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The Real Illegal Settlements

(Gatestone Institute) Bassam Tawil - As the international community continues to slam Israel for construction in Jewish settlement communities, Palestinians are quietly engaging in massive construction of entire neighborhoods in many parts of the West Bank and Jerusalem. A quick tour of the areas surrounding Jerusalem exposes the colossal construction of high-rise buildings without any adequate planning or safety concerns. Only a handful of steps separate some of the buildings, and most lack proper sewage systems. It is not an Arab housing crisis that is prompting this spree of illegal Palestinian construction. Rather, the goal is political: to show the world that Jerusalem is an Arab city. By and large, the apartments remain empty: there is simply no real demand. According to Arab residents, many of the "contractors" are actually land-thieves and thugs who lay their hands on private Palestinian-owned land or on lands whose owners are living abroad. But they also point out that the EU, the PLO and some Arab and Islamic governments are funding the project. "They spot an empty plot of land and quickly move in to seize control over it," said a resident whose land was "confiscated" by the illegal contractors. "They tell you if you don't like it, go to court, knowing that by the time the legal procedures are over they would have succeeded in building another tall building and even selling some of the apartments." Palestinians estimate that in the past few years they have built more than 15,000 illegal housing units in areas surrounding Jerusalem. Dozens of correspondents see with their own eyes the Palestinian settlements rising on every side of Jerusalem, but choose to report only about Jewish building and not the Palestinian land-grab.
2016-12-07 00:00:00
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