A settlement watchdog in Israel announced that the country is moving forward with plans to build more than 1,000 housing units in a settlement in east Jerusalem.
On Sunday, Peace Now released a statement on the Ministry of Housing and the Israel Land Authority’s decision to open the bidding process for the construction of 1,257 housing units in Givat Hamatos. Construction in the settlement could threaten to cut off parts of the city claimed by Palestinians in the West Bank, according to the Associated Press.
“This is a major blow to the prospects for peace and the possibility of a two-state solution,” Peace Now said in a statement. The watchdog argued that Israeli construction in Givat Hamatos would “severely hamper the prospect of a two-state solution because it will ultimately block the possibility of territorial contiguity between East Jerusalem and Bethlehem, the main Palestinian metropolitan area.”
Palestinians see east Jerusalem as a key part of a future Palestinian state, along with the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Israel views an undivided Jerusalem as its capital.
“This Netanyahu-Gantz government was established to fight the coronavirus but instead it is taking advantage of the final weeks of the Trump administration in order to set facts on the ground that will be exceedingly hard to undo in order to achieve peace,” Peace Now argued.
After three inconclusive elections, centrist opposition leader Benny Gantz agreed to form a unity government with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, keeping the prime minister in power and making Gantz the parliamentary speaker, according to the Wall Street Journal. At the time, the zenith of the coronavirus pandemic’s first wave, Gantz said that “these are not usual days, and they require unusual decisions.”
The government has enjoyed the United States’ support and “lenient policy” under President Trump, who has “largely turned a blind eye to settlement construction,” according to the Associated Press. The Trump administration moved the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem in 2018, and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is set to travel to the region this week. He is expected to visit one of Israel’s West Bank settlements. The United Nations Security Council and many countries around the world consider Israeli settlements a violation of international law. On Friday, Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh tweeted that the visit set a “dangerous precedent” and was “a blow to [international] legitimacy” and U.N. resolutions.
We deplore US Sec. of State Mike Pompeo’s intent to visit the illegal settlement of Psagot, built on lands belonging to Palestinian owners in Al-Bireh city, during his visit to Israel next week. This dangerous precedent legalizes settlements& a blow to int’l legitimacy/ UN Res’s.
— Dr. Mohammad Shtayyeh د. محمد اشتية (@DrShtayyeh) November 13, 2020
The Biden administration is expected “to take a firmer tack against Israel settlement expansion,” according to the Associated Press.
Peace Now said it’s not too late to stop construction and called on government officials to pump the brakes on the deal. “This tender can still be stopped,” the watch group wrote. “We hope that those in this government who still have some sense of responsibility for our future will do what they can to cancel the tender before bids are submitted.”
