IT did not take long at all for Israel to reply to the Palestinians after their UN recognition bid. Just one day after the Palestinians were upgraded to observer status in a resoundingly successful diplomatic maneuver, Israel hit back by authorizing the construction of 3,000 more housing units in occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank. It is also speeding up the processing of 1,000 planning permissions. The unusually large building plan is the first indication of Israeli anger after the vote on Palestinian status was held at the UN. And it is certainly no coincidence. Israel has said that any punitive measures after the United Nations vote would depend on the future actions of the Palestinians. Obviously, the Palestinians could not have done anything in the 24 hours between the General Assembly vote and the announcement of new settlements other than rejoice over their new status among nations, and hope that perhaps that this UN move would one day lead to statehood, in which Palestinians living in the West Bank and Gaza would cease to be living under occupation and become nationals living in their own country. So, just as obvious, this particular settlement project was pre-planned, ready in waiting to be unveiled if the Palestinians dared have the temerity to go to the UN. Israel had said a Palestinian move at the UN would be met by punitive measures, including deducting debts owed by the Palestinian Authority to Israeli utility companies from the tax revenues that Israel collects on behalf of the authority. There was even talk of canceling agreements. In the end, though, Israel decided on more settlements, which takes a little bit more land away, and chips a little bit more of Palestinian identity away, so as to make a final settlement all the more imbalanced and a two-state solution almost impossible. What better way to get back at the Palestinians than to go for their land, the biggest reason the Palestinians went to the UN. The Palestinians have consistently said they will use their enhanced status for renewed negotiations in the spirit of peace and reconciliation. Palestinian officials had in recent months toned down threats of seeking to push for sanctions in the International Criminal Court or to work through the United Nations system for settlement building or war crimes, instead emphasizing that the UN move was intended to jump-start a more meaningful political process toward a two-state solution. But Israel could not wait for retribution. It wanted revenge for what the Palestinians did and, in the bigger picture, what the world at large did. Israel suffered a resounding diplomatic defeat at the General Assembly. The vote amounts to a massive international show of displeasure with Israel, especially over its continued construction of Jewish settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. The decision to build thousands of housing units is being done to punish the Palestinians and snub the UN. Those 3,000 more homes for Jews are to be built on Israeli-occupied land that the world body overwhelmingly said belongs to the Palestinians.
