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2 May 2009 OCCUPIED
JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- Khalil Tafakji, an expert on
Israeli settlements and the director of the maps
center for Arab studies, said that Israel was
strenuously working on creating greater Jerusalem that
would eat up 10% of the entire West Bank area.
Tafakji in a press
statement on Wednesday said that Israel was trying to
introduce a new demographic balance by which Israelis
would constitute a big majority in Jerusalem.
He added that Israel
also plans to separate northern West Bank from its
southern areas and works against the establishment of
a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital.
The settlements'
expert explained that the Kidar and Maaleh Adumim
settlement bloc east and north of occupied Jerusalem
over an area of 191 square kilometers would absolutely
prevent establishment of a Palestinian state
geographically connected with Jerusalem as its
capital.
Tafakji said that the
Israeli settlement drive never stopped in any of the
West Bank settlements, noting that Israel plans to
construct 73,000 new housing units within five years
to accommodate one million Jews in Jerusalem and West
Bank.
IOA
measures in occupied Jerusalem illegitimate
Amr Mousa, the
secretary general of the Arab League, has described
the new Israeli occupation authority's plans to
confiscate more Palestinian lands in occupied
Jerusalem as "illegitimate" and "null and void".
Mousa said on Monday
that the Arab foreign ministers would meet in the
first week of May to discuss the Israeli measures and
the issue of Jerusalem as a whole.
For his part, Mohammed
Subaih, the assistant Arab League secretary general,
lashed out at the IOA plot in occupied Jerusalem,
describing it as falling in line with the current
unprecedented IOA offensive on occupied Jerusalem.
He warned that the new
IOA scheme targets isolating Jerusalem from its Arab
surroundings and unilaterally resolving the issue of
Jerusalem in order to take it out of the negotiating
table.
The world community
should act rather than talk about the IOA violations
and should put an end to the IOA practices, which,
Subaih said, threaten peace and security in the
region.
He further warned that
the IOA's plan to demolish tens of Arab homes in
occupied Jerusalem at the pretext of construction
without permit would leave around 20,000 Palestinians
homeless. |
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