GAZA
CITY, March 21, 2005 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - Israel
plans to build 3,500 new housing units on occupied West Bank land to
connect a major Jewish settlement to Al-Quds (occupied East
Jerusalem), the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth revealed on Monday,
March 21.
It
said Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon ordered the construction of
two neighborhoods between Maaleh Adumim and Al-Quds last week under
proposals to cement Israel's hold on “Greater Jerusalem.”
Israeli
government sources confirmed the report apart from the number of
homes.
One
source told Reuters that the figure would be in the “low
thousands”.
Israel
captured and annexed Al-Quds in the 1967 Middle East war and declared
the holy city the “eternal undivided capital of Israel”.
Under
Sharon’s unilateral disengagement plan, Israel is to evacuate all
settlements in the Gaza Strip and four others in the West Bank later
this year.
Israeli
officials disclosed in February plans to build a new settlement in the
West Bank to be an extension to the Gush Etzion settlement bloc to
take in settlers evacuated from Gaza.
Israel
has already allocated $870 million in compensation for the 8,000
settlers to be evacuated, broken down into payments ranging from
$200,000 to $500,000 per family, depending on size of assets.
Extensive
The
Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported Sunday, March 20, that
aerial photographs commissioned by Israel's Defense Ministry showed
extensive construction on settlements.
The
photographs were taken on orders of Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz after
a report drawn up by former Israeli chief prosecutor investigating the
construction of the West Bank outposts, Talia Sasson, Britain’s
daily The Guardian reported.
Sasson's
report, released a fortnight ago, exposed government complicity in
systematic fraud, “institutional lawbreaking” and theft of private
Palestinian land in establishing settlement outposts.
Under
the internationally-backed “roadmap” peace plan, Israel is
required to freeze all settlement building on territories it occupied
after the 1967 war.
But
US President George W. Bush has backed an Israeli plan to keep large
West Bank settlement blocs round Al-Quds as part of any final peace
accord.
A
group of 124 Israelis, Palestinians and foreigners has written to UN
Secretary General Kofi Annan, warning that they do not believe Sharon
is committed to the roadmap's vision of a complete end to the
occupation and creation of a viable Palestinian state.
“There
are many signs to the contrary: not only explicit statements by Sharon
and his aides ... but also unilateral acts on the ground intended to
grab Palestinian territory and effectively annex it to Israel,” the
letter, which was seen by The Guardian, said.
Peace
at Risk
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“Everywhere we go in the West Bank we see settlement construction,” said Erekat.
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The
new Israeli scheme, which is part of a larger settlement drive, drew
ire from the Palestinians, who warned that peace efforts were at risk.
The
Palestinians, whose President Mahmoud Abbas joined Sharon last month
in declaring a ceasefire and later secured a pledge from resistance
factions to halt anti-Israel attacks, accused Israel of poor faith in
peacemaking.
“By
expanding settlements in the West Bank, Israel gives the impression
that it intends to exchange Gaza for a 'Greater Israel',”
Palestinian Planning Minister Ghassan Al-Khatib told Reuters.
“Israel
is responsible for any consequences resulting from this continuous
violation of the roadmap,” he said. “I don't think the Palestinian
leadership and people can tolerate this.”
Saeb
Erekat, the official in charge of the negotiations file in the PLO,
said the continued expansion of the settlements jeopardizes the
Palestinian leadership's attempts to negotiate a peace agreement.
“Any
settlement continuation at a faster pace puts our effort to revive the
peace process into danger,” he told the Associated Press.
“Everywhere
we go in the West Bank we see settlement construction that undermines
all the efforts being exerted to revive hope in the minds of
Palestinians that the peace is durable.”
On
Friday, March 18, Israel's Maariv newspaper reported that
foreign Jewish investors had paid millions of dollars to buy two large
properties at Jaffa Gate, the main entrance to Al-Quds’s Old City,
in a secret deal with the Greek Orthodox church.
The
properties currently house two hotels managed by two well-known
Palestinian families and a row of shops selling tourist trinkets.
Hundreds
of Palestinian Christians took to the streets of the holy city Sunday,
March 20, to protest the sale, saying it was part of a major Israeli
scheme to Judaize the city.
