Comments (0)Snow Falls On Israel
February 8, 2010Jerusalem
JTA Wire Service
Snow piled up on the Golan Heights and in the Galilee, and dusted Jerusalem as rain, hail and strong winds swept the rest of Israel.
Schools in the Golan Heights were canceled and roads were closed to traffic. Six inches to a foot of snow fell on Israel’s only skiing site, Mount Hermon, which was closed Thursday.
The Jerusalem municipality was prepared in advance with snow plows, bulldozers and salt.
The rain and unseasonably cold weather are expected to continue through Saturday.
Mayor Will Evacuate Eastern Jerusalem Jewish Building
Jerusalem’s mayor said he would evacuate a Jewish building in eastern Jerusalem and also raze 200 Palestinian homes.
Nir Barkat said in a letter sent late Wednesday to state Prosecutor Moshe Lador that he would execute the sealing and demolition orders pending against Beit Yonatan in the Arab village of Silwan. The seven-story building, which is home to eight Jewish families, was built without the proper permits, a Jerusalem court found.
Barkat said he would fulfill the court orders “under most vigorous protest and harsh criticism of the plan,” according to the Mayor’s Office.
Lador had sent a letter last week to Barkat reprimanding him for refusing to evacuate Beit Yonatan, which is named in honor of convicted American spy for Israel Jonathan Pollard. The building was built five years ago by the rightist organization Ateret Cohanim.
The Barkat letter also said that the municipality would destroy 70 illegally built Palestinian structures in Silwan in the interest of enforcing the rule of law uniformly, even though the municipality was in the process of creating a plan to deal with illegal construction in Silwan that included grandfathering in Beit Yonatan and the Palestinian homes.
The plan also was to allow for adding stories to built structures, which would add about 1,000 housing units for Palestinians in eastern Jerusalem.
Barkat also said in his letter, according to his office, that “the municipality will start to enforce the principle of the rule of law in the spirit of a uniform enforcement policy and without prejudice.”
Israel’s Lieberman Challenges Syria Threats
Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman challenged what he called “blatant threats” by Syria against his country.
Lieberman, speaking of President Bashar Assad, said if Syria goes to war with Israel, “not only will you lose the war, you and your family will no longer be in power.”
The Israeli official made the remarks Thursday during a speech at a business conference at Bar-Ilan University.
His comments came following Assad’s assertion Wednesday during a news conference in Damascus with Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Moratinos that Israel is “pushing the region towards war” and that Israel “is not serious about achieving peace.”
Assad’s comments came hours after Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem said that “Israel knows that if it declares war on Syria, such a war will reach its cities as well.”
Lieberman called Moallem’s remarks a “blatant threat against Israel.” He said that Syria “has crossed a red line, and we cannot ignore this.”
On Tuesday, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak told a group of senior Israeli officers that Israel must resume peace talks with Syria because otherwise a full-blown war with Syria was in the offing.
Lieberman said he supports peace with Syria as long as Israel can retain the Golan Heights.
“Syria must understand that it has to let go of the demand for the Golan, in the same way that it gave up on the Greater Syria dream,” said Lieberman.
Leaders of Israeli government opposition parties decried Lieberman’s threats to Syria, calling him a “warmonger” and “irresponsible.”
Following Lieberman’s address Thursday, Prime MInister Benjamin Netanyahu instructed Cabinet Secretary Tzvi Hauser to call all government ministers and order them not to make any Syria-related comments.