Peace Now

MPs from the New Left, a minor opposition party, staged a small protest outside Parliament on Wednesday, condemning Israel's military campaign in Gaza and the escalation in Lebanon, while expressing dismay over the Greek government's support for Tel Aviv.

Türkiye has condemned Israel's plans to recognize settlement outposts in the occupied West Bank legally.

"The decisions taken by Israel to 'legalize' some settlement outposts and to 'approve' new housing units in the occupied West Bank are flagrant violations of international law," said a Foreign Ministry statement issued on July 5.

Israel's recent approval of plans to construct 3,500 housing units in the occupied West Bank has ignited international criticism, with a Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesperson condemning the move as alarming.

The municipal council of Thessaloniki is to discuss on Monday a proposal to award Israeli writer and intellectual Amos Oz the Silver Medal of the City for his contribution to the letters and to efforts to settle the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Israel has advanced plans for a further 1,500 homes in Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank, Peace Now said yesterday, the second such announcement in a week.

More than 3,000 units have been advanced this week, a spokeswoman for the NGO that tracks settlement building in the Palestinian territory told AFP.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu chairs the weekly cabinet meeting at his Jerusalem office.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has spoken by phone to U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry in a bid to calm Washington's anger over new Israeli settlement plans, an official said yesterday.

In the polyphony of voices insisting on an immediate peace process in Turkey ahead of 'Peace Day,' women's voices can be heard everywhere more insistently and more adamantly, thanks to a number of robust initatives At one of the darkest times in its recent history, with war brewing at home and across the border, Turkey is due to celebrate "Peace Day" twice in September.

An Israeli planning committee on Nov. 12 approved plans to build 200 homes in a Jewish settlement neighbourhood of annexed east Jerusalem, a city councillor told AFP.

Arab east Jerusalem has been shaken by months of clashes and city councillor Yosef Pepe Alalu told AFP that plans to build in the Ramot neighbourhood would cause further tensions.

Israeli plans for roughly 500 new settler homes in occupied east Jerusalem are a "slap in the face" of the United States and the international community, a top Palestinian official said.
      

Israel announced plans on Aug. 31 to expropriate 400 hectares (988 acres) of Palestinian land in the Bethlehem area in the south of the occupied West Bank, the military said.

"On the instructions of the political echelon... 4,000 dunams at (the settlement of) Gevaot is declared as state land," the army said, adding that concerned parties have 45 days to appeal.