MIT Science for Genocide

 

https://archive.org/details/mit-science-for-genocide

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) contributes to the Gaza Genocide and Zionist settler colonialism in Palestine in at least two distinct ways. First, MIT laboratories on campus conduct weapons and surveillance research directly sponsored by the Israeli military. Since at least 2015, MIT laboratories have received millions of dollars from the Israeli Ministry of Defense for projects to develop algorithms that help drone swarms to better pursue escaping targets; to improve underwater surveillance technology; and support military aircraft evade missiles. Two of these sponsorships were renewed since October 7th, 2023, while one came up for renewal in December 2024. Second, MIT maintains institutional collaborations through the ILP, LGO, CSAIL, and MIT Energy Initiative programs with companies that sell vast amounts of weapons to Israel. These include Elbit Systems, Israel’s largest military contractor, as well as Maersk, Lockheed Martin, and Caterpillar. These collaborations grant genocide profiteers privileged access to MIT talent and expertise.

Acknowledgements
MIT Alumni for Palestine (A4P)
MIT Arab Student Organization (ASO)
MIT Asian American Initiative (AAI)
MIT Black Graduate Student Association (BGSA)
MIT Black Students’ Union (BSU)
MIT Disability Justice Collective (DJC)
MIT Coalition Against Apartheid (CAA)
MIT Divest
MIT DUSP for Palestinian Liberation (D4PL)
MIT Faculty and Staff for Palestine (FS4P)

The MIT Coalition for Palestine is an MIT movement of scientists opposed to colonialism,
occupation, and apartheid in Palestine and beyond. We are guided by four principles of
unity: 1) We are committed to the liberation of Palestine. 2) We support the right of
oppressed and occupied people to resist their oppression. 3) We fight for Palestinian
liberation within the broader struggle for liberation of all oppressed peoples. 4) We
defend the right of every human to live a life of dignity.

Our Coalition
The MIT Coalition for Palestine is composed of the following organizations:
MIT Globally Indigenous Students for Justice (IS4J)
MIT Grads for Palestine (G4P)
MIT Jews for Collective Liberation (JCL)
MIT Latino Cultural Center (LCC)
MIT Muslims for Justice (M4J)
MIT Reading for Revolution (R4R)
MIT Taara
Palestine@MIT (Pal@MIT)
MIT Written Revolution
Trans@MIT
Authors
This report was authored by concerned students and scientists at the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology.

READ MORE  https://archive.org/details/mit-science-for-genocide

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Ashrawi: Jerusalem 'a symbol of peace, surrounded by checkpoints'

Hanan Ashrawi (MaanImages/File)

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http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=696254

STOCKHOLM (Ma'an) -- PLO Executive Committee Member Hanan Ashrawi addressed the Nordic Jerusalem Conference in Sweden on Friday, stressing the importance of Jerusalem for Palestinians.

Jerusalem is a symbol of peace, but it is surrounded by military checkpoints, a separation wall, and settlements, Ashrawi said.

The city is part and parcel of Palestinian history and culture, she added.

Ashrawi also asserted that diversity is a key factor in Palestinian society.

The idea of Palestine consisting of "one religion or one color or one sect ... is impossible because the history and culture of Palestine has always reflected cultural and religious diversity," the PLO official said.

Palestinian Ambassador to Sweden Hala Fariz also addressed the conference, saying Israel was attempting to change the demographic makeup of Jerusalem and the West Bank by demolishing homes and displacing Palestinians in order to build settlements.

Palestinian lawmaker Abdullah Abdullah attended the conference, along with a delegation from the PLO's Department of Expatriates Affairs. Delegations from several European and Arab countries also attended the meeting.

The two-day conference, held May 9 and 10 in the Swedish Parliament building in Stockholm, was organized by the Swedish-Palestinian Parliamentary Commission and the Jerusalem Committee in Sweden.

Israel captured East Jerusalem during the 1967 Six-Day War and later annexed it in a move never recognized by the international community.

It considers all of Jerusalem its "eternal, undivided" capital and does not see construction in the eastern sector as settlement building.

Some 350,000 Jewish settlers live in West Bank settlements, in addition to another 200,000 Israelis settled in occupied and annexed East Jerusalem.

The international community views all settlement building on occupied Palestinian land as illegal.

Middle East peace: The concrete proof of Israel’s opposition to a two-state solution - the construction of nearly 14,000 homes in occupied territories

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http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/middle-east-peace-the-concrete-proof-of-israels-opposition-to-a-twostate-solution--the-construction-of-nearly-14000-homes-in-occupied-territories-9303236.html

A fourfold increase in settlement building in the West Bank and East Jerusalem seen as key reason for failure of peace talks

Josef Federman

Jerusalem

Tuesday 29 April 2014 

 

Israel increased settlement work fourfold during the latest round of peace talks, pushing ahead with the construction of nearly 14,000 homes in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, a watchdog group has said.

 

Peace Now issued its statistics as a nine-month negotiating period between Israel and the Palestinians came to a close. The group cited Israel’s construction surge as a key reason for the failure.

US Secretary of State John Kerry had envisioned brokering a final peace agreement when he brought the sides together last July. But talks made no progress and were characterised by a lack of trust, in large part because of continued Israeli construction in captured territories claimed by the Palestinians.

The Palestinians seek the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, along with the Gaza Strip, for an independent state. They say Israeli construction is a sign of bad faith.

Israel captured all three areas in 1967, although it withdrew from Gaza in 2005. Today, more than 550,000 Israelis live in the West Bank and East Jerusalem...READ MORE
 

"...Kerry told the Senate panel that leaders on both sides said they want the negotiations to continue, and U.S. mediators are talking to them. “I’m not going to suggest anything is imminent, but one always has to remain hopeful in this very difficult, complicated process,” Kerry said. "

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry changed his travel plans today to squeeze in a last-minute visit to Israel and the West Bank.Photographer: Jacquelyn Martin/AFP via Getty Images

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-04-08/israel-acts-derailed-palestinian-peace-talks-kerry-says.html

Israeli Ministers Cut Off Meetings With Palestinians

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered cabinet ministers to stop meeting with their Palestinian counterparts, a government official said, hours after the U.S. blamed Israel for the breakdown of peace talks.

Israeli government officials have been told to refrain from meeting their Palestinian counterparts because the Palestinians violated commitments made under the peace talks, the official said. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to discuss diplomacy for the record.

Yesterday, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry charged that the announcement of 708 new Jewish homes in east Jerusalem derailed eight months of Mideast peace talks. Testifying before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, he said the sides were closer to resolving differences over a delayed Israeli release of Palestinian prisoners when “700 settlement units were announced in Jerusalem and, poof, that was sort of the moment.”

While Kerry said both sides took “unhelpful actions,” some Israeli officials fumed at his suggestion that Israel’s April 1 announcement of settlement construction brought the talks to collapse....READ MORE

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Israeli architecture association faces ban from international forum: Royal Institute of British Architects proposes boycott of Israeli Association of United Architects' over Palestinian settlements

The Israeli settlement of Har Homa in East Jerusalem – Riba says the IAUA is complicit in 'land grabs, forced removals … and reinforcement of apartheid”. Photograph: Mahmoud Illean/Demotix/Corbis

Britain's leading architectural association has called for its Israeli counterpart to be excluded from the International Union of Architects in protest at Israel's occupation of Palestine, in a further indication of the growing momentum of the boycott movement.

The Royal Institute of British Architects (Riba) has demanded the suspension of the Israeli Association of United Architects (IAUA) from the international body, saying it is complicit in the construction of illegal settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and other violations of international law.

The former Riba president Angela Brady told a meeting of its council on Wednesday that failure to back the motion "would send a clear message to the world that we as an institution turn a blind eye or by inaction support what's going on – land grabs, forced removals, killing the state and human rights, and reinforcement of apartheid"...READ MORE

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http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/mar/20/israel-architecture-association-ban-international-forum-palestinian-settlements

• Harriet Sherwood
• theguardian.com, Thursday 20 March 2014 13.01 EDT 

AIPAC Threatens to Sue CODEPINK Over Controversial Video Clip "AIPAC Policy Conference 2014"

http://www.codepink4peace.org/article.php?id=6636

On February 25th, an AIPAC member called a CODEPINK staffer
threatening legal action in response to a controversial video clip that
he alleges was made by the peace group CODEPINK. The video is a
satirical version of an AIPAC policy conference promotional video

My letter to the Washington Post RE Israel announces new settlement construction in occupied West Bank, East Jerusalem

Kerry to update Arab League on Israel-Palestinian talks: Jordan tells US secretary of state it will refuse to be involved in interim deal unless Palestinian refugee issue addressed (photo credit: US State Department) John Kerry meeting in Saudi Arabia, Sunday, January 5 2014.

RE Israel announces new settlement construction in occupied West Bank, East Jerusalem
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/israel-announces-new-settlement-construction-in-occupied-west-bank-east-jerusalem/2014/01/10/166c9db6-7a0b-11e3-a647-a19deaf575b3_story.html?wpisrc=nl_cuzheads

Dear Editor,

Perhaps one day your columnists, and maybe even eventually our Congress, will read the news, add up the facts, do the math and realize the foolishness of idolizing a far away nation state that is a major contributor to wretched poverty, refugee crises, despair, religious extremism, sectarian strife and anti-America sentiment all through out the Middle East: Right now Israel and Islamists have more in common than Israel and America.

Nether Israel nor Islamists want real freedom, justice and peace for the people of Palestine.  Rather than respecting universal basic human rights and the rule of fair and just laws both Israel and Islamists want religious identity to trump all else- and they want religion to be armed and ultimately funded by the tax payers.

We are supposed to be all about fostering diversity and equal rights for all, and the rule of fair and just laws. There is nothing fair or just or stabilizing about Israel's anti-Palestine shenanigans and Israel's obvious willingness to sabotage peace talks. 

Ending the Israel-Palestine conflict with a just and lasting peace should be a priority, for everyone's sake.  A negotiated two state solution based on full respect for universal basic human rights, international law and The Arab Peace Initiative shaping two fully secular, sovereign and secure nation states, one called Israel and one called Palestine, is the best way forward.

Sincerely,
Anne Selden Annab

NOTES
Ziad Asali of ATFP: Why Palestinians are puzzled by the 'Jewish state' demand... Netanyahu's demand for recognition of Israel as a Jewish state bizarrely inserts Palestinians into the 'Who is a Jew' debate

Jerusalem... the respective capitals of Israel and Palestine

Hussein Ibish: Time for honesty about dialogue with Israel

Palestine is abundant in energy, skills, passion, and determination. Only when our belief in citizen solutions is reignited and our respect for one another is re-established can we officially witness the transformation we want as a society." Muna Dajani & Sami Backleh: This Week in Palestine

Arts & Culture: Organizers Prepare Palestinian Museum For 2015 Opening... Biggest of Its Kind, Privately-Sponsored Institution Will Have Satellite Locations Around the Globe

The monster that won't die: Al-Qaeda is making yet another appalling comeback "There have always been differences within al-Qaeda, those who have either successfully seized or been granted permission to use the name as a kind of franchise, and other salafi-jihadi or "takfiri" groups. But while the parent organization based in Pakistan and Afghanistan seems to be increasingly irrelevant, the political ideology and program of mass murder that are now synonymous with al-Qaeda seem at least as robust as ever, if not more so. It is the monster that, for the past decade, simply will not die."

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights: Article 1

• All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

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

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

 Live by the Golden Rule

American Task Force on Palestine (ATFP) supports Palestinian institution-building, good governance, anti-corruption measures, economic development, and improved living standards. ATFP categorically and unequivocally condemns all violence against civilians, no matter the cause and who the victims or perpetrators may be. http://www.americantaskforce.org/

The Arab Peace Initiative

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

Newspapers Review: Killing of Soldier in Hebron Focus of Dailies ... & EU Warns Violence Could Undermine Negotiations (Israeli Army Kills six Palestinians last month & this month in Qalandia & Jenin refugee camps- prompting protests)

 

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http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=23252

EU Warns Violence Could Undermine Negotiations 

BRUSSELS, September 23, 2013 (WAFA) – European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton warned that rise in violence in the West Bank could undermine negotiations and peace efforts.

Ashton condemned in a statement issued on Sunday the killing of an Israeli soldier in the West Bank city of Qalqilya last week and said “this comes in the wake of several worrying incidents in the West Bank.”

She was referring to the Israeli army killing of six Palestinians last month and this month in Qalandia and Jenin refugee camps, which prompted violent protests in several areas of the West Bank.

“The EU regrets the loss of life, urges for maximum restraint and reiterates its call to all parties to refrain from actions that could undermine the negotiation process and the prospects of peace,” said Ashton.


http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=23257
Settlers Take Over Land near Nablus

NABLUS, September 23, 2013 (WAFA) – Israeli settlers Monday took over and razed a Palestinian-owned land in an area south of Nablus, according to a local activist.

Ghassan Daghlas, who monitors settlement activities in the north of the West Bank, said that settlers took over the land while Israeli soldiers at the scene did nothing to stop them.


http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=23255

Israelis Steal Olive Crops from Palestinian Farmers 

JENIN, September 23, 2013 (WAFA) – Israeli settlers Monday stole the olive crop Palestinian farmers have picked from their land in the village of Jalboon, east of Jenin, and which is isolated by the segregation wall built by Israel, according to a local official.

Deputy Mayor Khaled Abu el-Rob told WAFA that a group of settlers from illegal settlements built on Jalboon land raided a 12-dunum of land belonging to two brothers in the village and planted with olive trees and stole all the crops.

He said that this the second time in two years settlers steal the brothers’ olive crops.

Israeli settlers usually attack Palestinian farmers during the olive harvest season, particularly when the land is located near settlements.


http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=23254
Newspapers Review: Killing of Soldier in Hebron Focus of Dailies 

RAMALLAH, September 23, 2013 (WAFA) – The shooting and killing of an Israeli soldier in Hebron and the Israeli army’s violent and brutal response was the main front page story in the three Palestinian Arabic dailies on Monday.

The papers reported on this incident and printed pictures showing Israeli soldiers getting ready to shoot obviously at Palestinian stone throwers, as came in the main picture of al-Ayyam, while al-Quds printed a picture showing Palestinians throwing rocks clearly in the direction of the soldiers.

The conflict between Israel and Europe over the way Israeli soldiers treated a French diplomat on Friday who was taking part in a humanitarian aid convey to Palestinian families in the Jordan Valley whose homes the Israeli army has destroyed was highlighted on the front page of the dailies.

Al-Ayyam and al-Quds reported on the Israeli fanatics touring al-Aqsa Mosque compound, which is causing serious concern for Muslim officials.

Al-Hayat al-Jadida said Hamas prevented people in Gaza who plan to go on a pilgrimage to Mecca next month from sending their passports to Egypt to get Saudi visas.

It said in another story that Israel allowed construction material into Gaza for local contractors for the first time in six years.

Al-Quds quoted Muhammad Shtayyeh, head of the Palestinian Economic Council for Development and Reconstruction (PECDAR), saying that international aid to Palestine has decreased while the Palestinian economy has not shown any improvement.

The papers also said the cabinet has decided that winter time in Palestine will start Thursday night at midnight when the clocks will be turned back 60 minutes.

This change is one month earlier than Israel, which is going to change to winter time around the end of October.

Palestine Land Day, Photo WAFA News 2013: March 30 1976 became a symbol of steadfastness in every part of occupied Palestine, a day of protests and marches, and day where the Palestinians in Palestine and in exile, in their refugee camps and villages, reaffirm their steadfastness and their determination to achieve their internationally guaranteed rights in their occupied homeland.

 

What is an Israeli settlement.... it is a tax payer plus charity investment in highways, housing, freedom, jobs, security, and respect for Jewish Israelis, while the native non-Jewish Palestinians are persecuted, impoverished, pushed into forced exile- and demonized for objecting to such institutionalized bigotry and blatant injustice.

 

Palestine Remembered

"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

BBC News: Israeli settlements in the occupied territories violate Palestinians' human rights in ways designed to drive them off the land, a UN report states.

Israel has not co-operated with the inquiry into the impact of settlements

UN: Israeli settlements 'violate Palestinian rights'

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 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-21274061 

The report says settlements displace Palestinians, destroy their crops and property, and subject them to violence.

Israel refused to co-operate with the inquiry by three UN researchers...........

............."The magnitude of violations relating to Israel's policies of dispossessions, evictions, demolitions and displacements from land shows the widespread nature of these breaches of human rights," Unity Dow, member of the fact-finding mission from Botswana, said in a statement.

"The motivation behind violence and intimidation against the Palestinians and their properties is to drive the local populations away from their lands, allowing the settlements to expand."
'Prohibited'
 
The report comes two days after Israel failed to turn up at a UN review of its human rights record.
About 520,000 Israeli settlers reside in about 250 separate settlements in East Jerusalem and the rest of the West Bank, the report states. Some of the settlements were built without government authorisation.

The growth in the settler population has hastened over the past decade compared to growth in Israel. The government in place since April 2009, led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, has "contributed to the consolidation and expansion" of settlements, the report states.

The settlements violate the Fourth Geneva Convention, which prevents an occupying power from transferring its own population into occupied territory, the report states.

"The transfer of Israeli citizens into the Occupied Palestinian Territories, prohibited under international humanitarian law and international criminal law, is a central feature of Israel's practices and policies," it adds.

Christmas in Bethlehem: Image and Reality, 2012

Philip Farah

Co-founder, Washington Interfaith Alliance for Middle East Peace

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/philip-farah/christmas-in-bethlehem-im_b_2339384.html

If you have a miniature manger in your home today, or if you've heard a piece of music in the mall with "Bethlehem" in it, I -- as a Palestinian Christian in whose life Bethlehem has played a big role -- have a favor to ask you: Please go to your computer and do a search using these words: "Bethlehem Christmas wall." Check out some of the articles and the images. If your curiosity is piqued, go a bit further and check out the images for "al Masara village," or "al Walaja village," two tiny villages near Bethlehem. I think this is an important exercise for anyone who has formed a mental image of the Little Town of Bethlehem during this holiday season.

Today, Bethlehem and the surrounding areas still have some of the holiest churches of Christianity, and they still vibrate with the prayers and celebrations of Palestinian Christians. But the Palestinians of Bethlehem, Christians and Muslims alike, are a people besieged. For Bethlehem today is surrounded by a host of physical barriers, including several miles of a concrete wall that is over 20 feet high, built by the Israeli occupation authorities.

This wall -- deemed illegal by the International Court of Justice in 2004 -- separates the Palestinians of the Bethlehem area from huge swaths of their land. Much of that land has been taken from them to build Jewish-only settlements...READ MORE

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

map

 “We call on the Israeli government to rescind these plans,” said the statement issued by Israel’s allies Britain, France, Germany and Portugal, saying the actions “send a negative message and are undermining faith in its willingness to negotiate.” 

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/20/world/middleeast/rejecting-criticism-israel-forges-ahead-on-settlements.html?ref=middleeast&_r=2&

By JODI RUDOREN

Published: December 19, 2012

The Housing Ministry authorized construction on 1,000 housing units in the West Bank, while the city of Jerusalem approved 2,610 units in Givat Hamatos, a new neighborhood in an area annexed after the 1967 war. 

The actions came after 1,500 controversial units in the Jerusalem settlement of Ramat Shlomo were approved Monday and 500 others in Givat Hamatos on Tuesday. An additional 1,000 units, in Gilo, are expected to move forward on Thursday, in what experts said was the most activity in years in the areas known collectively as East Jerusalem, which the Palestinians see as their future capital. 

Every member of the United Nations Security Council except the United States issued statements on Wednesday condemning the construction....READ MORE

Israel's continuing pattern of provocative action....

Givat Hamatos is set to become the first new Jerusalem neighborhood to be built outside Israel's internationally recognized borders since 1996. Israel announced the expansion plans today. Sebastian Scheiner/AP/File

Israel moves to further seal off Jerusalem from West Bank

Israeli officials approved plans for 2,612 homes on Givat HaMatos, a hill between Jerusalem and Bethlehem. Critics say the move would so fragment Palestinian areas that drawing borders of a future state would be unworkable.

By Christa Case Bryant, Staff writer / December 19, 2012

http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Middle-East/2012/1219/Israel-moves-to-further-seal-off-Jerusalem-from-West-Bank

Israeli officials today approved plans for 2,612 new homes to be built on Givat HaMatos, or Airplane Hill, which is set to become the first new Jerusalem neighborhood to be built outside Israel's internationally recognized borders since 1996.

The placement profoundly concerns Palestinians and advocates of a two-state solution. They say that it and other building projects under way would make drawing the borders of a future Palestinian state unworkable by fragmenting Palestinian areas, and thus could deal a devastating blow to the two-state solution.

“I believe that Givat HaMatos is a deal-breaker,” says Daniel Seidemann, an Israeli attorney and founder of Terrestrial Jerusalem, which tracks developments that could jeopardize a two-state solution. “How many times can you cut a worm in half and the worm starts wiggling?”

Some 549 new homes in Givat HaMatos for Arab residents were also approved yesterday, but went largely unnoticed amid a series of Israeli moves to expand building in East Jerusalem and the highly controversial area of E1, which would create an Israeli bubble deep into the West Bank. Critics of Givat HaMatos have called it a mini-E1.

The US State Department yesterday used unusually strong language to criticize what it characterized as a “continuing pattern of provocative action” that jeopardizes a two-state solution....READ MORE

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.

Our lives remain in peril....

"...Neither Hereini nor I nor any of the villagers anywhere in the West Bank is an Israeli citizen. You’d think that as such we shouldn’t need to concern ourselves with law and order in Israel. Except that we do: as long as Israel refuses to abide by the principle of international law that holds it responsible for our protection as inhabitants of the territories it occupies, our lives remain in peril." RAJA SHEHADEH
http://latitude.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/07/04/the-folly-of-israels-settlement-policy/?ref=global

The Folly of Israel’s Settlement Policy

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