WEST BANK: Israeli right-wing ministers and settlers protest planned settlement freeze

Record ID: 560571

  • Title: WEST BANK: Israeli right-wing ministers and settlers protest planned settlement freeze
  • Date: 7th September 2009
  • Summary: CLOSE OF GIRL HOLDING SIGN MORE OF GIRLS HOLDING SIGN
  • Embargoed: 22nd September 2009 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: International Relations,Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVACWTJE1WA28ZGQ7NOKY9QSJL1W
  • Story Text: Israeli right-wing ministers joined settler leaders in protest against a planned freeze to West Bank construction, only hours after Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak approved the building of 455 settler homes in the occupied territory.
    Right-wing Israeli ministers joined settlers leaders on Monday (September 7) to protest against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's planned freeze of West Bank construction, only hours after Israel approved the building of 455 settler homes in the occupied territory.
    "I see that continuous construction will gain momentum, on this side of the green line (1967 borders) and on the other side of the green line and all across the country. There should be no difference," said Israeli Minister for National Infrastructures Uzi Landau during a protest ceremony held outside the settlement of Maale Adumim, one of the biggest in the West Bank.
    "When negotiations on final agreement will come, we will sit and each side will raise its own demands. But to demand today of the Jewish, Israeli side not to continue normal development and to allow it to the Arab side, that is a clear discrimination that is, morally and politically, unacceptable," he added.
    The protest could signal that approval of new construction, which was opposed by its U.S. ally and Palestinians, may not be enough to pave the way for a construction moratorium sought by Washington.
    A Defence Ministry list of the first such building permits since Netanyahu took office in March showed the homes would be erected in areas Israel says it intends to keep in a future peace deal with the Palestinians.
    Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat said Israel's decision further undermined any belief that it is a credible partner for peace.
    Israeli officials announced on Friday that Netanyahu intended to give the go-ahead for the new projects in the occupied West Bank, drawing swift condemnation from the White House.
    The permits, signed by Defence Minister Ehud Barak for 455 housing units, were widely seen in Israel as an attempt by Netanyahu to mollify pro-settler members of his government and Likud party before agreeing to a freeze of construction starts.
    A senior Israeli government official said announcement of the building permits was a step towards a "package" deal that could include "very severe limitations in the growth of settlements -- a possible moratorium".
    Netanyahu has resisted a complete moratorium, saying "natural growth" of settler families must be accommodated. Some 2,500 housing units are under construction in settlements and Israeli officials said those projects would continue.
    Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has demanded a settlement freeze as a condition for returning to peace negotiations.
    Israeli left-wing groups also voiced anger over the approval to construct more settlers homes. About a dozen Peace Now activists arrived at the site of the settlers protest near Maale Adumim to stage a counter-demonstration. Carrying signs reading 'yes to peace, no to settlements', Peace Now demonstrators chanted 'Two states for Two people'.
    U.S. envoy George Mitchell is due back in the region later this week to try to finalise a settlement deal before a possible meeting at the U.N. General Assembly around Sept. 23 involving the Israeli leader, Abbas and Obama.
    The Defence Ministry outlined the following construction plans: 149 homes in the settlement of Har Gilo, 12 in Alon Shvut, 84 in Modiin Ilit, 76 in Pisgat Zeev, 25 in Kedar, 20 in Maskiot and 89 in Maale Adumim.
    Most of those settlements are near Jerusalem. The others are in the Jordan Valley to the east or close to central Israel.
    Some 500,000 Israelis live in the West Bank and Arab East Jerusalem, territory captured in a 1967 war. Palestinians say the settlements, deemed illegal by the World Court, could deny them a viable and contiguous state.
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