“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.” (Matthew 5:9)
Last week, Saeb Erekat, the chief Palestinian negotiator for the peace talks, along with his fellow negotiator, Muhammad Shtayyeh, the minister in charge of the Palestinian Economic Council for Development and Reconstruction, resigned from peace negotiations with Israel.
In response, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas rejected the resignations, asking them to continue the negotiations and re-asserted the PA commitment to the peace process.
“The delegation to the talks handed in its resignation, which we have still not accepted,” Abbas said. (Israel HaYom)
“We have committed to continue the negotiations for nine months, regardless of what happens on the ground. We are committed and we will go to the full nine months, and then we will take the appropriate decision,” he said.
Ramat Shlomo (Solomon’s Heights) is a large Jerusalem neighborhood that comprises mostly ultra-Orthodox Jews.
The resignation apparently came in response to an announcement of the construction of 1,500 homes in Ramat Shlomo, a Jewish neighborhood in northern Jerusalem.
The construction of bike paths and homes in this established neighborhood is being portrayed as an attempt to crowd out Arab populations.
That characterization is simply misleading.
Although this hilly area was occupied by Jordan between 1948 and 1967, it remained uninhabited.
The ultra-Orthodox Jerusalem neighborhood of Ramat Shlomo (Solomon’s Heights).
Meanwhile, European Union Foreign Policy Chief Catherine Ashton, is also condemning construction in Ramat Shlomo, calling it an “illegal settlement of east Jerusalem.”
Ashton claimed that the EU has “repeatedly called on Israel to end all settlement activity.”
European Union Foreign Policy Chief Catherine Ashton
“The talks with the Palestinians were conducted according to the parameters that had been agreed upon in advance,” Israeli MK Yuval Steinitz said.
Steinitz added that any complaints about Israeli building plans in Judea and Samaria are out of place and violate introductory agreements to the negotiations. (Arutz Sheva)
“One of those parameters was that there would be no limit on Israeli construction in Judea and Samaria at all. I was with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu when this issue came up in the pre-negotiations with US Secretary of State John Kerry, who spoke on behalf of the Palestinians, and all agreed to this stipulation,” he said.
The quarrel over Jerusalem is a sure sign that we are living in the last days. The Bible describes a time before Yeshua (Jesus) returns when Jerusalem will be surrounded by armies.
