From: wolda002@umn.edu
Date: Sat Mar 21 2009 - 19:23:51 EST
Israel accelerates "illegal annexation" of East Jerusalem: EU report
Submitted by WW4 Report on Sat, 03/07/2009 - 19:57.
Israel accelerated its "illegal annexation" of East Jerusalem last year
through municipal and security policies that discriminate against
Palestinian residents, according to an internal report by European Union
diplomats, dated Dec. 15, 2008, which was obtained by Reuters. The 20-page
report acknowledged Israel's security needs but said its "actions in and
around Jerusalem constitute one of the most acute challenges to
Israeli-Palestinian peace-making."
The number of building tenders issued by Israel for Jewish homes in East
Jerusalem increased by a factor of 40 in 2008 over 2007, the report found,
while Israeli authorities placed "severe restrictions" on construction
permits for Palestinians, who were also denied municipal funding
proportionate to their population.
The report also criticized Israel for constructing a barrier that runs
through Jerusalem, saying it cut off thousands of Palestinians from the
occupied West Bank. Israel says the Jerusalem section of the West Bank wall
will be completed by 2010.
The revelation comes as Israel announced new plans to demolish scores of
Palestinian homes in East Jerusalem. The Jerusalem city government said
last month it plans to demolish 88 Palestinian homes that were built
without permits in Silwan district, near the walls of Jerusalem's Old City,
to create a public garden. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who
visited the region this week, called the planned demolitions "unhelpful."
Israeli officials deny there is a campaign to drive out Palestinians, who
make up 34% of Jerusalem's population. (Reuters, March 7)
In a first for an Israeli politician, outgoing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert
called in remarks broadcast March 7 for dividing Jerusalem. "Let us be
under no illusion, there will never be peace with the Arabs and the
Palestinians if part of Jerusalem does not ultimately become the capital of
a Palestinian state," he said in remarks carried on public radio. Olmert
said Israel would have to make "courageous but painful" decisions if it
hoped to reach a peace deal with the Palestinians, including an "almost
total withdrawal" from the West Bank. (AFP, March 7; YNet, March 6)
See our last posts on Israel/Palestine and the struggle for Jerusalem.