(via AFP)
Israel approves 550 Jerusalem settler homes (via AFP)
Israel expedited Wednesday plans for more than 550 new settler homes in east Jerusalem, in a move exacerbating tensions between Israel and the Palestinians as they hold US-backed peace talks. The city council said it had granted private contractors…
This post was republished using Repost. Please read it on Informed Comment directly: https://www.juancole.com/2014/02/announces-palestinian-jerusalem.html
—–
Related video:
A modest suggestion, why doesn’t Israel make this “Jewish housing” into integrated housing? It should be 50% Jewish and 50% Palestinian. This would be a demonstration to the world that Israel is not a racist state and that Jews and Palestinians can live together.
Imagine if America started building “white” housing. Might that suggest something about us?
The 2012 Democratic National Platform (as pronounced at the Democratic Convention) declared Jerusalem the Capital of Israel. There had been some controversy about that in 2012, and it was reported that Obama insisted that the Democratic platform include the declaration about Jerusalem as the capital. The platform did not specify that “Jerusalem” includes East Jerusalem (although the 2008 platform did specify Jerusalem as an undivided city). The Republicans are, and have been, avowedly clear about undivided Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
This tells us that American policy is for Israel to have all of (East/West) Jerusalem for its capital. When Israel continues to develop East Jerusalem, it is conforming with American policy, is it not?
That platform has no basis in U.S. foreign policy – just partisan posturing in response to Mitt Romney’s close ties to PM Netanyahu and Israel to pander to pro-Israel voters.
The word out of the peace talks is that Jerusalem could be under joint Israel-Palestinian Authority administration if a U.S. State Department proposal is adopted.
And so, the negotiations must continue without interruption, and for every Israeli provocation there must be a more than equal punishment, openly described as such.