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Israel Grabs More West Bank Land: Report
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Settlement expansion "can't be done without government encouragement and financing," Sneh said
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CAIRO
, July 27 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – While Israeli
Prime Minister is propagating his dramatic plan to evacuate
Gaza
settlements next year, his government is stepping up its settlement
expansion in the
West Bank
through various means, according to press reports on Tuesday, July 27.
Citing
Israeli peace groups and Palestinian officials, British daily The
Guardian said thousands of homes are under construction in the main
Israeli settlements in the
West Bank
.
In
addition, Jewish outposts that are illegal under Israeli law are also
being expanded.
During
Sharon
's visit to
Washington
last April,
US
President George W. Bush gave him a
written guarantee that
Washington
would never press its close alley to withdrawal from the entire
occupied Palestinian West Bank under any peace settlement.
Sharon
, on his part, promised Bush he will dismantle the so-called rogue
outposts in the
West Bank
, which are usually clusters of containers or trailer homes serviced
by government-built roads.
According
to the British daily,
Sharon
has failed to even do so.
It
quoted one Israeli group, Settlement Watch, as saying that in the
three months to May,
West Bank
settlements expanded by 26 hectares (65 acres).
"The
(Israeli) government has approved construction of thousands more homes
in the three main settlement blocs on the
West Bank
, encouraged by an apparent endorsement by Bush for their eventual
annexation."
Bush
has praised
Sharon
's
Gaza
pullout plan, adding the world owed the Israeli hawkish leader a
"thank you".
Land
Grab
Dror
Etkes, head of Settlement Watch, told The Guardian that the expansion
of Jewish outposts and continuing house building since
Sharon
announced his plan in December was evidence that the government was
seeking to annex more Palestinian territory.
"The
government is trying to push the boundaries of the settlements as much
as possible before they are frozen. The new rule of the game we have
seen in past weeks is the diameter of permitted construction area in
the
West Bank
has grown.
"The
purpose is to expand as fast as possible because of negotiations with
the
US
to limit future construction to areas already under
construction."
Washington
, on its part, said
US
officials have been appointed to agree limits to settlement expansion
in order to preserve land for a future Palestinian state, according to
the British daily.
"
Sharon
is pressing the
US
to allow building to continue in areas already under construction, to
cater for the 'natural growth' in families."
Settlement
Watch, however, told the British daily that "aerial photographs
reveal that in some settlements, construction has begun on the outer
limits of the municipal boundaries, often some distance from the
settlement."
The
Israeli peace group believes the government will claim the right to
build on the intervening territory or use the outposts to link
settlements.
"The
pictures show new houses, roads and other infrastructure around about
12 of the 90 or more outposts, sometimes linking them to established
colonies."
Blunt
Violation Of Promise
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Sharon promised Bush to freeze settlement activities |
Last
week Ephraim Sneh, an Israeli opposition Labor party MP, presented
photographs of the outposts and infrastructure expansion to his
party's caucus in parliament, according to The Guardian.
"In
blunt violation of the promise to the
US
president, the government doesn't dismantle the illegal outposts. With
government money they are expanded, asphalt roads are paved - all the
necessary preparations to turn them into permanent settlements,"
he told the British daily.
"It
casts a shadow on the real intent of
Sharon
's disengagement plan. The disengagement may be just a cover for the
real intention of the prime minister to deepen and solidify the
Israeli hold in the
West Bank
."
"It
can't be done without government encouragement and financing,"
said the opposition leader.
In
May, the Israeli state comptroller said
Israel
's housing ministry had illegally funneled about £3.8m to fund
unauthorized settlement expansion, half of it to the illegal outposts,
said The Guardian.
Olive
Plot
Within
the same context, Israeli press reports revealed Tuesday a secret plan
aiming at expanding settlements in the occupied
West Bank
.
According
to the Hebrew edition of Israeli daily Ma'ariv, Israeli Agriculture
Minister Yisrael Katz ordered planting 72,000 olive trees around
Jewish settlements in the
West Bank
during the few coming weeks.
The
target, the paper said is to ensure the land on which the trees would
grow could never be returned to the Palestinians, but would rather
remain under the control of Jewish settlers.
The
plan, formalized in collaboration with the Jewish Agency, would cost
millions of dollars and would see big olive trees planted near the
settlements.
Katz
explained, as per the daily, that the plan mainly aims at seizing more
land and making sure the Palestinians would never get them back.
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