OREIGN Secretary 'Robin Cook misbehaved during his visit to the Middle East, and Israeli PM Binyamin Netanyahu sent him to bed without his supper. This, at least, was how the media presented the diplomatic row caused by Cook's visit to the proposed Israeli settlement in the Palestinian village of Jebel Abu Ghneim.
It is a measure of Israel's propaganda success that this village is now better known by the name of the as-yet-unbuilt Israeli settlement, Har Homa ("Mount Wall').
Israel has also succeeded in convincing most observers that Jebel Abu Ghneim is part of Jerusalem. In fact, it is less than a kilometre from the heart of Bethlehem, and until 1967 was part of the Bethlehem District. In 1967, Israel annexed occupied East Jerusalem and its surrounding areas.
Since 1967, Israel has expanded the area of East Jerusalem from 61/2 to over 70 square kilometres, annexing lands from many West Bank villages while excluding populated Palestinian areas. Almost all the land expropriated since 1967 was privately owned by Arabs. Some 38,500 housing units have been built on this land, all of them for the Jewish population.
Not one housing unit has been built for Palestinians. A ring of exclusively Jewish settlements isolates Jerusalem, the main city of Palestine and capital of the state which the PLO hopes establish, from the rest of the 1967-occupied territories. Since Jerusalem is also a major communications centre, this effectively cuts the West Bank in two, preventing access from Hebron and Bethlehem to Ramallah and Nablus. Har Homa, with its planned homes for a further 50,000 Israeli Jews, will complete the last gap in this ring of Jewish settlements. The site itself is a largely unspoiled ared with ancient Christian sites, including Byzantine monasteries. Bethlehem is now virtually surro'nded by Jewish-only settlements and by-pass roads; 61 per cent of all the land in the Bethlehem district - more than 350 square kilometres - has been confiscated or declared a closed military or conservation area. Israel is now developing its own tourist comolex. to be known as 'Bethlehem, Israel', based around the heavily fortified Rachel's Tomb shrine. The Christian sites in the town are losing visitors, a trend that is exacerbated by the high emigration rate of Palestinian Christians and the prolonged strict curfews on Bethlehem. The final status of Jerusalem, one of the most emotive and intractable issues of the Palestine conflict, has been deferred to the he richt in Suitol robeing is guarant by laternationa •Settle mentS DEMOLISH do not meet 03-o.c peaceful village on the outskirts of Jerusalem.
Though far from the only massacre of the 1948 war of conquest, nor even the bloodiest, Deir Yassin played a major part in the campaign to terrorise and demoralise Palestinians and drive them off their land. Deir Yassin is now the site of the main Jerusalem postal sorting office, a mental hospital, and light industry.