Palestinian protesters attach a placard on a wall in front of Israeli soldiers, not seen, during a demonstration in the West Bank village of Al-Masara near Bethlehem, marking the recognition of a sovereign Palestinian state by the United Nations, Friday. — AP Mohammed Mar'i Saudi Gazette
RAMALLAH – Israel is to build 3,000 new settler homes in east Jerusalem and the West Bank after the Palestinians won recognition as a non-member state at the United Nations, an Israeli official said Friday. Asked if he could confirm a report that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had decided to build the 3,000 units in response to the Palestinians success at the UN, he said: “It's true – in (east) Jerusalem and the West Bank,” without saying exactly where. The decision was revealed in a tweet by the diplomatic correspondent of Haaretz newspaper, who said some of the homes would be built in E1, a highly-contentious area of the West Bank which links annexed east Jerusalem with Maaleh Adumim settlement. “Political source: Netanyahu decided to build 3,000 new housing units in east Jerusalem and in settlements in the West Bank in response to the Palestinian action at the UN,” said a Hebrew tweet by Barak Ravid. “Despite the commitments he gave to (US) President (Barack) Obama, PM Netanyahu gave the order to advance construction in the E1 area between Maaleh Adumim and Jerusalem which will cut off the northern part of the West Bank from the south,” he said. Israel had pledged to freeze the E1 project as part of its commitments under the international roadmap for peace which was launched in 2003. The Palestinians bitterly oppose the project as it effectively cuts the occupied West Bank in two, making the creation of a viable Palestinian state highly problematic. Meanwhile, prosecutors at the International Criminal Court said they will study what the Palestinian Authority's upgraded status means for its relationship with the world's first permanent war crimes tribunal. In a one-paragraph reaction to the historic United Nations General Assembly vote, the court's prosecution office said Friday it “will consider the legal implications of this resolution.” In April, prosecutors rejected a Palestinian bid to get the Hague-based court to investigate possible war crimes during an Israeli military offensive in the Gaza Strip that began in December 2008. The Palestinian authority attempted to empower the court to investigate by unilaterally recognizing its jurisdiction, but prosecutors said only internationally recognized states could accept jurisdiction. Israel is not a member of the 10-year-old court. In Ramallah, euphoric Palestinians erupted in cheers, honked car horns after the United Nations endorsed an independent state of Palestine, giving sweeping international backing to their demands for sovereignty over lands Israel occupied in 1967. The historic General Assembly decision late Thursday to accept “Palestine” as a non-member observer state won't actually grant independence to the 4.3 million Palestinians who live in the West Bank, east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip. Israel remains an occupying force in the first two territories and continues to severely restrict access to Gaza. The Palestinians' historic success sparked angry recriminations in Israel Friday, with officials saying it crippled peace hopes and the opposition blaming government inaction for causing the crisis. But several pundits also suggested it could have positive implications for Israel by resurrecting the long-dead peace process. – With agencies
