Har Homa Settlement Project, An Obstacle To Peace and Coexistence

BY

Mr. Ghassan Andoni

As Abu-Ghneim area was occupied during 1967 war, the claims that Israeli Jews own some of the land in the area can not justify expanding the sovereign borders of Israel and building Jewish settlements on Palestinian territories. If the land ownership is to be the criterion used to assign national sovereignty in different areas, then Palestinians are entitled to claim and demand sovereignty in many areas they lost, but still own, in all parts of Mandate Palestine.

On December 4,1994, the Israeli Supreme Court removed one of the last remaining hopes for preventing the construction of the new Israeli settlement ( Har Homa ), on Abu-Ghneim, when it rejected a suit of Palestinian property owners to nullify the expropriation of their land. The suit sought reversal of expropriation and maintained that if any development of the area was to take place it should be preserved for Palestinian people. The contested mountain site is the last remaining undeveloped land available to Beit Sahour and Umm-Tuba. Both villages desperately need new housing to redress the over-crowded and sub-standard conditions of their existing housing.

The contested mountain area which was originally declared a green belt but is soon to be the site of Har Homma settlement that will house up to 35,000 persons including several sites that are significant to Christians including St, Theodore’s Well, Byzantine and Georgian monasteries and strong associations with St. lucas and St. Marinus. The insensitivity with which the Israeli government deals with Christian and Moslem sites and feelings stands fimly against its claims to sovereignty over all of Jerusalem.

This settlement project is the most serious and most dangerous af all Israeli settlement activities. In adition to its immense size, it is a new settlement project which clearly contradicts both the text and the spirit of the peace accords to be established after them being signed and gradually implemented. Moreover, Har Homa will complete the ring of settlements around Jerusalem and threatens the demographic balance of the Bethlehem area.

In order to give Peace and Justice a chance, Palestinian and Israeli peace groups are working jointly to stop this settlement project.

Join us in our work to :" Stop Har Homa Settlement Now " .