Israel okays 800 new housing units in East Jerusalem, surrounding area

[Little Tich]

Source: Times of Israel

In wake of terror attacks, Netanyahu says West Bank’s Jewish communities must be strengthened; construction for 600 homes in Arab neighborhood of Beit Safafa also approved

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman approved on Sunday construction plans for some 800 new housing units in East Jerusalem and the surrounding area, as well as hundreds of new homes for an Arab neighborhood of East Jerusalem.

According to the plan, 560 new units will be built in Ma’ale Adumim, a West Bank settlement right outside the capital, 140 homes were approved for the Jewish East Jerusalem neighborhood of Ramot and 100 for the Har Homa neighborhood, in southeastern Jerusalem.

The Eretz-Israel Knesset lobby, chaired by MK Yoav Kisch (Likud) and Bezalel Smotrich (Jewish Home), welcomed the plans for Ma’ale Adumim and called for the settlement to be made part of Israel. The lobby launched a campaign on Sunday titled “It’s time for sovereignty,”in cooperation with the Ma’ale Adumim municipality.

Netanyahu and Liberman also authorized construction for 600 new homes in the Arab East Jerusalem neighborhood of Beit Safafa, a move criticized by the minister for Jerusalem Affairs, Zeev Elkin (Likud).

Read more: http://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-okays-800-new-housing-units-in-east-jerusalem-surrounding-area/

[MFM008]

1. I'm sure that will help

The peace process.

[Israeli]

8. What " peace process " ?????????????? n/t.

[BlueMTexpat]

2. .

[6chars]

3. Israel approves 600 new Arab housing units in East Jerusalem

also says the article, which then quotes some pissed off Likudnik.

So, there are new Jewish housing units and new Arab housing units in East Jerusalem. Everyone gets more housing.

Hooray! It's a win-win situation.

Unless one doesn't care about improving Palestinian lives, only about harming Israel. Then the Arab housing is no gain but the Jewish housing is a loss, so the net is a negative.

[Little Tich]

4. It's all about the two-state solution.

There are some people who still believe that there can be two states, and building more settlements is contrary to that vision. It seems as if Israel has chosen to build (literally) a bi-national state.

[Israeli]

7. Right .....

Ref : http://www.democraticunderground.com/1134130670

The state had no choice but to approve the construction plan for Palestinians in Givat Hamatos. The Beit Safafa community administration petitioned Jerusalem District Court six months ago, against the delay of the plan’s implementation for no apparent reason. The prosecution tried to argue that the reason the plan hadn’t gone forward was so secret, the petitioners couldn’t be told what it was. The prosecution also claimed that the issue had been discussed at the highest levels of government.

The court rejected these arguments and demanded a serious response. Last week, before the murders of Israelis Hallel Yaffa Ariel and Rabbi Michael Mark in the West Bank, the prosecution told the court that decisions would be made that will make the petition superfluous. This means the prime minister had no alternative but to approve the plan for the Palestinians, and the resulting condemnation from the right – by ministers Zeev Elkin and Naftali Bennett, along with Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat – was merely populist noise for electoral purposes.

[Little Tich]

5. UN to Israel: stand for peace and rescind new building plans over pre-67 lines

Source: Jerusalem Post

On Monday morning, Education Minister Naftali Bennett called on the government to annex Area C of the West Bank.

Israel should show it cares about peace by rescinding its decision to advance building plans in the West Bank settlement of Ma’aleh Adumim and Jewish neighborhoods of east Jerusalem, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said on Monday night.

“Settlements are illegal under international law,” Ban’s office said.

It added that Ban “urges the Government of Israel to halt and reverse such decisions in the interest of peace and a just final status agreement.”

Ban’s office issued its statement after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman agreed to advance plans for 560 new homes in Ma’aleh Adumim, the third largest West Bank settlement.

Read more: http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Politics-And-Diplomacy/UN-to-Israel-stand-for-peace-and-rescind-new-building-plans-over-pre-67-lines-459501

[Israeli]

6. Plans for 560 settler homes in Ma’aleh Adumim advance after annexation calls

Right-wing politicians call on Netanyahu to annex the West Bank Jewish city.

Prime Minister Netanyahu advanced plans for 560 new setter home in Ma’aleh Adumim just hours after right-wing politicians called on him to annex that West Bank Jewish city.

Ma’aleh Adumim mayor Benny Kashriel said he heard that the plans would be deposited from both the offices of the prime minister and the defense minister.

But while they thanked Netanyahu, right-wing ministers and politicians said the small gesture was not enough.
“The Majority of the Israeli public won’t be satisfied with this,” the Land of Israel caucus said on Sunday night.

“We’re working [to authorize] massive building in Ma’aleh Adumim and to impose sovereignty there and in all of Judea and Samaria,” the caucus said.
It held a meeting in Ma’aleh Adumim earlier in the evening, in which its lawmakers said they plan to introduce legislation in the Knesset within two weeks to annex the settlement.

Source: http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Plans-for-560-settler-homes-in-Maaleh-Adumim-advanced-after-politicians-call-to-annex-it-459442

[Eugene]

9. U.N. chief slams Israel over settlement plans in wake of Quartet report

Source: Reuters

World | Tue Jul 5, 2016 2:34pm EDT

U.N. chief slams Israel over settlement plans in wake of Quartet report

U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon sharply criticized a decision by Israel to advance plans to build hundreds of units in the West Bank and East Jerusalem just days after world powers called on Israel to stop its settlement policy, his spokesman said on Tuesday.

"This raises legitimate questions about Israel's long-term intentions, which are compounded by continuing statements of some Israeli ministers calling for the annexation of the West Bank," Ban's spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in a statement.

Ban was "deeply disappointed" that Israel's announcement followed the release of a report on Friday by the "Quartet" sponsoring the stalled Middle East peace process - the United States, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations.

The long-awaited report said Israel should stop building settlements, denying Palestinian development and designating land for exclusive Israeli use that Palestinians seek for a future state.

[font size=1]-snip-[/font]

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-israel-palestinians-un-idUSKCN0ZL27B

[geek tragedy]

10. the one-state solution's time horizon is getting closer and closer nt

[Israeli]

11. US, UN slam Israeli decision to advance settlement construction

State Department calls plans to build hundreds of housing units in the West Bank and East Jerusalem 'a systematic process of land seizures, settlement expansions and legalizations of outposts that is fundamentally undermining the prospects for a two-state solution.'

State Department spokesman John Kirby said Tuesday US officials had seen reports that Israel intends to advance plans for hundreds of housing units in Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

"If true, this report would be the latest step in what seems to be a systematic process of land seizures, settlement expansions and legalizations of outposts that is fundamentally undermining the prospects for a two-state solution," Kirby told a news briefing.

UN chief Ban Ki-moon also questioned Israel's commitment to reaching peace with the Palestinians.

"This raises legitimate questions about Israel's long-term intentions, which are compounded by continuing statements of some Israeli ministers calling for the annexation of the West Bank," Ban's spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in a statement.

Continued @ http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4824840,00.html

[6chars]

12. this was for new units approved in ma'ale adumim

no land seizure involved. and in terms of Israel's long-term intentions, i don't think it is new to question Israel's intention to abandon ma'ale adumim.

i.e., concern trolling.

[Israeli]

13. Dispelling the myths about building in Jerusalem

In Jerusalem, construction of Jewish neighborhoods continues unabated, while Palestinians are still struggling for basic infrastructure.

By Aviv Tatarsky

http://972mag.com/dispelling-the-myths-about-building-in-jerusalem/120498/

There is no way to pulverize the Palestinian part of Jerusalem without Israeli suffering. Israeli construction will not prevent the need for a political solution — it will only make reaching one more complicated. On the other hand, the systematic discrimination against Palestinians in Jerusalem creates poverty and hostility, destroying the community fabric in East Jerusalem. This is the soil from which the violence that kills Israelis grows. If we do not sow other seeds, this is what we will reap.

[Israeli]

14. Sarona is not Kiryat Arba

While terror attacks that happen in Tel Aviv are just considered a part of life in Israel, terror attacks in settlements beyond the Green Line confer special privileges upon those who live in the area. Why is this the case?

Aviad Kleinberg|Published: 08.07.16

The state of Israel has two contingency plans in case of terror attacks. If the attack happens in Tel Aviv, you go on as usual. Tel Avivians are praised for all the traits they are usually scorned for having: their tendencies to have fun, buy, sell and generally keep their cool. Two days later, the attack is erased from everyone’s memories, and Tel Aviv goes back, in everyone’s minds, to being a non-stop city that never experiences terrorism and whose spoiled residents live in a bubble.
Nava Ney recently posted on social media that as compensation for the murders at Tel Aviv’s Sarona Market, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should increase the number of planned construction projects aimed at young couples inside the Green Line area, raise the welfare budget, lower school class sizes to a maximum of 20 pupils, give all children in Israel free education up until they finish their PhDs, take out fascist content from school curricula and increase the number of medicines that receive government subsidization.

Any sensible person knows this is a fantasy. Ney herself knows that none of her demands will be met. Even the act of connecting the terror attack to some demand by the families or the city's residents is absurd.
Terrorist attacks are a part of our lives. Attacks in Tel Aviv don’t grant the city’s residents any privileges. The housing and education policy (or, in our case, the lack thereof) is a matter for policy makers. But when the attack happens beyond the faded Green Line, things are completely different. The attack is then seen as an expression of unending hatred of the People and Land of Israel (of course, the true Land of Israel is only beyond the Green Line, and only those who reside there are fit to be called the People of Israel).

Therefore, a cosmic-scale response is needed – regardless of state concerns about what will be gained or lost. The bereaved families and the Yesha Council get to run Israel’s foreign and defense policy for a few days. Life cannot simply go on. You need to build new roads, demolish homes, remove the terrorists’ families, whether they had anything to do with the attack or not, and above all you must add to the Jewish presence in the West Bank by expropriating lands, disinheriting the locals and removing Palestinians, all in the name of the blood that has been spilled.

Because while the Tel Avivian blood stays silent, the settlement blood screams. And it always shouts the same message: Fulfil the settler agenda, regardless of the price everyone else is to pay. We must strengthen the settlement project – now! That project is, in the name of the spilled blood, placed above any other consideration. Security, state, economic, proper administration, and common sense considerations are all left by the wayside. The question of why there’s even a need for a Jewish presence in Hebron, and whether there’s any sense in increasing its population numbers now, is seen as sacrilege. It doesn’t take much to get the asker accused of having “blood on their hands,” as Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg can well attest.

Continued @ :
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4825898,00.html

[Israeli]

15. And if thats not enough ......

ref quote :

"" Because while the Tel Avivian blood stays silent, the settlement blood screams. And it always shouts the same message: Fulfil the settler agenda, regardless of the price everyone else is to pay. We must strengthen the settlement project – now! That project is, in the name of the spilled blood, placed above any other consideration. Security, state, economic, proper administration, and common sense considerations are all left by the wayside. The question of why there’s even a need for a Jewish presence in Hebron, and whether there’s any sense in increasing its population numbers now, is seen as sacrilege. It doesn’t take much to get the asker accused of having “blood on their hands,” as Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg can well attest. ""

Then you can always try this ........

Bereaved mother asks PM to be allowed to visit Temple Mount

Rina Ariel, whose daughter Hallel was murdered in her bed by a terrorist in June, asked to be allowed to give a short ceremony with 250 supporters on site; ‘Recently,’ said Rina. ‘200 thousand Muslims performed a mass prayer at the site. Would a Jewish group comprised of a tenth of that number not be allowed to convene there for a single hour?’

Yifat Erlich and Elisha Kimon|Published: 08.07.16

Source : http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4825946,00.html

[Israeli]

16. Or this ........

As part of the government's conspicuous pampering of the settlers, five million Shekels were allocated for the establishment of bicycle paths in the settlement of Kiryat Arba. On the radio news bulletin, Agriculture Minister Uri Ariel - who was deeply involved with this decision, though it had nothing to do with agriculture – was asked: "Are there so many cyclists in Kiryat Arba? Would it not it be better to invest the money in creating more bicycle paths in Tel Aviv?" - "How can you even ask such a question, when a family in Kiryat Arba is still in mourning for a 13-year-old girl murdered just a few days ago?" Replied the minister. "The settlers have suffered a severe trauma, they feel threatened, their morale must be raised."

Source : http://adam-keller2.blogspot.co.il/

[Israeli]

17. '14 West Bank settler outposts to be legalized, 20 already approved'

Source : http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/14-West-Bank-settler-outposts-to-be-legalized-20-already-approved-460071