Israel to seize Arab land near Jerusalem

Poll says majority of Israelis oppose Jerusalem sharing plan

JERUSALEM: Israel has ordered the confiscation of Arab land outside east Jerusalem, a newspaper and Palestinian officials said on Tuesday, reviving fears that the occupied West Bank could be split in two.

Issued late September, the order covers 110 hectares (272 acres) in four Palestinian villages between east Jerusalem and the Jewish settlement of Maale Adumim, said Hassan Abed Rabbo, a senior official at the Palestinian local government ministry.

The land could create a bloc of settlements incorporating Maale Adumim and nearby Mishor Adumim and Kedar, and “prevent Palestinian territorial continuity” between the West Bank and Jordan Valley, he said.

The army orders given to landowners, a copy of which was seen by AFP, justified the expropriation on “military grounds” and for “measures designed to stop terrorist acts”. Israel’s Haaretz newspaper said the land was earmarked for a new road that would connect east Jerusalem with the West Bank town of Jericho.

“That in turn would ‘free up’ the E-1 area between Jerusalem and Maale Adumim, through which the current Jerusalem-Jericho road runs, for a long-planned Jewish development consisting of 3,500 apartments and an industrial park,” Haaretz wrote.

The Palestinians heavily criticise the project because it would effectively split the West Bank and separate the territory from east Jerusalem.

“We condemn this Israeli decision to confiscate Palestinian land at a time in which we are trying to revive the peace process,” chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat told AFP.

Israelis oppose Jerusalem sharing: More than 60 percent of Israelis oppose sharing sovereignty over Jerusalem with the Palestinians as part of a final peace deal, in a poll published on Tuesday.

Asked if Israel should agree to “any sort of compromise on Jerusalem” as part of a final deal, 63 percent said no, compared with 21 who said yes, according to the poll published in the mass-selling Yediot Aharonot daily.

Sixty-eight percent oppose transferring Arab neighbourhoods in occupied east Jerusalem to Palestinian sovereignty, compared with 20 percent who are in favour.

Asked who should have sovereignty over the holy places in the Old City, 61 percent said Israel alone, 21 percent favoured international sovereignty, and 16 percent supported joint Israeli-Palestinian sovereignty.

On whether Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s government has a mandate from the public to reach a permanent status arrangement on Jerusalem, 52 percent said yes on condition that 80 MPs in the 120-seat parliament supported such a move. afp

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http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2007%5C10%5C10%5Cstory_10-10-2007_pg4_3