JERUSALEM: Israeli plans for roughly 500 new settler homes in occupied east Jerusalem are a “slap in the face” of the United States and the international community, a top Palestinian official said.
Seventy-year old Palestinian farmer Abbas Yusef (C) explains to United Nations officials and foreign supporters of Palestinian rights, the restricted access to his olive groves on land either side of an Israeli settlement in the northern occupied West Bank, near the village of al-Janiya (al-Janiah) west of Ramallah in this October 28, 2014 photo. (AFP)
Israel approved construction of the homes on Monday as chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat met US Secretary of State John Kerry in the United States, according to settlements watchdog Peace Now.
“With the situation in occupied Jerusalem at boiling point, Israel’s latest settlement announcement is a slap in the face to Kerry, to the international community, to the Palestinian people, and to peace,” Erakat said in a statement.
The US and the international community have condemned repeated plans for new settler homes in east Jerusalem, which the Palestinians want as the capital of their future state.
Israel usurped the eastern sector of the city in 1967 — a move never recognized by the international community.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office pledged on Oct. 27 to build more than 1,000 new settler homes.
Jewish settlement building in east Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank has repeatedly derailed peace talks, most recently in April when nine months of US-brokered negotiations broke down.
“The message is clear,” Erakat said.
“The Netanyahu government chooses settlements over negotiations, colonization over the two-state solution, and apartheid over equality and coexistence,” he added.
In the absence of negotiations, which have for decades failed to bring peace, the Palestinians are seeking a UN resolution giving a two-year deadline for Israel to end its occupation of the Palestinian territories.
SOURCE: http://www.arabnews.com/middle-east/news/655156
Categories: Arab World, Asia, Israel, Palestine
The Palestinians are kidding themselves. Since when do the US care whether Israel ‘slaps them in the face’? If they can bear being murdered by them (see USS Liberty) they can take any other ‘slaps’ easily. (There is no other example in the world where this can / could happen).