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Israel Confiscates Land Near Gaza to Build More Settlements
OCCUPIED
JERUSALEM, July 15 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Israel's cabinet approved a proposal Sunday to confiscate more land near the occupied Gaza strip and establish new Jewish settlements in the Negev desert despite an outcry from Israeli leftists who warned it could hurt chances of negotiations with the Palestinians, news agencies reported.
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's Cabinet approved the plan to develop Israeli settlements in the Halutza Sands region, a mostly desert region adjoining the southeast corner of the Gaza Strip, according to Sharon spokesman Raanan Gissin.
The proposal was submitted by Sharon, who promised during his election campaign earlier this year that he would develop settlements in the Halutza area in the Negev Desert.
The decision drew criticism from Israeli opposition figures and environmental groups.
Israel's Cabinet secretary Gideon Saar said the project was approved by all ministers present at Sunday's cabinet meeting except Israeli Arab Labour minister Salah Tarif, who abstained.
Left-wing MP Ran Cohen of the opposition Meretz party slammed the decision as "lamentable," saying it would mean the Halutza region could no longer be a bargaining chip in any negotiations with the Palestinians.
Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak had proposed that Halutza area be given to the Palestinians in exchange for Israel annexing Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank.
However, the negotiations failed to reach an accord.
Mossi Raz, a member of the dovish Meretz Party, criticized the government decision, saying it could complicate future negotiations, news agencies said.
"I think the government is tying it's own hands," Raz said. "Even if a peace agreement doesn't happen today, what will happen in 10 years?"
"It is a move designed to ensure that this territory is not detached from Israel, even though Ehud Barak was ready to give it up," minister without portfolio Danny Naveh said after Sunday's cabinet decision.
"The other aim is to people a relatively sparsely populated region," he told Israeli radio.
Also, Israeli environmental groups oppose development of the area, which includes a national park.
The Palestinian leadership did not immediately comment on the Israeli plan.
The American administration which is Israel's strongest ally, has announced its support of the Mitchell recommendations which disapprove the Israeli governments' policies of further Jewish settlement buildings.
Meanwhile, in a bid to end the Mideast violence, Israel's Foreign Minister Shimon Peres and Palestinian President Yasser Arafat met in Cairo, Egypt, after each held separate talks with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.
Peres also denied media reports that Israel was contemplating a large-scale military offensive in the Palestinian areas that could include driving out Arafat.
"We don't have any intention whatsoever, neither ground attacks or to attack Arafat. Arafat in our eyes is the representative of the Palestinians," Peres said.
In the West Bank town of Bethlehem, a member of Islamic the resistance Jihad group was seized from the street by men believed to be Israeli undercover agents, according to Palestinian security sources.
Mahmoud Hamdan, 42, was grabbed by men who had been masquerading as street vendors in a market, said the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity. Israel's army said it knew nothing about the incident.
Also, an Israeli human rights group accused Israeli police in a West Bank settlement of torturing Palestinian teen-agers arrested for alleged stone throwing.
Ten Palestinian youths, aged 14 to 17, held at the Gush Etzion police station said they were beaten and left in painful positions for prolonged periods of time, the Betselem human rights group said.
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