MIDDLE EAST:THE PALESTINIANS may suspend negotiations with Israel in protest at Israeli construction plans for East Jerusalem, Palestinian official Yasser Abed Rabbo said yesterday.
Palestinians contend Israeli colonisation activity is designed to pre-empt and prevent creation of a Palestinian state incorporating East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza by creating Israeli colonies on land Palestinians need for their state. Since talks resumed in November, Israel has announced its intention of building more than 3,000 apartments in occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank, where 480,000 Israeli settlers already live.
Mr Rabbo was responding to Wednesday's approval by Jerusalem's Planning and Construction Committee of the erection of 1,800 new units in Pisgat Ze'ev and Har Homa, known to the Palestinians as Jabal Abu Ghnaim, settlements north and south of Jerusalem.
Meanwhile, in a new form of protest over the settlements, the West Bank village of Bil'in, west of Ramallah, has launched a lawsuit in Montreal against two Canadian construction companies. Green Park International and Green Mount International are accused of illegally building 250 apartments in 30 buildings in an Israeli settlement located on land belonging to Bil'in.
The suit alleges that the firms are advertising and selling housing units to Israelis, "thereby creating a new dense-settlement neighbourhood on the lands of the village of Bil'in. In so doing, the defendants are aiding, abetting, assisting and conspiring with the State of Israel in carrying out an illegal purpose."
This, argues Bil'in, constitutes a violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention and the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, both of which prohibit an occupying power from settling its citizens on occupied land.
Bil'in is relying on the Canadian Geneva Conventions Act and the Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Act which, Bil'in contends, "have jurisdiction over Canadians regardless of where in the world the offence has taken place".
Bil'in's lawyer Michael Sfard, an Israeli, said the suit "serves as a blinking red light to investors and companies and private individuals who are thinking of being involved in building settlements". Bil'in seeks $2 million (€1.26 million) in punitive damages and restitution of its land.
For more than three years, Bil'in has been staging weekly protests against Israel's expropriations and its wall-fence complex.
Demonstrations usually climax when Israeli troops fire rubber-coated steel balls and gas at Israeli, international and Palestinian protesters. Many have been beaten and arrested.
