Expanding Israeli Settlements

Erekat Says Expanding Israeli Settlements Could Ruin “Two State” Vision

RAMALLAH, Palestine, April 19, 2005 (IPC + Agencies) - - Only one week after the US President George Bush Urged the Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon not to expand Israeli settlements, the Israeli government placed a tender to bid for building 50 additional housing units for the illegal Israeli settlement ’Elkana’ in the heart of the West Bank.

The chief Palestinian negotiator, Dr. Saeb Erekat, commented on this step by saying that it would ruin President Bush’s vision of a two-state solution according to the Road Map peace plan.

“At the time where Israel talks about dismantling 2100 settlement units in Gaza, it is building thrice as much in the West Bank and East Jerusalem,” Erekat added.

The chief negotiator asserted that the Road Map plan included a cessation of all settlement expansion activities, including those what Israel calls “natural growth of settlements”, and that the international community considered the Israeli settlements in Gaza Strip, West Bank and East Jerusalem as illegal.

Israel has placed a tender to bid yesterday for selling 50 lots of land inside Elkana illegal settlement, in order to build housing unites on them. The new tender, which was released on the website of the so-called “Israel Land Administration”, allows the construction of one house on each lot of land, similar to the method of “build your own house”.

The Israeli land authority claimed these lands were “state owned”, despite being located inside the West Bank territories, which was occupied by Israeli forces during the 1967-war, and considered according to all international laws and conventions as occupied land that Israel has no right in controlling.

The tender also leases the lots of lands for rent over the period of 98 years, with a possibility to renew for another 98 years, describing the lands as “owned” by Israel.

On the other hand, the American administration strictly warned Sharon not to expand any Israeli settlement in the West Bank, as the White House criticized Israel for releasing the tender, one week after the US President urged Sharon not to expand settlements.

White House spokesman, Scott McClellan, told reporters escorting President Bush to South Carolina, “we’ll seek more information from the government of Israel about this report,” referring to the tender.

The settlement of Elkana, which was illegally built in 1977, houses more than 3000 Israeli settlers, situated six kilometers deep into the West Bank and away from the Green Line that separates the West Bank from Israel. It is part of the illegal settlement bloc ’Ariel’.

In an effort to justify the construction of these housing units, the Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom told reporters that “it’s obvious that the settlements near the 1967 borders should remain under Israeli control, and we have to do our best to ensure that the situation stays like this.”

On March 20, the Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz authorized the construction of more than 3500 housing units inside ’Maaleh Adomim’, the largest illegal Israeli settlement in the occupied Palestinian territories, which houses over 28 thousand settlers.

The Israeli government had always asserted, contrary to Road Map, its right to expand settlements under the pretext of natural growth, while continuing its aggression against the Palestinian people and accusing the Palestinian Authority of failing to commit to its obligations in the Road Map.