New Jersey Herald · 14 April 2017

CP-2017-001

50 years after war, settlements blur future borders

Israel and the Palestinians

The Associated Press, Jerusalem

Transcribed from the clipping

“For many Israelis, Har Homa is another neighborhood in Jerusalem, served by city bus lines and schools… But for Palestinians and much of the world, this unassuming neighborhood is far more. It is an illegal settlement in east Jerusalem, and in some ways, the most damaging… ‘It’s a feeling of helplessness,’ said Aziz Abu Teir, the mukhtar, or community leader, of Umm Tuba, a neighboring Palestinian village, as he stared from his balcony at the sprawling rows of apartment buildings across a ravine. ‘You can do nothing.’… ‘This is our homeland,’ said Herzl Yechezkel, one of the founding fathers of Har Homa. ‘And we have to build it up.’… These settlements today are home to over 600,000 Israelis, roughly one-third of them in east Jerusalem… The Palestinians lost more than 150 acres of land to Har Homa. Abu Teir, a 55-year-old British-educated civil engineer, said his village’s lands were passed down from generation to generation, and ownership is difficult to document, making it impossible to stop settlement… ‘The land that used to belong to my forefathers suddenly became a settlement specifically for Jewish people. It’s not a fair thing,’ he said. ‘When did the Israeli government build a housing development for the Arabs?’”

Photograph caption

The Har Homa neighborhood is seen in east Jerusalem. For many Israelis, Har Homa has become another neighborhood in Jerusalem, served by city bus lines, schools and public services. But for the Palestinians, this unassuming neighborhood is far more. It is an illegal settlement in east Jerusalem, and in some ways, the most damaging. AP Photo/Dan Balilty.

Context added by this archive

A named Palestinian community leader and a named settler founder, each given the same room on the same page.

Cite this item

"50 years after war, settlements blur future borders," New Jersey Herald, 14 April 2017. Covering Palestine archive, CP-2017-001. https://coveringpalestine.org/archive/cp-2017-001

Elsewhere in the archive

• Palestinians fear Trump will put them on sidelinesDaily American Republic · 8 February 2017 · the same year
• Plight of Palestinian refugees now spans 5 generationsHickory Daily Record · 24 April 2017 · the same year
• Alliance between Palestinians, Israelis and American Jews offers hopeThe Patriot Ledger · 14 June 2017 · the same year