Salon.com > Settlements

Obama in Israel: Settlements “counterproductive” to peace

Thu, 21 Mar 2013 15:53:00 +0000

JERUSALEM (AP) — President Barack Obama delivered an impassioned appeal Thursday for Israel to recognize that compromise will be necessary to secure peace and lasting security for the Jewish state.

Telling an audience of university students that the United States is their country's best friend and most important ally, Obama said the U.S. will never compromise in its own commitment to Israel's defense, particularly against threats such as the one posed by Iran and its nuclear program.

But he also stressed that Israel must make peace with the Palestinians if it is to ensure its survival and long-term viability as a homeland for the Jewish people. Israeli occupation of areas that the Palestinians claim for their state must end, he said.

"The Palestinian people's right to self-determination and justice must ... be recognized," he said. "Put yourself in their shoes - look at the world through their eyes. It is not fair that a Palestinian child cannot grow up in a state of her own, and lives with the presence of a foreign army that controls the movements of her parents every single day."

Israel introduces “Palestinian only” buses

Sun, 03 Mar 2013 19:00:00 +0000

Haaretz reports that, following Jewish settlers' complaints about security risks, certain bus operators will be providing "Palestinian only" lines to segregate Jewish and Arab commuters traveling from the West Bank to work in central Israel.

Via Haaretz:

The Afikim bus company will begin operating Palestinian-only bus lines from the checkpoints to Gush Dan to prevent Palestinians from boarding buses with Jewish passengers. Palestinians are not allowed to enter settlements, and instead board buses from several bus stops on the Trans-Samaria highway.

... The buses will begin operating Monday morning at the Eyal crossing to take the Palestinians to work in Israel. Transportation Ministry officials are not officially calling them segregated buses, but rather bus lines intended to relieve the distress of the Palestinian workers. Ynet has reported that fliers are being distributed to Palestinian workers notifying them of the coming changes.

U.N. panel: Israeli settlements break international law

Thu, 31 Jan 2013 16:47:00 +0000

GENEVA — The United Nations’ first report on the broad policy of Israeli settlements concluded Thursday that the government’s practice of “creeping annexation” clearly violates the human rights of Palestinians, and called for an immediate halt.

In its report to the 47-nation Human Rights Council, a panel of investigators said Israel is violating international humanitarian law under the Fourth Geneva Convention, one of the treaties that establish the ground rules for what is considered humane during wartime.

The Israeli government has persisted in settling Palestinian-occupied territories, including East Jerusalem and the West Bank, “despite all the pertinent United Nations resolutions declaring that the existence of the settlements is illegal and calling for their cessation,” the report said.

The settlements are “a mesh of construction and infrastructure leading to a creeping annexation that prevents the establishment of a contiguous and viable Palestinian State and undermines the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination,” it concludes.

Israel to advance East Jerusalem building

Tue, 04 Dec 2012 15:13:00 +0000

ERUSALEM (AP) -- Israel is moving forward with plans for two major settlement projects in east Jerusalem, a spokeswoman said Tuesday, even as a senior Palestinian official warned that his government could pursue war crimes charges if Israel doesn't halt such construction.

International anger over Israeli settlement construction has snowballed in recent days, following last week's U.N. recognition of a state of Palestine - in lands Israel occupied in 1967 - as a non-member observer in the General Assembly.

Israel retaliated for U.N. recognition of Palestine in the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem by announcing plans to build 3,000 homes for Jews in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, as well as preparations for construction of an especially sensitive project near Jerusalem, known as E-1.

The Israeli reprisal has prompted the country's strongest Western allies to take an unusually strong line with the Jewish state.

British Foreign Secretary William Hague warned Tuesday that the latest Israeli building plans would make the establishment of a Palestinian state alongside Israel, with Jerusalem as a shared capital, "almost inconceivable."

France, Britain, Sweden, Spain summon ambassadors from Israel

Mon, 03 Dec 2012 15:39:00 +0000

JERUSALEM (AP) -- Four European nations summoned their Israeli ambassadors on Monday to denounce Israel's latest settlement construction push, deepening the rift between the Jewish state and European allies that has cracked open over the Palestinians' successful U.N. statehood bid.

Although Europe considers all Israeli settlement construction illegal, the summoning of ambassadors in France, Britain, Sweden and Spain to accuse Israel of undermining already troubled peace efforts was an unusually strong expression of displeasure. It came at a time when Israel was already smarting over Europe's failure to back the Jewish state in its campaign against the statehood move.

The Europeans were furious over Israel's announcement Friday that it would move ahead on plans to build 3,000 settler homes to punish the Palestinians for winning U.N. recognition of a state of Palestine in territories Israel captured in 1967.

Israel also said it would begin planning work on an especially sensitive piece of land outside Jerusalem that it has refrained from developing because of U.S. pressure. A meeting with developers and other interested parties was to take place Wednesday, though officials have stressed that it could be years before actual construction begins.