Maps illustrating Israel (& Palestine)

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-54116567

 

Map of the Partition of Israel and Palestine 

https://worldhistorycommons.org/map-partition-israel-and-palestine

This map shows in green the areas that Israel has had under military occupation since 1967. As noted in the previous map, the Sinai Peninsula was returned to Egyptian control by 1982.  https://www.palestineportal.org/learn-teach/israelpalestine-the-basics/maps/maps-1967-to-present/

 

This detailed map shows the fragmentation of the West Bank in 2002. Over a decade later, the settlement areas and their populations have greatly expanded. https://www.palestineportal.org/learn-teach/israelpalestine-the-basics/maps/maps-1967-to-present/

This map shows the planned route of the Separation Wall, also called the Separation Barrier, the Security Fence and the Apartheid Wall. Israel began building the Wall in 2002, and it is not finished https://www.palestineportal.org/learn-teach/israelpalestine-the-basics/maps/maps-1967-to-present/

The locations of checkpoints, roadblocks, agricultural gates and other obstacles have changed periodically over the years of occupation, but there continue to be hundreds of such hindrances to Palestinian’s essential freedom of movement.  https://www.palestineportal.org/learn-teach/israelpalestine-the-basics/maps/maps-1967-to-present/

Gaza is part of the territories under military occupation by Israel since the Six Day War of 1967. Although Israeli settlers and troops were withdrawn from Gaza in 2005, it is still considered occupied territory under international law because Israel still controls the lives of the inhabitants of Gaza. Israel maintains a blockade by land and sea https://www.palestineportal.org/learn-teach/israelpalestine-the-basics/maps/maps-1967-to-present/

 

This map give a detailed picture of the land around Jerusalem that Israel is annexing with the Separation Wall. The solid black line shows the portion of the Wall that has been completed and the solid red line that extends from that black line shows the route of the Wall that remains to be built. All of the light blue area is Palestinian territory trapped between the Wall to the east and the border of Israel to the west, the seam zone. All of the green area is occupied Palestinian territory beyond the Wall.

The dark blue areas are settlements, both east and west of the Wall. The orange areas are Palestinian communities, both east and west of the Wall. https://www.palestineportal.org/learn-teach/israelpalestine-the-basics/maps/maps-jerusalem/

 

How Israeli settler violence is forcing Palestinians to flee their homes – video in The Guardian

VIDEO 

https://www.theguardian.com/world/video/2023/dec/14/how-israeli-settler-violence-is-forcing-palestinians-to-flee-their-homes-video

Masafer Yatta, the most rural and desolate area in the West Bank, is home to about 1,000 Palestinians. The community are mostly herders who raise goats and sheep, and have steadfastly refused to leave their homes despite the mounting difficulties posed by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers on the one hand and radical Israeli settlers on the other.

But after weeks of intense settler violence in the aftermath of the Hamas attack on Israel on 7 October – and despite the decades-long fight to remain in their homes – these communities are now being forced off their land. Some have described it as “a new Nakba.”

The Guardian’s Bethan McKernan travelled to Masafer Yatta and heard from Palestinian families how armed settlers – some in reservist uniforms, others covering their faces – have begun breaking into their homes at night, beating up adults, destroying and stealing belongings, and terrifying children. These West Bank settlements are illegal under international law.

Click here for the latest on the Israel-Gaza war [in The Guardian]

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Israel confiscates 20 dunums of Palestinian land near Salfit ... The confiscated lands are then used to construct Jewish-only settlements on the land, while further confiscation often uses the pretext of the settlements' security.

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http://maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=734790

(MaanImages/file)

Published Thursday 23/10/2014

SALFIT (Ma'an) -- Israeli authorities on Thursday confiscated 20 dunums (5 acres) of Palestinian land near the Jewish settlement bloc of Ariel in the northern West Bank, on the same day that Israeli authorities halted plans to take 15 dunums (4 acres) nearby.

Israeli bulldozers began razing 20 dunums of agricultural lands in the Palestinian village of Haris near Barqan settlement on Thursday, while locals said dozens of Israelis from the nearby Jewish settlement came to help destroy the fields.

Palestinian local Muhammad Suf told Ma'an that the lands belonged to his grandfather Ali Abed Daoud Jaber Suf from Haris near the Khillet Habiba area north of Barqan settlement.

The land seizure and destruction of Palestinian agriculture comes on the same day that Palestinian officials working in coordination with the local Committee Against Israel's Separation Wall and the Settlements announced that they had succeeded in saving 15 dunums of land from confiscation just a few kilometers away, in the southwestern part of the Ariel settlement bloc.

The office of the Salfit governorate said in a statement that the land, located in Bruqin village, had been under threat since its owners were handed a 2013 evacuation order that stated the land was Israeli state property.

A lawyer representing the Committee Against Israel's Separation Wall and the Settlements, Alaa Mahajna, manged to demur the Israeli claims by proving the land was privately-owned Palestinian property that has been under constant cultivation by the owner.

As a result, Israeli authorities retracted the confiscation decision and recognized the land as private property.

Since the beginning of the 1967 occupation of the West Bank, Israel has confiscated hundreds of thousands of dunums by declaring it state land.

Israeli authorities in 1968 banned Palestinians from registering their lands and subsequently took advantage of previously low rates of land registration to confiscate areas currently or previously in use by locals but not registered as such.

The confiscated lands are then used to construct Jewish-only settlements on the land, while further confiscation often uses the pretext of the settlements' security.

Hanan Ashrawi tells The Times of Israel: Jews and members of all religions would have the right to apply for Palestinian citizenship. But “Palestine” could not accept “ex-territorial Jewish enclaves” where residents maintained their Israeli citizenship status

Times of Israel

Palestinians: Yes to Jews, no to settlers in our state

Netanyahu raised issue of settlers remaining in a future Palestine during recent talks with John Kerry, Palestinian official says

The Palestinian refusal to accept Israeli settlers in their future state does not stem from anti-Jewish sentiment, Palestinian officials said on Monday. Hanan Ashrawi, a member of the PLO Executive Committee, told The Times of Israel that Jews and members of all religions would have the right to apply for Palestinian citizenship. But “Palestine” could not accept “ex-territorial Jewish enclaves” where residents maintained their Israeli citizenship status, she said. 

 

 "....In an interview with official PA daily Al-Ayyam Monday, Erekat said the Palestinian position has nothing to do with singling out Jews.

“If Netanyahu argues that these positions are against Jews, we say to him that two Jews were elected in 2009 as members of Fatah’s Revolutionary Council: Ilan Halevi and Uri Davis,” Erekat said. “Our position is against settlements, considering them illegal and contrary to all international laws.”

Hanan Ashrawi, a member of the PLO’s Executive Committee, said that a clear distinction must be made between settlers and Jewish individuals who choose to live in a Palestinian state.

“Any person, be he Jewish, Christian or Buddhist, will have the right to apply for Palestinian citizenship,” Ashrawi told The Times of Israel. “Our basic law prohibits discrimination based on race or ethnicity.”

She added, however, that Palestinians would not accept “ex-territorial Jewish enclaves,” where residents will maintain their Israeli citizenship status. Abbas, she said, had no problem with Jews within the Palestinian state, including in the international security force deployed in the Jordan Valley.

Read more: Palestinians: Yes to Jews, no to settlers in our state | The Times of Israel http://www.timesofisrael.com/palestinians-yes-to-jews-no-to-settlers-in-our-state/#ixzz2rhNxQQRG

 

found via ATFP front page

 Hanan Ashrawi, a member of the PLO Executive Committee

Israel To Build 3000 New Settlement Units

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http://www.imemc.org/article/66496?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

[Tuesday December 3, 2013] Israeli Defense Minister, Moshe Yaalon, has decided to approve 3000 new units in illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, and in occupied East Jerusalem. New illegal settlement also to be built in the Negev.

File - Maan Images

The decision came despite a statement made by Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, who alleged that Tel Aviv “will not rush new plans” and “will not issue new bids at the current stage.”

Israeli sources said that Yaalon issued several similar decisions, and that most of these decisions were made in July this year, especially when he approved the construction of 2487 units in several settlements in the occupied West Bank.

Israeli Peace Now Movement said that Yaalon is waging an extensive campaign to expand various illegal settlements such as Alia Zahav, Shilo, Kedumim, Givat Zeev, and Talmon.

In related news, the Israeli Regional Construction and Planning Committee, has decided to build a new settlement of 250 units for young Israeli couples in the Negev, as part of the Ramat Negev Regional Council of Settlements.

The decision came amidst massive protests against the Prawer-Begin displacement plan in the Negev.

Israel claims the decision is based on a former recommendation made by Israel’s Interior Minister.

Shmolik Rifman, head of the Ramat Negev Council, “welcomed” the decision, and asserted that the settlement would include secular and religious young Jewish couples, and that he hopes construction will begin within two years.

----

The Prawer-Begin Plan aims at illegally confiscating nearly a million Dunams of Arab – Bedouin land in the Negev, and the total destruction and removal of nearly 36 “unrecognized villages”, an issue that would lead to the displacement of about 100,000 persons.

By forcing out the Arabs from the Negev, and the construction of malls and “Jewish-only” areas, Israel will be blocking any geographical contiguity between the Negev, Gaza and Sinai.

The plan, which passed following the first reading, would also lead to the illegal annexation of more than 800,000 Dunams of Arab lands in the Negev.

west bank | israeli settlement | news report

NGO: Israel okays 829 new settler homes in West Bank

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A view shows the West Bank Jewish settlement of Maale Adumim near
Jerusalem in this picture taken Dec. 4, 2012. (Reuters/Ammar Awad)

 http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=650730

JERUSALEM (AFP) -- Israeli authorities have given the go-ahead for the construction of 829 new settler homes in the occupied West Bank, settlement watchdog Peace Now said on Monday.

"The construction of 829 homes has been approved by a committee of the Israeli military in charge of the West Bank," said Lior Amihai, a Peace Now official.

"This is yet another move that threatens to derail the peace process," Amihai told AFP.

President Mahmoud Abbas has warned that ongoing settlement building by Israel in the occupied Palestinian territories threatens the future of the Middle East peace process.

The new homes would be built north of Jerusalem in the settlements of Givat Zeev, Nofei Prat, Shilo, Givat Salit and Nokdim, Amihai said.

The latest move comes two weeks after Israel announced its largest plan for settler homes ever, saying some 20,000 would be built in the West Bank.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu cancelled the order after pressure from the United States, which brought the two sides to the table in July and as the Israeli premier sought to dissuade Washington from striking a nuclear deal with Iran.

That announcement had prompted the entire Palestinian negotiating team to resign in protest -- resignations which Abbas has yet to accept.

Abbas told AFP last week his side is committed to the full period of talks agreed with Washington that will end in around April.

But if the talks end with no deal, the Palestinians have said they will pursue legal action against Israel's illegal building through international courts.

Commentators say the Palestinians will not back out of talks before their end date, as this would signal implicit responsibility for their failure.

Hollande: France urges 'full and complete halt to settlement'

French President Francois Hollande shakes hands with President
Mahmoud Abbas during a meeting in the West Bank city of
Ramallah, on November 18, 2013 (AFP/Majdi Mohammed)

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http://maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=648546

18/11/2013
RAMALLAH (AFP) -- French President Francois Hollande on Monday called for a complete halt to Israel's settlement activities on occupied Palestinian territory.

"France demands a full and complete halt to settlement activity," he said at a joint news conference in Ramallah with his Palestinian counterpart Mahmoud Abbas.

Speaking on his first official visit to the Palestinian territories, the French leader warned that settlement construction was problematic for the peace talks which have been limping along for more than three months with little sign of progress.

"Settlement activity complicates the negotiations and makes it difficult to achieve a two-state solution," Hollande said.

Since Israeli and Palestinian negotiators returned to the table at the end of July, Israel has announced thousands of new settler homes in a move which has angered Ramallah.

But Abbas on Sunday told AFP that peace talks with Israel would continue for the full nine months agreed with Washington "regardless of what happens on the ground".

In talks with the Israeli leadership on Sunday, Hollande said France expected the government to make "gestures" with respect to settlement construction, although he did not indicate exactly what that might involve.

"If you want peace, you need to have gestures towards peace," he said.

Israel's policy of erasure : A path to peace between Israelis and Palestinians requires not simply dealing with settlements but with the whole complex of displacement, suffocation and erasure.

A Palestinian man sits by the remains of his house destroyed last month in Aqraba village near the West Bank city of Nablus. The Israeli military said it demolished four structures that had been built illegally in the village. (Nasser Ishtayeh / Associated Press)

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http://www.latimes.com/opinion/commentary/la-oe-makdisi-settlements-israel-palestinians-kerr-20131118,0,1866660.story#axzz2kzSHgw6U

By Saree Makdisi

November 18, 2013

.... Settlement expansion, we are constantly told, is the stumbling block to the fragile negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians. The settlements are eating up the territory that is supposed to provide the basis for the creation of an independent Palestinian state. If only there were a settlement freeze, some say, one last chance for peace might be salvaged.

All of that may be true enough as far as it goes. But in fact, Israeli settlement expansion is meaningless when it's considered in isolation. And that is how it is usually considered, given how much media attention the word "settlement" garners every time it comes up.

There are, however, other, individually quieter, smaller, less visible — but collectively far more significant — events taking place on a daily basis.

Indeed, the settlement program is only one component of a broad complex of Israeli policies that has come to define the rhythm and tempo of life for Palestinians, not only in the occupied territories but inside Israel itself. These policies express Israel's longstanding wish to erase the Palestinian presence on land it considers its own.

Consider, for example, this stunning statistic from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, or OCHA: On average, every week so far this year, Israel has demolished about 13 Palestinian-owned structures in the occupied territories (up from a weekly average of about 12 last year). The structures include water cisterns, barns and family homes that Israel claims violate the draconian rules it imposes on Palestinian life.

Sometimes these demolitions effectively obliterate entire communities at once.

On Aug. 19, according to OCHA, Israel destroyed all the structures in the East Jerusalem Palestinian community of Tel al-Adassa. The same week, Israel re-demolished the Palestinian village of Araqib, in southern Israel, as it has done more than 50 times since 2010. On Sept. 11, Israel bulldozed almost all the structures in the West Bank herding community of Az Zayyim, rendering dozens of people homeless. Days later, Israel demolished all the homes of the village of Mak-hul in the Jordan Valley, and declared its ruins a closed military area, preventing the villagers' return.

And so it goes — a litany of catastrophes occurring on a small scale, in communities you have never heard of, all the year round....READ MORE

Israel 'plans 20,000 new settler homes in West Bank'

A view shows the West Bank Jewish settlement of Maale Adumim near
Jerusalem in this picture taken Dec. 4, 2012. (Reuters/Ammar Awad)

November 12, 2013

JERUSALEM (AFP) -- Israel plans to build 20,000 new settler homes in the West Bank, settlement watchdog Peace Now said on Tuesday, the biggest batch of tenders since peace talks restarted.

"The housing ministry announced tenders for the planning of 20,000 settler homes," Peace Now director Yariv Oppenheimer told Israeli public radio.

But Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office stressed he had opposed some 1,200 of the homes slated for construction in the highly contentious area of the West Bank known as E1.

http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=646742

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NYTimes News October 30, 2013: 1,500 Units to Be Added in Settlement, Israel Says

Hanan Ashrawi, a member of the executive committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization, said that with the new moves toward construction, “Israel is willfully and flagrantly violating international law and the requirements of peace.” She called the announcements “an affront” to Mr. Kerry’s efforts and warned that they could “provoke parallel violence and extremism throughout the region.” 

“The Israeli occupation is exposing its true intentions of creating ‘greater Israel’ rather than a two-state solution,” Ms. Ashrawi said in a statement. “The Israeli government has proven once again that it is not a partner for peace nor a member of the international community that respects the global rule of law.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/31/world/middleeast/israel-approves-1500-new-apartments-in-east-jerusalem.html?ref=middleeast

Abir Sultan/European Pressphoto Agency

A Palestinian construction worker at a building site on Wednesday in the Ramat Shlomo settlement in East Jerusalem.

 JERUSALEM — The Israeli government announced Wednesday that it had given final approval for 1,500 new apartments in a particularly contentious Jewish settlement in East Jerusalem and moved forward on plans for a controversial park and tourism center here, prompting Palestinian accusations that it is not taking the Washington-brokered peace talks seriously....READ MORE

A new report says Israeli settlement construction on the Palestinian lands in the occupied West Bank has increased by about 70 percent.

Israeli Settlements in West Bank Up 70%

Published on Thursday, 17 October 2013 12:11

A new report says Israeli settlement construction on the Palestinian lands in the occupied West Bank has increased by about 70 percent.

 

Israeli organization Peace Now* said on Thursday that the Tel Aviv regime began the construction of 1,708 new settler units in the West Bank between January and June of 2013, compared with 995 units during the same period in 2012.

The organization also stated that the new illegal settlement activities were “drastic,” and that some 50 percent of the new construction projects were started in “isolated settlements.”

Most of the settlement projects were carried out within the 1967 borders, the organization added.

“Since the signing of the Oslo Accords, the Israeli population in Judea and Samaria has tripled, with a majority of settlers residing in the so-called settlement blocs,” Peace Now also said.

The Israeli regime has been under fire from the international community, including its own allies, over its expansionist policies.

However, the Tel Aviv regime defies calls to abandon its illegal settlement activities.

Over half a million Israelis live in more than 120 settlements built since Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and East al-Quds in 1967.

This article was originally posted on PressTV.*

*Peace Now
*Press TV 
*Palestine

Diplomats urge EU to block Jerusalem settlements

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http://news.yahoo.com/diplomats-urge-eu-block-jerusalem-settlements-142035564.html

By KARIN LAUB | Associated Press

RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) — Nearly two dozen European diplomats have urged the EU to intensify efforts to block Israeli settlement in and near Jerusalem, saying such construction on occupied lands is the "single biggest threat" to a Mideast peace deal, according to an internal report Wednesday.

The diplomats also said the EU must ensure that aid to Israel and preferential trade agreements don't inadvertently benefit settlements, according to the report obtained by The Associated Press.

They recommended that the EU "prevent, discourage and raise awareness" of direct investments by European companies in [Israeli] settlements ...READ MORE

Israel must withdraw all settlers or face ICC, says UN report... UN Human Rights Council says Israel is in violation of Geneva convention and should face international criminal court

A Palestinian demonstrator during a weekly protest against the Jewish settlement of Qadomem, near Nablus, West Bank. Photograph: Alaa Badarneh/EPA

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http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jan/31/israel-must-withdraw-settlers-icc

• Harriet Sherwood in Jerusalem
• guardian.co.uk, Thursday 31 January 2013

Israel must withdraw all settlers from the West Bank or potentially face a case at the international criminal court (ICC) for serious violations of international law, says a report by a United Nations agency that was immediately dismissed in Jerusalem as "counterproductive and unfortunate".

All settlement activity in occupied territory must cease "without preconditions" and Israel "must immediately initiate a process of withdrawal of all settlers", said the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC). Israel, it said, was in violation of article 49 of the fourth Geneva convention, which forbids the transfer of civilian populations to occupied territory....READ MORE

My letter to the Washington Post RE Overheated rhetoric on Israeli settlements

Israel Defies Allies in Move to Bolster Settlements: Settlements are illegal under international law and detrimental to any international efforts to restart peace negotiations and secure a two-state solution

RE: The Post’s View Overheated rhetoric on Israeli settlements
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/israeli-settlement-proposals-prompt-rash-rhetoric/2013/01/01/2d6aea54-504f-11e2-8b49-64675006147f_story.html

Dear Editor,

Palestine's bid for statehood can not be compared to Israel's settlement projects. One is in line with international law- the other is not.  One seeks the rule of fair and just laws, real freedom, democracy, economic empowerment and respect for all people, regardless of supposed race or religion- the other does not.  One seeks to actually end the Israel-Palestine conflict with a two state solution, the other does not.

Israel's ongoing violations of international law and basic human rights really do make negotiations more difficult, and Israel's intransigence sparks extremist rhetoric as well as religious extremism on both sides.  If the Washington Post Editorial board members are really interested in progress toward Palestinian statehood, they will press Israel (and religious extremists on all sides) to stop sabotaging Palestine.

Sincerely,
Anne Selden Annab

NOTES
A precarious existence in the Jordan Valley

A Serious Look at Fayyad.... (& Palestine)

CSM letter by James Martin: US Mideast policy should honor rights

This Week in Palestine... INVESTMENT

Thousands enjoy merry Christmas in Bethlehem... and prayers for peace for both Israel and Palestine

Joining our voices in seeking and offering hope for a better future...

Jerri Bird (Jerine Bettybea Newhouse b 1926): "A viable, independent Palestinian state would be a step in the direction of two peoples in the same land living harmoniously"

Palestinian cause redefined as Hamas spins Pyrrhic victories: "Either the Palestinian national movement will continue to seek an independent state through negotiations and by building the national institutions on the ground. Or it will be defined by an open-ended "armed struggle" against Israel under an Islamist banner.... This is not simply a Palestinian choice. Israel, above all, but also the United States, the European Union, and other international actors, will have a major role to play in influencing which of these two visions predominates in the Palestinian national movement in the years to come. Regional and international incentives will be a major, if not a decisive factor, in the outcome." Hussein Ibish

Empowering Peace & Palestine

The Arab Peace Initiative

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

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 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

The Balfour Declaration of 1917

".... it being clearly understood that nothing
          shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious
          rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine..."

The American Task Force on Palestine (ATFP) today urged the Obama administration to use all its good offices with Israel to ensure that settlement expansion reportedly being considered in the highly sensitive “E1 corridor" not take place.

Photo: Reuters/Baz Ratner

http://www.americantaskforce.org/in_media/pr/2012/12/03/1354510800

ATFP Asks US to Ensure No Israeli Building in E1

Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact Information: Ghaith al-Omari

December 3, 2012 - 12:00am 

Dec. 3, Washington, DC -- The American Task Force on Palestine (ATFP) today urged the Obama administration to use all its good offices with Israel to ensure that settlement expansion reportedly being considered in the highly sensitive “E1 corridor" not take place. Israeli officials reportedly authorized at least 3,000 new settlement housing units in and around the East Jerusalem area, including in E1, in retaliation for the Palestinian mission status upgrade at the United Nations last week. If completed, the plan settlement expansion would bisect the territory, cutting occupied East Jerusalem off almost entirely from the rest of the West Bank. It would therefore cast serious doubt on the viability of a two-state solution.

In the days leading up to the UN vote, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton specifically warned Israel not to respond by building in E1. The New York Times reported that Israel's announcement therefore came as a "rude shock" to the US government. Numerous European governments and the United States have expressed alarm at the proposed accelerated building project in the highly sensitive area. United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said completion of the E1 project could be a "fatal blow" to the prospects for a two state solution.

ATFP President Ziad J. Asali said, "Building in the E1 area would be a devastating blow to prospects for a two-state solution that allows Israel to live side-by-side in peace, security and dignity with a Palestinian state. It would practically cut the West Bank in half, and would sever East Jerusalem from the rest of the West Bank. This could make a viable peace agreement impossible to realize. It is therefore strongly in the American national interest that our government uses all of its best offices with Israel to ensure that no settlement expansion in E1 or elsewhere takes place. Since Israel initially approved the E1 project in 1999, these plans have been opposed by all American administrations, of both parties.”

Dr. Asali concluded, "In order to preserve both the practical viability and the political credibility of a two-state solution, it is imperative that Israel not go forward with this proposed settlement expansion. At a time when the Palestinians and Israel are drifting further apart, it is more urgent than ever for the United States to reverse this trend and revive a credible political process. Only the United States can play the leadership role in bringing the parties back together and starting to restore trust and cooperation."

U.S. State Department condemns Israeli Settlements

http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2012/12/201411.htm

Recent Israeli Announcements on Settlements

Press Statement

Mark C. Toner
Deputy Spokesperson, Office of the Spokesperson

Washington, DC

December 3, 2012

The United States opposes all unilateral actions, including West Bank settlement activity and housing construction in East Jerusalem, as they complicate efforts to resume direct, bilateral negotiations, and risk prejudging the outcome of those negotiations. This includes building in the E-1 area as this area is particularly sensitive and construction there would be especially damaging to efforts to achieve a two-state solution. ‪ ‪

We have made clear to the Israeli Government that such action is contrary to U.S. policy. The United States and the international community expect all parties to play a constructive role in efforts to achieve peace. ‪We urge the parties to cease unilateral actions and take concrete steps to return to direct negotiations so all the issues can be discussed and the goal of two states living side by side in peace and security can be realized.

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Both Britain and France have summoned Israel's ambassadors to protest plans to expand construction in East Jerusalem, while some say more serious action like economic reprisals are possible.

Goats graze near the Jewish settlement of Maale Adumim near Jerusalem December 1, 2012. Israel announced on Friday it was authorizing 3,000 new settler homes in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Baz Ratner/REUTERS

Terrorism & Security

Has Israel's settlement expansion crossed a 'red line'?

By Arthur Bright, Staff writer / December 3, 2012 

http://www.csmonitor.com/World/terrorism-security/2012/1203/Has-Israel-s-settlement-expansion-crossed-a-red-line

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Israel's plan to move forward with controversial settlements in eastern Jerusalem – which it took in apparent retaliation for the Palestinian Authority's recent, successful pursuit of recognition as a United Nations nonmember observer state – is prompting an angry response, and likely "real action," from Europe.

Haaretz reports that Britain, France, and Sweden have all summoned Israel's respective ambassadors to their countries to condemn the Israeli plan to build 3,000 new settlement units in the "E1" bloc, a region in eastern Jerusalem, while Germany and Russia both called upon Israel to rethink its plans. And more serious action may be coming, including substantial economic reprisals, Haaretz adds.

“This time it won’t just be a condemnation, there will be real action taken against Israel,” a senior European diplomat said.

Sky News confirmed that the British government was considering severe actions over the matter, quoting sources in the Foreign Office on Monday as saying: "All options are on the table," adding that there was an "appetite for action" within the bureau, and that officials may consider "revisiting" or even suspending EU trade agreements with Israel, based on human rights clauses. ...

[Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu’s decision Friday to move ahead on planning in E1 and to build 3,000 housing units in the settlement blocs and in East Jerusalem, has apparently shocked the foreign ministries and the leaders in London and Paris. Not only do Britain and France view construction in E1 as a “red line,” they are reportedly angry because they view Israel as having responded ungratefully to the support the two countries gave it during the recent Gaza operation....READ MORE

Britain and US condemn Israel's Jewish settlement plan

Foreign secretary William Hague expresses 'extreme concern', while US state department says actions are counterproductive

• Johnny McDevitt and agencies
• guardian.co.uk, Saturday 1 December 2012

 http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/dec/01/britain-us-condemn-israel-settlement

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Delegates celebrate Palestine's upgrade to an observer state at the UN general assembly. Israel's announcement came a day after the decision. Photograph: APAimages / Rex Features

NYTimes: Israel Pushing Settlement in Disputed Area of Jerusalem

A laborer worked at a construction site in the West Bank Jewish settlement of Maale Adumim near Jerusalem last June. Ronen Zvulun/Reuters  More Photos »

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http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/01/world/middleeast/israel-moves-to-expand-settlements-in-east-jerusalem.html?ref=global-home&_r=0

Israel Pushing Settlement in Disputed Area of Jerusalem

By JODI RUDOREN
Published: November 30, 2012

JERUSALEM — As the United Nations General Assembly voted overwhelmingly to upgrade the Palestinians’ status Thursday night, Israel took steps toward building housing in a controversial area of East Jerusalem known as E1, where Jewish settlements have long been seen as the death knell for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

A senior Israeli official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said on Friday that the decision was made late Thursday night to move forward on “preliminary zoning and planning preparations” for housing units in E1, which would connect the large settlement of Maale Adumim to Jerusalem and therefore make it impossible to connect the Palestinian cities of Ramallah and Bethlehem to Palestinian neighborhoods of East Jerusalem. Israel also authorized the construction of 3,000 housing units in other parts of East Jerusalem and the West Bank, the official said. 

The prime minister’s office refused to comment on whether the settlement expansion — first reported on Twitter by a reporter for the Israeli daily Haaretz — was punishment for the Palestinians’ success in obtaining nonmember observer state status at the United Nations, but it was widely seen as such....READ MORE

EU foreign ministers on Monday issued a harsh critique of Israel, saying the gathering pace of settlement-building, settler extremism and ill-treatment of Palestinians threatens a two-state solution.

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http://news.yahoo.com/eu-slams-israel-over-settlements-palestinians-151434976.html

EU foreign ministers on Monday issued a harsh critique of Israel, saying the gathering pace of settlement-building, settler extremism and ill-treatment of Palestinians threatens a two-state solution.

"The EU expresses deep concern about developments on the ground which threaten to make a two-state solution impossible," the bloc's 27 ministers said in a statement issued during talks in Brussels.

"The viability of a two-state solution must be maintained," the three-page European Union statement added.

Israeli settlement watchdog Peace Now said on Monday that Israel was moving ahead with plans to build around 2,000 new homes in the settlement of Gilo, in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem.

"There was an announcement of depositing for public review, plans for 942 housing units with an option for 300 more," the group's Hagit Ofran told AFP. "The public now has 60 days to present objections."

"Next week, on May 22, there will be a discussion on objections to a different plan for Gilo, for 900 units," she added. "Another stage in the approvals process."

The Jerusalem Post daily said it could take years before all steps were complete and construction could begin.

Reiterating that settlements on occupied land are illegal under international law, the ministers notably condemned "the marked acceleration" of settlement building since the end of a 2010 moratorium and expressed "deep concern" over settler extremism in the West Bank.

They also voiced concern over evictions and the demolition of Palestinian homes in east Jerusalem "and the prevention of peaceful Palestinian cultural, economic, social or political activities".

Turning to the so-called Area C zone of the occupied West Bank, where Israel has full civil and security control, the statement noted "the worsening living conditions" of the Palestinian population in general.

The ministers' stand came on the heels of a damaging report by NGOs this weekend alleging that Israel last year demolished dozens of Palestinian homes, water cisterns and farm buildings built with European funds.

In Area C, Israel has placed "serious limitations" on the Palestinian Authority's ability to promote economic development, the statement said.

Saying the future of Area C was critical to a future Palestinian state because this was its main land reserve, the EU urged Israel to halt demolitions and simplify the granting of building permits....READ MORE

View of the Jewish settlement of Har Homa near the West Bank town of Bethlehem. EU foreign ministers have issued a harsh critique of Israel, saying the gathering pace of settlement-building, settler extremism and ill-treatment of Palestinians threatens a two-state solution. (AFP Photo/Jack Guez)