DESPITE CURRENT UNREST, ISRAEL LOOKS TO EXPAND JERUSALEM SETTLEMENTS
Yesterday, November 2, 2000, the Jerusalem municipality discussed a project for the construction of an additional 4,000 units in the Har Homa settlement, near Bethlehem. To be named Har Homa "B", these units will be built on confiscated Palestinian land, as was the existing Har Homa settlement.
According to Ha'aretz newspaper, this project was presented to a subcommittee of the local planning and construction committee along with plans for the private construction of 400 Jewish residential units between Gilo and Har Homa, and the construction of a small Jewish enclave near Palestinian Abu Dis.
These projects, illegal under international law, come at an extremely dangerous time as Israeli repression of Palestinians demonstrators claims more and more victims each day. It must be fully understood that the current situation is a direct result of the Israeli occupation and the policies that Israel has carried out for the past 33 years, including the confiscation of Palestinian owned land for the construction of Jewish only settlements, which ironically has intensified since Oslo.
The approval of these plans will only exacerbate the already deadly situation in the Occupied Territories. Therefore we ask that people write to those responsible for these decisions and demand that they comply with their obligations as signatories to the Fourth Geneva Convention and freeze immediately all plans to build more settlements in East Jerusalem and its environs.
Please write to: Please cc correspondence to law@lawsociety.org
Prime Minister Barak: rohm@pmo.gov.il or pm@pmo.gov.il
Jerusalem Mayor Ehud Olmert: eolmert@jerusalem.muni.il
Housing Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer: sar@moch.gov.il Thank You!