Israel
Tsafrir Abayov/Associated Press
Action Expanding Settlements Follows U.N. Vote
As the United Nations General Assembly voted overwhelmingly to upgrade the Palestinians’ status on Nov. 29, 2012, Israel took steps toward building housing in a controversial area of East Jerusalem known as E1, where Jewish settlements have long been seen as the death knell for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
A senior Israeli official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said that the decision was made to move forward on “preliminary zoning and planning preparations” for housing units in E1, which would connect the large settlement of Maale Adumim to Jerusalem and therefore make it impossible to connect the Palestinian cities of Ramallah and Bethlehem to Palestinian neighborhoods of East Jerusalem. Israel also authorized the construction of 3,000 housing units in other parts of East Jerusalem and the West Bank, the official said.
Earlier in the day, the United Nations granted Palestine recognition as a nonmember observer state, in a defeat for Israel and the United States and a boost for the Palestinian Authority and its president, Mahmoud Abbas, who had been weakened by the recent eight days of fighting in Gaza.
The new ranking could make it easier for the Palestinians to pursue Israel in international legal forums, but it remained unclear what effect it would have on attaining what both sides say they want — a two-state solution.
The tally, in which 138 members voted yes, 9 voted no and 41 abstained, took place after a speech by Mr. Abbas to the General Assembly, in which he called the moment a “last chance” to save the two-state solution amid a narrowing window of opportunity.
But Ron Prosor, the Israeli ambassador to the United Nations, said before the vote was taken that the United Nations resolution would do nothing to advance the peace process.
Mr. Prosor said that Israel favors a two-state resolution reached through negotiations, with some parts of the occupied territories remaining in Israeli hands, a strong focus on Israel’s security concerns and formal recognition by the Palestinians of Israel’s legitimacy as a Jewish state.
Summary of the Conflict in Gaza
On Nov. 14, 2012, Israel launched an air campaign against targets associated with Hamas, the hardline Palestinian party that has ruled Gaza since 2007. An Israeli airstrike blew up the car carrying the commander of the Hamas military wing, Ahmed al-Jabari, among other targets.
It was the first major conflict between the two since Israel’s Operation Cast Lead killed about 1,400 Gazans in three weeks of air and ground assaults in response to repeated rocket fire starting in December 2008.
Since then, the two sides had observed an informal and uneasy cease-fire. In recent months, the number of rockets fired into southern Israel by militant groups in Gaza had risen. Hamas had mostly held its fire while it struggled to rein in those groups.
But it responded forcefully to the new assault, sending more than 300 rockets into Israel over 24 hours, with several penetrating the heart of Israel’s population center around Tel Aviv.
With the support of the regional powerhouses of Qatar, Turkey and Egypt, Hamas was demonstrating its strength compared with a weak and crisis-laden Palestinian Authority. For Hamas, the goal was not necessarily a military victory, but a diplomatic one.
Mr. Jabari was on Israel’s most-wanted list of Palestinian militants. The Israeli military said it had ordered the strike in response to days of rocket fire launched from Gaza into Israeli territory.
The scope of the airstrikes, in response to what Israel called repeated rocket attacks by Gaza-based Palestinian militants, provoked rage in Gaza, where Hamas said the airstrikes amounted to war. They responded by firing hundreds of rockets into Israel, including some aimed as far away as Tel Aviv.
Indirect talks on a ceasefire began in Cairo on Nov. 18. Emboldened by the rising power of Islamists around the region, Hamas demanded new Israeli concessions to its security and autonomy before it would halt its rocket attacks.
A cease-fire was announced on Nov. 21, to be followed by broader talks, though plans for that remained vague.
What was widely heralded as a game changer by Palestinian politicians and independent analysts alike was viewed by Israeli officials and commentators as a maintenance mission that had succeeded in its stated goals: restoring quiet after months of intensifying rocket fire, and culling the weapons cache of Gaza’s armed groups.
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