Arabs creating 'facts on the ground' in J'lem

JNW HEADLINE NEWS
Arabs creating 'facts on the ground' in J'lem
By Jerusalem Newswire Editorial Staff

June 10th, 2005


One thousand Palestinian Arabs living in 80 illegally-built houses will be allowed to continue flaunting the law after Jerusalem Mayor Uri Lupolianski did an about-face Thursday and decided not to demolish the structures.

The houses are located in what is today known as the neighborhood of Silwan, on land long designated for a public park. Silwan is known outside of the Arab world as the City of David, and encompasses all of what was Jerusalem during the reign of Israel's second king.

Most of the squatters are migrants from nearby Hebron, a city also closely associated with Israel's most famous monarch.

International outrage followed last week's publication of the city engineer's intention to remove the illegal Arab buildings. The “Palestinians” threatened to unleash a fresh wave of anti-Jewish terror if the city followed through on the plan.

Israelis have complained that while the world demands they stop building homes and prejudicing the outcome of future negotiations, the Arabs are free to create “facts on the ground” without international interference.

The Arab world insists the difference lies in their rightful claim to the land, while the Jews are modern usurpers. Historical fact and binding international law would suggest otherwise, however.

Decades of archeology have uncovered innumerable artifacts backing up biblical and historical accounts of centuries of thriving and sovereign Jewish civilization in the region. By contrast, no people group known as “Palestinians” have ever held sovereign sway over the land, nor does evidence of such a culture separate from the wider Arab world exist.

On the legal front, Israelis point to the 1920 San Remo Conference declaration, in which the League of Nations granted the Mandate for Palestine to the British Empire, on the condition it hold to the Balfour Declaration by helping to establish “close Jewish settlement” and a sovereign Jewish state in all of what is today Israel, Jordan and the PA-controlled territories.

The San Remo document remains the last legally binding international decree issued regarding sovereignty over the land. All subsequent United Nations resolutions on the topic were issued under Chapter VI of the world body's charter, rendering them mere suggestions for conflict resolution.

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