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A settlement by any other name.
The rest of the world considers Ramat Shlomo a settlement. Condoleezza Rice labeled it so last week on her sixth trip to Jerusalem.
“Look it’s a problem, and it’s a problem that we’re going to address with the Israelis,” she told reporters, referring to newly announced plans to add 1,300 apartments in Ramat Shlomo. “This is obviously a road map obligation that is not being met,” she continued, referring to Israel’s pledge to freeze settlement expansion.
Most Israelis consider Ramat Shlomo to be a Jewish neighborhood of Jerusalem. Its 20,000 residents, all of whom are ultra-Orthodox, do not call themselves settlers, Ezra Berger, executive director of the Ramat Shlomo community council, told me on Tuesday.
Families average seven to eight children he said, and residents have been forced to subdivide homes to accommodate the growing families. Where to put them all?
“It bothered us a lot,” Berger said of Rice’s comments. “We feel it’s a mistaken view. She was misled because we’re actually a part of Jerusalem.”
Ramat Shlomo was built in 1996 on land annexed by Israel and incorporated as part of Jerusalem after the 1967 war. The annexation has not been recognized by the international community.
Ramat Shlomo looks like Jerusalem. Apartment buildings are made of white “Jerusalem stone” and trees shade well-kept sidewalks. Furthermost homes are roughly 200 yards from the Palestinian village of Shuafat, which was also annexed as part of Jerusalem.
Palestinians consider continued Israeli construction in East Jerusalem and the West Bank to be an obstacle to peace and the creation of a Palestinian state. Much of the world considers Jewish settlements there to be a violation of international law.
“It’s always good to complain,” Berger said of Palestinian objections to the expansion. “(But) I don’t feel it’s a real problem because we’re not going to be expanding toward the Arabs.”
Construction plans will go forward, he said. The first new homes will be available in two years.
Condoleezza Rice, meanwhile, returned home with no progress to report in the negotiations.
In a telling sign of how seriously Israelis view her peace mission — President Bush is pushing for a breakthrough before the end of his term — the two largest Israeli newspapers did not cover her visit.
Comments
By Eva Smagacz
June 26, 2008 12:58 PM | Link to this
Annexation is theft and it is flying in the face of the International Law. The concept that Israel can help itself to somebody elses land is not helping to raise the image of Israelis outside it’s borders. Even the American’s are getting tired of this gangster logic: we have it bacause nobody can make us give it back. Idea that the lack of accomodation makes it ok to annex somebody else’s property is abhorrent.
By freeringtonesPahInsish
July 29, 2008 10:03 PM | Link to this
The site www.statesman.com is interesting site, respect, admin.