Jerusalem – Israel invited bids on Monday to construct 77 new homes in two settlements on occupied land in East Jerusalem, drawing a swift Palestinian condemnation.
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Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Malki said the planned projects were a violation of international law and showed Israel was not interested in peace.
Peace Now, an Israeli group that monitors and opposes settlement-building on land Palestinians seek for a state, said only tenders for 18 of the 77 units were new, and the others were reissued after previous offers were not taken up.
The Israel Lands Authority said 41 of the homes are to be built in Pisgat Ze’ev and 36 in Neve Yaakov, where 63,000 Israelis already live.
The two settlements comprise mainly apartment blocs and are defined by Israel as integral neighborhoods of Jerusalem.
Al-Malki told reporters in Ramallah: “Israel’s measures aim to hinder the establishment of a viable independent Palestinian state that is geographically connected and to prevent the realization of the two-state solution.”
Most countries consider settlements that Israel has built on territory captured in a 1967 war illegal and obstacles to Palestinian statehood. Israeli-Palestinian peace talks collapsed a year ago, partly over the settlement issue.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is trying to form a governing coalition after his March election victory, has pledged to pursue settlement in East Jerusalem and other occupied areas which Israel says it intends to keep in any future peace deal with the Palestinians.
Israel regards all of Jerusalem as its undivided capital, a position that has not won international recognition.
Please don’t build in the arabs places, don’t take them out from there hole, will only cost more jewish blood.
Settler? What are settlers? Are Texans and Californians also settlers? Or that term only applies to Jews who win wars?
“…Pisgat Ze’ev and 36 in Neve Yaakov, where 63,000 Israelis already live.”
Hardly a settlement, both Pisgat Zeev and Neve Yaakov are definitely NOT settlements no matter how Peace Now slants the news. both are part and parcel of Jerusalem like Ramot and Gilo. Why doesn’t VIN correct their anti-Jewish rhetoric and write in Jerusalem?
Yerushalayim belongs to the Jews. It is not “occupied land.” There is no “East Jerusalem,” although there is an eastern part of the city, as there is a western, northern, and southern part. Peace Now is an anti-Israel movement. And most of Reuters reporting slants against Israel when there is any choice in the matter. So … why VIN publishes this is beyond me.
That’s is one of the most beautiful pictures I have ever seen. Look at the colors of those flowers! All grown on a plot of land that was barren and dead for close to 2000 years. Amazing! עתיד הארץ ליתן פירותיה״” We see that today. אשרינו שזכינו!