Pace of Israeli settlement construction four times faster than prior to freeze

The Israeli group Peace Now and the Associated Press estimate construction on 550-600 new homes in Israeli settlements has begun since the freeze expired Sept. 26.

By Dan Murphy,
Staff writer
Christian Science Monitor
October 21, 2010


Palestinian men work on a construction site in the West Bank Jewish settlement of Kiryat Arba, near Hebron, Wednesday, Oct. 20. Israeli settlers have begun work on at least 544 new homes since Israel's 10-month-old moratorium on West Bank housing starts expired three weeks ago, according to the Associated Press
Tara Todras-Whitehill/AP Photo

Israeli settlement construction in the West Bank – land expected to be at the nucleus of an independent Palestinian state in any peace deal with Israel – has surged since a partial freeze on settlement expansion expired on Sept. 26, says the left-leaning Israeli group Peace Now.

A spokesman for the group, which is opposed to settlement expansion in the occupied territories, told the BBC that settlers have begun construction on more than 600 new homes in the West Bank since Israel's 10-month moratorium on expansion expired. Peace Now estimates that the pace of growth is four times faster than prior to the freeze.The Associated Press offered a similar figure of 544, which, while not comprehensive, was based on visits to 16 settlements and phone calls to four dozen more.

"I estimate that work has started at about 600 housing units, and I'm looking to complete the survey in order to know the exact number," said Peace Now researcher Hagit Ofran, who is planning to finish a report on the settlements next week. "In some places, it is only leveling the ground that has started and in others, it's the very foundation that is now being dug."

That's another 100 units under way since the Monitor's Joshua Mitnick reported last week on a rapid spurt of new Israeli settlement building, in which settlers are trying to make up for lost time.

REPORT: Israeli settlement building surges as US pushes for a new freeze

Settlement expansion in the West Bank has become the most visible obstacle to peace talks between Israeli and Palestinian officials touted by President Obama. The Palestinians see the expanding settlements as creating "facts on the ground" that demonstrate Israel is unwilling to give up land conquered in 1967's Arab-Israeli war for peace.

The Obama administration leaned hard on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to temporarily halt construction again as a gesture to keep the Palestinians at the peace table. So far, Israel has refused to agree, and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is now considering walking away from the latest round of talks – less than two months old – entirely.

Many analysts say such a freeze will do little good if the recently started homes are not included in the deal. During the last freeze, homes already under construction were not affected by the freeze, resulting in only a 16 percent slowdown in settlement expansion during the 10-month period.

"This 60-day extension is basically nonsense," Alon Pinkas, a former Israeli Consul General to New York, told the Monitor's Mr. Mitnick last week. "Logic dictates if you are going to delineate a border, you stop building now, or at an early stage in the negotiations, you agree on a border" – and thus agree on where it is permissible to build.

The near collapse of the peace talks, only recently restarted with much diplomatic fanfare, has Mr. Abbas and other Palestinian leaders considering radical and unilateral attempts to create an independent state, as the Monitor reported yesterday.

REPORT: Palestinians mull alternatives to peace talks, including UN recognition

Palestinian leaders say they're considering appealing to the UN Security Council to recognize an independent Palestine. The UN considers Israel's occupation of land won in the 1967 war as illegal, but has until now neither recognized nor been asked to recognize a Palestinian state on that land.

While such an effort is unlikely to bear fruit in the short term – the US has a veto on the council, and is both a staunch ally of Israel and opposed to the move – major steps in that direction could open up a complicated new front in the 60-year-old conflict.

"It's a legitimate question to ask: 'What if this doesn't work?' " Palestinian Authority spokesman Ghassan Khatib told the Monitor yesterday. "If this fails, why don't we look into direct support by the international community to establish this state?"

Arab states: World must put an end to 'Israeli arrogance'

57-nation Organization of the Islamic Conference condemns Israel for renewing settlement construction in East Jerusalem, says it's a 'provocative step intended to sabotage peace process.'
By Haaretz Service

The Organization of the Islamic Conference condemned Israel on Saturday for renewing settlement construction in East Jerusalem and urged the international community to put an end to what it called "Israeli arrogance."

According to Israel Radio, the 57-nation OIC, the world's largest pan-Islamic grouping based in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, said that Israel's approval of nearly 240 new housing units in East Jerusalem is a provocative step intended to sabotage the peace process.

Palestinian man works at a construction site in a West Bank settlement on Monday, September 27, 2010.
Photo by: AP

The OIC's secretary general Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu said in a statement that Israel's behavior requires action by the international community to put a halt to Israel's arrogance.

Earlier Saturday, Egypt said that Israel's building permits for 238 new housing units in East Jerusalem are a sign that direct peace talks could collapse. On Friday, the Arab League said it may ask the United Nations to recognize a Palestinian state if Israel goes ahead with building settlements.

The United States on Friday also expressed 'disappointment' by Israel's approval of new settlement construction, saying "it is contrary to our efforts to resume direct negotiations between the parties."

The Jewish 5th Column in our Israeli Occupied Congress: Congressional Democrat supports building in Jerusalem

By RONEN SHNIDMAN
10/16/2010 11:46

US Congressman Ackerman says "Israeli construction in Jerusalem is neither a show of bad faith, nor a justification for avoiding negotiations."

A Democratic congressman from New York released a statement late Friday criticizing those in the US and abroad who have criticized a recent ministerial decision authorizing the sale of 240 plots of land for new housing units in the Jerusalem neighborhoods of Ramot and Pisgat Ze'ev.

“Jerusalem is the capital of Israel. It is not a settlement," said Rep. Gary Ackerman Chairman of the Subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia. "As such, the resumption of construction in Jerusalem is not a justification for a crisis, a showdown, a meltdown or even a hissy fit. Ramot and Pisgat Zeev are going to be part of Israel in any conceivable final status deal and to pretend otherwise is pointless."


Fischer: We will intervene to cope with housing market

"As I have said, those who earlier complained about the inadequacy of Israel’s unilateral and uncompensated settlement freeze, who chose to waste those ten months instead of diving aggressively into direct talks on peace, cannot reasonably now turn around and complain that the end of the freeze and the resumption of Israeli construction in Jerusalem is either a shock or an insurmountable obstacle to peace."

Ackerman continued to add, "the legitimate aspirations of the Palestinians are not going to be achieved by violence and they’re not going to be achieved by the equivalent of holding their breath until their lips turn blue. Direct negotiations are sole pathway to their goal and the sooner they recognize this fact, the better.”

Congressman Ackerman's comments on Friday came shortly after the State Department expressed disappointment at the 240 new housing units approved in Jerusalem.

“We were disappointed by the announcement of new tenders in east Jerusalem yesterday. It is contrary to our efforts to resume direct negotiations between the parties,” said State Department spokesman Philip Crowley to assembled reporters at a weekly briefing.

Earlier on Friday, the Housing Ministry and Israel Lands Authority announced the sale of some 4,000 plots for building housing units, 240 of which are in the northern Jerusalem neighborhoods of Ramot and Pisgat Ze'ev located east the Green Line.

The Prime Minister's Office commented on the move stating that the decision came from Housing Minister Ariel Attias, Army Radio reported. According to the report, the PMO reiterated that there is currently no building moratorium in Jerusalem, only a delay by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to "prevent surprises by the sensitive timing, as in the past."

Jpost.com staff and Associated Press contributed to this article.


Why is do we allow our Congress to be Israeli Occupied Territory? Why do we allow Jewish congressmen to put Israel ahead of U.S. interests? Why do we allow Congress and the President to continually break the Constitution's guarantee that our government will not allow the U.S. to support the establishment of any religion or religious state, except this is all ignored when that religious state is Jewish Israel. Congressmen Ackerman should be impeached for breaking the Constitution and acting as an agent for a foreign government.

Chinese veteran politicians call for reform

BBC
13 October 2010
Last updated at 11:04 ET


Liu Xiaobo - 28 Oct 2008 Liu Xiaobo was jailed for 11 years in December 2009

A group of 23 Communist Party elders in China has written a letter calling for an end to the country's restrictions on freedom of speech.

The letter says freedom of expression is promised in the Chinese constitution but not allowed in practice.

They want people to be able to freely express themselves on the internet and want more respect for journalists.

The call comes just days after the Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo was awarded this year's Nobel Peace Prize.

Mr Liu was sent to prison for 11 years in 2009 for expressing his desire to see peaceful political change in China.

The letter's release also comes ahead of a key party meeting that is expected to promote future leaders and shape policy for the next few years.
Specific demands

The authors of the letter describe China's current censorship system as a scandal and an embarrassment.

The signatories describe the propaganda department as "invisible black hands".
Continue reading the main story
Eight demands for change

* Dismantle system where media organisations are all tied to higher authorities
* Respect journalists, accept their social status
* Revoke ban on cross-province supervision by public opinion
* Abolish cyber-police; control Web administrators' ability to delete/post items at will
* Confirm citizens' right to know crimes and mistakes committed by ruling party
* Launch pilot projects to support citizen-owned media organisations
* Allow media and publications from Hong Kong and Macau to be openly distributed
* Change the mission of propaganda authorities, from preventing the leak of information to facilitating its accurate and timely spread

The letter says: "They violate our constitution, often ordering by telephone that the works of such and such a person cannot be published, or that such and such an event cannot be reported in the media.

"The officials who make the call do not leave their names, and the secrecy of the agents is protected, but you must heed their phone instructions."

Many who signed the letter were once influential officials.

They include a former personal secretary to the revolutionary leader Mao Zedong, and a former editor of the People's Daily, the official Communist Party newspaper.

The letter, addressed to China's parliament, makes a number of proposals for change.

Censorship should be ended; restrictions on book publishing abolished, they say.

Journalists should be given protection and support when they investigate official corruption and a new media law should be drawn up to ensure they do their job responsibly, it says.

The signatories complain that people who lived in Hong Kong while it was still a British colony enjoyed more freedom than is currently allowed in mainland China.

The BBC's Chris Hogg in Beijing says open letters like this rarely produce enough pressure to change policy.

Often they get the signatories into trouble, although most of those who signed are retired or quite elderly and probably believe the authorities can't do much to harm them, our correspondent says.

Twitter users in China report that references to the letter on different internet message boards are already being deleted.

The censors appear to be doing what they always do, seeking to wipe away any traces of criticism of the party that would soil its reputation amongst ordinary people, our correspondent says.

Dalai Lama criticises China over its Nobel opposition

Liu Xiaobo - 28 Oct 2008 Liu Xiaobo was jailed for 11 years in December 2009

The exiled Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, has criticised the Chinese government for its opposition to the Nobel Peace Prize awarded to jailed Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo.

He said the Chinese government did "not appreciate different opinions". Building an open society was "the only way to save all people of China", he told Japanese media.

Meanwhile, Mr Liu's wife has apparently been placed under house arrest after he dedicated the award to the "martyrs" of Tiananmen Square in 1989.

Mr Liu was a key figure in the protests. He was also involved in drafting Charter 08 two years ago - a document which called for multi-party democracy and respect for human rights in China.

In 2009 he was jailed for 11 years for "inciting subversion".

Communication cut

China said the decision to honour Mr Liu was an "obscenity".

Beijing said relations with Norway, where the peace prize committee is based, may be damaged. It summoned the Norwegian ambassador to hear a formal protest.

On Monday, the Norwegian Embassy said a fisheries meeting in China had been cancelled but refused to give a reason.

The Dalai Lama, who won the peace prize in 1989, said that China's government "must change".

He made his comments to Kyodo news agency, while passing through Tokyo's airport on his way to the US from India.

Meanwhile, human rights groups say that Mr Liu's wife, Liu Xia, has been placed under house arrest.

A US human rights group, Freedom Now, said she was allowed to visit her husband in jail on Sunday and has not been able to leave her home since.

The BBC Chinese service said Mrs Liu had been able to speak on her mobile phone for only two sentences after returning to Beijing before the line was blocked.

Armed guards are also reportedly on duty outside her home.

There are also reports that more political activists in Beijing have had their movements restricted, including Zhou Duo, who was with Mr Liu during the Tiananmen Square protests.

Israeli academic: Loyalty oath resembles racist laws of 1935

Over 100 people demonstrated against loyalty oath in Tel Aviv; warn 'Israel is becoming a fascist state.'
By Asaf Shtull-Trauring
Haaretz

Israeli artists, writers and intellectuals held on Sunday a demonstration against the cabinet's approval of a controversial amendment to the citizenship bill, requiring non-Jews seeking citizenship to pledge allegiance to Israel as a Jewish and democratic state.


Actress Hana Maron speaks at demonstration against loyalt oath in Tel Aviv Oct. 10, 2010--Photo by: Moti Milrod

Over 100 people gathered in front of Independence Hall in Tel Aviv and protested against what they called 'the continuous erosion of Israeli democracy.'

Actress Hana Maron read from the Declaration of Independence: "I will read this again:' [the state of Israel] will ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion, race or sex'. This makes me want to cry. What has become of us?" said Maron.

The amendment to the citizenship bill is one of the promises Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made to Yisrael Beitenu in the coalition agreements. Since coming into government Yisrael Beitenu has advanced a long list of "loyalty" laws, which many consider to be discriminatory against Israel's Arab citizens.

Author Sefi Rachlevsky said that "a country that invades the sacred space of the citizen's conscience, and punishes him for opinions and beliefs that are not in line with the authorities … ceases to be a democracy and becomes a fascist state."

Rachlevsky read from a document titled "the declaration of independence from fascism".

"We, citizens of Israel… have gathered here to announce that we shall not be citizens of the country purporting to be the state of Israel," said Rachlevsky.

Israeli educational psychologist Prof. Gavriel Solomon said that "the idea of Judenrein (Jew free zone), or Arab-rein is not new... Some might say 'how can you compare us to Nazis'. I am not talking about the death camps, but about the year 1935. There were no camps yet but there were racist laws. And we are heading forward towards these kinds of laws. The government is clearly declaring our incapacity for democracy."

Sculptor Dani Karavan, who created a famous relief in the Knesset assembly hall, said that he was "ashamed of this wall… it is a disgrace for me as an artist that a creation of mine serves as the setting for such legislation."

Netanyahu's Labor coalition partners believe that his support for the loyalty oath is a sop to Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, aimed at winning his Yisrael Beiteinu party's support for an extension on a settlement construction freeze that expired late last month. The U.S. and EU have urged Israel to extend the construction freeze, and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has warned that he will quit the current round of peace talks if the moratorium on new building in the West Bank is allowed to expire.

Israel's proposed 'Jewish oath' for new citizens sparks racism row

Loyalty pledge criticised as 'fascist' and an affront to country's Arab minority, which makes up 20% of population

Harriet Sherwood in Jerusalem
guardian.co.uk,
Sunday 10 October 2010 18.20 BST


Avigdor Lieberman, Israel's foreign minister, has campaigned for a loyalty pledge for years. Photograph: Gali Tibbon/AFP

The Israeli cabinet today approved a bill requiring new non-Jewish citizens to swear an oath of allegiance to Israel as a "Jewish and democratic state", in a move that has brought accusations of discrimination against Israel's Arab minority. One dissenting cabinet minister referred to a "whiff of fascism".

The bill, originally promoted by the rightwing foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman, who has made the issue of loyalty a hallmark of his political career, was passed by a big majority despite the opposition of Labour party members.

The loyalty oath will be required of non-Jews seeking to become Israeli citizens, mainly affecting Palestinians from the West Bank who marry Palestinian citizens of Israel.

The latter, who make up 20% of Israel's population, have vigorously criticised the proposal – which needs approval from the Knesset before becoming law – as provocative and racist. It has also drawn protests from Israeli Jews, including those in the cabinet.

Isaac Herzog, the social affairs minister, told Israel's army radio: "There is a whiff of fascism on the margins of Israeli society. The overall picture is very disturbing and threatens the democratic character of the state of Israel. "There have been a tsunami of measures that limit rights ... We will pay a heavy price for this."

Lieberman campaigned in last year's election for a loyalty oath to be required of all existing Palestinian citizens of Israel. However the bill put to the vote today drew back from that, applying only to future citizens. "I think this is an important step forward. Obviously this is not the end of the issue of loyalty in return for citizenship, but this is a highly important step," Lieberman said.

At the start of the cabinet meeting, the prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, said: "The state of Israel is the national state of the Jewish people and is a democratic state in which all its citizens – Jewish and non-Jewish – enjoy full equal rights ... Whoever wants to join us, has to recognise us."

It was suggested that Netanyahu backed the bill as a quid pro quo for support from rightwing parties within his coalition government should he bow to US pressure to extend the freeze on settlement construction. The moratorium, which expired two weeks ago, is threatening to scupper talks on a peace deal with the Palestinians.

Ahmed Tibi, an Israeli-Arab member of the Knesset, condemned the cabinet's decision. "The government of Israel has become subservient to Yisrael Beiteinu [Lieberman's party] and its fascist doctrine," he said. "No other state in the world would force its citizens or those seeking citizenship to pledge allegiance to an ideology."

The speaker of the Knesset, Reuven Rivlin, also criticised the proposal. "This law will not assist us as a society and a state," he said. "On the contrary, it could arm our enemies and opponents in the world in an effort to emphasise the trend for separatism or even racism within Israel."

Likud cabinet members Dan Meridor, Benny Begin and Michael Eitan opposed the bill along with Labour ministers.

Writing in today's Haaretz, liberal commentator Gideon Levy said: "Remember this day. It's the day Israel changes its character ... From now on, we will be living in a new, officially approved, ethnocratic, theocratic, nationalistic and racist country."

Jewish population in Israel is declining

Despite a million immigrants over the past two decades, the percentage of Jews in the Israeli population is declining.
By Arnon Soffer
Haaretz News

I took up Moshe Arens' suggestion, made on this page last month ("Demographic bogey" ), to take a look at the figures of the Central Bureau of Statistics that he finds so encouraging. And what do I find? For one, that the statistics bureau deals only with data within the Green Line, namely Israel, and data about the Jews of Judea and Samaria. As far as the Arabs in the territories are concerned, we will have to look elsewhere.

What is so encouraging about the figures for 2010? I found that within Israel, Jews constitute 75.5 percent of the population, but that the proportion in 1998 was 79.2 percent, and 81.7 percent in 1988. In other words, the percentage of Jews in the Israeli population is constantly declining, in spite of the influx of about 1 million immigrants over the past two decades.

According to the forecasts, in 2015 the percentage of Jews will decline to 73.5 percent, and will drop to 70.6 percent by 2025. Only in 2030 will there be, for the first time, a miniscule increase in the proportion of Jews, bringing us to 72 percent. What is there here to make Arens happy?

If to this harsh data we add foreign workers, immigrants from Africa, tourists who did not return to their homeland and Palestinians who enter the country and don't return home, then the percentage of Jews drops to 70 percent of the inhabitants of Israel. What's so wonderful here? It's an unpleasant picture.

But in recent months Arens has been preaching in favor of the annexation of Judea and Samaria to Israel (according to him, that is the way to prevent the existence of two states in this narrow space ). Of course, that poses a serious demographic problem. So what does Arens do? He receives data from some American team, which enables him to count how many Arabs live in Judea and Samaria, how many have left, how many are leaving and how many will leave the Land of Israel in the future. He also keeps tabs on the number of births and deaths and asserts "scientifically" that only 1.5 million people live in Judea and Samaria. If we erase 1 million Arabs from the board, then there is a Jewish majority in the Land of Israel; the redeemer has come to Zion and the demographic bogey is dead.

But I don't rely on American teams, and instead turn to the head of the Civil Administration in the Israel Defense Forces, who reports to me that there are presently about 2.6 million Palestinians living in Judea and Samaria, and in Gaza their number is estimated at 1.5 million. Anyone who doesn't rely on the IDF can access the figures of the Palestinian statistics bureau, whose last census was held in 2007, under the aegis of representatives of the Norwegian government; their numbers are similar to those of the IDF (after subtracting the residents of Jerusalem who were already counted by the Israeli statistics bureau ). In both cases it turns out that, not counting Gaza or foreign residents, Jews constitute 59 percent of the total population in the Land of Israel. If you do count Gaza and foreign residents, there are somewhat fewer Jews than there are Palestinian Arabs.

There is no choice but to deal with forecasts for the next decade or two, and it turns out that by then the proportion of Jews will have declined to 42 percent. That means an end to the Jewish entity in the Middle East. The demographic bogey, then, is alive and threatening after all, and we still haven't discussed the density of the population or the issues of internal security that we can expect from a hostile population of millions of people.

There is no choice but to tell Arens that the right-wing Betar ideology on which he was raised went bankrupt a long time ago and it won't help if he virtually erases 1.5 million Arabs from the territories. They are here. The conclusion is frighteningly simple: Whoever brings about the establishment of a single binational state in the Land of Israel will doom the Jews of Israel to destruction. We, the sane majority who still live here, will not allow anyone to do that.

"Sane majority"?? Not with that Gottdammerung, Masada, Jonestown, Waco, lunacy being
held as a threat to Palestinians and the whole Middle East. The U.N. needs to step in and finally take responsibility for the enormous injustice they created for Palestinians by allowing European Jews to seize control of virtually all of Palestine. European descended Jews turned Israelis have proven themselves racists who are conducting an ethnic cleansing campaign to rid Israel and even what's left of Palestine of Palestinians. The U.N. must take control of the rogue state of Israel that continually breaks U.N. resolutions protecting Palestinian rights and sovereignty. The U.S. is the accomplice in Israeli crimes against humanity by supplying the weapons and money needed to carry out Israel's destruction of Palestinian society. If the U.N. means anything anymore it must step up to the plate now and take action to stop Israel's aggression and defiance of international law.