Breaking and of UTMOST importance.

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In a move that is likely Netanyahu's greatest "fuck you" to the int'l community, Israel's closest supporters and the prospects of any two-state outcome, the Government of Israel will on Aug. 20 extend statutory approval to E-1. 2/

E-1 has long been considered by virtually all of the int'l community as the "doomsday settlement".

E-1 will dismember the West Bank into 2 cantons, making a viable Palestinians State impossible. It will seal of Jerusalem from the West Bank, preventing a Palestinians capital.

Thread.

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The photo was taken in the massive subterranean excavations beneath the homes of Palestinians in occupied Silwan, site of the most notorious of East Jerusalem's Biblically motivated settlements.

https://twitter.com/_Goldwasser_/status/1954029001673978290

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Silwan is built atop the ancient "City of David". There is nothing sacred about the Roman road in the photo.

However it serves as pretext transforming the Palestinians into extras in this pseudo-Biblical settler pageant.

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Breaking and important.

Read Senator Chris Van Hollen's appeal relating to Israel's increasingly problematic policies towards Christians and Christian institutions in Jerusalem and the Holy Land.

It's deteriorating.

vanhollen.senate.gov/news/press-rel… 2/

Senator Van Hollen's message was precipitated by a particularly egregious step taken today by the Jerusalem Municipality.

The Municipality today froze the bank account of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

Read that again. It's for real.

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A Dire and Urgent Heads-up: the Approval of E-1 will likely be Greenlighted TODAY

Today, August 6, the West Bank Statutory Planning Committee is likely to approve E-1, long dubbed “the doomsday settlement”.

This requires immediate attention & focused, credible engagement. 2/

What is E-1? Since 1996, the E-1 settlement Plan has been pursued by the Government of Israel. The plan will allow for the construction of thousands of residential units in an area of 12.5 sq. kms, located between East Jerusalem and the settlement city of Ma’aleh Adumim.

Thread.

Bear with me. This is extremely important.

This has just been released by the Prime Minister’s Office:

It’s Israel’s policy to maintain the Status Quo at the Temple Mt. That hasn’t changed, nor will it change”

Today there was large scale Jewish prayer on the Mount.

https://twitter.com/n12news/status/1951947413771477378

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On Dec. 24 2015, Netanyahu gave the barebones definition of the Status Quo. Or so everyone thinks. Except Netanyahu.

“Israel reaffirms its commitment to upholding unchanged the status quo of the Temple Mount…Muslims pray on the Temple Mt.; non-Muslims visit the Temple Mt.”

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Breaking& important.

We are fuc*king off the rails.

With Israel's relations w/ France already in crisis mode, the State of Israel has decided to take measures to gain control of Kings' Tombs in East Jerusalem.

FM Sa'ar is proposing a resolution to be made on Jerusalem Day. 2/

Kings Tombs ar3 an important archeological site in E. Jerusalem (on Nablus Rd., south of the American Colony Hotel).

The site is comprised of toms hewn in bedrock, and dating from the First Century CE.

Since 1886, Kings Tombs have been owned by the Government of France.

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Important.

Thread.

Jerusalem Day, which commemorates the “uniting” of Jerusalem (an event almost universally seen not as the date when Jerusalem was "united" but when the Israeli occupation of Palestinian East Jerusalem commenced) will take place on the eve of Many 25 May 26 2/

There are two events that require not only close scrutiny, but pre-emptory engagement.

1. The ultranatonalistic "flags parade" through the Muslim Quarter.

2. The "festive" Cabinet meeting in the Palestinian neighborhood od Silwan.

And keep an eye out for a 3rd event: E-1.

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With global attention riveted to Ukraine, Trump, Gaza, etc. it is not at all surprising that there is little bandwidth left for issues relating to the developments on the in East Jerusalem, that would have generated keen interest a mere two years ago. 2/

The flagging interest in settlement expansion is compounded by the fact that Netanyahu’s gov't is the least engageable Israel's history. In the past, engagement by the US or EU member states would on occasion elicit restraint from Netanyahu. This is no longer the case.

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Breaking and extremely important
The Government of Israel is in the process of approving two adjacent Town Planning Schemes which will have a devastating impact on occupied Palestinian East Jerusalem and any the very possibility of any permanent status agreement in the future. 2/

Both plans are situated in the Palestinian neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah in East Jerusalem, and are adjacent to one another.

The first plan is in Um Haroun, and calls for the construction of 312 residential units in two high-rises, between 24 and 30 stories in height.

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Under the U.N. partition plan of 1947 by which Israel was founded, Jerusalem was to be a Corpus Separatum, that is part of neither state, Jewish or Arab.

In the wake of the 1948, Jerusalem became a divided city, and the Corpus Separatum never came into being. 2/

The border in Jerusalem was created by the 1949 Armistice Agreement, a border that came to be known as the Green Line.

The Green Line ran through the heart of Jerusalem, with West Jerusalem part of Israel, and East Jerusalem part of Jordan.

A thread on sanctioning settlers.

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For many years I avoided this subject like the plague. Some of the reasons I did so remain valid.

I do not believe that Israel can be bludgeoned into ending occupation.
Many of those advocating sanctions seek.vengeance, not a solution.

But 2/

But over time, my views have changed.

We are off the rails. And it didn't start with the onset of the Netanyahu regime. Official Israel promotes a metastasizing occupation, a majority of my compatriots are in denial of the existence of occupation.

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There could be very possibly be blood. Soon.

That sounds odd, because October 7 and the carnage in Gaza that ensued are still in play.

But there is blood and there is blood. I am speaking of an Al Aqsa/Temple Mount eruption. 2/

For centuries, the Al Aqsa the/Temple mount has been the detonator of choice for those seeking to trigger convulsive violence: from Montagu Parker and Ariel Sharon and many in between.

It's generally the same: a real purported threat or to the sanctity of the Mount.

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It’s time to tell a real Netanyahu story, one that I’ve periodically told friends in very senior positions.

In the early 1990s I was a practicing attorney with real clients, one of which was the first non-kosher upscale restaurant in Jerusalem.

The owners asked to meet.

https://twitter.com/k_vanvoorhees/status/1826672598190883140

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I always tried to meet them at the restaurant for the food.

There they were, at a table, grinning from ear to ear

Nu, I asked, what happened？They were almost giggling.

Finally the said: Netanyahu comes here all the time. He was a rising star, but not too famous.

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This is important. Very important. Bear with me. If you're a cursory follower or impatient, don't bother.

Back in April, the Israeli Cabinet transferred the ministerial authority over what is called the Enforcement Authority to Ben Gvir's Ministry of National Security. 2/

This sounds mundane, but it's anything but. In essence, this gives Ben Gvir authority over home demoltions, including but not only in East Jerusalem. It grants Ben Gvir powers to decide how many and what gets demolished. And draconian authorities that suspend basuc rights.

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This is extremely dangerous. The chance of stopping the parade are close to nil.

Minister Ben-Gvir:

"We will march tomorrow at Damascus Gate and Jews will ascend to the Temple Mount...

https://twitter.com/GLZRadio/status/1797851888018477124

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...All the brigade commanders in Gaza tell me that every house you enter sees the Temple Mount, so you have to hit them where it's most important to them."

Please note. Ben Gvir does not say that he will ascend to the Mount (at least here). It's up to Netanyahu.

1/ Extremely important.

The Supreme Court ruled that three Palestinian families who live in the Battan Hawa quarter of Silwan are to be evicted and their homes turned over to the East Jerusalem settlers of Aterter Cohanim

haaretz.co.il/news/law/2024-… 2/

A number of observations.

1. The settlers claim to rights in these and other EJ properties by taking over the Aministration of defunct century old religious endowments with which they have no prior connection.

2. The presiding Judge Solberg resides in West Bank settlement.

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Breaking and of utmost importance.

Yesterday, April 8, the Netanyahu Cabinet decided to devolve the Authority for the Enforcement [on inter alia] Real Land of construction laws from the Ministry of Finance to the Minister of National Security.

See:
gov.il/BlobFolder/rep… 2/

In the eyes of the Palestinians in East Jerusalem, home demolitions are the most brutal & egregious manifestations of Israeli occupation. W/the exception of real or perceived threat to Al Aqsa, no issue in Jerusalem is more volatile & more incendiary than home demolitions.

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Read this, and then read it again. It is an appeal of the elite men and women in Israel's Special Forces and intelligent Community.

For people like rhis, for whom loyalty and keeping confidences has been the foundation of their lives, this is nothing short of extraordinary.

https://twitter.com/BenCaspit/status/1762828794887360524

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In answer to numerous inquires.

It has been Israeli policy in East Jerusalem to maintain a large Israeli majority, euphemistically called maintaining the demographic balance.

Achieving this led to:

a. accelerating the growth of the Israel sector. 2/

b. putting a cap on growth of the Palestinian sector.

The growth of the Israeli sector was achieved by building 62,000 settler homes in East Jerusalem.

The limitation of Palestinan growth was achieved by a planning regime making the receipt of a permit virtually impossible.

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Compulsory reading, and timely. Ramadan begins on March 10.

Some insights/ hypotheses.

Ben Gvir is far from the only threat to calm, just the nosiest one.

Al Aqsa/the Temple Mount has been pretty quiet since October 7, much to everyone's surprise.

https://twitter.com/JacobMagid/status/1755082596159979527

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The reasons are not entirely clear, as is the case with the relative calm throughput East Jerusalem.

Firstly, there are the numbers, which are way down. Since the outbreak of the war, West Bankers have been barred entry, most significantly for Friday prayer.

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The inclusion of the restoration of the 2002 status quo is intriguing but shouldn't surprise us. This issue has remained unresolved for years.

Some background. The second intifada, which erupted in September 2000 triggered by Ariel Sharon's triumphal visit to the Mount.

https://twitter.com/gnuseibeh/status/1755156276982514145

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The Second intifada came to be known as the Al Aqsa Intifada.

With the outbreak of violence, the Jordanian Waqf sealed the site briefly for Muslim worshipers. However, no agreement was reached regarding non-Muslim visitors, including Jewish visitors.