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Washington on Thursday called Israel’s approval of building 900 apartment units in a Jewish neighborhood of East Jerusalem “damaging and inconsistent” with its commitment to a two-state solution.Of course, the EU piled on:
The condemnation of the move by the State Department came less than a day after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced the formation of a new governing coalition.
“This is a disappointing development, and we’re concerned about it just as a new Israeli government has been announced,” US State Department spokesman Jeff Rathke said at a press briefing. “Israel’s leaders have asserted that they remain committed to a two-state solution, and we need to see that commitment in the actions of… the Israeli government.”
Rathke said that the US government would “continue to make our position clear that we view this as illegitimate.”
Israel's determination to continue its settlement policy despite the urging of the international community, not only threatens the viability of the two state solution but also seriously calls into question its commitment to a negotiated agreement with the Palestinians.A simple look at where the construction is planned shows that in no way, shape or form does building at Ramat Shlomo hurt the two state solution.
Here is Peace Now's map of the planned construction at Ramat Shlomo, in red, when 1500 units were planned:
Here is the same area from satellite:
The new construction is on the southern end of Ramat Shlomo, towards the Jewish neighborhoods of Sanhedria, Har Hotzvim and Ramat Eshkol - that are mostly within the Green Line.
In other words, there is no possible way that the land that is being built on would ever, in any universe, not remain in Israeli territory. Not under any peace plan ever promoted by any serious group. Never.
Even the far left Geneva Initiative, one of whose members was PA minister Yasser Abed Rabbo, included major Jewish neighborhoods much further to the north than Ramat Shlomo as remaining in Israel:
When the US and EU say that Israel cannot build anything at all for Jews in Jerusalem who live in areas that everyone agrees would be part of Israel forever, they are saying that Jerusalem must remain static and unchanging They are also saying that the rules for Israeli Jews are different than for Israeli Arabs, who have moved into Arab neighborhoods in Jerusalem and whose additional construction approval do not get condemned by the EU or US.
This is not helpful to "peace." It just signals to Israel that it is alone, and that its opponents have bought the extreme anti-Israel positions of the Palestinians, and that their rules are particularly against Jews.
Which in turn makes Israel less likely to negotiate over other areas, since the third parties that want to be part of the solution have already signaled their extreme bias against any Jews - and only Jews - living in any part of Jerusalem that happen to live across what was meant to be a temporary armistice line.
Who wants to negotiate their own destruction? Who wants to negotiate under the friendly auspices of people who have loudly announced their bias against you?
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