Jerusalem Mayor: PLANS TO RAZE 22 Palestinians Homes, "Judaization" of Jerusalem, Silent Media
21. Jun, 2010
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Jerusalem's mayor pressed ahead Monday with a plan to raze 22 Palestinian homes in east Jerusalem to make room for an Israeli tourist center,
The Associated Press
Monday, June 21, 2010 | 5:34 a.m.
Jerusalem’s mayor pressed ahead Monday with a plan to raze 22 Palestinian
homes in east Jerusalem to make room for an Israeli tourist center, a
decision that could stir new tensions in the divided city and put Israel in
conflict with the Obama administration.
Back in March, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had pressured Jerusalem
Mayor Nir Barkat to hold up the plan so authorities could consult with
Palestinians who would lose their homes _ a delay that appeared to be aimed
at fending off criticism from the U.S.
“Now, after fine-tuning the plan and seeking more cooperation with the
residents as far as their needs and improving the quality of their lives,
the municipality is ready to submit the plans for the first stage of
approval,” Barkat’s spokesman, Stephan Miller.
Barkat, who opposes sharing Jerusalem with the Palestinians, asked the
municipal planning committee to give preliminary approval to the plan.
However final approval, which would require an Interior Ministry green
light, could take many months.
Jerusalem is the most divisive issue between Israelis and Palestinians.
Israel annexed east Jerusalem after capturing it from Jordan in the 1967
Mideast war and nearly 200,000 Jews have moved there since, living alongside
250,000 Palestinians in an uneasy coexistence. Palestinians hope to build
the capital of a future state in east Jerusalem and see any Israeli
construction there as undercutting their claims to the land.
The international community does not recognize Israeli sovereignty over east
Jerusalem and the U.S. wants Israel to freeze all Jewish settlement in
Palestinian areas, including east Jerusalem, to facilitate Mideast peace
talks. It also recently demanded that Israel lift its three-year old
blockade of the 1.5 million Palestinians in Gaza.
Israel strained relations with the U.S. in March when it announced plans for
additional construction in east Jerusalem as Vice President Joe Biden was
preparing to have dinner with Netanyahu.
The plan calls for the construction of shops, restaurants, art galleries and
a large community center on the site where some say the biblical King David
wrote his psalms. The 22 displaced families would be allowed to build homes
elsewhere in the neighborhood, though it is not clear who would pay for
them.
Activists who want to block all demolitions issued a statement saying the
plan “comes in the general context of (the) fast-track Judaization” of east
Jerusalem. It pre-empts “the possibility of Jerusalem ever being a shared
city, or indeed capital of a Palestinian state,” the statement said. “This
in itself precludes peace.”
The U.S. Embassy in Israel had no comment.
The prime minister’s office said Netanyahu “hopes that since this project is
only in a preliminary stage, that the dialogue can continue with those who
have built homes on public land and it will be possible to find an agreed
solution in accordance with the law.”
Barkat had agreed in March to Netanyahu’s request for delay to consult
Palestinian residents before breaking ground. Israeli demolition of
Palestinian homes has in the past provoked harsh reaction from the United
States, and no houses have been razed since October.
Although Israel claims it is simply enforcing the law by knocking down
illegally built structures, many of the unauthorized homes have gone up
because Palestinians have a hard time obtaining construction permits in east
Jerusalem.
Barkat says the plan gives a much-needed facelift to Jerusalem’s decaying
al-Bustan neighborhood, which Israel calls Gan Hamelech, or the King’s
Garden.
The contested site is a section of a larger neighborhood called Silwan,
which is home to some 50,000 Palestinians and 70 Jewish families.
Demolitions elsewhere in Silwan have made the neighborhood a hub of tension
between Palestinians and Jews.
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The raze of 22 Palestinian families from
East Jerusalem will take place, even, if US object it superficially to show the whole world that they are against it-the way it happened in the past.This is how the Israeli Govt.implement their plan of ethnic cleansing of making the Palestinian minority
in East Jerusalem to fulfill their claim on the area.
May ‘GOD’ bless those families and give them courage to fight injustice.
[Reply]
I cannot believe they are consulting at all. Mr Mayor I am glad to see this, such a shame it is probably no more than a publicity exercise… So Mayor Nir Barkat I challenge you to prove me wrong, have an open consultation process and see what the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians feel about your plan and then act on their considerations, will you do that? I very much doubt it.
It would appear more illegal building work will commence at some point in the near future, after all a tourist site in occupied territory (so you can show more zionist or unaware tourists around “your city”?) is far more important than peoples homes.
[Reply]
I Have Said It Time And Time Again,The “Zionist” Jews Will Not Stop Until “ALL” Palestinians Are Gone/Remove.,WAKE THE HELL UP PEOPLE!.
[Reply]
There is no state called Israel.
State of thieves called Israel a
basis of the displacement
and killing of Innocent nation .
state of thieves basis
bloodshed and war
And the arrest of people
for tens of years to
prevent him from claiming
The right to life .
basis steal the land of the
Palestinian people
And then steal
the land of the Arab-Muslim
the entire .State of the
thieves do not know the law …..
Does not recognize the
law of the United Nations,
a state that considers itself above the
law . the law is the siege of Gaza
And the bloodshed and
destruction of houses and
killing innocent people
and occupying the country
This is a country named Israel thieves
[Reply]
pete Reply:
November 9th, 2010 at 10:19 am
Israel is above every thing dont you know that. They are the new master race. The fuhrers of Israel have said it many times. They will get us into a bullshit war with Iran that Iran doent deserve. The people in the united states are fed the bullshit line of being radical Islamist,s yet the the aaaaaaaaaamerican people are NEVER told that Iran has the largest jewish population in the middle east [next to israel] and they are treated with respect & dignity. The muslims are portrayed as a bunch of bomb throwing nutcases, which there maybe a few, but tere are christian who would do the same in the name of jesus. there are radicals in every religion. bottom line treat the muslims of the world with respect & YOU WILL BE RESPECTED IN RETURN. AND STOP STANDING BY AS ISRAEL STEALS MORE ARAB LAND EVERY DAY.
[Reply]
ac Reply:
December 4th, 2010 at 6:33 am
AMEEN TO PETE
[Reply]
Mirna Keegan Reply:
December 4th, 2010 at 6:28 pm
So much I want to say Pete – No where else in the world can citizenship be granted automatically on the basis of religious beliefs and why the dual citizenship.
Anti muslim propaganda is evil in it’s intent, pupose and origin, and more so, in that it is somehow acceptable despite anti discrimination laws. ALL the Muslims I have met have impressed me – philosophical and unstinting genorousity, as evidenced by offering assistance in the current bushfires in israel. By contrast, the self absorbed israeli’s do not even have enough firefighters, volunteer or career.
I note since this article has been published, the “ethnic cleansing”, demolitions and deaths continue. We, as a world community, have to unite to stop israeli “practices” in Palestine and pro israeli extremists that have infiltrated governments and global organizations that make their actions beyond reproach or consequences. America being the most glaring example of moral, ethical and institutional corruption.