tagged w/ East Jerusalem
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A major document leak has revealed that Palestinian negotiators secretly told Israel it could keep large amounts of occupied Middle East, contrary to what the Palestinian public was told.
According to al-Jazeera, Palestinian negotiators secretly agreed to accept Israel's annexation of all but one of the settlements (Har Homa) built illegally in occupied East Jerusalem. All settlements built on occupied territory in the 1967 war are illegal according to international law, though Israel views them as municipal "neighbourhoods". Israel came close to annexing the settlements during the Camp David talks in 2000, though discussions later fell apart.
Obtained by al-Jazeera, the documents are minutes taken from a 2008 meeting between Palestinian, US and Israeli officals. They are thought to have been leaked from a Palestinian source and al-Jazeera says it has other documents that will be published soon that show Palestine was ready to make other major concessions.
Palestine's chief negotiator Saeb Erekat dismissed the documents as "a bunch of lies"
"We have not gone back on our position," he told al-Jazeera.
"If we had given ground on the refugees and made such concessions, why hasn't Israel agreed to sign a peace accord?"
The BBC's Middle East Bureau chief, Paul Danahar, says the revelations won't surprise anyone closely connected to the peace talks.
"A key question is who gains from the leak? There isn't much here that will shock anyone with private knowledge of the peace process. But the average Palestinian may feel betrayed because their leadership has been telling them a different story.
"The Americans don't gain much. The Israelis look churlish for turning down major concessions."
A major document leak has revealed that Palestinian negotiators secretly told Israel... more
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richjm
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2 years ago
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Jerusalem (CNN) -- Israeli bulldozers demolished part of a hotel in East Jerusalem on Sunday, prompting swift condemnation from Palestinians.
Plans to demolish the Shepherd Hotel caused a diplomatic rift between Israel and the United States when Israel announced plans for it during Vice President Joe Biden's trip to Israel in 2009.
Israel demolished part of the hotel as part of a plan to build 20 housing units for Jews in a predominantly Palestinian neighborhood of East Jerusalem.
The chief Palestinian negotiator, Saeb Erakat, denounced the action. "The state of Israel is demolishing one Palestinian property after another in an effort to cleanse Jerusalem of its Palestinian inhabitants, heritage and history," he said in a statement.
He said such actions "undermine the two-state solution and negotiations process."
The United States had called on Israel to halt the housing project, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded by saying "our sovereignty (over Jerusalem) cannot be challenged". The project was given final approval last March.
The Shepherd Hotel was built in the 1930s by a prominent Palestinian family and was purchased from the state of Israel in 1985 by American millionaire Irvin Moskowitz , an avid supporter of Jewish building in East Jerusalem.
Moskowitz developed plans for the 20 housing units that sparked the hotel's demolition on Sunday.Jerusalem (CNN) -- Israeli bulldozers demolished part of a hotel in East Jerusalem on... more
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Has the Israeli government already decided that they will be giving away East Jerusalem to the Palestinians in peace talks? Unfortunately, there is every indication that is exactly what is going to happen and that Israel plans to give up control over the holy sites in Jerusalem as well.Has the Israeli government already decided that they will be giving away East... more
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In this MSNBC interview about the Obama-Netanyahu meeting, Amb. Dore Gold explains that the United States and Israel are strong strategic allies. He says that Israel must clarify its policy goals, and specifically that Israel must maintain defensible borders and a united Jerusalem.
A Crisis in U.S.-Israel Relations: Have We Been Here Before?
By Dore Gold
-As a result of the June 1967 Six-Day War, Israel entered the eastern parts of Jerusalem and the West Bank in a war of self-defense. It is very important to recall that Israel entered these areas after it was attacked, and after it requested that the Jordanians not join the Egyptian war effort. There were Jordanian artillery attacks throughout Jerusalem and all of Israel, as well as movement of Jordanian ground forces into areas that were previously no-man's land.
-There is presently a marked shift underway in U.S. policy on Jerusalem. True, no U.S. administration accepted Israel's annexation of Jerusalem in July 1967. Nonetheless, in the past we saw the U.S. and Israel coming to a modus vivendi with respect to Israeli policy in Jerusalem, when Israel built various neighborhoods in the eastern parts of the city, from Ramat Eshkol to Gilo to Ramot.
-A neighborhood called Har Homa in southeastern Jerusalem was established in 1997 during the Clinton administration to ease the considerable shortage of housing in the Jewish sector. On two occasions, the Arab bloc initiated a draft resolution in the UN Security Council to condemn Israel for constructing Har Homa. On both occasions, the U.S. ambassador to the UN, Bill Richardson, vetoed those resolutions under instructions from the Clinton administration.
-The Oslo Agreements in 1993 do not require a freeze on construction in the neighborhoods of Jerusalem. Furthermore, under the Oslo Agreements, Jerusalem was treated as having a completely different status than the West Bank and the city was kept under Israeli control, while seen as an issue for permanent status negotiations in the future.
-It is possible to discern a growing view, which has been reported in the Washington Post, that the Obama administration intends to put on the table its own plan for Middle East peace, based on a nearly full Israeli withdrawal to the 1967 lines, that most Israeli planners view as militarily indefensible. As the Palestinians see this scenario unfold, their incentive to re-enter negotiations will decline as they look forward to the prospect that an American peace plan will be imposed. If indeed there is such a plan being prepared, then the recent U.S.-Israel tensions over construction in east Jerusalem may only be Act I in a much longer drama that the two countries are about to face.
Please read the full article:
http://jcpa.org/JCPA/Templates/ShowPage.asp?DRIT=1&DBID=1&LNGID=1&TMID=111&FID=376&PID=0&IID=3655&TTL=A_Crisis_in_U.S.-Israel_Relations:_Have_We_Been_Here_Before?In this MSNBC interview about the Obama-Netanyahu meeting, Amb. Dore Gold explains... more
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Mayor Nir Barkat discussed the municipality's response to illegal building in Jeruaslem at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, May 20, 2010.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xYpp63CUu1MMayor Nir Barkat discussed the municipality's response to illegal building in... more
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A poll by the daily Yediot Ahronot says that 46 percent of respondents support a construction freeze in East Jerusalem, while the figure from a poll commissioned by Haaretz found support for a freeze at 41 percent.A poll by the daily Yediot Ahronot says that 46 percent of respondents support a... more
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Israel accuses EU of destroying prospects of renewed peace talks with document seen as an effort to strengthen AbbasIsrael accuses EU of destroying prospects of renewed peace talks with document seen as... more
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Palestine normally is on the news only when there is a rebellion or an Israeli attack. But Palestine exists even when the media do not talk at all about it and must face enormous problems every day. In the West Bank the construction of the wall and Israeli settlements continue to make daily life almost impossible for the Palestinians who live nearby.Palestine normally is on the news only when there is a rebellion or an Israeli attack.... more
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Olmert admits in interview Israel must withdraw from Occupied Palestinian Territories if it wants peace.
Ehud Olmert passes leadership of the Kadima Party to Tzipi Livni and leaves a challenging legacy. In comments he made during an interview with Israeli newspaper Yediot Ahronot, Olmert admits Israel must withdraw from areas of the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and even the Golan Heights, an area at the center of the Israeli-Syrian dispute.
Jesse Rosenfeld is a Canadian freelance journalist who has been based in Ramallah since 2007. A former news editor at the McGill Daily and a founding editor of the Montreal Magazine Siafu, Rosenfeld has written for NOW Magazine, The Montreal Mirror, THIS Magazine and the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs.
Olmert admits in interview Israel must withdraw from Occupied Palestinian Territories... more
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