The announcement by the Israeli government that it will build 3000 housing units in a disputed suburb of Jerusalem has caused a great deal of scolding of the Jewish state in the capitals of Europe. British Foreign Minister William Hague went so far as to reiterate his government’s position that Israeli “settlements are illegal under international law.”
The area to be developed is the so-called E1 corridor – a largely undeveloped plot of land situated between Mt. Scopus (the location of Hebrew University) and the Jewish neighborhood of Maale Adumim.
One argument against the Israeli move centers around the impact it will have on the geographic contiguity of a future Palestinian state; one that, presumably (unlike the fictional one discussed last week at the United Nations), will have defined borders and a functioning government. The borders of Maale Adumim do, in fact, stretch quite far out into the Judean desert to within just a few miles of Jericho (to the north) and the Dead Sea (to the south). The hand-wringing that the move will “cut off” the northern West Bank from the southern West Bank is ridiculous, though, as anyone who can look at a map can see. Not to mention that, unless Israel plans to vacate Maale Adumim (home to 39,000 people) in a peace deal – an outcome that nobody including Palestinian leaders expect – the neighborhood will need to be connected somehow to the rest of Israel.
The other argument against developing E1 is, as Foreign Minister Hague helpfully reminded us, “settlements are illegal under international law.” The late Julius Stone decimated this argument about ten years ago. A more recent treatment of the issue by David Phillips comes to the same legal conclusions. Suffice it to say; no, Mr. Hague, they are not – at least not in as cut-and-dry a fashion as your statement suggests.
Here’s the thing: this amounts to a local zoning and development issue. Calling it, as U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon did, a “fatal blow” to the peace process is both overwrought and, in the week following the U.N.’s passage of an ill-advised and self-defeating upgrade of the Palestinian status at Turtle Bay, more than a bit curious. If we’re looking for a fatal blow to the peace process, I would suggest it was when Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas refused to negotiate with the Israelis … THREE YEARS AGO. Or when Hamas began lobbing thousands of rockets into Israel … EIGHT YEARS AGO. Or when Yasser Arafat started the Second Intifada terror war against Israeli civilians ELEVEN YEARS AGO.
I think we’re well past the time when we need to wonder why the world is so interested in this issue. Now we should wonder why we or anyone else should care what Europeans think.
What do you think?
11:08 pm
The unfolding scenario is not lost on we who read the Bible or The Torah. God is Love that is being shed to many Muslims who are emblasing JESUS CHRIST for their salvation.
2:33 am
Arabs,look at what you have done to your own country. Look at what you havent built with your own hands, what u havent killed off in your land. You do not want Israel for a peice of state…
2:38 am
Arabs who want to take Israel away or who want to push her into the ocean, or take more land,will never get that opportunity. Why God calls the people of Jerusalem His people, because he placed love..
2:42 am
Because God placed love in their hearts. You stop beating yourselves up and take all that energy of hatered and build your own paradise. Not in a land that belongs to others, but in your own land.
6:20 am
I say Isreal dont take on the enemy do what you must do for your people the muslim world is angry they did not get the birth right and the main blessings they are angry angry angry but the true God is on your side and i am praying for you,
8:08 pm
build build build!! WHO CARES WHAT EUROPE THINKS!! THE LAND BELONGS TO ISRAEL!!
4:37 pm
Let them build. They don’t need any outside input. Israel may be a small country but they have God Almighty on their side! He’s alive and has promised to rescue his people from haters and oppressors.
12:08 pm
I bless Israel in the name of our coming King Christ! he will bring judgement against every nation that fought against Israel, and he will not stop until they all have been consumed by fire!
11:19 am
Stand fast Israel. Seek God’s heart & wisdom in these matters. He is on your side and will never abandon you. He already said in His Word that Israel would be hated above all nations but He is for you, not against you. Even though the world, including the UN, naively believes that giving in and giving up their rights to claim the whole country of Israel as their own will bring a lasting peace, Hamas & every other terrorist nation wants war. In God’s own words: “Come and let us cut them off from being a nation, that the name of Israel may be remembered no more (Ps 83:4 – NKJ). If only the world would “interpret” this passage as absolute truth, they wouldn’t be so quick to condemn Israel for the choices they’re making.
10:58 am
No way! Israel MUST go on to build in Gerusalem, the capital of all Jewish people in the world!
10:56 am
When you look at European countries including England the Islamic population is growing by leaps and bounds.Very soon there will be Islamic PRIME MINISTERS IN EUROPE.
8:40 am
By international law all of the so-called West Bank , Jerusalem , are part of the Jewish National Homeland. Jews are indigenous and have more right to live there than Hitlary Clinton does in Chappaqua
1:44 am
Europe is Anti-Jewish, because it is more influenced by Islam, God has lefted His hand off Europe, when they decided to kill 6 million Jew in their concentration Camps such as Aushwitz, and Treblinka
1:39 am
I hear that the Palestinians wants to take Israel to the ICC. They will fall on their own sword, because Adonai Elohim is with your Israel, and Jerusalem is your inheritance. So feel free to build.
6:10 pm
God Bless Israel
5:52 am
Go Israel… build in Jerusalem… God says it is yours and there is no higher authority than that!! Take the high ground,you are going to need it to defend yourselves!
2:19 am
To survive (that is, to be able to defend yourselves against genocidal Jihad) as a sovereign state in your own ancient homeland you need to hold the military high ground. Build, plant, fortify.
2:17 am
Build. And plant – and put in stormwater catching devices. Bring the land back to life.
The Jihad won’t stop: Islam drives it. If you want to survive as free people on your own traditional, historic
10:44 pm
Europe is anti-Israel because it is no longer Christian, it is on the verge of becoming muslim and so is the u.n. The arabs claiming they’re palestinian were ordered by their religious leaders during the war that Israel won to leave their homes and move into Israel areas and were not allowed to return to where they came from, Syria, Jordan, Iran, etc. Also palestinian were originally Christians until the muslims got into these lands. The only reason why they want East Jerusalam as their capital is because it will kill Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. Thanks to obama saying Jerusalem is not Israel’s capital, the muslims now feel they can conquer Jerusalem. They’re already in Europe and now they’re very close to having Jerusalem. The only thing these people understand like the Nazis is physically being stronger than them, and need to be removed from Israel. Since there is more and more homeless in Israel these apartments need to be built. Israel’s homeless people IS the job of Israel’s gov’t. not the u.n.’s business. Why does the u.n. want the homeless numbers in Israel to multiply. They’re supposed to be for the poor but the u.n. knows a huge poor population will and can destroy a government physically and mentally. The muslims use this trick against their own people to control them and their influence in the u.n. is showing this thinking.
9:31 pm
I agree with Rabbi Greenberg. Israel should build, never give up any land and never cow to European intimidation. Besides, Israelis stand out as the only “builders” in the neighborhood.
8:48 pm
The Holy Bible says in Ephesians 6: 10; Finally my brethren , be strong in the lord, and in the power of his might 11;put on the whole armour of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles (tricks) of the devil. I Pray Lord Jesus Christ that you keep mother Israel strong & wise & please don’t let them fall into the traps the enemy wants to ensnare upon their souls. Remember Saints , satan appears as an angel of light !!! There is so much going on in the European Countries, what sense does it make to be a busybody in another countrys matter , if God wants this community built by his chosen people, then no other input matters…
8:33 pm
Shema Ysrael, Adonai Elohanu, Adanai Echod.
Israel still needs to attempt to win
the war for public opinion. This is difficult in the face of the palestinian propaganda and misinformation.
7:42 pm
tHEY WERE AS BAD AS THE PALESTINIANS FOR CENTURIES. cAN WE COUNT THE NUMBER OF COUNTRIES WHO EXILED AND PERSECUTED THE JEWS ?tHE INQUISITION/ HOLOCAUST HAVE REMOVED ANY MORAL AUTHORITY