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Israel approves expansion of controversial Jewish settlements
Islamists throw weight behind Mursi as Egypt’s rifts widen
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Israel approves expansion of controversial Jewish settlements
On the heels of a United Nations General Assembly vote to upgrade Palestine’s status to non-member observer state, the Israeli Government has approved the expansion of controversial Jewish settlements in East Jerusalem that would seriously undermine the viability of a future Palestinian state. A decision was taken late on Thursday night to build houses in an area of East Jerusalem known as E1, according to Israeli officials. This construction would link the settlement of Maale Adumim to Jerusalem making it hard to connect the Palestinian cities of Ramallah and Bethlehem in the West Bank to the Arab neighbourhoods of East Jerusalem. Israeli officials declined to say whether their decision to approve the construction was in retaliation to the vote in the UN where Israel and the United States, who opposed the Palestinian move, suffered an embarrassing defeat. The General Assembly voted by 138 to 9 to recognise the Palestine as a non-member observer state. As many as 41 nations abstained. Over 5,00,000 Jews live in close to 150 settlements that have been built since the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem. The settlements are considered illegal under international law, but this is disputed by Israel. The settlements are viewed as much an obstacle to peace as the Palestinian militants. “The settlements are the worst thing that our side has done in the conflict, even worse than military action,” said Alexander Yakobson, an associate professor of ancient history at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. In 2005, the Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s government dismantled all Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip. “We have shown we are willing to evacuate settlements for peace… We even dismantled three in the West Bank to show it is not sacrosanct,” Yakobson told journalists and policymakers on a visit to Israel sponsored by the American Jewish Committee. The Jewish settlers refuse to call the region the West Bank. Instead, they refer to it by its biblical names — Judea and Samaria. Unlike in the Gaza Strip, dismantling the settlements in the West Bank will be a more difficult task not least because of the settlers’ belief that the land belongs to the Jews. “The numbers in the West Bank are significantly bigger,” said Yakobson. The Jewish settlers oppose the idea of a two-state solution in which Israel and Palestine would exist side by side. They see such a scenario as a threat to Israel. Settlements have steadily expanded across the West Bank. Settlers in Efrat in the Gush Etzyon area have big plans to expand from a population of 7,000 to 25,000. In “We know we are living in the eye of the storm, but as Jews we have the right to live here,” said Bob Lang, a dairy farmer who grew up in the suburbs of New York and now lives in Efrat with his Australian wife Barbara. “I do not believe and I do not hope there will be a two-state solution,” he added. Lang is confident the Israeli Government will not shut down settlements in the West Bank. “We always knew the Israeli Government would dismantle settlements in Gaza. It could happen here, but I don’t think any government is going to make that decision,” he said. But what if the Israeli Government were to decide to shut down the settlements? “It is unacceptable to force the Jews out of this area,” said Lang. “We would protest.” Supporters of a two-state solution worry that time is running out and see the settlers as an obstacle to peace. “Finding a solution to the conflict is an existential necessity for Israel,” said Rabbi David Rosen, director of the American Jewish Committee’s department of inter-religious affairs. “The settlers are naive if they think demography is on their side,” he added. Hurdle for Palestine
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Islamists throw weight behind Mursi as Egypt’s rifts widen Cairo, December 1 "The people want the implementation of God's law," chanted at least 50,000 flag-waving demonstrators, many of them bussed in from the countryside to pack streets near Cairo University. Mursi was expected later in the day to set a date for a referendum on the constitution hastily approved by an Islamist-dominated drafting assembly on Friday after a 19-hour session. "We will certainly present the constitution to the president tonight," Mohamed al-Beltagy, a Muslim Brotherhood leader and a member of the constituent assembly, told Reuters. The presidency said the handover would take place at 7 pm (1700 GMT) at a convention centre in Cairo. Mursi plunged Egypt into a new crisis last week when he gave himself extensive powers and put his decisions beyond judicial challenge, saying this was a temporary measure to speed Egypt's democratic transition until the new constitution is in place. His assertion of authority in a decree issued on November 22, a day after he won world praise for brokering a Gaza truce between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist Hamas movement, dismayed his opponents and widened divisions among Egypt's 83 million people. Two persons have been killed and hundreds wounded in protests by disparate opposition forces drawn together and re-energised by a decree they see as a dictatorial power grab. Tens of thousands of Egyptians had protested against Mursi on Friday. "The people want to bring down the regime," they chanted in Cairo's Tahrir Square, echoing the trademark slogan of the revolts against Hosni Mubarak and Arab leaders elsewhere. — Reuters
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