Jerusalem : The Israeli government approved, on Sunday, the allocation of 864 million dollars to tighten its grip on East Jerusalem , over the next 5 years.
The Israeli government said in a written statement: “Today, the government approved the five-year plan for the years 2024 to 2028, with a total amount of approximately 3.2 billion shekels,” which is equivalent to $864 million.
She added that the plan aims to “reduce social and economic disparities and economic development in East Jerusalem.”
The government statement quoted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as saying, “It is a decision that will change the face of the city of Jerusalem. The decision will contribute to increasing the number of those who are eligible to obtain the Israeli high school diploma.”
In recent weeks, the national forces in the city, and the parents of the students, have renewed their adherence to the Palestinian “Tawjihi” educational curriculum and their rejection of the Israeli “bagrut” educational curriculum.
In recent years, many school principals and parents' committees have said that the Israeli authorities impose the Israeli curriculum on schools in Jerusalem.
The Israeli government said the plan “deals with education and vocational guidance, employment promotion, high-productivity employment and economic development, public transportation, energy, electricity and sanitation, legal planning, public buildings, health, welfare and sustainability, public spaces, culture, community, entertainment and personal security.”
However, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said - according to the statement - "I am pleased to lead the largest five-year plan for East Jerusalem As a person who believes in strengthening (Israeli) sovereignty over Jerusalem as a whole, I see great importance in the five-year plan."
He added, "United Jerusalem is not a slogan, it is a responsibility the responsibility of every inhabitant, and the responsibility for the development and prosperity of Jerusalem, our eternal capital," as he put it.
In turn, the Israeli mayor of Jerusalem, Moshe Lion, said, according to the statement: “The decision that was taken today is a sovereign decision. We are here today practically proving that East Jerusalem is an integral part of Jerusalem.”
For his part, the Israeli Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben Gvir, announced the allocation of 120 million shekels ($31.5 million) for what he called "strengthening security sovereignty in East Jerusalem."
“Another and important step in our relentless struggle to restore personal security in Jerusalem, our capital,” he said in a separate statement.
The Israeli Broadcasting Authority said that the plan will include increasing the number of surveillance cameras and increasing the number of police personnel in the city.
The Palestinians insist that East Jerusalem is the capital of the future Palestinian state, and that it is an integral part of the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
Turkish Foreign Ministry : Condemns the extension of the United States lifting the arms embargo on Greek Cyprus
The Turkish Foreign Ministry described the United States' extension of lifting the arms embargo to the Greek Cypriot administration as a destabilizing step in the region against the Cypriot-Turkish side that harms its neutrality, which it has maintained on the island of Cyprus for many years.
In a statement on Saturday, the Turkish Foreign Ministry condemned the United States' decision to extend the lifting of the arms embargo to the Greek Cypriot administration for "an additional year, from October 1, 2023."
The State Department indicated that the US extension decision came after Washington lifted the arms embargo on Greek Cyprus in September 2020, and then followed it by expanding its scope in 2022, according to the statement.
The statement indicated that the US destabilizing steps in the region against the Cypriot-Turkish side had damaged its neutral position, which it had maintained on the island of Cyprus for many years.
These American steps, according to the statement, also impeded finding a just, lasting and sustainable solution to the Cyprus issue.
The statement called on the United States to reconsider its policies that pose risks to stability in the region.
He stressed that Turkey, based on its position as a guarantor state in Cyprus, will continue to preserve the presence, security and peace of the Turkish Cypriots within the framework of its historical and legal responsibilities.
On Friday, the US State Department announced that it had lifted the arms embargo on the Greek Cypriot administration for the fiscal year 2024.
Cyprus has been suffering since 1974, divided between two parts, Turkish in the north and Greek in the south, and in 2004 the Cypriots of the south rejected a plan submitted by the United Nations to unite the two parts of the island.
Since the collapse of the UN-sponsored Cyprus reunification talks in Switzerland in July 2017, no official UN-mediated negotiations have taken place to settle the dispute on the island.
Tags:
asiaeast