CMEP Bulletin: Netanyahu Suggests Unilateral Moves

Kerry Says Two-State Solution ‘Not an Impossible Dream’ [Middle East Eye]

US Secretary of State John Kerry told an Israeli gathering at the United Nations on Wednesday that a two-state solution in the Middle East was “not an impossible dream” but would require courage.

Netanyahu Hints at Possible Annexations in West Bank [Times of Israel]

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday hinted at the possibility of an Israeli annexation of parts of the West Bank. “There’s all sorts of unilateral moves and sorts of directions. Wait and see. And they’re not necessarily in the direction that people think,” he said, refusing to elaborate.

Netanyahu Approves 454 Housing Units in Controversial East Jerusalem Residential Complex [Jerusalem Post]

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, working in coordination with the Jerusalem Municipality, approved on Tuesday 454 Jewish-owned housing units in the capital’s contested Ramot Shlomo neighborhood, located beyond the 1949 Armistice (Green) Line. The move, which sets the stage for 1,000 additional homes to be built there, follows a two year de facto freeze following a diplomatic row with the United States.

Netanyahu’s Transfer Plan is Met with Silent Complicity [+972]

The prime minister’s proposal to revoke the residency status of 100,000 East Jerusalemites sends an unequivocal message to all Arabs living under Israeli rule: your rights are rooted in our good will alone, and conditionally so. The silence of Israel’s ‘democratic’ camp is deafening.

The Settlement Enterprise Has Failed [Haaretz]

Jews comprise only 13.5 percent of the West Bank’s population and 4 percent of the land there, meaning the settlers have failed to create the appropriate conditions for annexing the West Bank.

Click here to read the full Churches for Middle East Peace Bulletin, with links to these stories.