(Reuters) - A panel of Israeli cabinet ministers (click here) endorsed proposed legislation on Sunday to annex an area of the occupied West Bank likely to be the eastern border of a future Palestinian state.
The move, pushed by far-right members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party, could weigh on troubled U.S.-brokered peace negotiations several days before another visit to the region by Secretary of State John Kerry.
But centrist Justice Minister Tzipi Livni, who also heads Israel's negotiations with the Palestinians, immediately challenged the motion, and said she would use her powers to block the legislation from being voted on in Parliament.
Peace talks have shown few signs of progress since Kerry oversaw their renewal in July after a three-year deadlock.
The target is to reach an agreement by April towards achieving a "two-state solution" in which Israel and a new Palestinian state would co-exist side by side.
The Jordan Valley region of the West Bank which Israel captured in a 1967 war and Palestinians seek as part of their future state, has been a focus of recent disagreement. Palestinians reject Israel's demand to maintain a security presence there.
Kerry said in Washington earlier this month that the need to resolve the dispute over the Jordan Valley was "a critical threading of a needle that has to happen in order to achieve an agreement". He said he was coordinating with Jordan as well....
December 30, 2013
By Jonah Jeremy Bob, JPost.com.staff
The move, pushed by far-right members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party, could weigh on troubled U.S.-brokered peace negotiations several days before another visit to the region by Secretary of State John Kerry.
But centrist Justice Minister Tzipi Livni, who also heads Israel's negotiations with the Palestinians, immediately challenged the motion, and said she would use her powers to block the legislation from being voted on in Parliament.
Peace talks have shown few signs of progress since Kerry oversaw their renewal in July after a three-year deadlock.
The target is to reach an agreement by April towards achieving a "two-state solution" in which Israel and a new Palestinian state would co-exist side by side.
The Jordan Valley region of the West Bank which Israel captured in a 1967 war and Palestinians seek as part of their future state, has been a focus of recent disagreement. Palestinians reject Israel's demand to maintain a security presence there.
Kerry said in Washington earlier this month that the need to resolve the dispute over the Jordan Valley was "a critical threading of a needle that has to happen in order to achieve an agreement". He said he was coordinating with Jordan as well....
By Jonah Jeremy Bob, JPost.com.staff
...With her most intense (click here) and confrontational style of delivery, Justice Minister Tzipi Livni on Monday said that "the settlements are not part of Israel's security, they are hurting it."
Livni was speaking about the connection between the peace process and the economy at the Calcalist conference in Tel Aviv with Housing Minister Uri Ariel in the audience....
The United Nations needs to act on a resolution, including the USA, to dismantle settlements that impinge on a Palestinian homeland. Without a global resolve to commit land to a Palestinian State and peacekeepers to enforce it this will never resolve. Israel has to be stopped. Their own people know the aggression of the settlements is hurting their security. Have Justice Minister Tzipi Livni speak to the General Assembly and/or The UN Security Council. This is going nowhere without greater enforcement of Palestinian borders by people outside of Palestine and Israel. Israel understands what it is to be occupied, so let's occupy Palestine together.
The United Nations needs to act on a resolution, including the USA, to dismantle settlements that impinge on a Palestinian homeland. Without a global resolve to commit land to a Palestinian State and peacekeepers to enforce it this will never resolve. Israel has to be stopped. Their own people know the aggression of the settlements is hurting their security. Have Justice Minister Tzipi Livni speak to the General Assembly and/or The UN Security Council. This is going nowhere without greater enforcement of Palestinian borders by people outside of Palestine and Israel. Israel understands what it is to be occupied, so let's occupy Palestine together.
...The Palestinian Jordan Valley accounts for more than a quarter of the total area of the West Bank or about 2,400 square kilometers. Israel built three settlements in the Jordan Valley in 1968, and gradually increased the number of settlements for agricultural, industrial, military or religious purposes until the 1980s. Since the early 1990s the settlements expanded from 11 to 36, housing more than 6,200 settlers. The settlements occupy 1,200 square kilometers, or 50 percent of the Jordan Valley. Israel also controls 1,065 square kilometers (44 percent) of so-called closed zones like the border line, military bases and natural reserves. About 50 square kilometers of the Jordan Valley (two percent) are under combined Palestinian civil control and Israeli security control. The remaining 85 square kilometers in the area of Jericho and al-Uja, only 3.5 percent of Jordan Valley, fall under Palestinian control. Habitat International Coalition paints an even more sombre picture, where only 45 square kilometers, or two percent of the Jordan Valley, will remain for Palestinians. Furthermore, Ariel Sharon announced in 2003 that the Jordan Valley will be isolated from the West Bank by the construction of a wall of 300 kilometers. Currently only 52,000 Palestinians live permanently in the Jordan Valley, where the population once reached up to 350,000....
...Violation of Palestinian water rights
The Jordan Valley is very fertile, because of its access to water. Situated under the valley is the Eastern Water Basin, but Israel has severely limited the Palestinian use of water from this basin and allows the Palestinians to use 58 million cubic meters per year (40 percent of what is available). Besides, Palestinians are not allowed to use water from the Jordan River, which could provide 250 million cubic meters per year.
Since 1967 Israel as the occupying power has also isolated 162 agricultural wells, prohibiting Palestinians from using them. Israel also controls where wells are allowed to be placed, how deep they can drill and how much water can be pumped. As a result of the measures the settlers consume six times more water on their agricultural lands than Palestinians....
The potential to war is very high. The entire region is getting tired of the occupation of Palestine and the ever changing borders of Israel. So before anything happens, the UN has to act to end this hideous state of affairs between these two nations.
A billion dollars is not chump change. If there is a billion today, there is more tomorrow.
Phillip Pasmanick
March 26, 2013Qatar called on Tuesday (click here) for the immediate establishment of a $1 billion fund to help Palestinians in east Jerusalem, and offered to contribute $250 million to it.
Qatar’s Emir, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani, made the proposal at the opening of an Arab summit in Doha that is expected to focus on the crisis in Syria and stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace process. The emir did not, however, elaborate on the practicalities of the fund.
He also suggested an Arab summit in Cairo to implement Palestinian reconciliation between Fatah and Hamas, Palestinian news agency Ma’an reported.
Palestinians contend that Israeli building in E-1 would separate east Jerusalem from the West Bank, damaging the prospects for the establishment of a contiguous Palestinian state with east Jerusalem as its capital.
Following the Palestinians’ successful bid for recognition as non-member observer state at the UN General Assembly in late November 2012, Israel approved zoning and planning in E-1. However, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu clarified at the time that the government had not actually approved any construction in E-1, seemingly signaling to the Palestinians that any further unilateral actions at the UN would indeed be answered with Israeli building in the area....
So now the Israelis have rockets from both Gaza and Lebanon. The Palestinians have to have their problems resolved. Israel will have to expand their Iron Dome. It is expensive, I hope they are prepared for that.
December 29, 2013
JERUSALEM — There was a rare clash Sunday (click here) on the Israel-Lebanon border. The incident occurred ahead of a week of diplomacy on the Israel-Palestinian track.
Several rockets fired from Lebanon set off loud explosions in northern Israel but caused no injuries or damage. The army says Israel retaliated with "massive" artillery fire into Lebanon.
The border has been mostly quiet for years, but fighting from the Syrian civil war has spilled over into neighboring Lebanon, and the clash raised fears that tensions could spread to Israel.
At the weekly Cabinet meeting in Jerusalem, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel will not allow cross-border attacks to pass quietly, and the government and army of Lebanon will be held responsible.
Netanyahu accused Lebanon of failing to “lift a finger” to prevent militant groups like Hezbollah from launching attacks on Israel from its territory....
December 29, 2013 8:40am
JERUSALEM (JTA) – Immigration to Israel rose slightly in 2013 (click here) to 19,200, but that included a significant drop in immigrants from the United States.
Last year Israel absorbed 18,940 new immigrants.
The most dramatic increase in aliyah came from France, with 3,120 immigrants, a 63 percent increase over the previous year. The Jewish Agency for Israel credited its own programs to introduce French young people to Israel for the rise. Israel’s Ministry of Immigration and Absorption and the Jewish Agency are set to introduce new programs next year to ease the immigration and absorption process and make it easier for Israelis residing in France to return to Israel, the Jewish Agency said in a statement.
Several rockets fired from Lebanon set off loud explosions in northern Israel but caused no injuries or damage. The army says Israel retaliated with "massive" artillery fire into Lebanon.
The border has been mostly quiet for years, but fighting from the Syrian civil war has spilled over into neighboring Lebanon, and the clash raised fears that tensions could spread to Israel.
At the weekly Cabinet meeting in Jerusalem, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel will not allow cross-border attacks to pass quietly, and the government and army of Lebanon will be held responsible.
Netanyahu accused Lebanon of failing to “lift a finger” to prevent militant groups like Hezbollah from launching attacks on Israel from its territory....
December 29, 2013 8:40am
JERUSALEM (JTA) – Immigration to Israel rose slightly in 2013 (click here) to 19,200, but that included a significant drop in immigrants from the United States.
Last year Israel absorbed 18,940 new immigrants.
The most dramatic increase in aliyah came from France, with 3,120 immigrants, a 63 percent increase over the previous year. The Jewish Agency for Israel credited its own programs to introduce French young people to Israel for the rise. Israel’s Ministry of Immigration and Absorption and the Jewish Agency are set to introduce new programs next year to ease the immigration and absorption process and make it easier for Israelis residing in France to return to Israel, the Jewish Agency said in a statement.
Some 2,680 immigrants arrived in Israel from the United States in 2013, compared to 3,070 in 2012, a 13 percent decline. Canada sent 321 immigrants, compared to 319 last year. The countries of the former Soviet Union sent Israel 7,520 immigrants, compared to 7,629 last year. Some 1,240 immigrants came to Israel from Latin America in 2013, a 34 percent increase over last year’s 926.
The new immigrants to Israel were younger than in the past, with 60 percent under the age of 35, including 37 percent between the ages of 18 and 34. The oldest immigrant was a 103-year-old man from the United States. The youngest was a 5-week-old American baby.
Some 2,400 new immigrants chose to settle in Jerusalem; 1,650 moved to Tel Aviv, according to the Jewish Agency....
