Israel announces 2,500 new apartments in 'east' Jerusalem, Obama-Kerry silent
On Wednesday, the city of Jerusalem announced the approval of 2,500 new apartments in 'east' Jerusalem. There was no outcry from Obama-Kerry or from Ban Ki-Moon. And there won't be one either. You see,
these apartments are for Arabs, and you can bet that they will be 100% completely
Judenrein. What's worse, those apartments are accompanied by
the reversal of approval for 2,500 Jewish units in 'east' Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria. You see, our spineless Prime Minister has become as much of a messianic as John FN Kerry.
This is from the first link.
The houses will be built in the Al-Sawahira Al-Gharbiyya neighborhood near Armon HaNetziv, according to Walla! News, home to some 27,000 Israeli Arabs.
The expansion plan was formulated for over a year and a half, with
the help of the leftist "Bimakom" (Heb: "In its place") group, which is
engaged in promoting "equal rights" in matters of city planning.
Nationalist politicians and city councilmen reacted with shock to the announcement, after exactly 2,500 building tenders
for Jewish neighborhoods in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria were frozen
Monday by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu due to US threats of a
"covert building freeze."
Jerusalem City Councilman Aryeh King filed an administrative appeal
with the Jerusalem District Court over the ruling - which he, along with
many others, have seen as discriminatory - and threatened to quit the
coalition in the event the tenders are not revoked.
"This is crazy," King said, "and runs contrary to a previous decision
not to go ahead with the program until the building committee can
confirm the need for large-scale construction in Arab neighborhoods."
King maintained that the plan also "was put forward by the leftists
to establish their own the demographic balance in the city, and link
Area B to the downtown area - all of this without discussing the issue
with the city council."
"Nir Barkat is endangering the city," he added.
The office of Mayor Nir Barkat said in response, "the Jerusalem
Municipality's urban planning constitutes a clear expression of
sovereignty over all parts of the city and strengthening the unity of
Jerusalem."
"The absence of the Municipality in urban planning may create a
difficult situation, and it is dangerous to approve specific programs
under the auspices of a court without relating to a range of
considerations regarding neighborhoods in, and public buildings missing
in, East Jerusalem," it added. "The alternative to municipal urban
planning is illegal construction of thousands of housing units and
taking over large areas, along with damage to the environment and to an
Israeli sovereignty over a united Jerusalem."
You mean Barkat actually thinks that this shows Jewish sovereignty over the Arab-populated neighborhoods of the city? Really? And by the way, the solution to illegal building is to enforce the law....
And about
Netanyahu's withdrawal of those 2,500 units for Jews....
Cabinet Secretary Gen. (res.) Avichai Mandelblit was tasked with drafting the plans for 1,500
units in the Givat Hamatos neighborhood in southern Jerusalem, and
another 1,000 units in Judea and Samaria communities including Ariel,
Emanuel, and Beitar Illit.
The bid publications were prepared and ready to go - until Netanyahu
at the very last minute waffled and changed his mind, canning the plan
right before it was to be published.
Apparently Mandelblit told community leaders in Judea and Samaria
that the international pressure placed on Israel during and following
Operation Protective Edge has led Netanyahu to fear an international
"crisis" if he were to announce plans for new Jewish houses.
"The national status after Operation Protective Edge is explosive and complicated," a senior official told Walla!,
siding with Mandelblit. "Israel needs to act carefully and not initiate
new crises, that will be added to the unavoidable crises created by the
operation."
The international pressure was demonstrated on Sunday, when Israel declared 4,000 dunams (988 acres) in Judea as state land - an announcement which was immediately met by a firm condemnation by US President Barack Obama's administration.
Judea and Samaria council chief
Dani Dayan is steaming.
Speaking to Arutz Sheva, Dayan said that the bureaucratic
snafu that was holding up development of plans in Jerusalem and in Judea
and Samaria was choking off the life-force of these communities. “For
months the government committees and the Housing Ministry have not
issued any tenders for construction. It's true that development plans
made in the past are now bearing fruit, but without new tenders
construction will soon dry up,” he said.
In the past, governments responded to world political pressure against construction in “a more courageous manner. We were told that building
would not be allowed publicly, but behind the scenes they would tell us
to build outposts, which would later be legalized. Today the government
doesn't have the courage to do this.”
Dayan worries that a crisis is developing in the settlement movement.
“We cannot be satisfied with what we have accomplished. Any area that
is not growing will eventually be lost. Building and growing must be a
priority, even if there are pressures. We must bring the settlement
issue back into the center of priorities, even if it has to be done
politically. If we can't accomplish this now, we are setting a precedent
for the future as well.”
אין שלום, אין ביטחון, ביבי כשלון (There is no peace, there is no security, Bibi is a failure). Yes, I know that was the Left's slogan in the 1999 election campaign, but perhaps it's time for the Right to dust it off.
Labels: Binyamin Netanyahu, City of Jerusalem, Dani Dayan, East Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria construction, Nir Barkat
Pigs fly: NY Times publishes op-ed by 'settler' leader
Unexpectedly, the New York Times has published an op-ed by
Yesha Council leader Dani Dayan (Hat Tip:
My Right Word).
Arabs called for Israel’s annihilation in 1967, and Israel legitimately seized the disputed territories of Judea and Samaria in self-defense. Israel’s moral claim to these territories, and the right of Israelis to call them home today, is therefore unassailable. Giving up this land in the name of a hallowed two-state solution would mean rewarding those who’ve historically sought to destroy Israel, a manifestly immoral outcome.
Of course, just because a policy is morally justified doesn’t mean it’s wise. However, our four-decade-long settlement endeavor is both. The insertion of an independent Palestinian state between Israel and Jordan would be a recipe for disaster.
The influx of hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees from Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and elsewhere would convert the new state into a hotbed of extremism. And any peace agreement would collapse the moment Hamas inevitably took power by ballot or by gun. Israel would then be forced to recapture the area, only to find a much larger Arab population living there.
Moreover, the Palestinians have repeatedly refused to implement a negotiated two-state solution. The American government and its European allies should abandon this failed formula once and for all and accept that the Jewish residents of Judea and Samaria are not going anywhere.
On the contrary, we aim to expand the existing Jewish settlements in Judea and Samaria, and create new ones. This is not — as it is often portrayed — a theological adventure but is rather a combination of inalienable rights and realpolitik.
I can hear the Left lining up now:
'Acquisition of territory by force is not acceptable.'It is when it's done in a defensive war, when you have a better legal claim to it than the attacker, and when it's ratified by the United Nations in Resolution 242 (which famously said 'territories' and not '
the territories.'
'The status quo will force Israel to choose between being Jewish and democratic.'Only if you believe the damned lies known as 'Palestinian statistics.'
'The 'Palestinians' are the indigenous people of the region.'No, they're not. In fact, Newt Gingrich may have best described them when he called them
an invented people.
But the most important thing here is that Dayan is adopting a form of the 'one Jewish state solution. That's a good thing, because it's the only solution that gives peace a chance.
Yossi Beilin, a left-wing former Israeli minister, wrote a telling article a few months ago. A veteran American diplomat touring the area had told Mr. Beilin he’d left frightened because he found everyone — Israel, the Palestinian Authority, Jordan and Saudi Arabia — content with the current situation. Mr. Beilin finds this widespread satisfaction disturbing, too.
I think it is wonderful news. If the international community relinquished its vain attempts to attain the unattainable two-state solution, and replaced them with intense efforts to improve and maintain the current reality on the ground, it would be even better. The settlements of Judea and Samaria are not the problem — they are part of the solution.
Indeed.
Read the whole thing.
Labels: Dani Dayan, Judea and Samaria, one-state solution, revenants, two-state solution, Yesha Council
How the 'settlement freeze' was stopped
We all know that Prime Minister Netanyahu was under enormous pressure to extend the 'settlement freeze' in October. We also know that Netanyahu normally doesn't stand up to pressure like that. So what happened this time? The short answer is that there was enormous pressure the other way by the
Yesha Council.
How did the Council stave off a seemingly good opportunity toward what many believe is the only path to peace? Not by amassing messianic-looking armed men wearing sandals and kippas—the dominant image of the Yesha Council in the past and the most persistent picture of the Jewish settler movement in the eyes of the world—but with a high-pressure campaign that included thousands of pre-recorded, computerized phone calls targeting members of the Knesset, central figures in Netanyahu’s Likud Party, and other political movers and shakers.
This new approach is the influence of Dayan, a former IDF major and secular high-tech tycoon who sold his software company in 2004 and threw himself full time into settlement politics. Since becoming chair in 2007, he has worked to transform the council into a Washington-style lobby armed with the latest marketing tools. “We carefully timed a surgical campaign,” says Dayan of the Council’s efforts to prevent the freeze extension. “It was very effective and quite unprecedented. I know for sure that it influenced the prime minister. We showed that we still have political leverage and capabilities.”
Coupled with the phone campaign—albeit to a government that is sympathetic to its cause—is a public relations effort targeted at everyday secular Israelis, most of whom live on the other side of the Green Line and have few ties, personal or otherwise, to the settlements or historic sites such as the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron. More importantly, they have come to accept the inevitability of a two-state solution. “I wouldn’t call it PR,” Dayan says hesitantly. “It’s more like hasbara,” the Hebrew word that has come to mean public diplomacy. “We’ve shifted our focus,” he says. “We’re working to negate stereotypes. The Yesha Council was traditionally involved in promoting the interests of our communities, but we neglected the educational component of our task and failed to reach the Israeli public. The Israeli public needs to understand the historical link we have to the territories.”
Read it all.
Labels: Binyamin Netanyahu, Dani Dayan, settlement freeze extension, Yesha Council
