Ethnic Cleansing - Israeli Style

This week Irasel announced the approval for 1600 homes to be built on Palestinian land in occupied east jerusalem, this comes on top of the announcement earlier in the week the construction of 112 new apartments in the West Bank settlement of Beitar Illit.

This could have been embarrassing as these announcements coincided with the visit of the US Vice-President Joe Biden. Biden actually condemned the settlement saying -

"I condemn the decision by the government of Israel to advance planning for new
housing units,"

after which Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary general echoed Biden's censure of Israel's plans to build the additional settlements. In a statement he said that he -

"reiterates that settlements are illegal under international law".

Bearing in mind that these statements that Israel is acting against international law and violating human rights have been going on for years, and Israel continues to ignore them, even though the "settlement freeze" was a condition of peace talks. Lots of quiet condemnation from the West but no real action again, which is no great surprise. Is it any wonder that the majority of Muslims consider the US as the "enemy" - quick to stick their noses into Iraq and Afghanistan but nothing against Israel who have committed war crimes during the recent invasion of Gaza, as well as what would be described in other countries as "ethnic cleansing" in demolishing Palestinian homes to make way for Israeli settlements. Any other country would be considered a "rogue state" by the US. But the Israeli lobby in the US is a strong one.

Joe Biden had earlier on Tuesday emphasised the close relationship between the US and Israel after meeting Binyamin Netanyahu, Israel's prime minister, in Jerusalem. He also gave Netanyahu assurances of Washington's commitment to Israel's security, particularly with regard to Iran's nuclear programme, saying -

"There is no space between the United States and Israel when it comes to
Israel's security... and for that reason, and many others, addressing Iran's
nuclear programme has been one of our administration's priorities."

Netanyahu in turn praised Barack Obama, the US president, for demonstrating his commitment to "unbreakable" ties between the two countries.

So a mutual "love in" between Israel and the US will ensure that Palestinian homes will continue to be destroyed for the sake of Israeli expansion, despite the "condemnation", and the gulf between the Islamic world and the West gets ever deeper.