APN Condemns Planned New East Jerusalem Settlement

Approval of Giv’at Hamatos is a unilateral act that both symbolically and concretely sends an unequivocal message that the current Israeli government is not serious about negotiations or peace.

Home destruction in East Jerusalem Photo: apjp.org

(WASHINGTON, D.C.) - Americans for Peace Now (APN) today joined the Israeli Peace Now movement in condemning Israeli plans to build a new settlement in the southern part of East Jerusalem – the first new Israeli settlement in East Jerusalem in decades. APN warned that the implementation of the project could torpedo not only future peace efforts between Israel and the Palestinians but the very possibility of the two-state solution.

APN’s President and CEO Debra DeLee said: “This plan is a potential game-changer. If implemented, it would create facts on the ground that would make it all but impossible to secure territorial contiguity for a future Palestinian state with its capital in East Jerusalem. And without territorial contiguity and a viable capital in East Jerusalem, there is no two-state solution. And without a two-state solution, Israel’s future as a Jewish state and a democracy is in jeopardy. For now that two-state solution is still possible, but settlement projects such as Giv’at Hamatos could soon slam the door on a viable Israeli-Palestinian peace deal. For the sake of peace, this plan must be stopped.”

Giv’at Hamatos would be the first new settlement that Israel has established in East Jerusalem since the creation of the adjacent Har Homa in 1997, during Binyamin Netanyahu’s first term as prime minister. The location of Giv’at Hamatos is extremely problematic, as settlement construction there would sever Palestinian neighborhoods in the southern part of East Jerusalem from the West Bank and block Palestinian contiguity in this critical area, making a future Israeli-Palestinian peace deal very difficult to achieve.

DeLee continued: “This plan represents a direct challenge to the two-state solution to which the Obama Administration remains publicly and firmly committed. The Obama Administration has for months now been standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Israel in order to foil Palestinian efforts to gain recognition at the United Nations, arguing against “unilateral actions” and in favor of negotiations. Approval of Giv’at Hamatos is a unilateral act that both symbolically and concretely sends an unequivocal message that the current Israeli government is not serious about negotiations or peace. Failure by the Obama Administration to engage strenuously and successfully to foil this plan risks sending a similar message about the Obama Administration’s own commitment to both.”

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