"Israel" set to build more illegal settlements in Occupied West Bank

Source: AFP, 24-7-2008
OCCUPIED AL-QUDS: "Israel" was set to construct housing units on an occupied area in the Jordan Valley, a senior official said on Thursday, in defiance of Palestinian and international calls to freeze such activity. Any decision to confiscate Arab land for "Israeli" colonization provokes outrage among the Palestinian population, who hold that such moves deprive them of scarce land on which to build their future state. Thursday's announcement, which runs counter to international law as well as previous "Israeli" pledges, also drew a negative reaction from the United Nations secretary general.
"We are currently in the process of constructing 20 housing units in the Jordan Valley settlement of Maskiot," a senior "Israeli" War Ministry official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
Local authorities in the Jordan Valley on Wednesday published a tender for the construction, he said, but the move still requires the final go-ahead from Defense Minister Ehud Barak.
"The construction still requires the authorization of the defense minister ... there is no reason for him not to give the authorization," the source said of Barak, who according to a report in the Associated Press supported the authorization.
Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat accused "Israel" of undermining US-backed peace talks with the latest settlement plan.
"This is destroying the process of a two-state solution," Erekat said. "I hope the Americans will make the "Israelis" revoke the decision. I think they can make the "Israelis" do this."
"Israel" had originally unveiled the project in 2006 as a place for settlers who had been withdrawn from the Gaza Strip. However, international condemnation of the planned colony forced the Jewish state to back down.
The international community has repeatedly urged "Israel" to freeze all settlement activity in the Occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, saying it hampers efforts to achieve peace with the Palestinians.
In New York, United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's spokeswoman Michele Montas told a press briefing the UN chief was "deeply concerned" about "Israel's" plan for settlement construction.
The spokeswoman recalled that the secretary general had repeatedly "has stressed many times before that settlement construction or expansion is contrary to international law and "Israel's" commitments under the 'road map' and the Annapolis process."
"The Secretary General urges "Israel" to heed the call of the [Middle East peace] Quartet to freeze all settlement activity, including natural growth, and to dismantle outposts erected since March 2001," she added.
The new homes would join hundreds the "Israeli" government has approved in the Occupied West Bank, including occupied Arab East Jerusalem, since the resumption of peace talks with the Palestinians at Annapolis last November.
The United States had not commented on the settlement plans.
While "Israel" has expresses an intent to retain large settlement blocs and parts of Occupied Jerusalem (al-Quds) in any peace deal with the Palestinians, the planned Jordan Valley colony does not fall under such a category. However, several "Israeli" politicians have voiced the opinion that "Israel" needs to retain the Occupied Jordan Valley in any peace deal so as to separate Palestine from Jordan.
Some 470,000 "Israelis" live in settlements in the Occupied West Bank, 200,000 of them in Occupied East Jerusalem.