Israel set to build new settlements.

Israel has announced plans to build 1,500 new homes in occupied East Jerusalem, the part of the city claimed by the Palestinians, just hours after it freed 26 Palestinian prisoners as part of a deal to set peace talks in motion.

Interior Ministry Spokeswoman, Lital Apter, said Israel also plans to build an archaeology and tourism site near the Old City, home to Jerusalem's most sensitive holy sites.

Israel first announced the development plans in 2010 during US Vice President Joe Biden's visit to Israel, sparking a diplomatic rift with Washington that took months to mend.

The latest move is seen by some as an attempt by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to make up for the prisoner release, for which he has been sharply criticised within Israel.

The prisoners have been jailed on charges ranging from throwing rocks to killing Israelis in bombings and gun attacks. There are roughly 5,000 Palestinian prisoners lodged in Israeli jails.

Plans to build the homes in the city's Arab sector emerged in Israeli media almost immediately after Israel began freeing 21 prisoners to the West Bank and another five to the Hamas-run Gaza Strip overnight.

Israel has a long history of lopsided prisoner exchanges with its Palestinian counterpart. This week's release of 26 prisoners appeared especially charged because Israel seemed to be getting little in return except an opportunity to conduct negotiations.

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2013/10/israel-announces-east-jerusalem-settlements-20131030162254202960.html

And the madness continues. So much for that "peace process"

aren't they always, this is hardly news

I guess that 's true. Unfortunately it's as standard as an anything else.

sorry, I didn't even read, I expected another Palestinian land seizure and development

though I've also heard that Israelis have been eyeing East Jerusalem for a long while

what's the deal exactly? do real estate investors want the land because it's cheap, and they can slowly gentrify the area and rid the Arabs out of Jerusalem?

I would hardly call this "madness".

So what? It's been happening since humans developed.

Well, whatever the case, this move will clearly undermine any chance of a Palestinian state laid out by the 1967 lines.

So has murder, it still doesn't make it right.

their days are numbered let them have their disneyland fun.

lul brilliant argument there, LJS

I was just about to post that very comment lol.

The peace process on the ground has absolutely no relevance. The IDF makes sure we go through hell with every little daily life activity while completely isolating the Israeli citizen from the reality of what's happening. Palestinians are charged with an intense grudge, detestation and hostility against Israel and anything or anyone related to it. On the other hand Israelis kind of have gotten to the point where their lives are unaffected with the conflict, specially with what's been happening in the region for the past 3 years. It greatly shifted the attention away from the Palestinian-Israeli conflict towards more relevant and influential conflicts, for the short term at least.

In short peace process has never been any more dead than it is now. No one gives a shit about it. Its just a relic that is only used for international PR purposes.

Perpetuity.

Truth be told, I'd get the **** out.

So two of you like false analogies? Building =/= murder. But for the record.....whether murder is right or not is subjective.

Well it beat yours. And I was stating facts. Humans have made land theirs since forever. It's posted like it's oh so rare. Kids.

oh believe me I'm desperate.

I hope they continue to expand. They're the only beacon of light in the middle east. Everything else is trash.

How so?

I remember hearing in the news a few months back that my government tried to broker a breakthrough in the peace talks for about a year now, they even got Israeli and Palestinian negotiators to come here. Too bad that it didn't really help.

If I were and Israeli Jew, I wouldn't exactly be itching for "peace" and to give up a bunch of land, even if it is conquered land. After the Holocaust, the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, the Six Day War, the Munich Massacre, the Yom Kippur War, and the amount of terrorism they've faced, I would have a "**** You!" attitude to the rest of the world too.

Except that terrorist are only a small minority of the population in Gaza, and that the innocent people suffer because of them.

I never said that the IDF targets innocent civilians, I was just saying that it's unfortunate that they have to suffer because of a small minority in the population.

@deeliman:

I've not complained on the things you've said. I am used to just press reply as for general reply and not a specific reply lol

They put HAMAS in charge though.....

I'm curious. I would like to ask GazaAli what people on the street think of Hamas. Do you like them? Or disappointed from them?

If it's wrong for Israelis to live in these settlements -

then it's wrong for the TWO MILLION "palestinians" who live in Israel to have homes on Israeli land.

Israel should kick them out immediately.

Right, ???

Ah Israel, always acting like assholes, but getting away with it cause the one nation that keeps blocking any vote to do something about you, is also the one nation performing fellatio on every Israeli politician.

The Israeli government acting like fvcktards? I, for one, am shocked.

I think both sides are completely f*cked.

"This is my land because God says it is"

"Nah, it's mine because God says it's mine"

Then they kill each other over it.

What a complete waste of resources the whole conflict is.

We say its our land because we were living there before we were kicked out of it. That of course doesn't stop us from giving the land a degree of holiness or historical importance along the way.

In before anyone says we weren't living there, well my parents were not born in Gaza. They have no roots in this dump so where did they come from ?

Why is Turkey getting away with occupying, terrorizing, opressing etc?

Living on land doesn't neccesarily make it yours on a political sovereignty level. Jews were living in Gaza and the West Bank before they got kicked out. Yet those parts were they lived are not recognized as Israeli territory. Same with Jews everywhere. It's their private property but not on Israeli territory neccesarily.

If they weren't born there, how did they end up there?

People are gonna put extreme people in power when there are extreme circumstances...

Palestinians are stupid and reject every offer ever given by Israel. Eventually the Israelis will just colonize all of the West Bank and the Palestinians will be left with nothing.

And? If you're part of the problem.....you're not part of the solution.

That whole area is in turmoil.

This is not entirely accurate

Well, yeah it's not like i have done a serious research about that matter but in general that's the deal pretty much

You're saying you've done "a serious research" about the matter, and you don't even know that "Palestina" is what the Romans called the Judean Kingdom after they conquered it?

A countries claim to land is only legitimate if they can hold it by force. Israel's offensive capabilities are better than those of Palestine so there's nothing Palestine can do about it except cry in a corner. They obviously don't want it enough to fight for it.

I said i havn't done a serious research. You should quote me properly

It's true Jews aren't safe anywhere and without a home except in Israel but Palestinians are treated like garbage in many if not most arab countries.

Oh, I though that comment was supposed to be sarcasm. Very well.

And the Jewish population weren't the original habitants of that region either, just saying.. And the land you currently occupy you were not the original habitant of it either, just saying..