Israel shows its true colours...yet again!

When will the world wake up? Here is UNESCO voting for admitting Palestine as a full member...and what do the Israelis do? Apart from silly statements that the admission "jeopardises" the peace process - one may well ask, how in heaven's name? - Israel has just announced that it will go ahead and (illegally, according to international law) build 2000 units in East Jerusalem and also withhold tax revenues to which the Palestinian Authority is entitled. All in retaliation for the UNESCO decision.

"Binyamin Netanyahu, Israel's prime minister, has ordered the building of 2,000 new housing units for Israelis, mainly in illegally occupied East Jerusalem, an area Palestinians claim as the capital of their future state.

Netanyahu said in a statement on Tuesday that the new construction would include settlements that he believed would be part of Israel in a future peace accord. Israeli settlements built on occupied Palestinian land are considered illegal under international law.

Israel also decided on Tuesday to freeze the transfer of tax revenues owed to the Palestinian Authority, as a punitive measure after Palestine was granted full membership of UNESCO, the United Nations' culture and heritage agency, media reports said."

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Mahler's Prodigal Son

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