UN calls on Tel Aviv to cancel plans to build thousands of houses on disputed lands

[ApfelGanja]

The Jerusalem Planning Committee has approved 2,612 housing units in the Givat Hamatos settlement on Jerusalem's southern rim, an Israeli municipal official said Wednesday. City Councilor Pepe Alalu, who voted against the project, said construction could begin in a year. The area, inhabited by a few dozen Jewish and Palestinian families, would be the first new settlement to be built in east Jerusalem since 1997. Critics claim that Givat Hamatos, along with other settlements planned for an area known as E-1, could hinder access to east Jerusalem from the West Bank. Israel’s new building plans have drawn worldwide rebuke.

 

The United Nations has called on Israel to cancel plans to build thousands of new houses on the disputed territories in east Jerusalem, warning it could be "an almost fatal blow" to peace hopes. Israel has pushed through plans for 5,158 new settler homes so far. Tel Aviv announced the expansion of settlements in the occupied West Bank, including east Jerusalem, since the Palestinians won a UN vote on November 29 to secure non-member state recognition.

 

As a Jew I would normally support Israel but here (not for the first time) they are doing everything to spite the Arabs. One reason I can think of is that if there is no war with the Arabs, there will be no money from the US and Jews abroad or at least not nearly as much. The longer the conflict goes on for, the more money Israel gets to build up the IDF and other things. But surely 64.5 years is long enough... A couple of weeks ago my mother's good friend who lived in a kibbutz on the outskirts of Tel-Aviv witnessed her husband bring blown to pieces by a PLO missile. She was 8.5 months pregnant and is now in shock and depression in a hospital and suffered a miscarriage. I am sure there are hundreds more horror stories like that, even thousands since 1948.. Enough people have died..