Palestinians pitch tents on Israeli land
2013-01-11 18:05
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West Bank - Palestinians from villages in the occupied
West Bank near Jerusalem pitched tents on Friday on land Israel has earmarked
for a new urban settlement, looking to preserve the area for an independent
Palestinian state.
Scores of Palestinians erected about 20 large,
steel-framed tents on a windswept hillside in an area known as E1, a geographically
sensitive area where Israel announced last month it would build homes for
hundreds of settlers.
"We are setting up a Palestinian village here where
people will stay permanently in order to protect this Palestinian land,"
said Mohammad Khatib, one of the organisers of the tent village.
The tents were erected in an area close to established
Palestinian villages that lie on slopes north-east of Jerusalem and overlook
the descent to the Dead Sea.
Palestinians named their encampment "Bab el
Shams", which means "Gateway to the Sun" in Arabic.
"This is not a symbolic act, but comes in response
to Israeli settlement building and we are sending a message to the
international community that urgent action must be taken against Israel's
settlement construction," Khatib said.
Although there was no immediate response from the Israeli
authorities, police and soldiers in the past have moved quickly to shut down
any such spontaneous Palestinian camps
International powers view all settlement building in areas
captured by Israel in the 1967 Arab-Israeli War as detrimental to securing an
Israeli-Palestinian peace deal.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has come in for heavy
criticism for a wave of recent announced settlement building in areas captured
by Israel in the 1967 Arab-Israeli War.
However, his pledge last November to build on E1 caused
an especial outcry, with European diplomats warning that it could kill off any
hope of creating a contiguous Palestinian state.
The site covers some 12km² and is seen as particularly
important because it not only juts into the narrow "waist" of the
West Bank, but also backs onto East Jerusalem, where Palestinians want to
establish their capital.
Building halted
Israeli building in E1 would create a linked-up stretch
of Jewish neighbourhoods in the West Bank between Pisgat Zeev on the outskirts
of Jerusalem, and Maale Adumim, an urban settlement of some 30 000 Israelis.
For years Israel froze building in E1, which currently
houses only a police headquarters, after coming under pressure from former US
President George W Bush.
But Netanyahu announced a wave of settlement initiatives,
including in E1, after the Palestinians won de-facto statehood recognition at
the UN General Assembly last year.
Palestinians want to establish an independent state in
the West Bank, which is partially controlled by Palestinian President Mahmoud
Abbas, and the Gaza Strip, which is run by a rival faction, the Islamist group
Hamas.
Approximately 500 000 Israelis and 2.5 million
Palestinians live in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Direct peace talks
between Israel and the Palestinians broke down in 2010 over the issue of
continued settlement building.
