Israel on Wednesday approved the construction of 695 new housing units in and around the West Bank settlement of Shiloh, north-east of Ramallah.
Up to 121 of the housing units already exist – 93 of them without government authorization. These Israel retroactively “legalized.” The remaining 574 units have yet to be built.
The United Nations special coordinator for the Middle East peace process, Robert Serry, called the decision “deplorable and moves us further away from the goal of a two-state solution.”
Settlements on Palestinian territory and the related destruction of Palestinian homes has been constantly recognized as illegal by the international community. The United Nations recently called on Israel to immediately halt the destruction of Palestinian homes in the West Bank, as it also violates international law. Israeli forces destroyed 622 Palestinian homes in the West Bank in 2011, forcibly displacing over 1,100 people, over half of them children.
“The current policy and practice of demolitions cause extensive human suffering and should end,” said UN humanitarian coordinator for the occupied Palestinian territories, Maxwell Gaylard.
A recent report from the European Union warned that “if current trends are not stopped and reversed, the establishment of a viable Palestinian state within pre-1967 borders seem more remote than ever.” And that, indeed, seems to be the intention.
The EU report explained how “a combination of house and farm building demolitions; a prohibitive planning regime; relentless settlement expansion; the military’s separation barrier; obstacles to free movement; and denial of access to vital natural resources, including land and water, is eroding Palestinian tenure of the large tract of the West Bank on which hopes of a contiguous Palestinian state depend.”
It is time for the indigenous prople of Palestine to dump the so called 2 state solution and work toward inclusion into Israel with equal political rights and financial compensation to all Palestinian refugees in whatever country they happen to be in exchange for giving up the right of return.
I agree that the possibility of a 2 state solution is dead – has been for many years, despite rhetoric. However, as for your suggestion to work toward inclusion and equal rights – the Israelis have made it extremely clear, especially since this last government was formed, that "inclusion" and "equal rights" for non-Jews is not going to happen. And the suggestion of compensation – laudable but laughable. You have more of a chance of Ahmadinejad being given an honorary degree from The Hebrew University.
Soon the day will come Humanity will regret dearly "birth"of Israel!!! Reading daily about this unparael injustice and ongoing, can anybody support this THEFT of land? Will ther has to WW3 start for people of the World to see who is REAL AGGRESSOR on planet Earth?
What better way to solve the housing crises than by stealing more land from the Palestinians. See, back when those brats went on their little camping spree, many of us pointed at the hypocrisy of Israelis taking to the streets to protest what they perceive as their poor conditions while ignoring the plight of the Palestinians on whose land they're squatting to begin with. I have very little apathy left for these bastards who can all eat their sh*t and die as far as I am concerned.