Qatar: UN must probe judaisation of Jerusalem

Qatar has urged the United Nations to investigate the "Judaisation" of east Jerusalem, further expressing "grave concern over the expansion of Jewish settlements in the city". "The occupation of these Palestinian territories is unacceptable," the emirate warned. "We must act swiftly to stop the Judaisation of Jerusalem," Qatar's emir, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani said at the "International Conference on Jerusalem" in Doha. The pan-Arab conference focused on what the Palestinian Authority warned was "Israel's push to cement its control over the occupied eastern sector of the Holy City." Sheikh Hamad called on the UN to "investigate the measures Israel has taken to Judaise Jerusalem since its occupation in 1967." The issue of Israeli settlements in the West Bank and especially Israeli presence in east Jerusalem, which the Palestinians want to declare as the capital of the future Palestinian state, is one of the core issues plaguing the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. The Palestinians adamantly reject settlement construction in the West Bank and east Jerusalem and demand all such activity be suspended as a pre-requisite for negotiations. Israel has suspended West Bank settlement construction several times as a goodwill gesture, but maintains that it has every right to build anywhere in Jerusalem, as it is the capital of a sovereign state. Sheikh Hamad warned that the Arab Spring, which has seen the toppling of four long-time rulers in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and Yemen, "has awakened and will not accept anything less than a just peace based on the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people. "Is it conceivable that the people that could no longer tolerate oppression at home will accept the oppression of a foreign occupation?" he asked. Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, who attended the two-day conference, told participants that "the measures of annexation... are null and void. East Jerusalem is the eternal capital of Palestine." A statement by the Prime Minister's Office slammed Abbas' "harshly inflammatory speech" and demanded the Palestinian leadership to stop "distorting reality." "For thousands of years, Jerusalem has been the eternal capital of the Jewish people," the statement declared. Meanwhile, Israeli officials have reportedly criticised UN Middle East envoy Robert Serry for taking part in the Doha conference. "It is extremely disappointing that the UN secretary-general’s envoy, who never finds the time to properly condemn the shootings on Israeli territory from Gaza, has all the time in the world to take part in what is unashamedly an anti-Israel propaganda fest, intended to subvert and deny the very foundations of Jewish history," one diplomatic official said. "This has done a huge disservice to Serry’s mission, to the role of the UN and to the cause of peace," the official said.