UN slams Israel over illegal settlements

An illegal Israeli settlement in the occupied West Bank (file photo)

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/160666.html

The United Nations has lashed at Israel for ignoring international calls to stop the expansion of its illegal settlement activities on occupied Palestinian lands.

A UN statement said on Monday that Tel Aviv has ignored the international community's repeated calls for a complete end to illegal settlement activities in the occupied West Bank and East al-Quds (Jerusalem) in particular.

The statement also said Israel's recent allocation of half a billion dollars to the expansion of settlements shows that Tel Aviv has no intention of stopping its illegal policies.

Israel has also approved the building of 1,600 settlement units in recent weeks.

The Palestinian Authority walked out of direct peace talks with Israel late last year after Tel Aviv refused to renew a partial freeze on settlement activities in the West Bank.

Israel occupied and annexed East al-Quds in 1967 Six-Day War in a move never recognized by the international community.

According to data from the Palestinian Information Center, Israel has demolished 995 Palestinian homes and displaced 5,783 individuals -- among them 3,109 children -- in the occupied al-Quds since the start of 2000.

This is while Israel proceeds persistently with the construction of settlements on the occupied territories of the West Bank and East al-Quds.

The UN has on various occasions criticized Israel for defying international calls to halt its settlement construction expansions.

UN rights head slams Israeli violations

United Nations High Commissioner for human rights Navi Pillay

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/165013.html

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay has denounced Israeli illegal settlements built on occupied Palestinian lands as “clear-cut violations of human rights on a very large scale.”

At the end of a six-day visit to the region, Pillay criticized Israel for ignoring the harm done to Palestinians by its settlement policy and the construction of a vast West Bank barrier.

"I have been struck by the complacency with which the entirely-avoidable predicament of Palestinians affected by the wall and settlements is treated by Israeli authorities with whom I have discussed these issues," she said.

“They tend to be brushed aside as if they are minor matters. They are not. They are clear-cut violations of human rights on a very large scale," she said, describing how she had met a man whose house is entirely surrounded by a Jewish settlement.

Pillay also called for a halt on all settlement-related activities in East al-Quds (Jerusalem), as well as actions to coerce Palestinians to leave the area, including evictions, demolitions, displacements and the cancellation of residency permits on a discriminatory basis.

“East Jerusalem (al-Quds) is being steadily drained of its Palestinian inhabitants, in clear-cut defiance of Security Council resolutions,” she said.

Israel seized East al-Quds along with the West Bank from Jordan in the 1967 Six-Day War, and later annexed it in defiance of calls from the international community.

It has, so far, ignored calls by the Palestinians and the United States for a halt to settlement activities in the West Bank and, in particular, al-Quds, which it claims as its "eternal, indivisible" capital.

Israel orders destruction of 2 mosques

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/139907.html


Israel has ordered the destruction of two newly built Palestinian mosques in the West Bank amid plans of resuming peace talks next month.

The civil administration issued the orders under the pretext of lack of construction permits, Israeli daily Haaretz reported on Monday.

One of the mosques is located near Burin village and the other one near Jalazoun village.

The order comes at the time the Muslim people of the Palestinian territories are in the holy fasting month of Ramadan.

Acting Palestinian Authority chief Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accepted to revive direct talks in Washington on September 2.

Israel's latest order to destroy the mosques and carrying out settlement activities in the occupied territories, especially in East al-Quds (Jerusalem), may hinder the peace talks.

The Palestinian Authority says that Israel's ongoing settlement activities, home demolitions, evictions, land confiscations and ID revocations would undermine talks.

Israel signals settlements freeze lift

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York on July 8, 2010.


Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=134032§ionid=351020202



Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has signaled that he will not extend a 10-month freeze on illegal settlement activities in the occupied West Bank.

The Israeli premier, who was addressing the influential US foreign policy think tank, the Council on Foreign Relations in New York on Thursday, said that a freeze put in place in August 2009 has so far failed to spur the Palestinian Authority to enter direct peace talks, Reuters reported.

Netanyahu had earlier told a US television network that the future of the illegal settlements would be addressed in the so-called final status talks with the Palestinians.

The Israeli prime minister's remark on the potential resumption of settlement activities came on the final day of a three-day visit to Washington.

The Palestinian Authority (PA) froze direct negotiations in December 2008 when Israel launched a deadly offensive against the Gaza Strip. The PA says Israel must end the occupation of Palestinian territories before any negotiation.

Recently, Tel Aviv revealed plans to build 2700 new settlements in the West Bank immediately after the existing settlement freeze expires on September 27.

This comes despite the latest UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's criticism of Israel, in which he said that Israel has violated international law by expanding its settlements in the occupied Palestinian land, including al-Quds (Jerusalem).