Sir, - We support Israeli and Palestinian peace organisations such as the Israeli feminist peace centre, Bat Shalom and its sister organisation, the Palestinian Women's Centre of Jerusalem, in opposing the building of a Jewish settlement on Abu Ghneim, to be called "Har Homa". The decision to begin building is intended to have a detrimental effect on the final status negotiations and the future of Jerusalem, in the spirit of the agreement signed between the PLO and the Israeli Government.
Building Har Homa will increase the Jewish population of the whole of Jerusalem to 200,000, while the Palestinian number stays at 170,000, so damaging the demographic balance between the two peoples, even in the eastern part. In addition, building the settlement will create a wall between East Jerusalem and Bethlehem, squeezing out not only Jerusalem but also Bethlehem and completing the settlement belt around the city, as shown in a map in The Irish Times (March 19th).
At the same time, other settlements are fragmenting the Palestinian land into enclaves in the midst of Israeli presence, thereby hindering the possibility of a future Palestinian state. Without sharing the undivided Jerusalem according to the formula of two capitals for two states, there will be no just and durable peace in the region.
We call on the Israeli Government, whose efforts for peace we applaud, to stop the bulldozers and halt the building at Har Homa. We also call on Hamas and other Palestinian groups not to use this as an excuse for renewed violence and loss of lives. - Yours, etc.,
Department of Sociology,
Trinity College, Dublin.