Articles tagged with: settlement expansion
Hebron District, settlement expansion »
This Saturday, October 3, residents of the small town of At-Tuwani in the South Hebron Hills were accompanied by approximately 40 international and Israeli solidarity activists on a tree-planting mission. The group walked out of town in the direction of Ma’on, an illegal Israeli settlement that has been expanding with great speed in the last few months. In September alone, 6 new homes were erected near the settlement, continuing to encroach on privately-owned Palestinian land. In response to this illegal expansion, the popular committee of At-Tuwani organized a mass tree-planting session. Activists spent several hours clearing the ground and planting fruit trees throughout the area near the … Continue reading
Hebron District, settlement expansion »
From Christian Peacemaker Teams and Operation Dove
At a time when the international community is calling for a freeze on new building in settlements and the disbanding of settlement outposts, the settler community of the South Hebron Hills is continuing its expansion unabated.
Israeli settlers from the illegal settlement on Ma’on, in the South Hebron Hills area, are constructing at least five new caravans on the south-west side of the settlement. Internationals based in the nearby Palestinian village of At Tuwani first observed building preparatory work in Ma’on a few days ago. Today, as the new caravans were being built, settlers began preparatory work on a nearby hilltop for further settlement … Continue reading
settlement expansion »
For the original article on aljazeera.net/english click here
Israel has officially approved the construction of 455 new settlements in the occupied West Bank, defying demands by the US and others for a freeze on settlement building.
Israel’s defence ministry announced the decision to continue with settlement building on Monday.
“Defence Minister Ehud Barak has authorised the construction of 455 housing units in settlement blocs” in the occupied West Bank, the ministry said.
The US wants Israel to stop settlement activity and Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, has demanded a freeze as a condition for returning to peace negotiations.
Israeli officials announced on Friday that Binyamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, intended to give the go-ahead for the new projects before considering a halt.
Netanyahu’s move is … Continue reading
Other »
For the original article on Aljazeera.net/english, click here
Israel’s prime minister is set to approve plans to build hundreds of new homes on Palestinian land in the occupied West Bank, before considering US demands for a construction freeze.
Aides to Binyamin Netanyahu said on Friday that the prime minister would consider a settlement freeze, but first planned to authorise the new building work.
The comments, quoted in Israeli media, are the first time an aide has said in the name of the prime minister’s office that a freeze could be imminent.
But the plans for new settlements are likely to anger Palestinians, who have said they will not resume peace talks unless Israel suspends construction on lands they want for a future state.
Settlement … Continue reading
Beit Ommar »
Construction of a road has begun on Palestinian land right outside the settlement Karmei Tsur, between Beit Omar and Halhoul, about two weeks ago. The construction has happened between the edge of the settlement and a “security fence” that the military built three years ago. This agricultural land still belongs to the Palestinian families of Abu Maria, Soleiby, Awwad, Abu Ayyesh, and Sabarna. However, entry to their land since the building of the fence has required a permit from Israel, which most Palestinian families refuse to apply for, maintaining that the land is rightfully theirs.
Friday, August 21, a group of Palestinians, Israelis, and internationals held a demonstration … Continue reading
East Jerusalem, Jerusalem District »
On Monday August 17th, Governor Mike Huckabee attended a dinner with right-wing Israeli officials at the Shepherds Hotel in Sheikh Jarrah, East Jerusalem. The Shepherd’s Hotel was an Arab-run hotel that was bought over by Jewish-American millionaire Irving Moskowitz in 1985. Since then, plans to build another Jewish settlement on the site of the hotel in the Arab neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah have been underway. Mike Huckabee was here supporting the settler movement, claiming that Israel had the right to build wherever they wanted in their own country, even when East Jerusalem is acknowledged internationally as the occupied capital of a future Palestinian state.
Peace Now, an Israeli organization fighting against settlements in occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank, … Continue reading
Jerusalem District »
From Haaretz.com
The evacuation of two Palestinian families from the homes in the disputed East Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah on Sunday drew a slew of condemnations.
The neighborhood was at the center of escalating tensions between Israel and the U.S. last month, when Israel’s plan to build some 20 new apartments there was revealed. The U.S. has demanded that the project be halted, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said two weeks ago that “Israel will not agree to edicts of this kind in East Jerusalem.”
The evacuation comes after a decision by the High Court of Justice last week, which ruled that the homes belong to Jewish families.
Robert Serry, the United Nations envoy to the Middle East, criticized the evacuation of … Continue reading
Beit Ommar »
On Tuesday July 28th, PSP international and Palestinian activists documented the bulldozing of a new road by the Israeli military between the original Karmei Tsur settlement fence and the newly-constructed “security” fence. When this newer fence was constructed in 2006, residents of Beit Ommar, while attempting to prevent the construction at all, were at least able to guarantee with a decision by the Israeli Supreme Court that the agricultural land that would be trapped between the new “security” fence and the old boundary of Karmei Tsur, which was proven to be private Palestinian land, whould remain the property of the residents of Beit Ommar. … Continue reading
