Jerusalem: Jewish extremists put the last nail in the peace coffin
Palestine, Breaking News, 9/15/1997

All looked very familiar. A group of Jewish settlers entered the Arab house in Ras Al Amoud neighbourhood in East Jerusalem under the darkness of night and erected not only the nucleus of a new settlement in the heart of the occupied Arab city but also planted a new bomb whose explosion might bury the remaining parts of the interim agreements between the Palestine Liberation Organization and Israel. The takeover of the two Arab houses by the settlers followed a decision taken by the Israeli authorities allowing the settlers to break into those Arab properties claiming that they had already been purchased by American Jewish millionaire, Irving Moskowitz, who has been lately involved in a series of purchases of Arab property in East Jerusalem on behalf of extreme right wing settlement movements. The settlers unloaded furniture and equipment into the one-story house, which had belonged to an Arab family that allegedly sold it secretly to Moskowitz. Palestinian sources said the owner of the house had apparently sold it for US $1.5 million and left either for the US or Ukraine where he is currently living.

Around midnight, just hours after Meretz, a left wing Israeli party, lost its appeal against building the new Jewish settlement within the Arab neighborhood of Ras Al Amud, three Jewish families, including a young couple and two other couples, each with two children, moved into two Arab buildings. The appeal was presented to the regional appeals committee for planning and construction in Jerusalem and was aimed at imposing a goverment freeze on plans to build a new Jewish settlement in East Jerusalem. The families, which had installed themselves in a building not far from the site planned for the new Jewish settlement, were accompanied by dozens of right wing activists and security guards. Angry verbal exchanges with the Arab residents quickly degenerated into physical violence and stone-throwing which continued throughout most of the night and into the morning hours.

Palestinian eyewitnesses said it took some 90 minutes for the police to come to the area with the objective of evicting the settlers and once they arrived "the whole situation had changed with a new interpretation given by Israel saying the takeover was legal and was carried out by the spirit of law." The prime minister's office said that construction of the Jewish settlement at this time is out of question. "The fundamental situation hasnÕt changed. The attorney general found that on this subject the government has the right to consider other factors, such as public safety," Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu said shortly affter the settlers took over the houses. Yet he did nothing to stop the takeover though he reportedly gave orders to his police minister to evict the settlers and prevent any additional buildup of their personnel in the houses.

The settlers, who are preparing for a long stay and have brought furniture, food and other appliances with them, had said in the beginning that their entry into the neighborhood was done with the knowledge of the prime minister's office but they later clarified that Netanyahu did not know of the plans and that the timing of their move was unrelated to US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright's visit to the region. The prime minister's office has said that Netanyahu heard of the plans to enter Ras Al Amud only a short time beforehand.

The official reaction by Israel had displayed a chaotic situation in which the prime minister was saying both one thing and its oppposite at the same time. Official statements spoke about the incendiary situation to follow in Jerusalem after the takeover of the house in Ras Al Amoud but on the ground, the settlers were left to mind their own business, under the heavy guard of Israeli police. In the morning, they installed closed-circuit cameras around the house and set up defense lines on the roof, including sand-filled bags. The prime minister said that construction in the neighborhood is impractical at this stage and that the government has the right to use considerations of public safety to block it, but the police decided not to evict the settlers.

A short while after the settlers took over the house, Faisal Husseini, the PNA cabinet member in charge of the Jerusalem portfolio, arrived to the scene and expressed his fury. "There is not room for legal argument here. The move is political and the Israeli government has to do every step possible to get these settlers out as soon as possible. Netanyahu has to decide between this new settlement or the peace process but he cannot have both," Husseini said.

Husseini demanded that Netanyahu immediately order the eviction of the settlers in order to prevent an explosion. He said that "just at this time, when some slight progress was achieved through AlbrightÕs mediation, one must not create a new source of severe friction in Jerusalem." A detailed report on the developments at Ras Al Amoud had already been sent to PNA President Yasser Arafat in Cairo, currently on visit to Egypt to brief President Hosni Mubarak on the outcome of Albright's talks with the PNA.

Apart from Husseini, many other Palestinian officials visited the site. They included Sheikh Hassan Tahboub, minister of Religious Affairs in the PNA and Ahmad Qurei', Abu Ala, speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council. They all demanded immediate eviction of the settlers and insisted that this move is a major flashpoint that will lead to violence in Jerusalem. Later there were sharp verbal exchanges between the Palestinians and the new tenants, which quickly became physically violent as angry Palestinian youths pelted the settlers with stones and smashed the windshields of their cars that were parked outside. Later, many of the settlers moved their cars from where they were to the other side of the house next to a police compound. As young Palestinians threw stones, others were trying to pass a message to the settlers and to the Israeli government as well. "We won't quietly allow those Jews into the neighborhood. Settlers coming here will explode the entire situation. This is the beginning of war in Jerusalem," said Mamoun Abassi, a leader of the committee to protect lands of Ras Al Amud.

Ahmed Hashem Zughayer, chairman of the PLC's Jerusalem Council, said that the Palestinians won't go along with the creation of a Jewish settlement at the heart of Ras Al Amud and will view such a step as a declaration of war. "Allah alone knows what will happen. To impose, by force of arms and bulldozers, a Jewish settlement in the heart of an Arab neighborhood, will give rise to hatred that will not serve any peace." Zughayer described as "cynical" the claim that as this was private property, Moskowitz could do with it what he pleases. "Arabs own property in wide areas of west Jerusalem," he said. Estimates are that 85% of west Jerusalem is Palestinian property, but the government of Israel does not permit the owners to build anything on their land or to use their property. He added that it is governments who decide about construction of neighborhoods, and the government of Israel cannot shirk its responsibility and pretend this is merely the action of a private entrepreneur.

Minister of National Infrastructure Ariel Sharon was, perhaps, the most outspoken among his colleagues when he described what the strategic importance was of such a move. He said the planned Ras Al Amoud settlement is of "utmost importance, as it will block Palestinian plans to form a continuous area from Abu Dis to the Old City of Jerusalem." Sharon was speaking to an audience of Likud activists in the Jewish Quarter in Jerusalem.

Senior sources in the Jerusalem municipality believed that there was a long way to go before the settlement at Ras Al Amoud could be built, despite the authorization. They said that Netanyahu won't allow Irving Moskowitz to build the neighborhood, claiming security risks. But on its own, the decision on Ras Al Amoud was welcomed by Jerusalem Mayor Ehud Olmert, who said "The decision of the appeals committee regarding the construction at Ras Al Amoud confirms the legitimacy of the decision of the licensing authority of the Municipality of Jerusalem."

Opposition Labor Party Leader Ehud Barak said that the settlement at Ras Al Amoud is a "dangerous provocation" that will speed up the explosion in Jerusalem. In his opinion, the entry into the buildings is a serious blow to the chances of peace and to a practical defense of the security of Jerusalem residents. Meretz spokesmen Ornan Yekutieli and Michal Shohat, who sponsored the rejected appeal, plan to continue their legal struggle and will present an appeal to the District Court of Jerusalem "in the name of all Jerusalem residents who realize that the price in blood for this provocative decision will be paid by the public in Jerusalem."

Sources associated with the appeals committee that viewed the petition said the committee found it was beyond its jurisdiction to consider issues of security, public safety or injury to the sensibility of a population, but could only deal with the legal-planning aspects of the plan. The committee, lead by Attorney Aharon Bruhin, said that although the subject was beyond their authority they found it proper to note that based on a visit to the site and aerial photographs "this isnÕt a Jewish neighborhood in the heart of an Arab neighborhood."

"We believe that there are a number of places in Jerusalem where neighborhoods with Arab inhabitants are very close to neighborhoods with Jewish inhabitants, without any harm to the common life of both populations," the committee said in its decision, taken after the whole issue was allegedly investigated by legal and defense authorities and after it became clear that it is impossible to prevent the families from entering the neighborhood.

Previous Stories:
  Arab ministers condemn Israeli expansionism   (9/11/1997)
  US millionaire in East Jerusalem means confrontation   (7/29/1997)
  Israel plan declaration of war   (7/28/1997)

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