Question: where is the neighborhood of Ramat Shlomo (where a relatively routine zoning approval has now been inflated into an international incident) located?
A scan of the multitude of news stories on the outrage, the affront and the insult ought to give you a clue. E.g., the CBC:
Eiferman Properties Ltd. lists homes for sale in Ramat Shlomo. On this page of its website is a photo and (scroll down) a Google satellite map of the community. If you zoom out four clicks, you'll get a much clearer idea of where Ramat Shlomo is situated in Jerusalem and specifically with respect to those Arab neighborhoods to which the media usually refers when using the phrase "east Jerusalem." Although it sounds innocuous, that phrase is loaded, because it's commonly intended to conjure up images of displaced Arabs and Israeli "land grabs."
The new housing in Ramat Shlomo, of course, is neither. The expansion won't impinge on the nearby Arab neighborhood of Shuafat and, as you can see (or read), Ramat Shlomo is already a thriving community of close to 20,000 people and the new units are intended to accommodate the population's natural growth within the confines of plans that were neither new nor expected to be controversial.
Actually, back to that (zoomed out) map, if you have sharp eyes, you'll see, all the way down at the bottom and slightly to right of center of your screen, two small, flat, white patches with black dots in the middle. Those would be, respectively, the Dome of the Rock and the Al-Aqsa mosque, which sit at the far eastern edge of the Old City and pretty much define the heart of "east Jerusalem."
Hopefully, this will help to put into graphic perspective Evelyn Gordon's salient point in this important post at Contentions. Bottom line:
A scan of the multitude of news stories on the outrage, the affront and the insult ought to give you a clue. E.g., the CBC:
Canada voiced muted criticism Thursday over the planned expansion of 1,600 new Israeli settlements in disputed East Jerusalem.The BBC:
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has sharply rebuked Israel over its recent decision to build new settlements in East Jerusalem.AFP:
European Union foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton on Wednesday urged Israel to reverse a decision to build new homes in occupied east Jerusalem that she warned could throttle peace talks.Even the Jerusalem Post:
Swedish Foreign Minister, Carl Bildt, said that Israel's announcement on building in east Jerusalem during United States Vice President Joe Biden's visit last week was intentional and not coincidental.So if you answered "East Jerusalem," it would be hard to fault you. But you'd be wrong. Ramat Shlomo is due north of Jerusalem. Not east, not northeast. Not quite even north-northeast.
Eiferman Properties Ltd. lists homes for sale in Ramat Shlomo. On this page of its website is a photo and (scroll down) a Google satellite map of the community. If you zoom out four clicks, you'll get a much clearer idea of where Ramat Shlomo is situated in Jerusalem and specifically with respect to those Arab neighborhoods to which the media usually refers when using the phrase "east Jerusalem." Although it sounds innocuous, that phrase is loaded, because it's commonly intended to conjure up images of displaced Arabs and Israeli "land grabs."
The new housing in Ramat Shlomo, of course, is neither. The expansion won't impinge on the nearby Arab neighborhood of Shuafat and, as you can see (or read), Ramat Shlomo is already a thriving community of close to 20,000 people and the new units are intended to accommodate the population's natural growth within the confines of plans that were neither new nor expected to be controversial.
Actually, back to that (zoomed out) map, if you have sharp eyes, you'll see, all the way down at the bottom and slightly to right of center of your screen, two small, flat, white patches with black dots in the middle. Those would be, respectively, the Dome of the Rock and the Al-Aqsa mosque, which sit at the far eastern edge of the Old City and pretty much define the heart of "east Jerusalem."
Hopefully, this will help to put into graphic perspective Evelyn Gordon's salient point in this important post at Contentions. Bottom line:
All the parties concerned were understandably upset by the announcement's timing: just as proximity talks were about to begin, and while Vice President Joe Biden was in the region. But substantively, the new construction makes absolutely no difference to the prospects of an agreement -- because any agreement would unquestionably leave this neighborhood in Israel's hands.Other than the (admittedly) bad timing of its release, this decision has been demagogued to death. And by people who can't even get their geography straight. It makes you wonder whether they have any idea what they're talking about.
