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New Israeli Settlement Plan Triggers Protests
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| An Israeli bulldozer demolishes a Palestinian farm near a settlement north of Gaza |
OCCUPIED
JERUSALEM, May 20 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) – Following
approved construction of nearly 1,000 new houses in colonial
settlements near Jerusalem, the Israeli government faced Monday, May
20, protests from left-wing and Palestinian groups.
The
957 proposed houses, within established communities, will expand five
settlements to cover for what the government described as the
"natural growth" of the existing population, Agence
France-Presse (AFP) reported.
According
to AFP, more than 200,000 settlers live in about 160 settlements,
built following the 1967 war, in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. In
addition to that number, there are a dozen settlements in annexed east
Jerusalem.
Despite
the approval of the unprecedented number of homes, the left-wing Labor
party didn’t oppose it. This is because the settlements are in an
area which both it and its right-wing coalition partner, Likud, agree
should not be affected by a final accord with the Palestinians, AFP
said.
The
Israeli anti-settlement group Peace Now blamed Israeli Defense
Minister and Labor party leader Binyamin Ben Eliezer, who has to sign
the approval of every new proposed construction in the territories.
"Ben
Eliezer's conduct on this issue raises serious questions concerning
his integrity," Peace Now director Moria Shlomot said in a
statement.
Defending
the establishment of more settlements, Ezra Rosenfeld, spokesman for
the Settlers' Council, said that most of these units will be in areas
over which there is consensus among the parties, adding that an
additional 1,000 homes would make "no difference
politically," AFP reported.
He
told AFP that the expansion of settlements and the ability to control
additional areas will bring security because the so-called terror
won’t be able to penetrate in these areas.
The
Palestinians say Israel uses the "excuse" of security to
expand areas of Israeli housing in order to create immovable facts on
the ground. "What they want is to annex these areas in order to
make territorial continuity between these settlements and Jerusalem.
By using the argument of security, they want to make more facts on the
ground for political reasons," charged Khalil Tafakji, director
of the Palestinian mapping department, AFP said.
Last
week, a detailed new map of the West Bank, released by the B'Tselem
center for human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories, shows
that Israeli settlers exert control over nearly half of Palestinian
territories through a strategic placement of a few Jewish colonial
settlements.
The study shows that the Jewish settlements occupy 1.7 percent of the
West Bank territory, where Palestinians want to create their own
state. This was based on previously unpublished documents collected
from Israeli municipal officials over the past nine months.
AFP
said Jewish settlements on occupied land are one of the main causes of
Palestinian anger and widely considered to be against international
law.
Last
month, the UN Human Rights Commission (UNHCR) adopted a resolution
expressing grave concern at continuing Israeli settlement activities,
including the expansion of existing settlements.
"All
these actions are illegal, constitute a violation of the Geneva
Convention relative to the protection of civilians in time of war and
are a major obstacle to peace," the resolution said.
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