Not only are they violating the so-called “Road map for peace” that we are told they agreed to by building settlements, but they are killing scores of Palestinian children at the same time.
Israeli settlement building grows
New building in Jewish settlements on occupied land grew substantially in 2003. Figures released by Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics show that new building in Jewish settlements increased last year by 35%. Human rights organisations say that there are around 400,000 settlers in east Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza living in more than 120 settlements. Under international law, the settlements are considered illegal. At the same time, building work inside Israel itself has fallen to its lowest level for more than a decade.
Roadmap ‘ignored’
The increase, in what is known here as ‘settlement activity’, confirms what everyone here already knows: that in this particular area, Israel has ignored its obligations as set out in the international peace plan, the roadmap. The plan called on Israel to freeze all settlement activity. But for many months now, no-one has paid much attention to the demands of the roadmap. Even in the optimistic early days of the peace plan last June, the Israeli government never formally agreed to a settlement freeze. Instead, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon promised not to build new housing beyond the existing built-up areas of settlements. That means that building work inside settlement boundaries may continue. In larger settlements, particularly around Jerusalem, construction work is a routine sight.
**The news that settlement housing has increased would seem to be odds with the fact that Mr Sharon has recently pledged to evacuate settlers from the Gaza Strip as part of his own so-called disengagement plan. Certainly, many Palestinians are sceptical that a full withdrawal from Gaza will ever take place. **
The whole of Palastine is Islamic land which was opened up to Islam by the noble sahabah and it is forbidden to negotiate away a peice of this land. Muslims like Yasser Arafat and his secular PLO organisation has ignored the rulings of Islam and made peace with the Zionist state. Whose actions of deception outdoes those of their forefathers who existed at the time of the Prophet saw and were known for their treachery and violation of treaties.
It amazes me how Israel a tiny populated country which is surrounded by muslim countries exists in the first place, why are not the muslim armies used to reverse this illigal occupation? Or do the muslim rulers require the permission of the Americans before they do anything?
Showkot: The religious perception u are applying to this issue is the reason there is a bloodbath in that region. The palestinians will never get a solution if they go by religious claims, since the jews can counteract that before palestine that whole region was judea. This has to be solved on mutual courtesy and decency grounds, where both sides acknowledge to share the land,where they both are in agreement about their ancestoral heritage.
This land (Israel and the territories) has always been the land of Arabs and Israelis, of Muslims, Christians, and Jews, and it must remain so. It is too small a piece of land, and so intertwined culturally and historically for all peoples, to remain partitioned along artificial and unworkable boundaries. Those from the outside, be they crusaders or zionists who have tried to impose their own religious and nationalistic idealogies have always failed.
It is time this land was united again, as one confederal, secular and democratic union for all its native inhabitants - Arab and Jew.
I’m surprised none of the conspiracy nuts here have picked up on this yet?? So, can I take this to mean that legitimate grounds for complaint aren’t as fun as the ones you make up yourselves? Here’s the piece:
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*Originally posted by Awam ki Awaz: *
^^ No way the zionists are going to vacate these illegal settlements. Before or after US elections.
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Excellent point. How many US elections have their been since 1967, when the illegal Jewish settlements started to being built? There have been US elections after the signing of the Oslo agreement in 1993, but these settlements have doubled in that period.
The Zionists play the US administration for a fool everytime, and in the long term it is the American nation that will suffer gravely for allying itself to these religious and child-murdering fanatics. Just look at the history books.
Straight from the horse’s mouth. I “admire” the zionist entity - says one thing but does whatever is required to achieve its principal aim - ethnic cleansing of Palestine. And let the others holler all they want.
"Israel spent £3.7m building illegal outposts
The Israeli housing ministry has spent £3.7m building illegal settlements and outposts in the West Bank over the past three years, the government auditor revealed yesterday.
The extreme-right wing minister of housing, Effi Eitam, used the money to provide roads, services and housing despite Ariel Sharon’s repeated pledge that the outposts would be dismantled and settlement construction frozen.
…
According to Peace Now, an Israeli group that monitors settlement activity, 102 illegal outposts were established between January 2000 and June 2003. Twenty-one were removed but most were later reinstated or moved to another place.
All the inhabited outposts remain, including Migron, the largest with around 500 people, which has a new road and is connected to water and electricity supplies.
Eliezer Goldberg, the state comptroller, found that the housing ministry had distributed 29.7m shekels to settlement projects that had not been approved by the defence ministry or the cabinet.
…
“It is allowed to happen because there is no law enforcement in the West Bank,” he said. “For the last 35 years the Israeli government has neglected its obligations to enforce the law on Israelis in relation to construction and violence against Palestinians.”
…"
