’Israel’ Goes Extreme in Approving Additional Funds for WB Settlements

Local Editor

The "Israeli" occupation government on Sunday approved about $20 million in additional financing for Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank, underlining its strengthened right-wing orientation and raising the anger of political opponents and Palestinian landowners.

Relatively, the move came as the "Israeli" hard-liner Avigdor Lieberman was to arrive in Washington on his first visit in his new role as war minister, during which he is expected to meet with War Secretary Ashton B. Carter. Lieberman, a settler himself, was appointed last month in a coalition deal that brought his Yisrael Beiteinu party into the government.

The new money would add to what the settlements already receive from various parts of the occupation government's budget. It was approved days after blistering condemnations of Zionist PM Benjamin Netanyahu by two former "Israeli" war ministers and military chiefs of staff.

The settlements have long been a source of friction between the "Israeli" entity and the United States, along with much of the rest of the world. Most countries view settlement construction as a violation of international law and an impediment to a resolution of the "Israeli"-Palestinian conflict; the Obama administration described the settlements as "illegitimate."

For his part, the secretary general of the Palestine Liberation Organization, Saeb Erekat, said in a statement after the "Israeli" government approved the settlement financing: "It is time for the international community to assume its responsibilities towards this extremist government that openly supports apartheid..."

In parallel with strengthening the settlements, the Zionists continued to demolish Palestinian homes and livestock pens in the part of the West Bank known as Area C.

Meanwhile, Moshe Ya'alon, a Likud politician and a former military chief of staff who resigned from his post as war minister last month after it was promised to Lieberman, accused the "Israeli" leadership of scaremongering.

Ehud Barak, another former military chief and war minister, who, as the leader of the center-left Labor Party, served a short and largely unsuccessful term as prime minister, said that "a fanatic seed of extreme ideology has taken over the Likud."

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team