Mohammed Mar'i Saudi Gazette RAMALLAH – The Israeli occupation authorities early Monday dismantled the Palestinian Al-Karamah (Dignity) ‘tent village' near occupied Jerusalem, Palestinian and Israeli sources said. Nabil Hababeh, the coordinator of the Beit Iksa Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlements, said that a large Israeli security force cleared out the camp set up Friday near his village, northwest of Jerusalem, in protest of Israeli settlement construction plans in the area. Hababeh said that the Israeli forces razed the tents and other structures set up in the outpost and evicted its 100 occupants. The coordinator added that the Israeli security forces were accompanied by military vehicles and bulldozers, and prevented Palestinian and foreign activists from reaching the area. The Israeli army spokesman's office confirmed the move adding that the Israeli forces seized equipment from the area. The dismantling of the Al-Karamah came just days after Israeli security forces dismantled the Bab al-Shams village which was erected in E1, the bitterly contested tract between occupied Jerusalem and the settlement of Ma'aleh Adumim. The Palestinian activists had been targeting E1 to protest Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's November 30 decision to advance plans to build 3,500 Jewish homes on the site. The Palestinian Authority has said that E1 land is needed so the future Palestinian state will be viable and have territorial continuity. It warned that Israeli construction there imperils the two-state solution. Israel fears that this could mark a new form of Palestinian protest against Israeli settlement construction in the West Bank. Earlier last week, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said he would not tolerate Palestinian outpost building. “As soon as I was updated on the Palestinian gathering, I ordered its immediate evacuation and it was indeed carried out last night in the best possible manner,” he said of the Bab al-Shams village. Disputes over settlement construction in the West Bank and East Jerusalem were the major reason for suspending the direct peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians since September 2010. The Palestinians insist not to resume any direct or indirect peace talks with Israel before the latter clearly declares a complete cessation of settlement activities in the territories occupied in 1967, including East Jerusalem that Palestinians want the capital of their future state. They also demand the release of 123 Palestinians who were arrested before the Oslo Accords in 1993. In a vote of 138 to 9, with 41 abstentions, the 193-member UN General Assembly passed a resolution on November 29 upgrading the status of Palestine from a non-member observer entity to a non- member observer state. Among the opponents were Canada and the United States.
