Israel's Roguish Response

Posted by Gopal Unnikrishna

 

 Less than 24 hours after the vote on Palestinian status was held at the UN, a caviling Israel in an angry response announced the augmentation of its settlement plans in the strategically sensitive area of occupied land near east Jerusalem. Israel authorized 3,000 additional housing units a day after the UN voted to upgrade Palestinian status. About 500,000 Jews live in more than 100 settlements built since the occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem.The settlements are considered illegal under international law, though Israel disputes this.

  In a separate development the petulant Israeli government also said that it would be stopping a $100m (£62m) transfer of tax revenues that it collected on behalf of the Palestinian Authority. The ostensible pretext given out for this stand was that  the Palestinians had not settled a $200m debt to an Israeli electricity firm.

 Israel's knee-jerk reaction has aroused widespread indignation. The move was seen as one that would represent an almost fatal blow to remaining chances of securing a two-state solution. In a strong admonishment of Israel, UN head Ban Ki-moon warned Israel that the settlement plans would deal "an almost fatal blow' to peace hopes. He pointed out that  Palestinians in East Jerusalem could be completely cut off from the rest of the West Bank. The UK government lost no time in summoning Israeli envoy to express its concern and told him that Israel should expect a "strong reaction" if it went ahead with its plans. Agence France-Presse quoted an Israeli embassy spokesman in Paris as saying that the ambassador there had also been summoned over the issue. The US said earlier, the expansion plan was counter-productive and would make it harder to resume peace talks, and EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said she was extremely by prospects of large-scale construction. Mahmoud Abbas returning from UN told a flag waving crowd that Palestinians have a land now and called for an end to settlement building and a return to peace talks.

However, Israel's reaction to rest of the world's condemnation was characteristically defiant. It held out that Palestinian campaign was in gross violation of earlier agreement with Israel and that it will carry on building in Jerusalem and in all the places that are on the map of Israel's strategic interests.

Israel's intransigence and such defiance of international opinion will only serve to further isolate that nation. It is obvious that it's continued occupation of the West Bank and its untenable developmental efforts there cut at the very roots of settlement chances of the long simmering dispute, and peace hopes in the region.  Such development will prevent the creation of a contiguous Palestinian state. It destroys the two-state solution, (establishing) East Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine and practically ends the peace process and any opportunity to talk about negotiations in the future.

Israel should realize that the time has come to rethink its hawkish attitude which it could no longer afford to maintain and that sooner it has to play a constructive role in securing its own security not through aggressive postures but by sagacious cooperation with world opinion.