[… and the world continues to turn, and noone making Israeli policy has learnt a damn thing.
So very, very uninspiring. ]
Israel’s Jerusalem municipality approved the expansion of 2,000 homes
in the settlement district of Ramat Shlomo
in occupied East Jerusalem on Sunday,
allowing each Israeli home to add an additional room, a council press statement said.
The announcement of new settlement activity came as Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak told France 24 television that,
“there is no real way to announce an end to construction.
[ Except maybe by making ‘policy’ – But Isreal has no interest in ceasing its own territorial expansion – and it never has ]
There’s half a million people living there.”
Palestinian Authority officials were quick to condemn the statement.
All settlement activity is considered illegal under international law
[ … for which there currently seems to be no enforcement mechanism
– except maybe : Global Public Opinion
&
Boycotts, Divestment and Sanctions ]
and settlements are one of the major obstacles to a peace agreement.
[ Indeed, the ‘settlements’ are the very cause of the ongoing conflict between the Zionists and the Palestinians ]
Israel has occupied the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem since 1967.