Israel approves new W. Bank settlement in decade
12/26/2006 1:00:00 PM GMT
The Israeli defense ministry approved the construction of a new West Bank settlement to house settlers evacuated from Gaza last year, a government spokesman said on Tuesday.
A settler official said the evacuated settlers had been waiting to move to a “new neighborhood� in Maskiot, a former Israeli army base in the Jordan Valley, under a months-old government promise to build the first permanent housing in the occupied West Bank for Gaza evacuees.
A government spokesman told AFP that the defense ministry “has given its green light for construction of 30 houses in Maskiot� .
"The decision was taken by Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz in the previous government and it wasn't possible to prevent this," the official said.
A regional council official in the Jordan Valley said building work in Maskiot would start in two weeks, Israel Radio said.
The families planning to move to Maskiot lived in two of the 21 settlements Israel dismantled in the Gaza Strip in 2005 under the so-called “disengagement plan", which was backed by former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.
The building of the new houses marks the first time since 1992 that the Israeli government has officially approved the construction of a new settlement in the West Bank.
The Israeli authorities have previously authorized the expansion of existing settlements.
Settlement expansion and construction in the occupied West Bank violate a U.S.-backed Israeli-Palestinian peace plan known as the "road map", which calls for an independent state for the Palestinians.
About 260,000 Jewish settlers and 2.5 million Palestinians live in the West Bank. The World Court has branded all Israeli settlements on land seized in the 1967 Middle East war as illegal.
Israel to remove some W. Bank roadblocks
Israeli Defense Minister Amir Peretz told a parliamentary panel on Monday that 59 of about 400 roadblocks in the West Bank would be removed.
Peretz told reporters that the decision was aimed at "increasing the number of Palestinians working in Israel".
The closures imposed around the West Bank make it difficult or impossible for Palestinians to go to Israel for work.
Israeli officials said dismantling the roadblocks would take time and they did not provide a start date.
The Israeli cabinet also agreed to make improvements at the Karni commercial crossing between Israel and Gaza in order to accelerate the flow of goods.
A senior Israeli official said travel restrictions on top Palestinian officials and medical crews would also be eased.
Palestinian chief negotiator, Saed Erekat, said “the removal of the roadblocks is a step in the direction of ending all internal closures in order to ensure the free movement of goods and people in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.�
Israeli officials claim that the checkpoints and unmanned roadblocks in the West Bank are meant to prevent Palestinian resistance fighters from carrying out attacks in Israel, but the Palestinians call them collective punishment.
Peretz also said some Palestinian detainees held in Israel would be released before the Muslim feast of Eid al-Adha, which falls on Saturday.
Correspondents say the recent Israeli decisions are aimed at supporting Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in his power struggler with the Hamas-led government.
Jordan to host Palestinian talks
Jordan will host talks between Palestinian Prime Minister Ismael Haniya of Hamas and President Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah in a bid to ease tensions between the two rival factions.
Ghazi Hamad, a spokesman for the ruling Hamas party, said that Haniya accepted an invitation from Jordan’s King Abdullah.
"Haniya welcomed the invitation. Arrangements are under way to agree on the date," Hamad said.
Jordan has been supportive of Abbas, who is also backed by the West, but has had cool relations with Hamas
A spokesman for the Jordanian government said hosting the meeting between Abbas and Haniya would be an attempt "to reinvigorate the peace process and solidify Palestinian national unity".
President Abbas arrived in Jordan on Monday following talks with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, the first formal meeting between the two leaders for nearly two years.
A Jordanian official said that Prime Minister Marouf al-Bakheet assured President Abbas during talks in Amman that they would let him decide the date of the meeting with Haniya, signaling the Jordanian government’s strong backing of the Palestinian president.
Haniyeh's visit, which a Palestinian source said could take place this week, would be the first by a Hamas leader to Jordan since 1999, when the kingdom closed Hamas’ offices in Amman and expelled its senior leadership.
Tensions between the ruling Hamas party and the once-dominant Fatah faction flared after President Abbas called on December 16 for early elections, saying that they would end months of political deadlock following the collapse of talks on forming a coalition government with Hamas.
Hamas, which defeated Fatah in the January legislative elections, rejected the call for new elections as a “coup" .
Haniya and Abbas called for a ceasefire last Wednesday after days of factional fighting killed more than 13 people and wounded dozens.
Relations between Hamas and Fatah have been strained since Hamas won power. A Western aid embargo imposed on the Palestinian government to pressure Hamas to recognize Israel further complicated the situation.
-- AJP and Agencies
