My letter to the Guardian RE Prospects for a two-state solution

US Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Susan E. Rice: US does not accept legitimacy of settlements.... "Referring to anti-Palestinian violence and desecration of religious sites, Rice added: "Israel should step up its efforts to deter, confront, and prosecute anti-Palestinian violence and extremist hate crimes.""

RE: Prospects for a two-state solution
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/oct/25/prospects-for-a-two-state-solution

Dear Sir,

Pro-Palestine "resistance" that empowers Islamists and Anti-Israel activism and flag burning mainly helps Israel convince America that Palestine is not a good investment.  FYI:  "The PA requires approximately $1 billion in external funding annually. The biggest individual donor has been the United States, and the biggest collective one the European Union. As a result of the inevitable failure at the U.N. last year, aid to the PA from both has dropped to approximately half of its previous level. And half of the remaining American aid, $200 million, remains on congressional hold. Meanwhile, numerous Arab states have failed to meet their own pledges." Hussein Ibish Hamas Rising?

Dr. Ziad Asali wisely points out in a recent op-ed about the vital importance of serious lobby efforts that "Palestinians, like all others, have to compete for political impact." American Elections Matter and the System is Open

Palestine needs actual political power, civilized conversations, fact based assessments (rather than wild conjectures), and most importantly citizen diplomats world wide who are able and willing to help promote peace and Palestine in every forum they can find- preferably mainstream.

Meritocracy matters.... and so does the goal of creating a fully secular two state solution to once and for all end the Israel-Palestine conflict for everyone's sake.

Sincerely,
Anne Selden Annab

NOTES
Churches condemn Israeli security barrier

Dr. Ziad Asali: American Elections Matter and the System is Open

UN Day

Hamas Rising?

C-SPAN: IMF Warns of Palestinian Authority's Financial Collapse: Middle East Institute Discussion on the Political and Economic Implications of the Palestinian Authority's Fiscal Crisis

Accountability & a Confession

Israel vs. No. 2 Pencils... Palestinians have suffered from a profound lack of sovereignty for decades now

How blaming the West hides a war on women

Maen Rashid Areikat: Israeli settlements are no ‘secondary issue’

Churches for Middle East Peace: Beginning of Harvest Season in Palestine Brings Violence

UN envoy alarmed by reports of Israeli settlers attacking Palestinian farmers

ATFP's Hussein Ibish: Where Settler Terrorism Comes From

''The Life of a Palestinian''

Muslims who would restrict speech to "protect Islam" have no greater allies than Jews who would do so to "protect Israel."

King Abdullah II of Jordan: The reason behind Tehran’s nuclear programme is the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

************

The Office of International Religious Freedom ( http://www.state.gov/j/drl/irf/ )  Given the U.S. commitment to religious freedom, and to the international covenants that guarantee it as the inalienable right of every human being, the United States seeks to:

Promote freedom of religion and conscience throughout the world as a fundamental human right and as a source of stability for all countries

Palestinian Refugees (1948-NOW) refused their right to return... and their right to live in peace free from religious bigotry and injustice.

"Where, after all, do universal human rights begin? In small places, close to home - so close and so small that they cannot be seen on any maps of the world. Yet they are the world of the individual person; the neighborhood he lives in; the school or college he attends; the factory, farm, or office where he works. Such are the places where every man, woman, and child seeks equal justice, equal opportunity, equal dignity without discrimination. Unless these rights have meaning there, they have little meaning anywhere. Without concerted citizen action to uphold them close to home, we shall look in vain for progress in the larger world."Eleanor Roosevelt

The Golden Rule... Do unto others as you would have them do unto you

Empowering Peace & Palestine

The Arab Peace Initiative

Churches condemn Israeli security barrier

Armenians gather around the coffin of the Armenian Patriarch of Jerusalem Torkom Manougian, during a memorial procession at the Armenian Church in the Old city of Jerusalem, Sunday, Oct. 21, 2012. (AP Photo/Sebastian Scheiner)

http://news.yahoo.com/churches-condemn-israeli-security-barrier-172022864.html

JERUSALEM (AP) — The heads of Catholic churches in the Holy Land are condemning the route of Israel's security barrier near Bethlehem, saying it affects the livelihood of Christian families there.

The churches said in a statement that the barrier would affect the lives of 58 families who live off the land.

Israel began building the barrier last decade saying it was meant to keep out Palestinian attackers who crossed from the West Bank into Israel and blew themselves up among civilians. The barrier juts into some areas belonging to Palestinians who condemn it as a land grab.

An Israeli defense ministry official said the route will include entry points and large agricultural gates to enable access to the land on both sides of the fence. He said compensation will be paid to Palestinian land owners.

Dr. Ziad Asali: American Elections Matter and the System is Open

Palestinians seek to enhance UN status to observer state

American Elections Matter and the System is Open

 Ziad Asali

October 25, 2012

Al Hayat

http://alhayat.com/Details/447469

For the Arabic text please go to: http://alhayat.com/Details/447235

 The silly season, the protracted multibillion dollar period of escalating frenzy leading up to US national elections, is coming to a close. All that is said or done in this season is fair if it is deemed legal. The game ends with one winner while two parties share the uneven pie of diffuse power across the nation.

The United States and its elections matter. What other countries do not know about the US system, including elections, cost them.

There is an increasing awareness of foreign countries, and enterprises, of the impact of the outcome of elections on their lives, interests and well being. Foreign policy remains largely the domain of the Executive branch, headed by the President, while the Congress wields control over the budget strings. The Supreme Court, with its over-arching power, passes decisions that have monumental impact on the outcome of close elections, which is what happened with its decision on Bush / Gore in the year 2000. In January 2010, the Supreme Court ruled, precedent to the contrary, that the First Amendment about freedom of speech gives corporations and unions the power to spend as much of their general treasuries as they care to influence candidate elections subject to certain stipulations. This landmark decision was noticed by the alert Americans and foreigners who watch Washington to take full advantage of its decisions. In theory and in practice, corporations and organizations can legally buy influence in the United States. Those who decry and lament policies made in America would do better by understanding its system.

Campaign financing, and lobbying, are legal. Failing to obey the law, if uncovered, is costly while mastering its details, and knowing those who write, uphold and implement the law, is a good investment of time and money.

The economic and financial crisis of the past few years has shifted more power to Washington over financial and economic matters. Wall Street, although not completely humbled, is cut down to size by the creeping oversight of Washington. The American system, which was designed to be lobbied, is swarmihttp://alhayat.com/Details/447235ng with lobbyists who will have serious influence for a long time. They will thrive as long as they deliver results to their clients, foreign and domestic.

One often hears the refrain how come the Arabs, or Arab Americans, have so little influence in America? A fair point, but what influence do the Arabs want or need to have?

The Arabs used to have a cause in the past, which is Palestine. People still talk about it incessantly. It nominally unites them, but opinions differ as to how seriously have the Arabs defended this cause in the last couple of decades. The truth is that Arab countries have many causes and interests which they have been defining and pursuing independently. This should be acknowledged and dealt with forthrightly as we assess the impact of “the Arabs” in America. Palestinians, like all others, have to compete for political impact.

The American system is generally based on meritocracy. The more able and qualified you are to compete the more likely you are to succeed. The American political game is a competitive team sport open to all. Examples of the impressive returns of investing in, and building, an effective team are evident for all to see.

Arab countries, and others, have serious interests in the outcome of decisions made in America. Some are more aware than others of the complexities and subtleties of the American political system. Impact cannot just be outsourced to lobbyists. There is an element of racism that works against Arabs and Muslims, at least in taking their easy money without offering them a fair service, but this is a challenge that must be met by a serious engagement of the countries themselves and their own teams.

Having a strategic partnership with the United States, and imparting a sense of it to the American people, is the single most effective way for a country, a movement or a leader to have influence here. Barring that, the opposite is true.

Elections offer an opportunity for new policies and strategies. Candidates are needy. The incumbent is approachable because he wants to correct his course and to establish his own legacy. He will look for people who can help him achieve his goals. The challenger would like to set himself apart from the “failed policy” of his predecessor. If elected, he would look for allies and dependable partners who share his vision and mutual objectives. The period of transition after elections presents an opportunity to pursue shared interests, and demonstrate like-mindedness, both of which are at a premium to the occupant of the White House.

Of course there is always the option to stay out of America and its political game, to dismiss it as a spent force, its elections as a charade, and to look elsewhere for the future. This is legitimate. But what other country comes close to having the mix of economic, military, technological and cultural achievements combined with the soft power of America? Until then, perhaps investing in impacting decision-making in the USA would be prudent.

Born in Jerusalem, Ziad J. Asali, M.D., is the President and founder of the American Task Force on Palestine, a 501(c) 3 non-profit, non-partisan organization established in 2003 and based in Washington, DC.

ATFP works primarily in Washington, DC, and seeks to build strong working relationships with government departments and agencies, think tanks and NGOs and the media.  It has developed lines of communication with the US, Palestinian, Israeli and Jordanian governments in order to pursue its policy advocacy goals.  ATFP has also engaged in humanitarian fundraising to support health and education causes in the occupied Palestinian territories.

Help support the American Task Force on Palestine in its mission to create a viable Palestinian state living side by side with Israel in Peace and Security

UN Day

UN Day

Dear Friends,

Today the world commemorates the anniversary of when the United Nations Charter went into effect in 1945.

For nearly 70 years, the United Nations has been a force for progress and peace in the world. Every day, the UN is on the front lines of global challenges — working to promote human rights, increase peace and stability, respond to natural disasters and crises, improve health, combat climate change, empower women and girls, and much more.

The statistics tell a powerful story about the UN's reach. For example, the United Nations aids more than 30 million refugees and people fleeing war, famine, or persecution; it vaccinates 58 percent of the world's children against harmful and deadly diseases; and it helps keep the peace with 120,000 peacekeepers in 16 operations.

As the world confronts urgent problems that transcend borders, the UN is more important than ever. It is the one institution with the global reach, scale, and capacity to mobilize international action to address these problems without passports.

Today, join us in recognizing the UN's lifesaving and life-changing work and advocating for a strong U.S.-UN relationship. Now is the time to stand with the UN.

Join us in supporting the United Nations this UN Day.

Working with the UN, we can build a safer, healthier, and more just world for our children and our grandchildren.

Thank you for your support,

Timothy E. Wirth
President
United Nations Foundation

 
Join the United Nations Foundation today, October 24 for UN Day: a day to celebrate all the work the UN does to change lives and solve global problems. Get involved and help show your support today!

• Celebrate: Join a local event hosted by your chapter of the United Nations Association of the USA. More than 100 Chapters are hosting more than 175 UN Day events in 33 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. Check out the map below for a list of events or visit www.unausa.org to sign up as a UNA member.
• Tweet and Learn! Participate in the UN Day Twitter chat with @unfoundation and experts from the United Nations this Wednesday from 11am-2pm ET.
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•  Share! With your support, the UN is creating a better world every day. View the important work the UN does and help spread the word.

"If the Israelis, Americans and Europeans prefer to deal with Hamas rather than Mahmoud Abbas and Fayyad, they need only continue their current policies. And if they then find themselves unhappy with a new Islamist-dominated Palestinian national movement, they can rest assured they sat by and watched it happen in real time, and did absolutely nothing to stop it." Hussein Ibish

Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh and the Emir of Qatar Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani arrive to a ceremony in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip. (Mohammed Salem-Pool / Getty Images)

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/10/24/hamas-rising.html

Hamas Rising?

by Hussein Ibish Oct 24, 2012 10:45 AM EDT 

Is everyone conspiring to undermine the Palestinian Authority and promote Hamas? This morning, in the context of yesterday's visit of the Emir of Qatar to Gaza, with his pledges of massive financial and diplomatic support, it sure looks that way.

 

The biggest threat to the PA is a fiscal crisis originating in its quixotic U.N. membership bid of September 2012, which produced a confrontation with its main donors, particularly the United States.

The PA requires approximately $1 billion in external funding annually. The biggest individual donor has been the United States, and the biggest collective one the European Union. As a result of the inevitable failure at the U.N. last year, aid to the PA from both has dropped to approximately half of its previous level. And half of the remaining American aid, $200 million, remains on congressional hold. Meanwhile, numerous Arab states have failed to meet their own pledges.

The result is that the institution-building program led by Prime Minister Salam Fayyad is paralyzed. Public employee salaries are being paid piecemeal, services cut and taxes increased. The cost of living has shot through the roof. All of this has killed the promise that responsible governance could provide a measure of hope at a time of diplomatic impasse. Palestinians can no longer reasonably expect improvements in their quality of life even if they have to wait for progress towards independence.

The inevitable consequence has been the destabilization and discrediting of the PA, and real questions about its stability and future...READ MORE

My letter to the Guardian RE The death of the Israel-Palestine two-state solution brings fresh hope by Rachel Shabi

RE:  The death of the Israel-Palestine two-state solution brings fresh hope by Rachel Shabi
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/oct/23/israel-palestine-two-state-solution

Dear Sir,

The Guardian's own intrepid reporter Harriet Sherwood recently explained that "More than two-thirds of Israeli Jews say that 2.5 million Palestinians living in the West Bank should be denied the right to vote if the area was annexed by Israel, in effect endorsing an apartheid state"  Israeli poll finds majority in favour of 'apartheid' policies

The poll also mentions that among Israel's ultra-Orthodox Jews "95% backing discrimination against Arabs in the workplace."

The death of the Israel-Palestine two-state solution does not bring fresh hope. It is the exact same situation that has been arming religious extremism and bigotry and cynicism on both sides for more than six decades, pushing Palestinians into poverty and forced exile at every turn, individually as well as collectively.

A fully secular two state solution to actually end the Israel-Palestine conflict really is the best way forward.... and it is never ever too late to tear down apartheid walls, remove illegal settlements, empower compassion and invest in real justice and a lasting peace based on full respect for international law and universal basic human rights.

Sincerely,
Anne Selden Annab

NOTES
Israeli poll finds majority in favour of 'apartheid' policies

C-SPAN: IMF Warns of Palestinian Authority's Financial Collapse: Middle East Institute Discussion on the Political and Economic Implications of the Palestinian Authority's Fiscal Crisis

Ibrahim Abu-Ta'a: Obama and Romney need to confront, solve Israeli-Palestinian divisions

Accountability & a Confession

Israel vs. No. 2 Pencils... Palestinians have suffered from a profound lack of sovereignty for decades now

How blaming the West hides a war on women

Group decries plans for army college on Mount of Olives

Maen Rashid Areikat: Israeli settlements are no ‘secondary issue’

Churches for Middle East Peace: Beginning of Harvest Season in Palestine Brings Violence

UN envoy alarmed by reports of Israeli settlers attacking Palestinian farmers

ATFP's Hussein Ibish: Where Settler Terrorism Comes From

William Hague intervenes over West Bank barrier: Foreign secretary shares concern with Archbishop of Westminster in private letter about Israeli-built wall

''The Life of a Palestinian''

Muslims who would restrict speech to "protect Islam" have no greater allies than Jews who would do so to "protect Israel."

King Abdullah II of Jordan: The reason behind Tehran’s nuclear programme is the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

************

The Office of International Religious Freedom ( http://www.state.gov/j/drl/irf/ )  Given the U.S. commitment to religious freedom, and to the international covenants that guarantee it as the inalienable right of every human being, the United States seeks to:

Promote freedom of religion and conscience throughout the world as a fundamental human right and as a source of stability for all countries

Palestinian Refugees (1948-NOW) refused their right to return... and their right to live in peace free from religious bigotry and injustice.

"Where, after all, do universal human rights begin? In small places, close to home - so close and so small that they cannot be seen on any maps of the world. Yet they are the world of the individual person; the neighborhood he lives in; the school or college he attends; the factory, farm, or office where he works. Such are the places where every man, woman, and child seeks equal justice, equal opportunity, equal dignity without discrimination. Unless these rights have meaning there, they have little meaning anywhere. Without concerted citizen action to uphold them close to home, we shall look in vain for progress in the larger world."Eleanor Roosevelt

The Golden Rule... Do unto others as you would have them do unto you

Empowering Peace & Palestine

The Arab Peace Initiative

Israeli poll finds majority in favour of 'apartheid' policies

Two-thirds say Palestinians should not be allowed to vote if West Bank was annexed, while three in four favour segregated roads

• Harriet Sherwood in Jerusalem
• guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 23 October 2012

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/oct/23/israeli-poll-majority-apartheid-policies

Israeli soldiers walk past a settlement in the West Bank. Almost six in 10 Israeli Jews said the country already practised apartheid. Photograph: Majdi Mohammed/AP

More than two-thirds of Israeli Jews say that 2.5 million Palestinians living in the West Bank should be denied the right to vote if the area was annexed by Israel, in effect endorsing an apartheid state, according to an opinion poll reported in Haaretz.

Three out of four are in favour of segregated roads for Israelis and Palestinians in the West Bank, and 58% believe Israel already practises apartheid against Palestinians, the poll found.

A third want Arab citizens within Israel to be banned from voting in elections to the country's parliament. Almost six out of 10 say Jews should be given preference to Arabs in government jobs, 49% say Jewish citizens should be treated better than Arabs, 42% would not want to live in the same building as Arabs and the same number do not want their children going to school with Arabs.

A commentary by Gideon Levy, which accompanied the results of the poll, described the findings as disturbing...READ MORE

C-SPAN: IMF Warns of Palestinian Authority's Financial Collapse: Middle East Institute Discussion on the Political and Economic Implications of the Palestinian Authority's Fiscal Crisis

http://www.c-span.org/Events/IMF-Warns-of-Palestinian-Authority39s-Financial-Collapse/10737435214/

IMF Warns of Palestinian Authority's Financial Collapse

Washington, DC
Tuesday, October 23, 2012

In September, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund warned donor nations attending the opening sessions of the United Nations that the ongoing financial crisis in Gaza and the West Bank threatened to bring down the Palestinian Authority (PA).

Facing a $400 million shortfall in its annual $2.5 billion budget, the PA, also the biggest employer in Gaza and the West Bank, has adopted austerity measures leading to high unemployment and civil unrest.

The shortfall is a result of politics and the global economic slowdown. Donor nations such as Saudi Arabia have failed to make promised payments due to falling revenues. Payments from the U.S. fell dramatically after the PA appealed to the Security Council for recognition as a member state. Congress promptly voted to withhold regular payments to the PA.

The State Department has restored some of those funds, but is threatening to withhold more if the PA does not return to the negotiations for a two-state solution with Israel.

Oussama Kanaan, one of the International Monetary Fund officials who commissioned the report, discusses the PA financial crisis with Khaled Elgindy of the Brookings Institution and Robert Danin of the Council on Foreign Relations

Hussein Ibish of the American Task Force on Palestine moderates this event hosted by the Middle East Institute

Middle East Institute Discussion on Palestinian Authority: Live at 3:30pm (ET) on C-SPAN3

MEI's George and Rhonda Salem Family Foundation Lecture Series and the SAIS Conflict Management Program Present:

The Political and Economic Implications of the Palestinian Authority's Fiscal Crisis
 

featuring    

Robert Danin

Council on Foreign Relations

Khaled Elgindy

Brookings Institution

and

Oussama Kanaan

International Monetary Fund

moderated by

Hussein Ibish

American Task Force on Palestine

Ibrahim Abu-Ta'a: Obama and Romney need to confront, solve Israeli-Palestinian divisions

Ibrahim Abu Ta'a nursing a broken leg at Jerusalem's Sha'arei Tzedek Medical Center after being attacked by a group of Jews on September 6, 2012 (photo credit: Yoav Ari Dudkevitch/Flash90) Times of Israel

[AS ALWAYS PLEASE GO TO THE LINK TO READ GOOD ARTICLES IN FULL: HELP SHAPE ALGORITHMS (and conversations) THAT EMPOWER DECENCY, DIGNITY, JUSTICE & PEACE... and hopefully Palestine]

http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/foreign-policy/263343-obama-and-romney-need-to-confront-solve-israeli-palestinian-divisions

Obama and Romney need to confront, solve Israeli-Palestinian divisions

By Ibrahim Abu-Ta'a, Palestinian resident of East Jerusalem
October 22, 2012 

I was born and raised in Jerusalem. Most of my work colleagues are Jewish, and despite the growing tension between Jews and Palestinians in Israel, years of working together have made us quite close. I speak Hebrew fluently, as well as my native Arabic, and I have always engaged my Jewish acquaintances with the same openness and respect I would give to anyone else.

At the annual employee appreciation party for the upscale Jerusalem hotel where I work as an accounts representative, one of my Jewish colleagues, a good friend, had too much to drink. She asked another co-worker and me to give her a ride home. When we arrived at the apartment she shares with her family, she assured us that she would be able to continue on her own. But when she exited the car, she promptly lost her balance. As we got out to help her, a group of nine Israeli-Jewish teenagers approached us and asked what was going on. We responded in Hebrew that everything was fine so they began to walk away.  With a look of concern, my friend turned to speak to me. “Ibrahim,” she said, less quietly than intended, “leave them be.”

Today I know that if my name had been Avraham, and not Ibrahim, I would not have been attacked that night several weeks ago. Ibrahim is the Arabic version for the Bible’s Avraham. Nowadays, however, instead of hearing the slight variation in pronunciation, people hear Palestinian, or Jewish. And, within seconds after my friend uttered my name, I felt the pressure of a hand grab my shoulder, as eight other men joined in pummeling my body. One of my attackers struck my left leg with a heavy iron rod, shattering the bone and sending me to the ground. I remember trying to protect my face, while I faded in and out of consciousness....READ MORE

Accountability & a Confession ... poem by Anne Selden Annab

Universal Human Rights logo

       Accountability & a Confession

Commenting on Haaretz
in private or public...
or quoting the New York Times
or the Washington Post
or any statistics from Peace NOW
endorses Israel- proves Israel is
and that there are decent people
everywhere.... peace
is worth pursuing.

Perpetuating
the Israel-Palestine conflict
by taking two state efforts
international law-
and universal basic human rights
to use to argue for one state
and scorn negotiations
is not honorable or honest
or kind.

Palestine needs Israel- and America...
and all three need citizen diplomats
electing to empower dignity
decency
real justice
and a lasting peace.

Israel vs. No. 2 Pencils... Palestinians have suffered from a profound lack of sovereignty for decades now

"The Israeli policy of bulldozing and destroying Palestinian schools continues unabated. Israeli settlers in the West Bank harass and violently abuse Palestinian schoolchildren—and the hundreds of humiliating checkpoints, Israeli settler-only roads, and the apartheid wall significantly impede freedom of movement for Palestinians and the right to access school. Additionally, Palestinian academic institutions such as Birzeit University find it tremendously difficult to secure basic resources and supplies for their students such as books from abroad. Yet Palestinians are an incredibly resilient people. Despite the assault we face on our right to education and on our livelihoods in general..."  Lena K. Awwad and SHATHA I. HUSSEIN in the Harvard Crimson....

Israel vs. No. 2 Pencils

http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2012/10/16/israel-sat-oped/

Malala Yousafzai was shot in the head by the Taliban for speaking out in favor of girl’s education.NYTIMES cartoon 10 2012

The Salt Lake Tribune Pat Bagley cartoon: What scares the Taliban

Poet Roya Hakakian in the Washington Post: "Western politicians can apologize for crooked policies and retreat into passivity for fear of committing new errors, which are bound to be deemed as new sins by future generations. Yet none will change the elemental facts. The notion of an Islamic democracy is merely another euphemism for turning women into lesser citizens, and it ought to be deemed as unjust and anti-democratic as America before the end of racial segregation. “Terrorism” is only one manifestation of the evil that the world hopes to root out from the region where part-time terrorists have always been full-time chauvinists.

The real enemy is misogyny. Malala Yousafzai is not just a teenager in Pakistan’s Swat Valley but a victim of the greatest apartheid of our time, and a wounded warrior in feminism’s newest front line."

How blaming the West hides a war on women

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/irans-war-on-women/2012/10/19/e4d13a4a-1954-11e2-bd10-5ff056538b7c_story_1.html

Group decries plans for army college on Mount of Olives

http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=530773

Israeli soldiers in a Memorial Day ceremony at the military cemetery on
the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem, April 2012. (Reuters/Ronen Zvulun)

Published 21/10/2012

JERUSALEM (Ma’an) -- A Muslim-Christian group on Sunday decried an Israeli government plan to build a military academy in occupied East Jerusalem.

Peace Now settlement watch director Hagit Ofran said on Sunday that notices were hung around the Mount of Olives, giving the public 60 days to file objections to the building of the eight-story military college.

The Islamic-Christian Commission said the plan is part of Israeli authorities' efforts to erase the Palestinian identity of East Jerusalem.

Israel captured East Jerusalem in a 1967 war and later illegally annexed the city, a move never recognized by the international community. Palestinians insist East Jerusalem is the capital of their hoped-for state.

Israel approved some 800 new housing units in the illegal settlement of Gilo near Jerusalem earlier this week, drawing condemnation from the European Union.