Israel announces 851 new settler homes in West Bank

Maan News Agency | June 6, 2012

JERUSALEM (Reuters) — Israel announced plans on Wednesday to build 851 new homes for settlers in the occupied West Bank after parliament defeated a bill to sanction all settler apartments on privately-owned Palestinian land.

Palestinians insist Israeli settlements, built on land Israel captured in a 1967 war, will deny them a viable state, and they refuse to return to peace talks frozen since 2010 until their expansion is halted.

Israeli Housing Minister Ariel Atias announced the plan to build 551 housing units in various settlements across the West Bank and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu earlier said 300 new apartments would be constructed in the settlement of Beit El.

Atias said 117 housing units would be built in Ariel, 92 in Maale Adumim, 144 in Adam, 114 in Efrat and 84 in Kiryat Arba settlements.

Netanyahu won a parliamentary battle against an attempt by far-right lawmakers to sanction all settler homes on private Palestinian land in the occupied West Bank and pledged to abide by a Supreme Court ruling and remove five settler apartment houses on Palestinian land in the settlement of Beit El.

But when the right-wing leader announced that his government would have to abide by the court ruling he added that the 30 families living in the apartments that would have to be removed would remain in Beit El “and 300 more families will join them.”

The UN World Court considers the settlements illegal.

Netanyahu’s announcement drew a reaction from US State Department spokesman Mark Toner who said the United States was aware of the announcement to build 300 new homes.

“We are very clear that continued Israeli settlement activity in the West Bank undermines peace efforts and contradicts Israeli commitments and obligations,” Toner said.

President Mahmoud Abbas on Tuesday urged the UN and the US to pressure Israel to stop expanding illegal settlements on occupied Palestinian land and to engage in serious negotiations with the PLO.

“Our region needs bridges of cooperation, peace and dialogue rather than walls and settlement expansion,” he said in a speech at the International Economic Forum in Istanbul.

The president warned Israel that time was running out to achieve peace in light of political upheavals in the region.

Addressing Israel, the president said: “Don’t turn your back on the historic opportunity which is available today, but might not be available for long.”

Abbas reiterated his call for a two-state solution based on the 1967 borders, and said an end to occupation and settlement building were prerequisites for a sovereign Palestinian state.

Ma’an staff contributed to this report





Watch Caught on Camera: Ethnic Cleansing




    Netanyahu’s Likud on it’s website: “The Jordan River as a Permanent Border”
    The Jordan Valley and the territories that dominate it shall be under Israeli sovereignty. The Jordan river will be the permanent eastern border of the State of Israel. The Kingdom of Jordan is a desirable partner in the permanent status arrangement between Israel and the Palestinians in matters that will be agreed upon.

    and:

    The Government of Israel flatly rejects the establishment of a Palestinian Arab state west of the Jordan river.
    Source: Likud platform


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    Israel’s Jerusalem municipality plans to build more than 50,000 (updated Dec 3, 2011: 85.000) new homes in the city’s occupied eastern sector over two decades:

    • 23,628 homes have already been approved, 20,263 in East Jerusalem and 3,365 in the west.
    • 13,824 are pending review, 12,819 in East Jerusalem and 1,005 in the west.
    • 23,266 housing units are still in planning stages, 19,281 in the east and 3,985 in the west.



    Of these, the municipality plans:

    • 10,366 homes in northern East Jerusalem, including illegal Israeli settlement Pisgat Zeev and Palestinian town Beit Hanina.
    • 5,239 homes in southern East Jerusalem, including Gilo settlement and Palestinian district Beit Safafa.
    • 4,886 new units in central eastern Palestinian neighborhood of Silwan and Jerusalem’s Old City.

    Read More



    Besides this, Israel approved plans to ethnic cleanse 57.000 bedouin from Palestine



    Save yourself time. It is only about this : Ethnic Cleansing



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