Israeli construction in Gilo (AP)
The past week has brought some challenging announcements from both Israelis and Palestinians and responses from the international community. To help you navigate the week’s events, below is a list of news, analysis and background pieces that look at some of the major issues.
Jerusalem
Real Estate Shopping Is Used as Political Theater on Jerusalem’s Contested Ground
by Isabel Kershner (The New York Times)
With new tensions surfacing between the Obama administration and Israel over building in contested parts of Jerusalem, the city’s character and future remain central motifs in the stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace talks. The cornerstone-laying ceremony at Nof Zion took place a day after the Israeli authorities moved ahead with plans for the expansion of Gilo, a Jewish residential district in south Jerusalem also on land captured in the 1967 war. The plans for 900 more housing units drew a sharp rebuke from the White House. …
Across town, in the Arab East Jerusalem neighborhood of Issawiya, the Israeli authorities on Wednesday demolished a Palestinian home that had been built without a permit. The security forces accompanying the bulldozers were pelted with stones. Several other unauthorized structures were taken down in other Arab areas, including Silwan. When it comes to demolitions, Jerusalem’s City Hall says it applies the law equally in all parts of the city, regardless of religion or race. But officials acknowledge that the process of obtaining a building permit is costly and complicated. Most Palestinian residents do not qualify. Access the full article>>
Obama Says Israeli Settlement Building "Dangerous"
by Reuters
U.S. President Barack Obama put fresh pressure on Israel on Wednesday to curb its settlement projects, saying continued building could lead to a dangerous situation with embittered Palestinians. "I think that additional settlement building does not contribute to Israel’s security, I think it makes it harder for them to make peace with their neighbors," Obama told Fox News. …
Israel approved the building of 900 homes for Jews on West Bank land it occupied in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war and annexed to its Jerusalem municipality. Obama has urged Israel to curb settlement expansion as a gesture of goodwill to Palestinians. "The situation in the Middle East is very difficult, and I’ve said repeatedly and I’ll say again, Israel’s security is a vital national interest to the United States, and we will make sure they are secure," Obama, who is traveling in Asia, told Fox News in an interview. Access the full article>>
Bibi Goes Nuclear on Jerusalem Settlements
by Lara Friedman, Americans for Peace Now, and Danny Seidemann, Ir Amim
[On Monday] Special Envoy Mitchell met with Israeli chief negotiator Yitzhak Molcho in London. One topic discussed, apparently, was a new Israeli plan (number 13157) to expand the Jerusalem settlement of Gilo. … Within a few hours of the end of the London meeting, the Gilo plan exploded as the top story/above-the-fold/giant headline on the front page of Yediot Ahronot—Israel’s largest circulation daily. The headline in the Hebrew print edition read: "US: Don’t Build in Gilo Neighborhood; Astonishment in Israel from a New American Demand." …
First, some background is in order, because the plan is being spun in the Israeli press as something simple and non-controversial—construction in one of the oldest Israelis settlements in East Jerusalem, one that many Israelis forget is technically a settlement at all. This is, of course, just spin. The plan, if implemented, will allow the construction of 844 units, and these units won’t be inside the existing footprint of the settlement. Rather, they will be on the settlement’s southwestern flank, expanding Gilo in the direction of the Palestinian village of Wallajeh (a village in which a large number of the homes are fighting Israeli demolition orders). Access the full article>>
To Two Faiths, a Holy Patch of Land; to the World, a Powder Keg
by Howard Schneider (The Washington Post)
It is one of the most watched pieces of real estate in the world, 35 acres where an under-the-breath prayer or a whiff of a rumor can rouse warnings of war. In both Judaism and Islam, the area known respectively as the Temple Mount and the Noble Sanctuary is considered a formative location. Jews believe it to be the site of Solomon’s Temple and key biblical events. Muslims regard it as the spot where Muhammad was brought by the angel Gabriel before embarking on a trip to heaven to visit the other prophets.
It also remains a flash point, and a series of disturbances there this fall showed just how difficult it will be for Israelis and Palestinians to reach agreement on an area over which they negotiate not just as political entities but also as representatives of two faiths with an often-troubled relationship. The recent round of clashes may have ebbed, but on any given day the depth of the standoff is apparent. Access the full article>>
For more on the complex nature of the Old City, please see our recent Old City Sketchbook and Jerusalem’s Religious Centrality Background Basics.
Palestinian Statehood
Analysis: Palestinians Turn to UN in Bid to Pressure Israel
by DPA
A non-starter, a long shot, a pressure tactic, or a desperate cry for help? The Palestinian plan to ask the UN Security Council for a resolution declaring an independent state in the West Bank and Gaza is probably a little bit of all of the above. After 18 years of on-again and off-again peace talks with Israel which have thus far failed to deliver a negotiated final settlement, Palestinian leaders are trying a new strategy.
For the moment, any move to achieve Palestinian statehood through the UN rather than negotiations has no chance of succeeding and would be largely symbolic. …
But the move is also a clear message to Israel that the Palestinians will not hold negotiations for the sake of holding negotiations, and do have an alternative which may not be immediately effective, but could be highly painful and gain growing support as time passes and progress in the peace process remains absent. Access the full article>>
The Palestinian Leadership—Between a Rock and a Hard Place
by Hussein Ibish, senior fellow, American Task Force on Palestine (Common Ground News Service)
From the point of view of the Palestinian national project, the most serious threat posed by the present crisis is obviously to the Palestinian state and institution building program proposed by Prime Minister Salam Fayyad. The plan could enact a dynamic, unilateral, nonviolent and constructive resistance to the occupation, creating the necessary framework for Palestinian independence, and constituting a dramatic transformation of the strategic environment in favor of both Palestinian interests and the prospects for peace.
Obviously, for this plan to succeed, it would require not only financial and technical support from the international community, and most especially the United States, but also direct and vigorous political protection as well. It would be very difficult for Israel to block the project were it under international political protection, and almost impossible to interfere with specific projects that were being jointly pursued with American and European cooperation and involvement.
However the present crisis plays itself out, it is essential that this state building enterprise continues. It is the only thing on the horizon that offers a serious path forward towards ending both the occupation and the conflict, and can create hope in the midst of despair. Access the full article>>
For Its Own Sake, Israel Must Keep the Palestinian Authority Alive
by Col. (Ret.) Shaul Arieli, former commander of the northern brigade in the Gaza Strip (Haaretz)
It’s a mistake to view Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ announcement that he will not run in the next Palestinian Authority elections as simply a ritual designed to apply pressure on the international community and Israel. Even if, as anticipated, the elections don’t take place in January and Abbas remains in office for now, he is liable in the future to make good on his threat to quit and thereby place Israel in a position fundamentally similar to the one obtaining in Gaza before Operation Cast Lead, but with much more serious ramifications. …
The disintegration of the PA would perhaps generate a storm of exultant "we told you sos” from right-wingers, but it would also obligate Israel to reassume responsibility for ruling over the lives of more than two million Palestinians in the West Bank. Access the full article>>
For more on strengthening the Palestinian Authority, see our Background Basics on Palestinian Security Sector Development and Jump-Starting the Palestinian Economy.
