By Adam Hanieh
On February 26, the Israeli government announced the future construction of 2600 housing units between East Jerusalem and Bethlehem on Mount Abu Ghneim.
These units will be built for Jewish settlers as part of the continuing expansion of Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank. Currently 4000 settlement units are in advanced stages of construction across the occupied territories.
The two square kilometres in question, predominantly owned by Palestinian residents, were annexed by the Israelis in 1967, along with two-thirds of the Bethlehem district. At the time, it was declared "green land", which made any construction unlawful.
In 1991, two Israeli companies, Makor and Himanouta, suggested that the Israeli government confiscate the annexed territory in order to construct private housing. The government went ahead with the confiscation but earmarked the area for public housing. This led to a dispute between the companies and the government that was eventually resolved in the government's favour in 1995.
Construction of the settlement would be a devastating blow to the Palestinians. Bethlehem residents have been informed that additional land will be confiscated to build two bypass roads between the new settlement and existing settlements. These roads would be off limits to the Palestinian population, creating a ring of Israeli settlements cutting the West Bank off from Palestinian neighbourhoods in East Jerusalem.
The new settlement will also establish a Jewish majority in south-east Jerusalem. At its completion, the total settler population in the area will reach 100,000, compared to 55,000 Palestinians in the three adjacent Palestinian towns. A Jewish majority will strengthen attempts to annex the Bethlehem region to Israeli territory.
The proposed settlement area is the only remaining territorial connection between the West Bank and East Jerusalem. It contains the only land available for the Palestinian community which, according to the human rights organisation B'Tselem, has a 20,000 housing unit shortage.
It will also severely affect tourism and destroy the last remaining forests. Palestinian residents are worried that their communities will serve as a dumping ground for the settlers' waste, based on the experience of other Israeli settlements.
The Israeli government decision has been widely condemned. Faisal Husseini, PLO executive committee member responsible for Jerusalem affairs, says the decision is a breach of the Oslo Accords and has advised that it "will force each and every person to adopt any means necessary to combat it".
Palestinian President Yasser Arafat concurred, saying, "Patience has its limits". A strike was called on March 4, to which the Israelis responded by closing the territories.
However, international pressure has been placed on the Palestinian leadership not to encourage protests. According to the Jerusalem Report, US President Bill Clinton told Arafat that "if there is continued quiet and the Palestinian Authority fulfils its obligations under the Oslo Accords — particularly combating terror, revoking the Palestinian Covenant and closing PA institutions in Jerusalem — it would make it easier for the US to request that Israel live up to its part of the bargain, especially not building in eastern Jerusalem".
Last month, Clinton asked Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to agree to a withdrawal from about 10% of the West Bank. Aides to Netanyahu have intimated that most of the pullback will be in areas currently under shared Israeli-Palestinian control (Area B) and designating them as under complete Palestinian control (Area A). This would leave the vast majority of the West Bank exclusively under Israeli control (Area C). Presently, about 3% of the territories are Area A, about 27% are Area B and 70% are Area C.