Israel to build 1,000 settler homes in mainly-Palestinian areas of Jerusalem

Source : Al Akhbar English

Israel is preparing to build more than 1,000 new settler homes in annexed east Jerusalem as the United States strives to revive dormant Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, an NGO said late Wednesday.

Danny Seidemann, director of Jerusalem settlement watchdog Terrestrial Jerusalem, told AFP that contracts for 300 homes in the northeastern settlement of Ramot were signed and another 797 plots were to be offered for sale in the southern Jerusalem settlement of Gilo, near the West Bank city of Bethlehem.

Both are in mainly-Palestinian areas of the holy city which were occupied by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day war then annexed, in a move still unrecognized by the international community.

Seidemann said that the plans were approved last year, before Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu quietly ordered a settlement freeze, but the latest steps in their implementation were leaked to media by the office of hardline Housing and Construction Minister Uri Ariel .

"This does not mean that the freeze is over, it does mean that Netanyahu's minister of construction is trying to achieve that," Seidemann said.

Ariel is himself a settler and number two in the pro-settlement Jewish Home party, which joined Netanyahu's coalition government in the wake of January's general election.

The news came less than a week after Kerry's latest round of talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders on his fourth visit to the region since he took office in February.

On Sunday he unveiled a $4 billion US plan to boost the Palestinian economy but it was met with a cool response, with an advisor to Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas saying that the leadership would "not offer political concessions in exchange for economic benefits."

Abbas himself called on Israel to "end the occupation of our lands", evacuate settlements and free Palestinian prisoners."

The Palestinian leadership wants a total freeze on Israeli settlement construction before it resumes peace talks with Israel, which have been stalled for almost three years.

According to Peace Now data for 2012, at least 1,747 new settlement housing units were built in the past year, and plans were approved for the construction of 6,676 more homes.

The international community views all Israeli construction on occupied Palestinian land as a violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention.

(AFP, Al-Akhbar)

Zionists Storm Aqsa Mosque on Nakba Anniversary

Source : http://www.almanar.com.lb

53 Zionist settlers stormed Al-Aqsa mosque Wednesday morning through the Moroccans Gate, under high police protection, while 50 other Israeli children concurrently broke into the mosque through King Faisal Gate.

The settlers made these escalatory moves as Palestinians were reviving the 65th anniversary of Al-Nakba (catastrophe).

The occupation has been calling on settlers to go on with their violations of Al-Aqsa mosque, and the biggest violation is expected to take place on the coming Thursday as Jewish youth and children will reportedly break into Al-Aqsa mosque to celebrate “Torah Revelation Holiday” in the “Temple Mount”, where they believe the Torah was revealed.

The call was published by Israeli settlers on social network and media, who said that Rabbi Yisrael Ariel and Rabbi Yosef Elbaum will head a mass pilgrimage, and will move after that to a Jewish neighborhood in the old city to demand freedom of performing Jewish prayers in the courtyard of Al-Aqsa Mosque.

Palestinians, Arab League share positions regarding peace with Israel: negotiator

Source : Xinhua

RAMALLAH, May 1 (Xinhua) -- The Palestinian leadership on Wednesday said its position regarding a final settlement with Israel conforms with that of the Arab League.

The Palestinian and Arab positions "put the ball in Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's court to make progress on the way of peace," said Saeb Erekat, chief Palestinian peace negotiator.

On Tuesday, a senior Qatari official said that the Arab states see that making peace between Israel and the Palestinians should be based on a two-state solution and that the two sides can agree on trading lands.

This was seen as a concession that provides more flexibility for talks on the borders of the future Palestinian state, which the Palestinians have long said must be built on the lands that Israel has occupied in 1967.

The Arab position was announced after foreign ministers of Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Morocco and the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) met with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry in Washington.

"If Netanyahu accepts the two-state solution and there is a need for a slight swap of lands, the Arabs and the Palestinians are ready for this," Erekat said.

Erekat said if the Israeli government doesn't endorse the two- state solution, then the debate about reviving the peace process would be fruitless.

Peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians broke down in 2010 over a dispute on Jewish settlement expansion in the West Bank.

Settlers attack 67-year-old farmer in Beit Ummar

Source :  Maan News Agency

HEBRON (Ma'an) -- A group of 30 settlers attacked a 67-year-old farmer in north Hebron on Saturday, a local committee said.

Mohammad Abed al-Hamid Jabir Slaibi, 67, and his sons were working on their land adjacent to Bat Ayin settlement when a group of young settlers started swearing at them and throwing rocks, a popular committee in Beit Ummar told Ma'an.

Slaibi and his sons left the area to escape the attack.

Israeli soldiers were present at the time of the incident but did not intervene, the committee added.

Settler violence against Palestinians in the West Bank is routine and rarely prosecuted by Israeli authorities.

Israel pushes ahead with controversial settlements plan

Source: ISRAEL - FRANCE 24

Israel on Monday said it was pushing forward with plans to build hundreds of homes in a Jewish settlement of east Jerusalem, risking renewed tensions with the Palestinians and its Western allies over the contentious project. The announcement was part of a new Israeli settlement push announced earlier this month as retaliation for the Palestinians’ success in winning U.N. recognition for a state at the United Nations. Israel was widely criticized internationally for the settlement plans, though actual construction would be far in the future. An Interior Ministry committee on Monday approved an intermediate stage of planning for the construction of 1,500 apartments in the Ramat Shlomo neighborhood, a part of the city Palestinians claim for a future capital. The plan had been in the pipeline since it was first announced in 2010 during a visit to Israel by Vice President Joe Biden, causing a major diplomatic rift with Washington that took months to mend. Ministry spokeswoman Efrat Orbach said the project still must go through several additional planning stages, and it could be years before final approval and construction.