New Jewish Settlement in Muslim Quarter of Jerusalem Old City near Al Aqsa Mosque could ignite a Third Intifada

Palestinian and some Israeli officials call these plans a blatant attempt to create facts on the ground and ethnically cleanse the Old City’s historic Muslim Quarter, an act of overt incitement, while the world is distracted by the Gaza Disengagement. Israel’s tactic of seizing Palestinian lands and declaring them “green areas,” which Palestinians are forbidden from building on, and later turning these lands over to settlements is one of its most insidious tools for strangling East Jerusalem with illegal settlements in an attempt to take the city off the negotiating table, in clear violation of international law.