Israel intends to move forward with settlement building in Jerusalem and the West Bank, despite harsh criticism from Europe and the United States.
“The United States opposes all unilateral actions, including West Bank settlement activity and housing construction in east Jerusalem, as they complicate efforts to resume direct, bilateral negotiations, and risk prejudging the outcome of those negotiations,” the State Department said in a Dec. 3 statement in response to Israel’s plan to build an additional 3,000 housing units in Jerusalem and the West Bank.
“This includes building in the E1 area, as this area is particularly sensitive, and construction there would be especially damaging to efforts to achieve a two-state solution,” spokesman Mark Toner said.
The E1 zone refers to a stretch of land connecting Jerusalem with Ma’ale Adumim on the West Bank.
Israeli governments have long planned to build in E1, but successive U.S. administrations have opposed it, saying that developing the corridor would cut off Palestinian populations centers from each other in a future Palestinian state.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced the settlement plans barely 24 hours after the U.N. General Assembly voted on Nov. 29 to upgrade the Palestinians’ status to non-member observer state. The criticisms poured in almost immediately.
Israel’s settlement plans would deal “an almost fatal blow” to a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, said U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
The governments of Britain, France, Spain, Australia, Sweden and Denmark summoned the Israeli ambassadors in their capitals to express their displeasure.
“We deplore the recent Israeli decision to build 3,000 new housing units and unfreeze development in the E1 block,” Britain’s Foreign Office said. “We have called on the Israeli government to reverse the decision.”
France expressed “serious concerns” to the Israeli ambassador but, like Britain, responded to reports that Paris might bring its Tel Aviv envoy home by saying “There are other ways in which we can express our disapproval.”
An official in Netanyahu’s office said Israel would not bend. “Israel will continue to stand by its vital interests, even in the face of international pressure, and there will be no change in the decision that was made,” the official said.
As an additional response to the Palestinians’ U.N. upgrade, Israel’s Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz said the Israeli government would withhold some $100 million in taxes and customs collected monthly on behalf of the Palestinian Authority. According to Steinitz, the monies will be used to pay off debt owed to Israel for unpaid electricity charges.
Israel’s collection and transfer of Palestinian tax revenue is part of agreements signed by Israel and the P.A. under the Oslo accords. Israel maintains that unilateral Palestinian action violates these agreements.
An array of Jewish groups condemned the U.N. vote, which passed 138-9, with 41 abstentions. The American Israel Public Affairs Committee predicted blunt and dire consequences for the Palestinians and the organization representing them in Washington and New York, the Palestine Liberation Organization.
“Congress has specifically linked continued aid and the operation of the PLO office in Washington to the Palestinians not seeking statehood status at the United Nations,” the statement read. “AIPAC applauds this congressional leadership and urges a full review of America’s relations with the PLO, including closure of the PLO’s office in Washington.”
But this week, an amendment that would have penalized the Palestinians for the U.N. bid was not included in a defense bill passed by the Senate, despite the efforts of several senators to push it through.
The National Defense Authorization Act, passed Dec. 4, did not include among its amendments one that would cut funding to the Palestinians should they use their upgraded status to seek charges against Israel in international courts. The amendment also would have shuttered the PLO office in Washington until the Palestinians returned to peace talks with Israel.
It was not clear why the amendment was not approved. It was introduced by Sens. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) on Nov. 29.
J Street, the liberal pro-Israel group, rallied against the amendment, with followers sending nearly 15,000 letters to senators and making close to a thousand calls.
At least one congregation, the liberal, unaffiliated synagogue B’nai Jeshurun in New York City, came out in favor of the U.N. vote. In an email sent to congregants, the synagogue’s three rabbis, cantor and executive director wrote that the vote was “a great moment for us as citizens of the world.” Referring to the historic U.N. vote on Palestine in November 1947 that led to the establishment of the State of Israel, the email continued, “Having gained independence ourselves in this way, we are especially conscious of this.”
In a November interview, Maen Areikat, the PLO envoy to Washington, said the Palestinian leadership would not count out using U.N. bodies such as the International Criminal Court to seek redress for what it says are illegal Israeli actions.
But he also noted that even with the enhanced status of nonmember state, the Palestinians’ road to such actions is fraught with bureaucracy and unlikely to happen anytime soon.
JNS.org and JTA correspondent Ron Kampeas contributed to this report.