Rene — Yesha Council: Build Settlements without Gov't Permits
Topic(s): Palestine / Israel | Comments Off on Rene — Yesha Council: Build Settlements without Gov't PermitsYesha Council: Build Settlements without Gov’t Permits
http://www.almanar.com.lb/NewsSite/NewsDetails.aspx?id=39237&language=en
31/03/2008
The Israeli Yesha Council of Settlements said Monday it would
continue to build in West Bank settlements, even without the necessary
government authorizations.
“Whoever thinks that through an administrative step you can smother the
settlement enterprise and prevent it from flourishing is mistaken,”
said a Yesha council statement. “Either the government will approve
construction in the settlements, or the natural development of the
settlements will continue to grow, even without government permits.”
The statement came in response to a Peace Now report released Monday
that noted expansion in 101 West Bank settlements, including at least
500 structures each containing dozens of apartments.
The report, which summarizes the first quarter of 2008, also found
that Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak recently approved a plan to
construct at least 969 housing units in settlements – 750 in the Agan
Ayalon neighborhood of Givat Ze’ev and 48 in Ariel.
PEACE NOW: SETTLEMENTS INCREASED SINCE ANNAPOLIS Peace Now accused
the government of stepping up Jewish construction in East Jerusalem
at an unprecedented rate. “In the last two months, an unprecedented
momentum has been noted in the Jewish neighborhoods in East Jerusalem,
with the intentions of expanding deep into Palestinian territories
east of the Green Line,” said the report.
“Despite Israel’s commitment to freeze construction in the settlements
following the Annapolis peace conference in November 2007, construction
in the West Bank and east Jerusalem has in fact increased in recent
months”, added the report.
According to the Israeli Left-wing group, tenders for the construction
of some 750 housing units in east Jerusalem have been published after
the conference, a huge increase compared to the 46 tenders published
last year.
All in all, the Israeli government is currently promoting the building
of 3,648 new housing units in Jerusalem’s neighborhoods located east
of the Green Line, the report stated.
Meanwhile, 101 settlements are currently being expanded, and thousands
of housing units are under construction. Peace Now also reported that
instead of removing outposts, the Israeli government has enabled
their ongoing expansion over the last three month. The building of
an additional eight permanent structures is currently underway.
“Since Olmert’s announcement at the Annapolis Summit regarding
the freeze on the settlements, dozens of declarations have been
published by ministers in his government who have tried to prevent
the construction freeze and therefore reduce it to the point of
ineffectiveness, until, in the end, almost nothing is left of the
promise that Israel would freeze construction in the settlements,”
the organization concluded.