Israel pushes ahead with settlement expansion
Human Rights
Israel pushes ahead with settlement expansion
Mel Frykberg
27 August 2008
Israel has published tenders for the construction of 1,761 illegal housing units for Israeli settlers in occupied East Jerusalem alone, according to the Israeli rights group Peace Now.
The expansion plans come despite promises by the Israeli government at last year’s peace summit at Annapolis, Maryland to freeze all settlement growth.
"Once again this government has shown that its words and commitments are meaningless, and they have no intention of keeping to their word," says Peace Now.
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has stressed repeatedly that settlement construction or expansion in the West Bank is contrary to international law and Israel’s commitments under the "road map" peace process.
The road map was a series of peace-building measures proposed by US President George W. Bush in 2002 and subsequently developed by the diplomatic Quartet of the European Union, the United Nations, Russia and the United States.
Ban Ki-moon further urged Israel to freeze all settlement activity and to dismantle outposts erected since March of 2001.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, normally a diehard supporter of Israel, also expressed her concern about the settlement building during her last visit to Israel several months ago.
"It’s important to have an atmosphere of confidence and trust," Rice said following talks she held with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah. "The United States believes that the [settlement] actions and the announcements that are taking place are indeed having a negative effect on the atmosphere for negotiation."
The new construction should not be allowed to shape future Israeli-Palestinian borders, which remain under negotiation, Rice said. "The United States will not let these activities have any effect on final status negotiations, including final borders."
The Geneva Conventions specifically forbid the transfer of a civilian population into occupied territory.
But even as Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was meeting with Abbas in Jerusalem last week in an endeavor to further the peace process, plans for further settlement construction were already under way.
At the beginning of the month, prior to Peace Now’s statement, the Israel Lands Authority published tenders for the construction of 130 new housing units in Har Homa, East Jerusalem.
The Har Homa neighborhood and all East Jerusalem settlements were built on land Israel occupied in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war. Israel subsequently incorporated the areas into Jerusalem’s boundaries in a move not recognized internationally.
In addition to the public announcement of the tenders, there are currently 500 houses already under construction in Har Homa, and 240 in the settlement of Maaleh Adumim in East Jerusalem.
At the same time as the Har Homa tenders were being published, Israeli officials also called for bids from construction companies to build more than 300 apartments in the West Bank settlement of Beitar Illit near Bethlehem, and about 20 minutes drive from Jerusalem.
This came on top of Olmert’s approval at the beginning of the year to build 750 new houses in the Givat Zeev settlement northwest of Jerusalem, and 100 in the Ariel settlement in the northern West Bank.
There are approximately 430,000 Israeli settlers residing illegally in the West Bank.
According to Israeli advocacy group B’Tselem, Israel has established 135 settlements in the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) that have been recognized by the Interior Ministry. Additionally, dozens of outposts of varying size have been established.
Sixteen settlements were established in the Gaza Strip and subsequently dismantled in 2005 during the implementation of the "disengagement plan."
Land expropriation from Palestinian farmers for the building and enlargement of Israeli settlements has caused undue hardship and economic suffering for Palestinians, and some have initiated acts of civil disobedience in a bid to retain the pieces of agricultural land that have not been confiscated.
The villagers of Bil’in and Nilin near Ramallah in the central West Bank, together with international activists and Israeli sympathizers, have staged weekly protests that have resulted in a number of deaths, arrests and injuries. The most infamous incident was the blindfolding, handcuffing and shooting of Nilin resident Ashraf Abu Rahma.
The villagers of Nilin have been protesting land expropriation which has seen the size of their village reduced from 5,700 hectares of land in 1948 to 3,300 hectares in 1967, to the present approximate of 1,000 hectares.
Nilin olives farmer Bahjat Mesleh told IPS he had lost about 75 dunams (10 dunums is one hectare) of land to make way for the building of the separation barrier which divides Israel from the West Bank.
"This has cost me about 25,000 dollars, and I am more fortunate than other farmers as I’ve been able to continue supporting my family by working as a teacher. Not all farmers have been able to continue a livelihood," said Mesleh.
According to B’Tselem, "Israel has stolen thousands of dunams of land from the Palestinians. Israel forbids Palestinians to enter and use these lands, and uses the settlements to justify numerous violations of Palestinian rights, such as the right to housing, to earn a living, and freedom of movement.
"The settlers, on the other hand, benefit from all rights given to citizens of Israel who live inside the Green Line, and in some instances, even additional rights."
The principal tool used to take control of land is to declare it state land. This process began in 1979, and is based on a manipulative implementation of the Ottoman Lands Law of 1858, which applied in the area at the time of occupation.
Other methods employed by Israel to take control of land include seizure for military needs, declaration of land as "abandoned assets," and the expropriation of land for public needs.
All rights reserved, IPS – Inter Press Service (2008). Total or partial publication, retransmission or sale forbidden.
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Mrn appeals to anc for uganda 2
Posted on: 2008-08-26 17:15:20
The Media Review Network (MRN) has appealed to ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe to help find out why two South African relief workers have been arrested and incarcerated in Uganda. "After numerous attempts by the family lawyer for information about the two men from the department of foreign affairs, diplomatic access was eventually secured from the Ugandan authorities. This took a week to process," MRN chairman Iqbal Jassat wrote in a letter to Mantashe on Tuesday.
The MRN was "troubled and anxious" at how long it had taken the department to get information about citizens in a foreign country, even though it had a High Commissioner in Kampala, he added. "Unfortunately, this has led to a perceived lack of interest as well as negative speculation vis-à-vis the department of foreign affairs. "As a desperate measure the family had to obtain the services of legal counsel in Kampala to assist them," Jassat said.
Mufti Hussain Bhayat, of Lenasia, and Haroon Saley, of Azaadville, were detained last week during a stopover at Entebbe International Airport, in Kampala, and are being held at the offices of Uganda’s joint security. On Monday, the two relief workers were still undergoing questioning and had not had any charges put to them. South Africa’s High Commissioner Henry Chiliza was able to visit them on Monday. After speaking to Chiliza on Tuesday, Mamoepa said there were "no new developments at this stage".
Two Ugandans arrested with the South Africans have since been released. Uganda’s New Vision online newspaper reported that they were taken in by a joint anti-terrorism task force on suspicion of being involved in terrorist activities. The Muslim Judicial Council has expressed concerned that they may be the subjects of Islamophobic profiling in an international anti-terror crackdown.
The MRN said Saley was born in Wolmaranstad and attended the Klerksdorp Primary and Nirvana Secondary schools. He married in 1978 and went into business in 1995 manufacturing hairdressing aprons and capes. Bhayat was born in Ermelo and attended the Ermelo Primary and Waterval Secondary schools going on the Waterval Institute, where he became Hafez of the Quran, and the Newtown Madressa, in Karachi, where he became aalim. After marrying in 1976, he taught in Klerksdorp, Laudium and Azaadville. He has four children, runs a shop in Kliptown and has a number of certificates for his humanitarian work.
"Both gentlemen represent a charitable organisation, The Crescent of Hope, and have been involved in relief work on the continent and at home for many years," wrote Jassat. In his letter to Mantashe, he said the MRN believed they should be charged if evidence was found about their alleged terrorist activities. "If not then the department, through its High Commissioner, should assist in securing their immediate release so that they are able to return to their home and their loved ones.
"The anger and frustration of the Muslim community at this stereotyping and religious profiling is quite understandable. The Muslim community would be deeply grateful to the African National Congress if you could add your voice to their call for the unconditional release of the two men." Jassat said the "aggravation and annoyance" of "such arbitrary arrests and harassment" impeded the progress of the humanitarian efforts carried out by Saley and Bhayat and their organisation.
"Your public support for the efforts of these organisations to alleviate poverty and hunger on our continent will also be highly appreciated," he said. The MRN has described the men’s visit as a fact-finding mission to investigate the possibility of acceding to Kenyan requests for relief and to look at the chances of relief work in Uganda in response to requests for assistance. SAPA
(Voice of the Cape)