Settlement expansion seeing biggest boost since 2003

[Donald Ian Rankin]

West Bank construction has been accelerating for several months, putting Israel on a collision course with a U.S. administration taking a hard line on settlement expansion.

A new outpost, new roads, and other building projects have raced ahead in and around the settlements, often without legal permits, producing the biggest construction drive since 2003, according to Dror Etkes of the Israeli advocacy group Yesh Din. That group monitors construction in the West Bank.

The construction, which has sped up even more since Benjamin Netanyahu's government took office this spring, is to be a main issues in U.S. President Barack Obama's meeting with Netanyahu at mid-month. Vice President Joe Biden called on Israel on Tuesday to stop building in the settlements and to dismantle existing illegal outposts. However, left-wing groups monitoring events in the territories say the construction has accelerated in recent months, not halted.

....

The defense minister's bureau said Barak supports evacuating outposts not because of promises to the Americans but to maintain the rule of law. Every new outpost is evacuated immediately, Barak's aides said. The minister is not under the impression that the construction of illegal outposts and settlements has accelerated, they said.


http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1083667.html


And people say it's the Israelis who "don't have a partner for peace"?

[LeftishBrit]

1. Ugh. Getting worse and worse.

"people say it's the Israelis who "don't have a partner for peace"?

Right now, the tragedy is that neither side seems to be, and therefore to have, a partner for peace.

The election of Netanyahu certainly makes things worse.

[Donald Ian Rankin]

2. I think Abbas is, more or less.

And I think that if Likud's feet are held to the fire, Hamas can probably be persuaded to make peace, but that the reverse is probably not true - the Palestinians know they aren't likely to get many good opportunities, so if Obama can force Netahyahu to make a decent offer we might see peace, whereas if the Palestinians make an offer to compromise the settlements will keep on expanding and we'll see more conflict down the line.

[LeftishBrit]

3. True - I meant that the hawks on both sides have too much power to interfere

Hamas in Gaza; the RW parties in Israel.

Both governments are weak and divided, with too many hawks involved.

At least the change from Bush to Obama is a positive development.

[bemildred]

5. Hamas will agree to not fight and to put a final resolution off to a later generation.

A surprisingly sensible point of view, but not acceptable to people that think it is necessary and possible to lock in the current situation in perpetuity, despite the fact that all of human history shows that no such thing is possible.

[bemildred]

4. A last, desperate, burst of stupidity. nt

[Scurrilous]

6. UN urges Israel to change settlement policies

<snip>

"The UN Security Council on Monday kicked off a debate on how to revive the stalled Middle East peace process, with a call on Israel to change its policy of building settlements in the Palestinian territories.

"The time has come for Israel to fundamentally change its policies in this regard as it has repeatedly promised to do," UN chief Ban Ki-moon told the ministerial session called by Russia in its capacity as chair of the 15-member body this month.

Ban said the Palestinians "continue to see unacceptable unilateral actions in East Jerusalem and the remainder of the West Bank -- house demolitions, intensified settlement activity, settler violence, and oppressive movement restrictions due to permits, checkpoints, and the barrier, which are intimately connected to settlements."

The UN boss also slammed Israel's "continued closure" of the Gaza Strip, saying it "does not weaken Israel's adversaries in Gaza, but does untold damage to the fabric of civilian life."

He noted that four months after Israel's punishing offensive in Gaza to stop rocket attacks on its territory, "we cannot get anything beyond food and medicine into Gaza to assist a population that had been in the midst of a war zone. This is completely unacceptable."

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