by Hillel Fendel and Chaim Silberstein, www.KeepJerusalem.org

The fight to prevent the narrow strip that makes up the State of Israel from being further divided into two states, including yet another Arab state, continues simultaneously on many fronts.

One of the main battles is being fought in and around the holy city of Jerusalem. Just ten days before these last Israeli elections, Prime Minister Netanyahu made a bombastic announcement: “I’ve given instructions to immediately publish for deposit the plan to build 3,500 housing units in E-1,” he told the audience at the Jerusalem Conference, and was awarded with a loud round of applause.

What he meant was that the long-delayed implementation of the plan to build up an area between the cities of Jerusalem and Maaleh Adumim would finally begin. This would stop the creeping encroachment of illegal Palestinian Authority construction on the Maaleh Adumim area, would create a contiguous Jewish population presence between it and Jerusalem – and would all but prevent the formation of a contiguous Arab state in the area.

For this reason, of course, the Arab world, with European support, strongly objects to the plan.

Given the importance of E-1, does Netanyahu’s announcement therefore greatly hearten us? Can we now be sure that we have won this battle for a major part of Jerusalem and against the formation of a viable enemy PA state?

Quite obviously, no. For Netanyahu has basically recycled announcements of this type for many years, especially every time he seeks support from the nationalist camp. In October 2018, for instance, he declared that Khan al-Akhmar – the Bedouin encampment in E-1 – would be evacuated “very soon.”

Just because that was around 500 days ago, this does not mean he was lying, for “500 days from now” certainly fits the definition of “very soon” in geological chronology…

Another area of Jerusalem long in need of Jewish construction so as to secure contiguity in the city is Givat HaMatos, Airplane Hill. As Jerusalem expert and KeepJerusalem contributor Nadav Shragai has written, this area “is one of the keys to preventing a division of Jerusalem from the south … From the Palestinian standpoint, freezing construction at Givat HaMatos is the key to preserving the option of urban and political linkage between Bethlehem and Beit Safafa…”

Here, too, Netanyahu raised our hopes for a moment. At a pre-election appearance in the southern Jerusalem neighborhood of Har Homa, just a stone’s throw from Givat HaMatos, he said that the long-frozen plan for 3,000 Jewish homes and 1,000 Arab homes there would now be implemented. He also announced another 2,200 units in Har Homa.

The Givat HaMatos numbers appear to be exaggerated, as the plan actually calls for 2,160 Jewish homes and 800 Arab units. But the real question is whether these numbers have any value altogether, given that Netanayahu already gave “final authorization” for construction in Givat HaMatos some six years ago. How many times can the same plan be authorized without actually being carried out?

It’s unpleasant for us to hit a man when he’s down, and Prime Minister Netanyahu is truly under attack from many quarters. He might even become, within weeks, the subject of an undemocratic “personal” piece of left-wing legislation, to ensure that he is prevented from serving again as Prime Minister. The proposal is backed by many of his self-acclaimed worst enemies such as the Arab parties, Avigdor Lieberman, and many in the Blue-and-White party. We stand squarely against this initiative, and truly value his many years of accomplishments in helping Israel attain the prestigious position it holds in the international arena.

But the truth must be told. Had he actually taken the steps he has so often verbalized to build up the Jewish presence in Yerushalayim, Israel would not now be under the gun not to take the steps so necessary to ensuring full Jewish sovereignty in the Holy Land.

The European Union, for instance, came out squarely against Netanyahu’s announcements, and the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process even said, “All settlements are illegal under international law and remain a substantial obstacle to peace. ”

This statement, incidentally, frontally contradicts a ruling by the Court of Appeal of Versailles back in January 2017. In a suit brought by the PA against Jerusalem’s light rail built by French companies, the court bluntly ruled that “West Bank settlements” and “occupation” of Judea and Samaria by Israel are unequivocally legal under international law.

The court concluded that PA Arabs not only have no international legal right to contested areas in and around Jerusalem, but to anywhere in Judea and Samaria.  Israel, on the other hand, is legitimately entitled to control the region.

(For more details on this carefully tucked-away ruling, see https://www.dreuz.info/2017/01/13/israel-is-the-legal-occupant-of-the-west-bank-says-the-court-of-appeal-of-versailles-france/)

The court’s ruling comes as no surprise to readers of this column, who know, for instance, of Dr. Jacques Gauthier’s conclusion that “Jerusalem belongs to the Jews, by international law;” Gauthier is a non-Jewish lawyer who spent 20 years writing a 1,300-page dissertation on the topic. Our readers also remember, as opposed to most others whose views comprise “international public opinion,” that the San Remo Resolutions of 1920 grant the Arabs of the Holy Land only rights that are not of a national political nature. These resolutions were confirmed by the League of Nations and later the United Nations.

And of course, Stephen Schwebel, later to become President of the International Court of Justice in The Hague, wrote in 1970 that “Israel has better title in the territory of what was Palestine, including the whole of Jerusalem, than do Jordan and Egypt.”

We wish Binyamin Netanyahu much success in overcoming the hardships he now faces – and remind him that fulfilling his promises regarding the development of Jerusalem might be a good first step towards this goal.

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