APN's daily news review from Israel
Sunday September 04, 2016
Quote of the day:
"It is harder to sit among Jews. They bless me when I go to make peace with gentiles, but raise an
eyebrow when I meet with my brothers."
--Rabbi David Menachem, who builds bridges between Jews, Muslims and Christians using the power of music and interfaith prayer, comments on his collaborations with Conservative Jews.**
--Rabbi David Menachem, who builds bridges between Jews, Muslims and Christians using the power of music and interfaith prayer, comments on his collaborations with Conservative Jews.**
Amona is the largest illegal outpost in the West Bank, home to some fifty families, located near
the settlement of Ofra, northeast of Ramallah. Built on some 100 acres of land registered as privately-owned by
Palestinians, the outpost was built without permits from the Israeli government, but with the direct and
indirect support of Israeli authorities. In 2006, following a decision of the Israeli High Court of Justice,
nine structures in the outpost were demolished – but in the years since, the outpost has grown and flourished.
Now, the High Court is forcing the Israeli government to take action once again to remove the illegal
construction – but rather than simply removing the outpost, the Israeli government has decided to re-locate it –
to another area of privately-owned Palestinian land.
The Israeli government is in the process of establishing – by stealth –the first new settlement
complex (28 units, providing housing for some 100 settlers, or a 10% increase in the settler population in the
area) in Hebron in more than a decade. This action directly contravenes Israeli law, which prohibits seizing
lands for military needs and then using them for the purpose of settlements. It also contradicts the principle
of distinction between civilians and combatants, and constitutes a clear violation of International Humanitarian
Law. In addition, allocating these properties to the settlers based on the argument that they belonged to Jews
before 1948 in essence constitutes implementation of a “right of return” for Jews, at the expense of protected
Palestinians tenants – even as Palestinians are denied any parallel “right of return” to properties they left or
were expelled from before 1948. The Israeli Peace Now movement uncovered this story and is leading the effort to
pressure the Israeli government to cancel these plans.
The Netanyahu government is actively promoting an extraordinarily dangerous and destructive new
settlement plan which activists have dubbed “E-2” – a name that reflects the fact that the plan is as dangerous
and destructive to the two-state solution as the infamous E-1 project (against which the international community
has formed a united front). The E-2 project, which the settlers call Givat Eitam, involves thousands of new
units to be built south of Bethlehem, near the settlement of Efrat. Documents recently released by the
government in connection with a lawsuit brought by Peace Now show that the Netanyahu government is actively
moving ahead with this plan at this time, including working to seize new land on which it can build necessary
infrastructure to implement the project (a new major road).
The policies and actions of the current Israeli government are actively fanning the flames of
violence, further entrenching and expanding occupation, and killing the two-state solution. Some of the most
recent and ongoing outrages are:
"Build and we will sort it out retroactively."
