By Kathryn Maureen Ryan
Impunity Watch, Middle East
JERUSALEM, Israel – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited a controversial Israeli settlement in the West Bank on Monday where he dedicated a school named for his late father. The Netanyahu visit to the West Bank was played down by Israeli officials; however, the visit drew the Israeli settlement program into the limelight just ahead of U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry’s visit to the Middle East. The Secretary of State’s visit to the region is an attempt to reignite peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.
An Israeli planning committee has introduced a plan to build an additional sixty-nine housing units in Har Homa, a Jewish settlement of East Jerusalem originally constructed more than a decade ago with a population of roughly twelve thousand Israelis. The municipality has said that this plan is not new and has already been passed through initial planning stages.
Kerry’s visit will be his fifth to the region since being sworn in as Secretary of State in February. Kerry is expected to visit Jerusalem and the West Bank city of Ramalhal. Patrick Ventral, acting deputy spoken for the State Department decided to answer any questions about the announced settlements, but stated that on his trip Kerry will “sit down with both sides.” Kerry mentioned that he is not concerned with setting any deadlines for specific actions to be taken by either side, including limits on settlement development.
Kerry said “I’m not setting any deadlines. We purposefully wanted to avoid deadlines. Deadlines can become self-imposed hurdles and, in fact, impediments to actually making progress.” However, Kerry stated that this is an urgent time in the Middle East peace process and a critical moment to make difficult decisions because ultimately “time is the enemy of a peace process.”
Palestinians want East Jerusalem to be recognized as the Palestinian state, which was annexed by Israel but never recognized by the international community. Palestine also feels that Israel must stop the development of new Jewish settlements in the occupied regions of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, lands that Palestinian hope will encompass the new Palestinian state. Palestinians want East Jerusalem to be the capital of the state they seek in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip. They say that Israel must stop building settlements before peace talks resume.
Palestinian officials condemned Netanyahu’s controversial visit to a Jewish Settlement and plans for continued construction in Har Homa as “message” to Secretary of State John Kerry intended to underpin the Israeli government’s possession in regard to continued settlement development in the West Bank.
For further information, please see:
Guardian – McDonald’s Israel Rejects West Bank Branch Proposal – 27 June 2013
Aljazeera – Israel Approves Settlements in East Jerusalem – 26 June 2013
CNN International – Israel Okays East Jerusalem Settlement Just before Kerry’s Peace Visit – 26 June 2013
Washington Post – Ahead of Kerry Visit, Israeli Leader Dedicates School in West Bank Settlement – 24 June 2013
