[Marxism] Israel annexing East Jerusalem, says EU

[Louis Proyect <lnp3@xxxxxxxxx>]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/mar/07/israel-palestine-eu-report-jerusalem
Israel annexing East Jerusalem, says EU
by Rory McCarthy

40-year-old Palestinian Mahmoud al-Abbasi stands amid the rubble of his 
home after it was demolished by the Jerusalem municipality in the East 
Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan. Photograph: Gali Tibbon

A confidential EU report accuses the Israeli government of using 
settlement expansion, house demolitions, discriminatory housing policies 
and the West Bank barrier as a way of "actively pursuing the illegal 
annexation" of East Jerusalem.

The document says Israel has accelerated its plans for East Jerusalem, 
and is undermining the Palestinian Authority's credibility and weakening 
support for peace talks. "Israel's actions in and around Jerusalem 
constitute one of the most acute challenges to Israeli-Palestinian 
peace-making," says the document, EU Heads of Mission Report on East 
Jerusalem.

The report, obtained by the Guardian, is dated 15 December 2008. It 
acknowledges Israel's legitimate security concerns in Jerusalem, but 
adds: "Many of its current illegal actions in and around the city have 
limited security justifications."

"Israeli 'facts on the ground' - including new settlements, construction 
of the barrier, discriminatory housing policies, house demolitions, 
restrictive permit regime and continued closure of Palestinian 
institutions - increase Jewish Israeli presence in East Jerusalem, 
weaken the Palestinian community in the city, impede Palestinian urban 
development and separate East Jerusalem from the rest of the West Bank," 
the report says.

The document has emerged at a time of mounting concern over Israeli 
policies in East Jerusalem. Two houses were demolished on Monday just 
before the arrival of the US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, and a 
further 88 are scheduled for demolition, all for lack of permits. 
Clinton described the demolitions as "unhelpful", noting that they 
violated Israel's obligations under the US "road map" for peace.

The EU report goes further, saying that the demolitions are "illegal 
under international law, serve no obvious purpose, have severe 
humanitarian effects, and fuel bitterness and extremism." The EU raised 
its concern in a formal diplomatic representation on December 1, it says.

It notes that although Palestinians in the east represent 34% of the 
city's residents, only 5%-10% of the municipal budget is spent in their 
areas, leaving them with poor services and infrastructure.

Israel issues fewer than 200 permits a year for Palestinian homes and 
leaves only 12% of East Jerusalem available for Palestinian residential 
use. As a result many homes are built without Israeli permits. About 400 
houses have been demolished since 2004 and a further 1,000 demolition 
orders have yet to be carried out, it said.

City officials dismissed criticisms of its housing policy as "a 
disinformation campaign". "Mayor Nir Barkat continues to promote 
investments in infrastructure, construction and education in East 
Jerusalem, while at the same time upholding the law throughout West and 
East Jerusalem equally without bias," the mayor's office said after 
Clinton's visit.

However, the EU says the fourth Geneva convention prevents an occupying 
power extending its jurisdiction to occupied territory. Israel occupied 
the east of the city in the 1967 six day war and later annexed it. The 
Palestinians claim East Jerusalem as the capital of their future state.

The EU says settlement are being built in the east of the city at a 
"rapid pace". Since the Annapolis peace talks began in late 2007, nearly 
5,500 new settlement housing units have been submitted for public 
review, with 3,000 so far approved, the report says. There are now about 
470,000 settlers in the occupied territories, including 190,000 in East 
Jerusalem.

The EU is particularly concerned about settlements inside the Old City, 
where there were plans to build a Jewish settlement of 35 housing units 
in the Muslim quarter, as well as expansion plans for Silwan, just 
outside the Old City walls.

The goal, it says, is to "create territorial contiguity" between East 
Jerusalem settlements and the Old City and to "sever" East Jerusalem and 
its settlement blocks from the West Bank.

There are plans for 3,500 housing units, an industrial park, two police 
stations and other infrastructure in a controversial area known as E1, 
between East Jerusalem and the West Bank settlement of Ma'ale Adumim, 
home to 31,000 settlers. Israeli measures in E1 were "one of the most 
significant challenges to the Israeli-Palestinian peace process", the 
report says.

Mark Regev, spokesman for the Israeli prime minister, Ehud Olmert, said 
conditions for Palestinians living in East Jerusalem were better than in 
the West Bank. "East Jerusalem residents are under Israeli law and they 
were offered full Israeli citizenship after that law was passed in 
1967," he said. "We are committed to the continued development of the 
city for the benefit of all its population."

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