by Eli E. Hertz
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry’s calls
for a freeze on Jewish construction in Judea, Samaria and Jerusalem
while Arab construction, which far exceeds Jewish development, continues
unfettered – are clearly biased.
Arabs
claim that Jewish settlements “change the status” of the Territories
and represent a distortion of the Oslo Accords. The phrase applies to
acts that change the political status of the disputed territory – such
as outright Israeli annexation, or a Palestinian declaration of
statehood. Since Jewish settlements are legal, any halt in construction
should be reciprocated.
The
Oslo Accords do not forbid Israeli or Arab settlement activity.
Charging that further Jewish settlement activity preempts final
negotiations by establishing realities, requires reciprocity.
If
Jews were forcibly expelled from the West Bank in 1948 during a war of
aggression aimed at them, then these Territories must be considered
disputed Territories, at the least.
The
Israeli-Palestinian border dispute is like every other major and minor
boundary dispute around the globe. Since the West Bank was redeemed in
1967 in a war of self defense and is not “Occupied Territory” gained
illegally by a bellicose power, and since this fact is recognized in the
wording of UN Resolutions 242 and 338 that call for a settlement to
institute “secure and recognized boundaries.”
According to David Bar-Ilan, a former policy planning official, the tempo of Arab construction is “more than 10 times the number of buildings under construction [in the Territory] than those approved [by the Israeli government] for the [Jewish] settlers.”
Eli E. Hertz
Source: http://www.mythsandfacts.org/article_view.asp?articleID=265
Copyright - Original materials copyright (c) by the authors.
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