ISRAEL APPROVES 799 HOUSING UNITS IN WEST BANK

Ramallah, 23 Muharram 1435/27 November 2013 (MINA) – The Israeli occupation authorities approved the construction of 799 housing units in West Bank settlements, a report said on Monday.

The Israeli daily Haaretz said that the Civil Administration, an Israeli military department responsible for coordinating civil issues between Israeli government and the Palestinians, approved the new settler homes less than two weeks after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called off planning for 24,000 housing units in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

The Palestinian negotiations team reigned to protest the announcement. The report said that some of the dwellings will be at the Nofei Prat outpost at the settlement of Kfar Adumim, to the northeast of Jerusalem. Construction is set to begin once the plan is officially published and the council of Jewish settlements in the area issues permits. IINA news agency reported quoted by Mi’raj News Agency (MINA).

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According to the report, the 799 units include 30 in the settlement of Shiloh north of Jerusalem. Some of these units have already been built. Three buildings that have not yet been put up require the Israeli Defense Ministry’s approval.

The report said that the Civil Administration approved 409 new units in the settlement of Givat Ze’ev just north of Jerusalem. Haaretz said that Givat Sal’it, an outpost established more than a decade ago in northern Jordan Valley, has now been approved; 94 housing units and a commercial center will be built. The prefab homes in the outpost there will be removed, the report said.

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The report added that the military department approved 12 homes the settlement of Nokdim (where Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman lives). Two of the homes have access roads that pass through privately owned Palestinian land. The report said that the Civil Administration is trying to solve the problem of the access roads. If no solution is found, only 10 of the homes will be approved.

The Civil Administration, however, has no intention of demolishing the other two homes. The issue of settlements is one of the thorniest issues that stall the resumption of direct peace talks between Palestinian Authority and Israel which collapsed in October 2010 because Israel insisted to continue settlement construction in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

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Under heavy US pressure and following intense shuttle diplomacy by US Secretary of State John Kerry, Israel and the Palestinians resumed peace talks in July after a three-year hiatus, agreeing to a nine-month timeline set to expire in March 2014. Israeli and Palestinian negotiators met more than fifteen times since then in an attempt to solve the final status issues; Jerusalem, refugees, boundaries, settlements and security. Meetings were held alternately in different locations in Jerusalem and Jericho.(T/P08/P04)

Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)