Har Homa | The American Task Force on Palestine

One man's stand against an Israeli settlement
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Independent
by Matthew Kalman - August 17, 2011 - 11:00pm

Said Ayid was born under the British Mandate, grew up in Jordan, raised his eight children under Israeli occupation and now lives on the edge of a sprawling new Israeli neighbourhood under the token protection of the Palestinian Authority. But throughout those 73 years he has not moved an inch. Two weeks ago, the Israeli government announced the addition of 930 new units in Har Homa, the new neighbourhood built in the past decade on the adjacent hillside south of Jerusalem, occupied by Israel in the Six Day War of 1967.

US chides Israel over new east Jerusalem project
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
August 9, 2011 - 11:00pm

The United States is "deeply concerned" by Israel's plan to build a new housing project in the southeast Jerusalem neighborhood of Har Homa, the State Department said on Tuesday. The State Department warned that such "unilateral actions" were detrimental to the peace process. Last week, the Jerusalem Zoning Commission approved 930 new housing units in Har Homa. Actual building on the site is at least two years off. Alongside its rare rebuke of a close ally, the State Department said Israelis and Palestinians should settle their differences on Jerusalem through negotiation.

ISRAEL: Approval of 900 new homes in East Jerusalem draws ire
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
by Edmund Sanders - August 3, 2011 - 11:00pm

Israel's Interior Ministry gave the final green light Thursday to the construction of more than 900 new homes in a Jewish development built on land seized during the 1967 Mideast war. Palestinians and anti-settlement groups said the Har Homa expansion, which has been working its way through Israeli regulatory agencies since last year, will occupy one of the last remaining undeveloped hillsides in the area and effectively cut off direct access between Palestinian neighborhoods in East Jerusalem and Bethlehem.

After U.S. chides Netanyahu over East Jerusalem construction, more settlement plans unveiled
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Nir Hasson, Chaim Levinson - November 9, 2010 - 12:00am

Israel published two major new settlement plans on Tuesday, threatening to undermine Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's latest trip to Washington. More than 1,000 Jewish homes were approved for construction beyond the Green Line in East Jerusalem, along with a second plan to build 800 homes in the West Bank settlement of Ariel. The U.S. administration had been trying to persuade Netanyahu to declare a second settlement freeze in the territories. The State Department said it was very unhappy when it learned of the plans to build in East Jerusalem.

After GOP victory, emboldened Israel declares new building in East Jerusalem
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor
by Joshua Mitnick - November 8, 2010 - 12:00am

Israel has published plans to build about 1,300 new housing units in East Jerusalem neighborhoods, a move that highlights US-Israeli differences just as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrived in the United States to huddle with Obama administration officials. Skip to next paragraph View gallery: Israeli settlements Related Stories Israelis launch their own tea party ahead of US elections As stonethrowing escalates, Israeli police round up Arab children in E. Jerusalem Oil and gas discoveries produce potential Israel-Lebanon flash points

Israel to build more homes in East Jerusalem
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
by Edmund Sanders - November 8, 2010 - 12:00am

Reporting from Jerusalem — Setting the stage for another potential clash with the Obama administration, Israel said Monday that it would build an additional 1,300 homes on disputed land in East Jerusalem.

Ethnically cleansing the land where Christianity was born
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times
by Michael Jansen - May 13, 2009 - 11:00pm

During his high profile visit to the Holy Land, Pope Benedict XVI preached reconciliation between Christians/Muslims and Jews. But he failed to bridge the gulf between the Vatican and Jews because he did not speak of past issues dividing Catholics and Jews. These include long-standing persecution of Jews by the church, culminating in the murder of six million by the Nazis during World War II, and the refusal of Pope Pius XII to intervene in the Nazi extermination of the Jews.

Bibi: I'll resume settlement activity
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
September 28, 2008 - 7:00pm

Binyamin Netanyahu will resume building in existing West Bank settlements if he is elected prime minister, the opposition leader told Walla! News on Sunday. "I don't understand why there can be natural growth in Arab neighborhoods, but not in Jewish neighborhoods," he said. "There is a difference between the plans of a family that has more children and wants to close off its balcony and the building of additional neighborhoods. There is no reason why there shouldn't be development of existing [Jewish] neighborhoods."

Palestinian-Americans Concerned about New Jerusalem Settlement Plans
Press Release - Contact Information: Hussein Ibish - May 31, 2008 - 11:00pm

Washington, DC, June 2 – New Israeli settlement expansions in and around occupied East Jerusalem threaten prospects for a Palestinian-Israeli peace agreement, according to the American Task Force on Palestine (ATFP). On Monday ATFP warned that further Israeli construction in and around Jerusalem dangerously prejudiced final status talks and made the creation of an independent Palestinian state with its capital in East Jerusalem more difficult.

Settlements Are Their Religion
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Uzi Benziman - (Opinion) April 2, 2008 - 5:47pm

Three weeks ago, a smug real estate agent appeared on TV and announced with certainty that all the apartments to be built in Givat Ze'ev's Agan Ayalot neighborhood would be populated immediately. He added that he was convinced of his ability to sell every apartment built in this settlement because there is tremendous demand from ultra-Orthodox families for housing in this area. As if to make his words more concrete, little boys with long peyot and little girls in long dresses were shown playing in the background.