Pophöger

Jerusalem Post rapporterar hur spanska regeringen finansierar en NGO som hjälper palestinier att bygga illegala hus i Jerusalem:

The Spanish government is paying for 42 people to come here and help rebuild two Palestinian homes that Israel deemed illegal and tore down in Anata in northeast Jerusalem, according to the director of the organization in charge of the project. […]

The Spanish Foreign Ministry’s agency for international development cooperation, Aecid, allocated some €80,000 in 2009 to ICAHD. In addition, it allocated €80,000 this year for Breaking the Silence, €100,000 for the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, and has promised to allocate €70,000 for Rabbis for Human Rights.

Här finns lite fakta om de illegala byggena i Jerusalem från tankesmedjan Jerusalem Center of Public Affairs:

* Illegal construction has reached epidemic proportions. A senior Palestinian official boasted that they have built 6,000 homes without permits during the last 4 years, of which less than 200 were demolished by the city.

* This frantic pace of illegal construction continues despite the fact that the city has authorized more than 36,000 permits for new housing units in the Arab sector, more than enough to meet the needs of Arab residents through legal construction until 2020.

* Arab residents who wish to build legally may consult urban plans translated into Arabic for their convenience and receive individual assistance from Arabic-speaking city employees.

* Both Arabs and Jews typically wait 4-6 weeks for permit approval, enjoy a similar rate of application approvals, and pay an identical fee ($3,600) for water and sewage hook-ups on the same size living unit.

* The same procedures for administrative demolition orders apply to both Jews and Arabs in all parts of the city, as a final backstop to remove structures built illegally on roadbeds or land designated for schools, clinics, and the like.

* The Palestinian Authority and Arab governments have spent hundreds of millions of dollars in an intentional campaign to subsidize and encourage massive illegal construction in the Arab sector, seeing this as part of their ”demographic war” against Israel.

* Many large, multi-story, luxury structures have been built by criminals on land they do not own, frequently land belonging to Palestinian Christians living abroad.

Det är alltså detta som spanska regeringen ägnar sig åt att motverka – man går emot Israels rättsväsende. Det är att underkänna Israels status som demokrati. Kommentar från Israeliska regeringen, från Jerusalem Post igen:

Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon, who did not know about the ICAHD summer camp, said that Israel respected ”all countries, especially democracies, and we expect them to respect us.

”Israel is a very strong democracy, with a democratic tradition – a strong one – with the rule of law and independence of the judicial branch. NGOs are entitled to have their agendas, but when they cross the line into domestic issues, into internal political issues, it is a dangerous line.”

Detta är en form av mjuk krigföring, där Sverige har liknande aktivitet som Spanien.