Yet, the legal framework for seizing land has been one of the longstanding gripes/proofs of self-serving justice. The administrative abuses of licensing and various forms of harassment are well known to anyone who keeps an eye out.
I couldn't believe this when I read it. You know, 120 units here, 200 units there, that's one thing. The subterfuge of Sharon-Netanyahu's use of settlements to change the facts on the ground in the West Bank is quite another.Yet, I have this gnawing feeling that trying to evict or build 50,000 units principally in East Jerusalem will send shockwaves around the world. Even moreso in the absence of a permanent, irrevocable commitment to talks and perhaps no reasonable peace offer good enough to be left ON the table...
I mean, the fight over what is legal and not legal, even within Israeli law, and the destruction of properties has been going on since the days after the 1967 war, when Israel seized Waqf properties near the Western Wall, including using bulldozers on centuries-old properties within four days of the end of the war (as best memory serves, the U.N. even got involved in the condemning their actions).
It's not surprising that Bibi's own attachment wrote the book of apologetics on it (and, you guessed it, you are not allowed to criticize the motives or goal). Yet, the legal framework for seizing land has been one of the longstanding gripes/proofs of self-serving justice. The administrative abuses of licensing and various forms of harassment are well known to anyone who keeps an eye out (including those that sum to just allegations). And, of course, the impact of all this on how Israeli-Arabs feel has been documented and pressed politically.
But this seems like a relatively new openness and brazenness about the objectives of perhaps securing all of Jerusalem, ex negotio, it seems.
Yes, there have been other building plans leaked, even of similar size. Something feels different about this one. Maybe it is just the timing? It could end up being part of plans already announced - some of the targets are East Jerusalem "settlements" that have have been building for years. Even so, it raises questions about what is meant by the answer to the question that Shimon Peres once answered aloud, "Can we live within our borders?" and how to act responsibly until those borders are finalized.
