ISRAEL-SETTLEMENTS/REAX Israeli settlement building tenders hit record high - watchdog

Record ID: 399237

  • Title: ISRAEL-SETTLEMENTS/REAX Israeli settlement building tenders hit record high - watchdog
  • Date: 24th February 2015
  • Summary: HAR HOMA SETTLEMENT, WEST BANK (FEBRUARY 24, 2015) (REUTERS) WIDE OF HAR HOMA SETTLEMENTS CONSTRUCTION SITE NEAR HAR HOMA SETTLEMENT CONSTRUCTION SITE, NEW BUILDING PROJECTS ADS JERUSALEM (FEBRUARY 24, 2015) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF PEACE NOW SPOKESMAN, LIOR AMIHAI, USING HIS MOBILE PHONE (SOUNDBITE) (English) PEACE NOW SPOKESMAN, LIOR AMIHAI, SAYING: "Our report shows, that i
  • Embargoed: 11th March 2015 12:00
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  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA43BBYDJRIVFRYAE3DMJD31HPF
  • Story Text: Israel set a 10-year record last year for the number of tenders it issued for construction in settlements on occupied land in the Palestinian territories, the anti-settlement watchdog group Peace Now said on Monday (February 23).
    In a report published as Benjamin Netanyahu is running a close race for re-election on March 17, Peace Now blamed Israel's settlement housing plans for scuttling U.S.-brokered peace talks that collapsed in April, "Our report shows, that if we compare 2014 construction start (to) 2013, we see a 40 percent increase. We are seeing that Netanyahu Government has put a lot of efforts within building in the settlements, expending the settlements in order that the two-states-solution will never be able to accomplished. The Government has one clear purpose - and it is to expand the settlements on Palestinian states," Peace Now spokesman, Lior Amihai said.
    The report said the invitations to bid for building contracts in the settlements had tripled since 2013 on average compared to the 2009-2013 period of Netanyahu's previous administration.
    It said Israel issued 4,485 tenders in 2014, up from 3,710 in 2013, and 858 in 2007, and that 68 percent of construction starts were in enclaves not necessarily part of blocs that Israel has vowed to keep as part of any peace deal.
    "We have to go to the International Criminal Court and we will pursuit our case there because Israel is a state that is existing outside of the law, that is violating International law, that is caring out war crimes including settlements activities," Hanan Ashrawi, member of the PLO (Palestinian Liberation Organization) executive committee and a veteran of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process told reporters in Ramallah.
    The Israeli government had no immediate response to the report.
    When Israel last issued tenders for settlement construction, a month ago, the U.S. State Department criticised the plan as "illegitimate and counterproductive to achieving a two-state outcome".
    Israel, citing historical and Biblical links to the territory, has created homes for more than 500,000 Israelis on land it seized in a 1967 war, including the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
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