Hussein Ibish blasts Bibi's move to expand Har Homa, a settlement outside Jerusalem:
All Israeli settlement activity is problematic because it makes an eventual border agreement more difficult and increases the size of Israeli constituencies opposed to territorial compromise, but Har Homa is no ordinary colony.
It is miles from the centers of Israeli government in West Jerusalem and the Holy Basin in occupied East Jerusalem, the two areas that define the city in the public imagination. Har Homa lies at the extreme southwest corner of the large chunk of West Bank territory Israel redefined as "municipal Jerusalem" after seizing the territory in 1967. It is a shiny hilltop redoubt with only one entrance, in many ways reminiscent of a fortified castle. It cuts so deeply into the West Bank that it towers directly over Bethlehem, one of the most important Palestinian cities, and the new housing units will occupy an additional ridge.
If completed, Har Homa would almost close the ring of settlements cutting off the rest of the West Bank from East Jerusalem. The apparent purpose is to put to rest any notions that Jerusalem can serve as the capital of a Palestinian state as well as the state of Israel.
The State Department says it's upset over the new expansion, sparking predictable outrage from Commentary.
(Photo by Yehudit Garinkol via Wiki)
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