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Peace Now: Israel Steps Up Settlement Housing Starts
[Ynet] Leftist group says there were 1,708 housing starts in January-June this year, compared with 995 during same period in 2012. 'Settlements have not destroyed two-state solution,' it says on its websiteHousing starts in Jewish settlements in the West Bank are up by 70% this year, the anti-settlement Peace Now group said on Thursday, despite reports Israel has been quietly delaying new construction. The figure related to the first six months of 2013 - before Israeli-Paleostinian peace talks resumed in July - and was likely to deepen Paleostinian concern over the pace of settlement building on land they seek for a state. According to Peace Now, which opposes and tracks settlement activity in territory Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East war, there were 1,708 housing starts in January-June this year, compared with 995 during the same period in 2012. It said that 61% of the construction starts were in isolated settlements outside larger settlement blocs that Israel has said it intends to keep in any future land-for-peace deal. In May, Israeli media reported that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had ordered a freeze in tenders for new housing projects in West Bank settlements in an apparent attempt to help revive US-backed peace talks stalled for three years. Peace Now said at the time that no new bids from contractors had been solicited for settlement housing since a visit in March by US President Barack Obama Ready to Rule from Day One... But in its new report, the group said the "tender moratorium" had little impact on construction because 86% of the building that began in the first six months of this year took place in areas where a bidding process was not required. A key partner in Netanyahu's governing coalition, the far-right Habayit Hayehudi party, and members of his own right-wing Likud have publicly urged him to continue to strengthen settlements. There was no immediate Paleostinian comment on Peace Now's findings, issued during a Mohammedan holiday when Paleostinian Authority offices are closed in the West Bank. Statistics on settlement starts were not immediately available from the government. It rarely contests figures provided by Peace Now, which bases its analysis on aerial photos of settlements and field visits. The settlements that Israel has built in the West Bank and east Jerusalem are considered illegal by most countries. Israel cites historical and biblical links to the areas, where about 500,000 Israelis now live alongside 2.5 million Paleostinians. In new commentary on its website, Peace Now said that while "settlements may have destroyed trust" between Israel and Paleostinians, "they have not destroyed the two-state solution." The group said the number of settlers in the West Bank may have tripled in the 20 years since the Oslo interim accords were signed, but 64% of that growth was in areas likely to remain in Israeli hands in any land swaps with the Paleostinians. Posted by: trailing wife 2013-10-18 |
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