inhabitants massacred or evicted. The return of Jews to this Jerusalem suburb after June 1967 was greeted with jubilation throughout all of Israel. It was a sign — like the revival of the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem’s Old City —that the Arab efforts to eradicate the Jewish presence in the land would not stand.

IMRA - PM Netanyahu: Compensate Palestinians instead of destroying homes

Dr. Aaron Lerner
IMRA
07 November '11




[Dr. Aaron Lerner - IMRA:

Pop quiz from Israel Law 101:

Shimon builds an apartment complex on land in Ramat Gan.

It turns out that the land apartment complex is sitting on is owned by Yosef.

Question: What do the courts in Israel rule?
A. Demolish the apartment complex.
B. The apartment complex is the property of Yosef since he own the law.
C. Shimon has to compensate Yosef for the property and Shimon retains possession of the apartment complex.

Answer: C.

And this has in fact happened.

So why is it that when the government lawyers get involved in a case they think that the answer is "A" only because he property is owned by Yousef instead of Yosef?

And why is is that the same courts that rule "C" for Yosef rule "A" for Yousef?

Well it has nothing to do with the law and absolutely everything to do with the political leanings of the government lawyers and the court judges.

Again. No one is claiming that Yousef should not be compensated - if in fact there is some Yousef out there who legally owned the land (there are some homes slated for demolition on property that no specific person or persons has even been identified as the owner). But that is fair compensation - not demolition of the homes.

The Quartet is greatly concerned ... !

Love of the Land
17 August '11

Yesterday, the Quartet issued another of it's statements of great concern, directed at the recent announcement of approval for new housing units to be built, both in Jerusalem and Ariel. But in what was considered to be the Quartet's mission statement of 17 September 2002, the opening paragraph was as follows:

Reaffirming their previous statements, the Quartet members reviewed developments since their last meeting, on July 16, 2002. They deplored and condemned the morally repugnant violence and terror, which must end. They agreed to intensify their efforts in support of their shared goal of achieving a final Israeli-Palestinian settlement based on their common vision, as inter alia expressed by President Bush, of two states, Israel and an independent, viable and democratic Palestine, living side by side in peace and security.

While there is clearly a Quartet, there is one name that stands out as a driving force, and that was former U.S. President Bush. Once again, further on in their mission statement:

In its final phase (2004-5), the plan envisages Israeli-Palestinian negotiations aimed at a permanent status solution in 2005. Consistent with the vision expressed by President Bush, this means that the Israeli occupation that began in 1967 will be ended through a settlement negotiated between the parties and based on U.N. resolutions 242 and 338, with Israeli withdrawal to secure and recognized borders.

Given the Quartet's mission and shared vision, was their anything in the recent announcement of approval for new housing, that should have elicited this concern? To find out, we'll first visit yesterday's Quartet statement, and then the article Will Ariel Block Peace? by Elliott Abrams, who explains the transition of what was from the Quartet's beginning, never an issue of concern, to what has become an obsession with the current administration.

Joint Statement of the Quartet

http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2011/08/170601.htm

Media Note
Office of the Spokesperson
Washington, DC
August 16, 2011

The following statement was issued by the Middle East Quartet (United Nations, Russian Federation, United States, and European Union):

The Quartet is greatly concerned by Israel's recent announcements to advance planning for new housing units in Ariel and East Jerusalem, and reiterates its position in this regard, in particular its statement of March 12, 2010. The Quartet reaffirms that unilateral action by either party cannot prejudge the outcome of negotiations and will not be recognized by the international community. Jerusalem in particular is one of the core issues that must be resolved through negotiations between the parties, which underscores the urgent need for the parties to resume serious and substantive talks. This comes at a critical juncture with Quartet efforts ongoing to resume negotiations which are the only way to a just and durable solution to the conflict.

The Quartet is determined to pursue its efforts. Ultimately, it is up to Israeli and Palestinian leaders to make tough decisions and avoid actions by their governments that undermine the very goals they and we are trying to achieve.

Will Ariel Block Peace?

Elliott Abrams
cfr.org
August 16, 2011

http://blogs.cfr.org/abrams/2011/08/16/will-ariel-block-peace/

If there is a single issue that explains the failure of Obama policy toward Israel, it is settlements. And this week the Administration once again indulged itself in a knee-jerk reaction that displayed incomprehension in a way that harms U.S.-Israeli relations without doing the slightest bit of good for the Palestinians.

This week Israel announced a plan to construct 277 more housing units in Ariel, a settlement that is a town of 18,000. The new units are to be constructed in the center of the town, it was also announced. This is a significant fact, for construction of new units at the edges of the town would mean that the security perimeter would need to be extended to protect the new housing and the people in it. But this will not happen, and Ariel will expand in population but not in land area. It is not, in the usual Palestinian Authority parlance, “taking more Palestinian land.”

Obama and Netanyahu: pointless poison

Jackson Diehl
Washington Post
24 March '10

So it’s now been two weeks since President Obama chose to seize on a poorly-timed Israeli announcement about new Jewish housing in Jerusalem to launch another public confrontation with the government of Binyamin Netanyahu. The results, so far, are these:

Obama’s demand, through Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, that Israel reverse its decision on the new neighborhood and freeze all other new construction in Jerusalem has been publicly rejected by Netanyahu. And the administration, for the second time in a year, has backed down. “Ultimately,” said State spokesman P.J. Crowley at his briefing Tuesday, “the future of Jerusalem can only be resolved through the direct negotiations [between Israel and the Palestinians] that we hope will get started as quickly as possible.” That, word for word, has been the Israeli position all along.

Meanwhile, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has adopted Obama’s original demand as his own: He’s saying he won’t begin even the indirect, “proximity” talks he previously agreed to until Israel accepts the Clinton terms on Jerusalem. How could he do otherwise? The Palestinian leader cannot be less pro-Palestinian than the White House. But Abbas cannot climb down from his position so easily -- which means that, for the second time in a year, the Middle East peace process has been stalled by a U.S.-engineered deadlock. U.S. and Israeli negotiators worked until 3 a.m. Wednesday in an attempt to come up with a formula that would allow the talks to go forward. They met again Wednesday morning. So far, no luck.

Finally, Obama has added more poison to a U.S.-Israeli relationship that already was at its lowest point in two decades. Tuesday night the White House refused to allow non-official photographers record the president’s meeting with Netanyahu; no statement was issued afterward. Netanyahu is being treated as if he were an unsavory Third World dictator, needed for strategic reasons but conspicuously held at arms length. That is something the rest of the world will be quick to notice and respond to. Just like the Palestinians, European governments cannot be more friendly to an Israeli leader than the United States. Would Britain have expelled a senior Israeli diplomat Tuesday because of a flap over forged passports if there were no daylight between Obama and Netanyahu? Maybe not.

(Read full story)
.