Ministry to advance approvals of 6,500 units in east J'lem

[azurnoir]

Four days of marathon meetings in the Interior Ministry and the Jerusalem municipality’s planning committees, which started on Monday, are expected to advance approvals for almost 6,500 apartments over the 1967 Green Line in Israel.

After spending nearly three years in limbo for causing a major diplomatic crises between the United States and Israel, the 1,500 apartment units in Jerusalem neighborhood of Ramat Shlomo received final approval from the Interior Ministry on Monday. This means construction can begin in the coming year.

On Tuesday, the District Building and Planning Committee will discuss stages B and C of Givat HaMatos, a new Jewish neighborhood located next to Beit Safafa. Stages B and C have a combined 1,363 apartment units. On Wednesday, the Local Committee is expected to give final approval to stage A of Givat HaMatos, with 2,610 units. On Thursday, the District Committee is expected to give final approval to the Slopes of Gilo South, approximately 1,000 apartment units.

"The approval of this program is an important and positive step for the Interior Ministry, in order to improve the housing issue while simultaneously strengthening Jerusalem," said Interior Minister Eli Yishai (Shas).

http://www.jpost.com/DiplomacyAndPolitics/Article.aspx?id=296316

[msongs]

1. lebensraum is alive and well and under new management nt

[oberliner]

13. Almost seems like you are comparing Israel to Nazi Germany

Must be a misinterpretation on my part.

[holdencaufield]

2. Only when it comes to Israel ...

... is building homes a war-crime.

[azurnoir]

3. only Israel? I'm pretty sure building 'homes' on property that is not yours

is illegal in most places

[holdencaufield]

4. Where is it written ...

... that Jerusalem doesn't belong to Israel? I can show you where it is written that it does.

[azurnoir]

5. oh yes Israel 'annexed EJ however it is not recognized as such by any nation other than Israel n/t

[holdencaufield]

6. What other nation does it have to be recognised by?

There is no West or East Jerusalem -- there is only Jerusalem.

[azurnoir]

16. ah so then all of Jerusalem is occupied?

except that there is despite what rightwingers in Israel claim a West and East Jerusalem

[shaayecanaan]

19. Such ignorance...

Full Text of Resolution 478

The Security Council,

Recalling its resolution 476 (1980),

Reaffirming again that the acquisition of territory by force is inadmissible,

Deeply concerned over the enactment of a "basic law" in the Israeli Knesset proclaiming a change in the character and status of the Holy City of Jerusalem, with its implications for peace and security,

Noting that Israel has not complied with resolution 476 (1980),

Reaffirming its determination to examine practical ways and means, in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Charter of the United Nations, to secure the full implementation of its resolution 476 (1980), in the event of non-compliance by Israel,

1. Censures in the strongest terms the enactment by Israel of the "basic law" on Jerusalem and the refusal to comply with relevant Security Council resolutions;

2. Affirms that the enactment of the "basic law" by Israel constitutes a violation of international law and does not affect the continued application of the Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, of 12 August 1949, in the Palestinian and other Arab territories occupied since June 1967, including Jerusalem;

3. Determines that all legislative and administrative measures and actions taken by Israel, the occupying Power, which have altered or purport to alter the character and status of the Holy City of Jerusalem, and in particular the recent "basic law" on Jerusalem, are null and void and must be rescinded forthwith;

4. Affirms also that this action constitutes a serious obstruction to achieving a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in the Middle East;

5. Decides not to recognize the "basic law" and such other actions by Israel that, as a result of this law, seek to alter the character and status of Jerusalem and calls upon:

(a) All Member States to accept this decision;

(b) Those States that have established diplomatic missions at Jerusalem to withdraw such missions from the Holy City;

6. Requests the Secretary-General to report to the Security Council on the implementation of the present resolution before 15 November 1980;

7. Decides to remain seized of this serious situation.

Adopted at the 2245th meeting by 14 votes to none, with 1 abstention (United States of America).

[holdencaufield]

20. I agree ...

... one of the more ignorant resolutions to sleeze out of the UN. Which is probably why Israel rejects it.

[shaayecanaan]

23. On the other hand...

you probably think that Hezbollah is an "illegal militia" as per UNSCR 1559, right?

Amazing how Israel gets to pick and choose which Security Council resolutions are binding. Are there any other countries that have this magical power? Iran for example?

[oberliner]

30. What do you think Hezbollah is again?

You see them as what exactly?

[R. Daneel Olivaw]

32. God. Talk about missing the point.

Did you even think before responding to that one?

[geek tragedy]

7. Why do you post at a liberal website?

Seriously, arguing that the Bible or Torah or Koran grants any country any rights to anything is nuts.

Seriously nuts.

[holdencaufield]

8. Where did I mention Torah?

Or the Koran, or the Bible, or the Bhagavad Gita, or the Seven Steps for Highly Effective People?

I post to a liberal website because I am a liberal and Israel is a very liberal country -- much more so than the United States.

[geek tragedy]

9. Where is it written that Israel has the legal right to all of Jerusalem, then? nt

[holdencaufield]

10. The 1980 Jerusalem Law

Israel has permanently annexed the entire city of Jerusalem.

[geek tragedy]

11. No, it didn't.

It began as a private member's bill proposed by Geulah Cohen, whose original text stated that "the integrity and unity of greater Jerusalem (Yerushalayim rabati) in its boundaries after the Six-Day War shall not be violated." However, this clause was dropped after the first reading in the Knesset. As the Knesset thus declined to specify boundaries and did not use the words "annexation" or "sovereignty", Ian Lustick writes that "The consensus of legal scholars is that this action added nothing to the legal or administrative circumstance of the city, although, especially at the time, its passage was considered to have political importance and sparked a vigorous protest reaction from the world community." [1] For example, United Nations Security Council Resolution 478, adopted by 14 votes to none, with 1 abstention (United States), declared soon after that the law was "null and void" and "must be rescinded". This resolution called upon member states to withdraw their diplomatic missions from the city.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerusalem_Law

Not to mention the fact that an Israeli declaration of sovereignty over Jerusalem would have had as much international legal authority as Saddam's annexation of Kuwait.

[holdencaufield]

12. And yet ...

... the US congress passed the Jerusalem Embassy Act of 1995 calling for recognition of an "undivided" Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

You will argue that the relocation of the embassy has yet to happen, despite the deadline in the provision, but the act itself is still valid and recognizes Israel's claim to Jerusalem.

You asked me to say where it was written -- I've showed you two places.

If you have a fundamental problem with people living on annexed land, please tell me you don't live very far West of Maryland -- otherwise, your hypocrisy is showing.

[geek tragedy]

14. Sure, the people who took the land at gunpoint and their obedient

lapdogs in Washington DC.

Whoop dee doo.

None of that changes the international legal status. Not that the Israelis care about things like international law. Might makes right is the lesson they've learned from history.

[holdencaufield]

15. Is this going to turn into one of those ...

... Jews control Washington rants?

Let me go and get my popcorn.

[azurnoir]

17. and yet the US embassy is NOT in Jerusalem almost 13 years and 2 POTUS's later

sorry Congress does not make foreign policy

[holdencaufield]

18. Try ratifying a treaty WITHOUT Congress

Or, for that matter, declaring a war

[azurnoir]

22. special cases but still and none the less Congress does not make foreign policy

and the US embassy is still in Tel Aviv

[Agony]

21. It would be helpful if the Palestinians had an actual partner for peace.

talk about bad faith negotiations...

[shaayecanaan]

25. They did, once...

Israel used to have decent governments, in fact the Labor party used to be regarded as the natural party of government in Israel.

Due to demographic shifts, Labor has been reduced to a rump. The leading party is a merger of a right-wing and far-right party, supported by explicitly fascist parties and theocratic religious groups.

The only institutional restraint left in Israel is the judiciary, which owing to the peculiar way in which judges are appointed in Israel, has a fair amount of control over its own membership.

The Knesset could try to amend that law (called the Judges Bill) but the Court would probably try to invalidate any such attempt. Israeli jurisprudence is a fairly murky affair, there is no Constitution as such, but Courts often uphold or strike down laws on what seem like fairly arbitrary grounds.

[Jefferson23]

24. In Pictures: West Bank Bedouins

Israel's plans to expand settlements in the E1 corridor represent a threat to poor Palestinian Bedouin communities.

Tanya Habjouqa Last Modified: 17 Dec 2012 14:29

Khan al-Ahmar, occupied Palestinian territories - Israeli authorities recently approved plans to build more settlement units in an area known as E1, which links Jerusalem with Ma’aleh Adumim.

Khan al-Ahmar is part of a cluster of Bedouin communities living in or near the E1 corridor, and is deemed one of the few remaining obstacles to long-held Israeli plans to link the holy city directly with the third-largest Jewish settlement in the West Bank.

Eid Khamis is the head of Khan al-Ahmar, a community that was forced to leave the Negev Desert during the 1948 war.

These Bedouin of the Jahalin clan set up their homes in a dusty valley - now nestled between the Israeli settlements of Kfar Adumim and Ma’aleh Adumim - about 10km from Jerusalem.

Khamis, 47, said the community's traditional way of life has been under threat by Israeli authorities for as long as he remembers. The encampment has no running water and is not connected to the electricity grid. Israel refuses to provide Khan al-Ahmar with basic infrastructure, and prevents it from building even to sustain the natural growth of its population.

And now, communities such as Khan al-Ahmar face a new threat, as Israeli authorities recently approved plans to build more settlement units.

http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/inpictures/2012/12/20121217125028262988.html

[delrem]

26. I once googled "bedouins in area c"

It was the beginning of an education because up to then I hadn't known.
The cold blooded criminality of the Israeli program shocked me to my bones. Those poor defenseless people!

On the other hand, to "justify" this ongoing program in the various areas a,b,c, are pathological responses like #2 above.

[King_David]

27. 'pathological responses ' ?

And your mothers fat ?

[delrem]

29. sociopathy

The same sociopathy as you evince when you show a total inability to empathize with the Palestinian/Bedouin plight. An inability to perform the simple moral/ethical measurement of putting yourself, your group, in the other person/group's shoes, to understand that they, too, being equally human, have equal interests and equal rights to exist.

So it is for Holden: "Only when it comes to Israel ... is building homes a war-crime", as if the indigenous Palestinians didn't exist, or only existed as a nuisance to be rid of, so not counting in his equation, in his ability to the judge the righteousness of the situation. So it is for you, unable to see the issue of moral reciprocity, to be aware of the plight of the Bedouins and other indigenous Palestinians - focusing solely on your outrage over the term 'pathological' being applied of your fellow hasbarist.

And both of you with your incessant charges of "antisemitism", that the whole world is "antisemitic" except for those few who agree with your narrow, oppressive views.

[King_David]

31. Projection much ?

None of the attributed thought applies to me.

Total failure as a mind reader.

Always best to give your own opinion and leave it to us to give ours.

[Jefferson23]

28. He posts crap all the time..nothing new. n/t