Ramallah: Palestinians living in occupied East Jerusalem have expressed their anguish at an Israeli decision to acquire more of their land in the area to expand colonies.
The Planning and Construction Committee of the Jerusalem Municipality is scheduled shortly to discuss the approval of constructing 3,300 new housing units beyond the Green Line and the addition of 60,000 square metres from the area of Jabal Abu Ghonaim.
The land to be seized, which is located between the areas of South Jerusalem and Bethlehem, will be used for the expansion of a key Israeli colony block in the area.
Several Jewish homes, 15 synagogues, kindergartens, school for the disabled and other facilities needed for the residents of the colonies are expected to come up on the land to be occupied.
Zayad Al Hamouri, who heads the Jerusalem Centre for Social and Economic Rights, told Gulf News that approval for these projects were expected any moment. In fact, they may already have been approved, he said, and the Israelis may just be waiting for the right moment to make an announcement.
"From the Annapolis Conference until now, we have not been able to count the number of new housing units already approved or under approval. Thousands of housing units have already been approved. It seems as if the expansion plans were already finalised a long time back but are being put into operation now," he said.
"The unprecedented colony-building activities in East Jerusalem indicate that the Israelis are not sparing even a single moment to step up building activities outside the borders agreed in 1967," Al Hamouri said.
"We have been aware of Israeli plans to accommodate 300,000 colonists in East Jerusalem to bring their total number to half a million in a few years," he said. "The Israelis believe they suffer a shortage of housing units in Jerusalem and are targeting East Jerusalem to meet this shortage and come up with thousands of new housing units for the new settlers."
Fakhri Abu Diab, a Palestinian political activist and Member of the Silwan Defence Committee, told Gulf News that Israel was taking advantage of the regional turmoil to accelerate Judaising all of occupied Jerusalem.
"This is the best time for the Israelis to go forward with their plan to build in East Jerusalem, with the entire world totally engaged in the Middle East's regional turmoil," Abu Diab said.
He added that 60 acres of land in the Sour Baher area had already been taken and construction teams were conducting soil tests for building work that would commence very shortly. This land was seized by the Jerusalem Municipality and passed to a key institution in charge of colony-building activities in East Jerusalem and the West Bank.
"Nothing is expected to stop the Israelis from changing the facts on the ground. Earlier there were some statements here or there, but now the way is clear for the Israelis to implement strategies planned to get all Palestinian residents out of East Jerusalem," Abu Diab said.
Israeli International Tourism Conference
Palestinian institutions in East Jerusalem, in collaboration with the Palestinian Authority, are making all efforts to persuade all countries invited to the Israeli International Tourism Conference scheduled at the end of this month in occupied Jerusalem to boycott it.
Zayad Al Hamouri, who heads the Jerusalem Centre for Social and Economic Rights, told Gulf News that attending this conference would simply mean recognising occupied Jerusalem as Israel's permanent capital.
He said Palestinians were strictly against conducting the conference in Jerusalem as it would violate the peace understandings and treaties between the Israelis and the Palestinians, as well as going against international law.
"Let the Israelis hold this conference in another part of Israel. Choosing Jerusalem as the venue has the political aim of highlighting the city as the capital of Israel and the countries that attend should understand that their attendance is an explicit recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital," Al Hamouri said.
"Several letters have already been sent to countries and institutions worldwide urging them to boycott the conference as long as it is scheduled to take place in Jerusalem. We hope, under the current circumstances, that the various countries invited consider our call and boycott this conference," he said, adding that the ongoing changes in the region, and the latest US veto, indicate that there could be some positive response.
