Israel Approves Plan to Demolish Palestinian Homes in East Jerusalem

I’m trying to imagine what the reaction of the Glenn Beck-types would be if the U.S. government, or anyone for that matter, came along and tossed them out into the street and demolished their homes without just compensation simply to make way for housing for a more “preferable” ethnic group or simply because they wanted the space for a nice new tourist center and art galleries:

Jerusalem municipal planning committee approves plan to demolish 22 Palestinian homes in the Silwan neighborhood of East Jerusalem to make room for a tourist center.

[snip]

The Jerusalem municipal planning committee approved Monday a contentious plan to raze 22 Palestinian homes to make room for a tourist center that Palestinians fear would tighten Israel’s grip on the city’s contested eastern sector.

The plan, which affects the neighborhood of Silwan in East Jerusalem, risks more U.S.-Israeli friction just two weeks ahead of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama.

Crowley said the United States was concerned about the project, though he said it was a preliminary step being taken by the Jerusalem municipality and not the Israeli government.

[snip]

Barkat says the plan gives a much-needed facelift to Jerusalem’s decaying al-Bustan neighborhood, which Israel calls Gan Hamelech, or the King’s Garden.

The plan calls for the construction of shops, restaurants, art galleries and a large community center on the site where some say the biblical King David wrote his psalms. The 22 displaced families would be allowed to build homes elsewhere in the neighborhood, though it’s not clear who would pay for them.

…

Ummm, I think it’s pretty clear who is not paying for them- the local government of East Jerusalem.

Netanyahu just keeps building and building in the hopes that there will soon be no more land to squander and thus no need to even discuss a two state solution. One would think such a cynical, illegal ploy would be met with firm international resistance, but the fact is, Israeli governments for the past several decades have been doing this and they have almost achieved their objective, so why stop now, right?