Israel is planning to build thousands of housing units in Maale Adumim, the biggest West Bank settlement.

By Ola Atallah, IOL Correspondent 

GAZA CITY, August 28, 2005 (IslamOnline.net) – Israel is exploiting its Gaza pullout to multiply settlements in the occupied West Bank, scuppering the already stumbling peace process and fanning more resistance attacks, Palestinian experts warned on Sunday, August 28.

"The mushrooming Israeli settlements in the West Bank will lay peace negotiations to rest," Ashraf Al-Ajrami, a Palestinian Israeli affairs expert, told IslamOnline.net.

"Isolating the West Bank and the continued confiscation of Palestinian land will only fan up violence and rekindle bloody confrontations between both sides."

According to the Israeli Interior Ministry, the population of Jewish settlements in the West Bank has grown by 9,000 since the beginning of this year taking the overall number of settlers to 246,000 scattered across 116 settlements surrounded by up to 2.4 million Palestinians.

Last week, an Israeli spokesman said his government has issued confiscation orders to seize Palestinian-owned lands to link Maale Adumim, the biggest Jewish settlement in the West bank, to occupied Al-Quds (East Jerusalem).

The Israeli occupation army has since January issued more than 150 decrees confiscating some 13,350 square meters of Palestinian land in the West Bank, including Al-Quds.

Fait Accompli

Adnan Abu Amer, an analyst and political writer, said Israel wants to impose a fait accompli.

"Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has announced that thousands of housing units will be constructed in the West Bank settlements."

This, he warned, would undermine the internationally-backed roadmap peace plan and any peace negotiations with the Palestinians.

Abu Amer asserted that the West Bank settlement expansion puts at stake the establishment of a viable Palestinian state alongside Israel.

Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qorei warned Saturday, August 27, that Israel ’s expansion of Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank threatened the future of peace.

Holding up a map of the West Bank, he ran his fingers along colored lines that highlight Israeli building plans to link Al-Quds to Maale Adumim.

Courting Rightists

Abu Amer said Sharon was courting the right-wingers alienated by his unilateral plan to "disengage" from conflict with the Palestinians.

With elections likely next spring, he said, Sharon's quick return to settlement construction in the West Bank is an attempt to boost his popularity.

"Sharon wants to woo the disgruntled settlers and the extremist right-wing by expanding settlement construction in the West Bank," said Abdel Sattar Qasim, professor of political sciences in the Nablus-based An-Najah University.

The Washington Post said Sunday that Israel's efforts are focused largely in the West Bank, land of far more religious and strategic importance to Israel than the remote slice of coastline it has left behind.

Israeli officials have revealed plans to build 3,500 houses and apartments in Maale Adumim to accommodate 15,000 new residents, nearly twice the number of settlers evacuated from the Gaza Strip.

More Resistance

Minister of Planning Ghassan Al-Ghatib has described the settlement expansion as a "declaration of war" on the Palestinians.

Many believe the settlement schemes will trigger more attacks by Palestinian resistance factions.

"The booming settlements will shift resistance ground to the West Bank," Abu Amer said.

Qasim, a onetime presidential hopeful, agreed, predicting that the West Bank would be the scene of more resistance attacks.

Yusuf Rizka, an expert in Islamic movements, cited a recent video message by Mohammad Deif, the leader of Hamas’s armed wing, as evidence.

In the rare video, which resurfaced Saturday, Israel 's most wanted man vowed that resistance would go unabated even after the Gaza withdrawal.

"To the brothers in the Palestinian Authority, the liberation of Gaza has been realized thanks to the sincere actions of the Mujahedeen, and as a consequence our weapons will stay in our hands," said Deif.

Rizka said the resistance leader vowed to fight for the liberation of the West Bank like the Gaza Strip.