Israel to expand settlement

[Czar]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3158036.stm

Israel has launched a tender for the construction of 550 new homes in Jewish settlements in the West Bank.
Almost all the houses will be built in the ultra-Orthodox settlement of Beitar Elit, near Jerusalem.

The announcement comes a day after the government agreed plans to build protective fences around several West Bank settlements.

About 220,000 Israelis live in the West Bank, in settlements widely regarded as illegal under international law.

The Israeli housing ministry says this decision is part of its policy to create more housing across the whole of Israel, not just the occupied territories.

It was, according to a spokesman, intended "to develop the communities in accordance with their needs and natural growth".

Despite international laws banning settlement in occupied areas, Jewish settlement building has expanded continually since Israel's occupation of the West Bank and Gaza in 1967, increasing rapidly in the late 1970s when the current Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, was housing minister.

The pressure group Peace Now said the latest decision showed the housing ministry was acting as "a master planner for the settlers".

Housing Minister Effi Eitam is a member of the far-right National Religious Party, which has close links with the settlers.

 

[mrCide]

SCUM

 

[GrGr]

They need "Lebensraum", it seems. :disgust:

 

[ThePresence]

Beitar Elit is now considered a settlement? LOL

 

[tnitsuj]

Originally posted by: ThePresence
Beitar Elit is now considered a settlement? LOL

There is no such thing as a settlement or "occupied territory".

 

[LilBlinbBlahIce]

Originally posted by: tnitsuj

Originally posted by: ThePresence
Beitar Elit is now considered a settlement? LOL

There is no such thing as a settlement or "occupied territory".

...just Israeli altruism that prevents the entire annexation of the West Bank and Gaza and complete expulsion of all Arabs. Bless their kind souls.

 

[Zebo]

Originally posted by: tnitsuj

Originally posted by: ThePresence
Beitar Elit is now considered a settlement? LOL

There is no such thing as a settlement or "occupied territory".

I vas only following zee orders.

 

[Czar]

more in development

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/346251.html

U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said on
Thursday the United States has "concerns" about
settlement activities after Israel unveiled plans
to build more than 600 new homes in West Bank
settlements.

Powell's relatively mild
comments reflected Washington's
unhappiness with Israel's
continued settlement building
in the West Bank but its
reluctance to criticize an ally
in public.

Israel issued tenders this week
for the 600 new housing units

in the West Bank. The tenders are for homes
near Jerusalem - 530 in Betar Illit and 50 in
Ma'aleh Adumim - and 24 more in Ariel, a
sprawling enclave of 18,000 near the West Bank
city of Nablus that has garnered much attention
recently because of the debate over whether it
will be included inside the settlement fence.

Army Radio reported that the plan also calls for
up to 100 new units in Efrat, between Jerusalem
and Bethlehem.

Housing Ministry spokesman Koby Bleich said the
tenders were part of "a government policy by
which we are to advance and develop communities
in Judea and Samaria [biblical names for the
West Bank] in accordance with needs and natural
growth."

The tenders drew criticism from Palestinians.
"This is evidence that the road map has been
fully assassinated by an Israeli policy of
settlement expansion, to which the United
States is a witness," said Palestinian cabinet
member Yasser Abed Rabbo.

 

[lozina]

Originally posted by: Czar
more in development

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/346251.html

U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said on
Thursday the United States has "concerns" about
settlement activities after Israel unveiled plans
to build more than 600 new homes in West Bank
settlements.

OMG
:Q
How dare he imply there are concerns with what Israel does? Well don't worry, the Israeli lobby will soon set him straight, like they did to Bush after he said the wall Israel is building is 'a problem'.