Bibi scorns US settlement rebuke



This is one of five photos published by B’Tselem on demolitions of Palestinian homes in East Jerusalem.

On 27 January 2014 the Jerusalem Municipality demolished homes and other buildings in East Jerusalem. Following are images of four of the homes demolished that day as well as images of another home whose owner was compelled to demolish the structure himself. All photos are by B’Tselem field researcher ‘Amer ‘Aruri.

These photos illustrate Israel’s policy in East Jerusalem, which aims to keep a majority of Jerusalem’s population Jewish. To that end, Israel greatly restricts the development of Palestinian neighbourhoods and practically precludes lawful construction there:

Israel has appropriated vast tracts of land surrounding heavily populated Palestinian areas in East Jerusalem and built Jewish neighbourhoods on those lands. Master plans for Palestinian neighborhoods drawn up by the Jerusalem Municipality are partial and are a far cry from meeting the needs of the residents or relieving high residential density. The plans result in a shortage of public buildings and open spaces. Residential density in these neighborhoods is extremely high. For example, according to figures by Israeli human rights organization Bimkom the East Jerusalem neighborhood of al-‘Esawiyah has a population density 2.5 times as high as that of nearby Jewish neighborhoods.

East Jerusalem residents have no option but to build their homes without construction permits. Their homes face the constant threat of demolition, so residents live in a continual state of uncertainty regarding their future. From 2004 through December 2013, the Jerusalem Municipality and Israel’s Ministry of the Interior demolished 498 residences in East Jerusalem, rendering homeless 1,948 people, including 1,063 minors.

Netanyahu rejects U.S. criticism of East Jerusalem settlements

‘I have no intention of telling Jews they can’t buy apartments,’ PM says in response to the White House condemnation. ‘This is private property.’

By Barak Ravid, Haaretz
October 02, 2014

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday rejected the harsh criticism issued by the White House, condemning the plan to build new housing units beyond the Green Line in Jerusalem.

“I don’t understand that criticism and I can’t accept that position,” the prime minister told reporters early on Friday (Israel time) during a press briefing at the Palace Hotel in New York.

On Wednesday, the White House and U.S. State Department warned that Israel’s decision to move ahead with the planning process of 2,600 new housing units in Jerusalem’s Givat Hamatos neighborhood, and the recent occupation of some 25 apartments in Silwan, located near the Old City in Jerusalem, will “poison the atmosphere” with the Palestinians and the Arab world.

“It is better to know the material before deciding to take such a stance,” Netanyahu responded to the White House statement.

The prime minister was especially critical of the American condemnation regarding Silwan.

“Arabs in Jerusalem are free to purchase apartments in the western [part of the] city and no one is arguing against it,” Netanyahu said. “I have no intention of telling Jews they can’t buy apartments in East Jerusalem. This is private property and an individual right. There cannot be discrimination – not against Jews and not against Arabs,” he added. “This goes against values that the United States also believes in.”

Netanyahu said that those who moved into the apartments in Silwan did so as private citizens and not as part of a government plan. Buying a house was a fundamental right, he said, adding that he will not allow for it to change. “Every person is entitled to private property. No one stole those houses or confiscated the property. Arabs are selling houses to Jews and Jews are selling houses to Arabs.”

The prime minister also slammed Israeli NGO Peace Now for publishing a statement on Wednesday criticizing the Jerusalem municipality’s decision to go ahead with the construction plans in East Jerusalem.

“It didn’t happen by chance,” he said, accusing the group of a “clear” attempt to sabotage his meeting with U.S. President Obama that took place later that day. “This demonstrates a lack of national responsibility,” he added.

Cabinet Secretary Avichai Mendelblit said in the briefing that the apartments in Silwan were purchased properly and legally. He added that the Jewish residents moved into the apartments in coordination with the Jerusalem municipality. “It’s just like Arab citizens are allowed to do the same,” he said. “We can do nothing to prevent it.”

Mendelblit said that plans for new housing units in Givat Hamatos had already been approved by the government two years ago. He noted that it was a municipal committee that approved it last week, and said that it was merely a “technical part” of the planning process. The law doesn’t even require the decision to be published, he added.


Netanyahu: It’s un-American to rebuke Israel over Jewish homes in Jerusalem

Israeli prime minister adds that restricting where Jews could live ‘doesn’t bode well for peace.’

By Associated Press
October 05, 2014

Israel’s prime minister dismissed a recent White House rebuke of Israeli settlement construction, saying in comments broadcast on Sunday that the criticism goes “against American values.”

The tough words by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu threatened to deepen a rift with the White House over Israeli construction in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, areas captured by Israel in the 1967 Six Day War and claimed by the Palestinians as parts of a future independent state.

Israel came under fire last week after a Jerusalem city official signed the final go-ahead for construction of a new housing development in East Jerusalem. A day earlier, an ultranationalist Jewish group said dozens of settlers had moved into six apartment buildings purchased in the heart of the predominantly Arab neighborhood of Silwan in East Jerusalem.

Israel says East Jerusalem is part of its capital and considers Jewish housing developments there to be neighborhoods of the city. But the international community, including the United States, does not recognize Israel’s annexation of the area and considers construction there to be illegitimate settlement activity.

In a striking public rebuke last week, the Obama administration warned Israel that the new project would distance Israel from “even its closest allies” and raise questions about its commitment to seeking peace with Palestinians.

In an interview broadcast Sunday on CBS’s “Face the Nation,” Netanyahu said he does not accept restrictions on where Jews could live, and said that Jerusalem’s Arabs and Jews should be able to buy homes wherever they want.

He said he was “baffled” by the American condemnation. “It’s against the American values. And it doesn’t bode well for peace,” he said. “The idea that we’d have this ethnic purification as a condition for peace, I think it’s anti-peace.” The interview was recorded Thursday.

The White House declined comment.

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