Israel to build new Jewish settlement homes after UN Palestine vote

By Dilip -
The Israeli prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, has ordered the construction of thousands of new homes in Jewish settlements in the occupied territories in what will be widely interpreted as retaliation for theUnited Nations vote to recognise a Palestinian state on Thursday. Israeli officials said the construction would expand existing West Bank settlements and build more homes for Jews in occupied east Jerusalem, where the government is attempting to diminish the proportion of Arab residents. Netanyahu also ordered the speeding up of planning to link Jerusalem with a Jewish settlement, Ma'aleh Adumim, in a move that would cut deep into a future Palestinian state based on 1967 borders. The US and Europe have long asked the Israeli government not to build there.
Palestinian Loss Of Land 1946-2000
The announcement is a reflection of Israel's anger at the vote, and the Palestinian leadership at pushing for it. The Israeli move drew strong criticism from Europe. "If Israel confirms these decisions officially, then it is an exercise in the most cynical, self-obsessed and self destructive policy-making imaginable," said one European diplomat. He also condemned the timing, just as the Jewish sabbath began and the government shut down so that it could not be reached, as "a breathtakingly brazen attempt to dodge the bullet of international condemnation … All in all, outrageous," he said. Israel condemned the UN's recognition of a Palestinian state as damaging to peace while also, more privately, expressing concern about how many European countries backed the move.
Palestinian officials were mixed in their reactions, saying that if UN recognition is not used to renew the dormant peace process it will lead to more violence. Hamas described the vote in New York as a victory for armed resistance. The Israeli government worked hard to portray the UN decision to recognise a Palestinian state as undermining peace. The prime minister's spokesman, Mark Regev, described the move as "negative political theatre because it takes us out of a negotiating process". Dore Gold, a former Israeli ambassador to the UN, told the BBC that the Palestinian move was a "massive violation" of the Oslo peace accords.
He said that if the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, attempted to use the new status to declare an independent state then Israel would have to act and may go so far as "annexing territory"... Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/nov/30/israel-build-jewish-settlement-un-palestine


The term 'nakba' banned from Arab children's textbooks in Israel
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jul/22/israel-remove-nakba-from-textbooks

The Deir Yassin massacre of 1948
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deir_Yassin_massacre

Expropriation of Palestinian lands deep in the West Bank for use in Israel's "Separation Barrier," also called The Security Wall, has emphasized Israel's transgressions on Palestinian life and property

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