Bad policies in east Jerusalem

[Israeli]

The entry of settlers to Silwan was a highly political move, an attempt to change the status quo in Jerusalem by altering the character of the Arab neighborhood.

By ANAT BEN-NUN

Earlier this month I was walking down the streets of the Arab neighborhood of Silwan in East Jerusalem, where settlers had entered seven buildings just a few days earlier. The unpaved roads and uncollected garbage were a clear indication that I was standing east of the Green Line. Despite Israel’s annexation of East Jerusalem in 1967, the Arab neighborhoods there are still plagued by poor infrastructure and general neglect. They are definitely not spots one would consider moving into for quality of life. Due to the entry of the settlers, the streets of Silwan were full of police officers and private security guards, sponsored by Israel’s Ministry of Housing and Construction.

On the same day, after learning about the final approval of a plan for 2,610 housing units in Givat Hamatos, Peace Now exposed to the Israeli public the plan for the construction at the southern municipal border of Jerusalem.

Peace Now’s Settlement Watch Department reports on such developments on a regular basis. It does so in order to stimulate government transparency and a democratic public debate on the issue of settlements. Under Prime Minister Netanyahu, unfortunately, such reports have been rather frequent due to his policy of settlement expansion.

After his meeting with US President Barack Obama, later that evening, Netanyahu slammed Peace Now for reporting on the recent developments, while attempting to divert the criticism on Silwan and Givat Hamatos. Netanyahu even accused the movement of “lack of national responsibility,” as if Peace Now has any control over settlement plans or their timing. Inside Israel, Netanyahu’s statement partially succeeded in diverting criticism away from him and toward Peace Now. The usual suspects from the Israeli right joined the attack and even recycled their call for the promotion of the “NGO bill,” which aims to impose heavy taxes on peace and human rights non-profits.

http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Bad-policies-in-east-Jerusalem-378802

[Israeli]

1. Continued.....

As he does so well, Netanyahu shifted the debate away from the real issue – the impact of settlements on Israel’s future and on a future peace agreement with the Palestinians, to that of Israel’s image abroad.

Israel’s image, however, can only be rehabilitated if its government pursues the right policies: promoting a twostate solution and stopping unilateral steps of settlement construction. Stating support of a two state solution is not enough, particularly when Netanyahu’s government takes actions that indicate the exact opposite. Israel’s image is not determined by smoke and mirrors, but by the reality of its actions.

So let’s consider these actions.

The entry of settlers to Silwan was a highly political move, an attempt to change the status quo in Jerusalem by altering the character of the Arab neighborhood.

According to the Clinton Parameters, in the framework of an Israeli-Palestinian peace accord, Arab neighborhoods of Jerusalem will become part of the future Palestinian state, while Jewish neighborhoods will remain a part of the state of Israel. By settling in Palestinian neighborhoods, these settlers are trying to change the reality on the ground and make a future peace agreement inapplicable.

Unlike in 1991, when settlers entered Silwan and the Shamir government asked for their evacuation, Prime Minister Netanyahu does not object the move despite its harsh consequences.

As for the planned neighborhood in Givat Hamatos, if built, the neighborhood will completely block two Arab neighborhoods from a future Palestinian state. Furthermore, it will create a disconnect, a wedge, right at the heart of a future Palestinian state, between Bethlehem and East Jerusalem, preventing the territorial contiguity necessary for a Palestinian state to develop and prosper. It’s not too late for Netanyahu to act. He can still announce that he will not implement the plan and that he will never issue any tender to allow construction in Givat Hamatos.

Instead of blaming Peace Now, it is time for our government to demonstrate the national responsibility we Israelis deserve by promoting peace, freezing settlement construction and accepting the fact that any future solution will require a compromise in Jerusalem.

Until this happens, do not blame the messenger, blame the policy.

The author is the Director of Development and External Relations of Israel’s Peace Now movement.

Source:http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Bad-policies-in-east-Jerusalem-378802

[azurnoir]

2. It explains much of what we see here and a pattern I've seen over the years

and seems to be that anytime there is a 'threat' of peace, Israel's (policy) supporters rev into high(er) gear with thread after thread about those awful antisemitic Palestinians and their equally awful supporters, in fact there seems almost an industry of creating sound byte vids proving how thoroughly unworthy, undeserving, and untrustable Palestinians are when it comes to having their own state

[Israeli]

3. Jerusalem is at the heart of it all azurnoir....

BTW ......

Nine Jewish families move into Silwan in the dead of night

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4581964,00.html

[Israeli]

6. More.....

Nine more Jewish families take over Silwan homes in dead of night

If settling Jews beyond the Green Line in Palestinian East Jerusalem is legitimate, why are organizations sneaking in settlers in the middle of the night?

Nine Jewish Israeli families took over two empty buildings in the Palestinian neighborhood of Silwan in East Jerusalem overnight Sunday. According to the NGO Ir Amim, the families took control over 10 housing units in two buildings in the heart of Silwan. They moved in under the auspices of Ateret Cohanim, a settler organization based in the Muslim quarter of the Old City that works to create a Jewish demographic majority in East Jerusalem.

This latest takeover comes less than a month after settlers moved into seven houses in another part of Silwan, also in the dead of night and backed by heavy security forces, courtesy of Elad, another East Jerusalem settler organization. These new moves double the number of Jews currently living in Silwan, according to Israeli media. There were no reports of confrontations during the takeover Sunday night.

According to Haaretz, the buildings were purchased in the last year by foreign companies at the behest of the Committee for the Renewal of the Yemenite Village, which looks to restore the Yemenite community that lived in the area before the establishment of the State of Israel. This is similar to the warped rationale behind moving Jews back into the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah — which exposes the discriminatory practice in which Jews can reclaim lands from before 1948 in East Jerusalem but Palestinians cannot do the same in West Jerusalem — or anywhere throughout Israel.

Continue reading @
http://972mag.com/nine-more-jewish-families-take-over-silwan-homes-in-dead-of-night/97864/

[Israeli]

4. Not surprising really ....

.....when you consider most of those posting these patterns here are American Jews.

We 'Elite' old timers can still say it as it is tho ....we haven't all died out ...yet .

Elie Wiesel hides ethnic cleansing behind a prayer shawl

This ostensible messenger of peace supports an organization that evicts Palestinians from their homes in East Jerusalem.

By Yossi Sarid

Much have I learned from gossip columns, which for reasons of propriety are also called “social columns.” Without them how would we know who’s going with whom and for what gain?

Before turning to the news pages, cast an eye on the yellow stuff. It will help you understand how the system works.

The special ads – not those intended to sell chocolate pudding – also provide important information and develop your awareness. According to the numbers, under 10 percent of readers look at them, but that’s a mistake to be corrected.

So last Friday, this paper of all papers carried an ad in Hebrew blessing the “dozens of new families joining the Jewish community in the City of David.” According to the ad, “We salute the Zionist action of those involved; we all share the challenge of strengthening the Jewish presence in Jerusalem. With you we’ll receive the pilgrims who visit over the holiday.”

This is followed by the signatures of people linked to settler group Elad. Some of the names are unfamiliar, but some are astonishing. After all, this organization is notorious for making trouble in the City of Eternal Peace.

I wasn’t surprised to see singer Yehoram Gaon’s name, for example. He sees a flag in every rag and takes every broomstick for a flagpole.

But what are former Military Intelligence chief Amos Yadlin, former police chief Shlomo Aharonishki and former Hadassah University Hospital chief Shlomo Mor-Yosef doing there? What’s a former director general of the Prime Minister’s Office, Ilan Cohen, doing there? Maybe they should explain why they’re willing to sponsor people who evict people and take over their homes?

As they say in Isaiah 5:8, “Woe unto them that join house to house, that lay field to field, till there be no room, and ye be made to dwell alone in the midst of the land.”

And who’s their chairman? You’ll never guess. Not casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, not Jewish organization leader Malcolm Hoenlein. Not even U.S. businessman Irving Moskowitz and his wife Cherna.

It’s somebody identified more than anyone with the memory of the Holocaust — a winner of the Nobel Peace Prize and U.S. Presidential Medal of Freedom — Elie Wiesel. The Nobel Prize Committee in Oslo wrote: “Wiesel is a messenger to mankind; his message is one of peace, atonement and human dignity.”

This is a man expected to show special sensitivity to the suffering of the other, whether in Romania’s Sighetu Marmației, where he’s from, or Jerusalem’s Silwan neighborhood. This is the man who portrays himself as a friend of Barack Obama, but who lends a hand to those who insult the president publicly.

Before every meeting in Washington, these people prepare another invasion in Jerusalem, sabotaging others’ laborious efforts. Maybe Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu knew why he offered Wiesel Israel’s presidency at the time, but we didn’t.

He’s the man who declared he was keeping himself out of Israeli politics, anointing himself with pure olive oil. Every time he was asked to respond to some injustice in our midst, reminiscent of some injustice far away, he evaded the question.

He of all people burst into one house after another, houses bought in shady deals, fit for the night to be carried out before the sheets and coffee cups have cooled. He of all people is hiding creeping ethnic cleansing behind a prayer shawl.

Of all the organizations in Israel, he chose Elad, the most controversial, a group with no truth, grace or compassion. It’s all too clear why they chose him as chairman, but not at all clear why he agreed.

Wiesel has garnered enormous respect from the Jewish people and Gentile nations for surviving and becoming a mouthpiece for Holocaust victims. How about sharing some of that respect? Won’t you reconsider, identify with them and sign their cursed blessings?

Source : http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-1.621069

[King_David]

7. Thanks for all the cutting and pasting

You shouldn't post full articles though because of copyright especially those articles that usually require payment like Haaretz.

Do you ever offer your own opinion besides cutting and pasting other people's opinions?

Your a cut and paste article clipping machine ... Well done.

[Jefferson23]

9. That's an odd question, I read her opinions all the time...they're quite clear. n/t

[King_David]

10. Clear yes

From posting Adam Keller

And I'm sure she can answer me herself like she usually does .

[Jefferson23]

11. She has answered you, and expressed her opinions, all the time. n/t

[King_David]

12. And now your expressing her opinion for her?

[Jefferson23]

13. I'm challenging you to the game I suspect you're trying to play. n/t

[King_David]

14. I wasn't playing until someone jumped into the sandbox with me,

Israeli does fine answering my posts and exchanging with me without any help .

[Jefferson23]

15. I'm here anyway. You can't figure out her opinions says more about you than

any lack of clarity on her part...you're digging as I see it.

[King_David]

16. Bizzarrio discussion

And very passionate.

Good job.

[Jefferson23]

17. You were being obvious. n/t

[King_David]

18. Whatever that means,

Sure

[Israeli]

21. Very obvious .....

.....its why I ignored his comments

Only interesting thing he had to say was ..... " Adam Keller "

Adam is the spokesperson for Gush Shalom Jefferson :

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_Keller

Crazy Country is his blog :

http://adam-keller2.blogspot.co.il/2014/10/diplomatic-terrorism-and-wings-over.html

How to upset King_David .....bookmark it Jefferson

[Jefferson23]

22. I ignore a lot, but not everything. So Prosor claims diplomatic terrorism on the part of

Palestinians...the irony is rich. ha ha

Thanks for the link.

[oberliner]

5. I've noticed a similar pattern

It seems like Palestinian (policy) supporters rev into high gear with thread after thread about how awful those Islamophobic Israelis are (and their equally awful supporters) - some going so far as to say Israel is more evil than Satan.

[azurnoir]

8. tell us please which DUer opined that " Israel is more evil than Satan"?

because I have not seen that

[Jefferson23]

19. Arab residents riot in East Jerusalem neighborhood over Jews' move

Jewish settlers purchase two buildings in Silwan, where residents complain they are being driven out after Jews bought six properties in the neighborhood last month.

Noam (Dabul) Dvir, News Agencies
Latest Update: 10.20.14,

Arab residents in East Jerusalem on Monday night threw Molotov cocktails and firecrackers at a building in Silwan into which nine Jewish families moved the night before. No one was hurt and no damage was caused.

Police and Border Police forces disperse the rioters using crowd dispersal means. A Molotov cocktail found by police was taken to a forensics lab for testing.

The families moved into two buildings in the "Yemenite Village" in Silwan, called Beit Frumkin and Beit Ovadia, a few hundred meters from each other.

A previous move on September 30 by settlers into homes bought in the Silwan neighborhood, in an area captured by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War, coincided with a US visit by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, drew White House condemnation and created a high-profile spat with Israel.

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4582125,00.html

[Israeli]

20. Very interesting article from a Palestinian perspective ....

on Al Monitor you should read Jefferson.....

http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2014/10/israel-settlment-activities-expand-west-bank.html

Tayseer Khaled, member of the Executive Committee, told Al-Monitor, “The Executive Committee discussed the settlements and there is a serious search and orientation to reshape the relationship with the occupation, including the cessation of security coordination.”

However, Tafakji, who is residing in Jerusalem, said, “The residents of Jerusalem feel they are ignored, in the absence of a Palestinian strategy.”

According to Tafakji, Israel is creating a new reality by raising the level of support to settlers and dismembering Palestinian communities in Jerusalem. It is also fragmenting Palestinian towns, in an effort to impose the Greater Jerusalem project by 2020.

The Palestinians are waiting for the PA to submit a draft resolution to the UN Security Council, calling on it to recognize the Palestinian state and set a time frame for ending the occupation. This draft resolution has slight chances of being adopted due to a likely US veto. The PA considers this to be the beginning of the political battle with Israel.

Based on the experience of the past 20 years, the political steps to be taken by the PA, as well as international condemnation of the settlements that have not stopped being built, remain less powerful than the roar of Israeli bulldozers biting into Palestinian territory on a daily basis. The Israelis continuously implement settlement projects as a fait accompli over the ruins of the two-state solution, which is breathing its last breath.

[Jefferson23]

23. He's correct:

*Meanwhile, the PA contents itself denunciation and condemnation without taking a stance that reaches up to the required level, by developing a strong strategy to face the settlers, whose numbers have increased in the West Bank fourfold since 1992.



I don't want to start on Abbas, it gets too depressing.