JERUSALEM
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has defied criticism of his government's plan to build thousands of Jewish-only settlement units in occupied East Jerusalem.
"I heard claims that building in Jewish neighborhoods in Jerusalem… distances us from peace," Netanyahu said Tuesday.
"Such criticism is… detached from reality," he argued. "I can't accept double standards when it comes to the Israel-Palestinian conflict."
On Monday, Netanyahu ordered 1,060 new Jewish-only housing units to be built in East Jerusalem.
The Israeli premier claimed that the international community remained silent when Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas incited the killing of Jews, while strongly condemning settlement construction in Jerusalem.
"We built and we will continue to build in Jerusalem our eternal capital," he said, referring to Jerusalem.
International law considers the West Bank and East Jerusalem occupied territories captured by Israel in 1967, deeming all Jewish settlement building on the land illegal.
Palestinians accuse Israel of waging an aggressive campaign to "Judaize" the city with the aim of effacing its Arab and Islamic identity and ultimately driving out its Palestinian inhabitants.
Palestinian negotiators insist that Israeli settlement building must stop before stalled peace talks with Israel can resume.
Ending Jerusalem rock-throwing to take time
Meanwhile Israeli Internal Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovich said that it may take time for Israel to end stone-throwing attacks by Palestinian youths in Jerusalem.
Tens – maybe hundreds – of "rioters" could be arrested in the process, Aharonovich was quoted as saying by Israeli radio during a tour of East Jerusalem.
The minister also accused the Palestinian Authority, Hamas and the Islamic Movement in Israel of instigating unrest in the city.
In recent months, Israeli cars and light rail trains have become frequent targets of Palestinian stone-throwers.
According to the Israeli media, the representative of an attorney for the Israeli state said that directives had already been issued to carry out arrests and toughen penalties for stone-throwers – including the imposition of fines on the parents of minors engaged in the act.
Israel National News, an Israeli news portal, quoted the attorney's representatives as saying that the proposed law called for ten-year jail terms for throwing rocks at moving vehicles.
The proposed law also states that throwing rocks at moving vehicles "with intent to injure" can be punished by up to 20 years in jail. Throwing rocks at Israeli troops, meanwhile, could entail a five-year jail sentence, the portal reported.
Tension has run high in the holy city since the July abduction and murder of a Palestinian teenager in the Shuafat district by Israeli settlers, which had sparked confrontations between Palestinian residents and Israeli troops.
Confrontations intensified during and after Israel's recent 51-day military onslaught on the Gaza Strip in July and August.
The situation in East Jerusalem has been further aggravated by frequent visits by groups of extremist Jewish settlers to the Al-Aqsa Mosque complex, where they are frequently seen performing Talmudic rituals.
Israel occupied East Jerusalem during the 1967 Middle East War. It later annexed the holy city in 1980, claiming it as the capital of the self-proclaimed Jewish state – a move never recognized by the international community.
Sacred to both Muslims and Jews, Jerusalem is home to the Al-Aqsa Mosque, which for Muslims represents the world's third holiest site.
Jews refer to the area as the "Temple Mount," claiming it was the site of two prominent Jewish temples in ancient times.
International law views the West Bank and East Jerusalem as "occupied territories," considering all Jewish settlement building on the land to be illegal.
By Abdel-Raouf Arnaout
www.aa.com.tr/en
