“Netanyahu Right-Wing Government insists on eliminating the Peace Process”
The approval of 508 new housing units in a number of Israeli settlements in the oPt

“Netanyahu Right-Wing Government insists on eliminating the Peace Process” <br> The approval of 508 new housing units in a number of Israeli settlements in the oPt

March 19, 2011

The current Israeli right-wing government headed by Benjamin Netanyahu is not interested in pushing the peace negotiations with the Palestinians forwards, but rather, it is imposing facts on the ground by expanding the Illegal Israeli settlements and outposts in the occupied Palestinian Territory and most specifically in East Jerusalem, demolishing Palestinian houses and properties, seizing lands and natural resources and unilaterally continuing the construction of the Segregation Wall, the border which Israel seeks to delineate for the future Jewish State of Israel. All these practices mainly aim to terminate any opportunity for reaching a just, viable and lasting peace agreement with the Palestinians.

508 New Housing Units to be built in Israeli settlements in the oPt

On March 13, 2011, the Israeli Ministerial Committee headed by Benyamin Netanyahu approved a new colonial plan to build 508 new housing units in a number of illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank, which included the settlements of Ma’aleh Adumim east of Jerusalem city, Ariel settlement north of Salfit city, Gush Etzion settlement bloc southwest of Bethlehem city, and Modi’in ‘Illit settlement west of Ramallah city. The proposed housing units were distributed as follows: 100 housing unit to be built in Ariel settlement, 200 housing units to be built in Modi’in ‘Illit settlement, 160 housing units to be built in Ma’aleh Adumim settlement and 48 mobile caravans in Kfar Eldad settlement south of Bethlehem to be turned into permanent structures.

It is worth mentioning that since the end of the ten months settlement freeze on September 26, 2010 and until the date of this report, around 18,000 housing units (17,888) had been approved by the Israeli related authorities to be built in the illegal Israeli settlements in the oPt. Furthermore, during the year 2010, 32,055 housing units had been approved by the Israeli authorities to be built in the illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank, of which, 15453 units (48%) were issued in Israeli settlements in East Jerusalem.

The notion of “Greater Jerusalem” which Israel seeks to convince the world that it is a valid foundation for the future State of Israel, is the basis of all matters, as Israel seeks to consolidate this concept by expanding Israeli settlements’ blocs around Jerusalem city, the Ma’ale Adumim settlement bloc, the Giv’at Ze’ev settlement bloc. and the Gush Etzion settlement bloc. This concept will come on the expense of Palestinian lands and rights in the city and the surrounding areas as well, thus isolating the city of Jerusalem from the rest of the West Bank Governorates.

Map 1: Greater Jerusalem

Legal & International Status

Israel continues to take unilateral actions that contradict with its obligations as an occupying power under international law rules, International Conventions and signed agreements especially concerning its responsibility towards the illegal settlements in the Occupied Territory.

The only thing that the Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu is seeking to achieve, is to keep and protect, as long as possible, his right-wing government coalition, despite the fact that this will come on the expense of neglecting the legitimate and historical rights of the Palestinians in the oPt as owners of the land.

The presence of the Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory and East Jerusalem is Illegal and their existence is void whatever the pretexts are, and accordingly they must be dismantled as an initial step towards respecting and recognizing the Palestinian people’s right to live and exist on their own land and within the 1967 borders.

United Nation Security Council Resolution No. 446 of 1979 calls on Israel to rescind its previous measures and to desist from taking any action which would result in changing the legal status and geographical nature and materially affecting the demographic composition of the Arab territories occupied since 1967, including Jerusalem and, in particular, not to transfer parts of its own civilian population into the occupied Arab territories’
Also UNSCR No. 452 of 1979 “calls upon the Government and people of Israel to cease, on an urgent basis, the establishment, construction and planning of settlements in the Arab territories occupied since 1967, including Jerusalem.”
Moreover ,UNSCR No. 465 of 1980 ‘called upon Israel to stop building in the Israeli settlements in the occupied territories and to dismantle all of the Israeli settlements built in the aforementioned territories since the year 1967, and demanding all of the state parties of the UN not to help Israel in building these Illegal settlements’.
Furthermore the Forth Geneva Convention of 1949 also states in Article 49 that “The occupying power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own population into the territories it occupies.” and Article 174 of the same convention “prohibits the ‘extensive destruction and appropriation of property not justified by military necessity and carried out unlawfully and wantonly.”
Article XXXI of the 1995 Oslo agreement Israelis forbidden from building or planning to any project or settlements or any colonial expansion or any plan that lead to change the status of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The article provides “Neither side shall initiate or take any step that will change the status of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip pending the outcome of the permanent status negotiations”.
In May 2001, the head of the International Red Cross delegation to Israel and the Occupied Territories said that settlements are ‘equal in principle to war crimes’. (Note: ‘The transfer, the installation of population of the occupying power into the occupied territories is considered as an illegal move and qualified as a ‘grave breach.’ It’s a grave breach, formally speaking, but grave breaches are equal in principle to war crimes’, Rene Kosirnik, head of the ICRC delegation to Israel and the OPT, press conference 17 May 2001).