Israel invites bids for West Bank settlement expansion

JERUSALEM – The Israeli authorities yesterday invited tenders for building nearly 700 new housing units in the occupied West Bank, in the largest settlement expansion push for the territory this year.

The housing ministry published advertisements in the press inviting the bids, with 348 houses to be constructed in Maale Adumim, east of Jerusalem, and 342 houses to be built in Beitar Eilit to the south of the Holy City. The bids were the largest invited so far this year and the biggest since Prime Minister Ehud Olmert took office on May 4.The anti-settlement watchdog Peace Now heavily criticised the move, saying that the construction of hundreds of new settlement homes “violated the government’s commitments to the roadmap,” the latest Middle East peace plan.Israel “has done nothing to dismantle the dozens of wildcat settlements,” said Peace Now in a statement, despite government commitments to dismantle such outposts built without consent of the authorities.Under the terms of the internationally drafted roadmap, Israel is meant to freeze all settlement construction in the West Bank.The plan, however, has made no progress since its launch three years ago and Israel says it will not be bound by its commitments until the Palestinians put a halt to attacks.Ambitious plans outlined by Olmert to withdraw from parts of the West Bank and uproot tens of thousands of settlers while effectively annexing the largest settlement blocs have been put on ice since Israel’s war in Lebanon.Home to 35 000 people, Maale Adumim is the largest Jewish settlement in the West Bank and one of the most controversial, lying about a dozen kilometres (eight miles) away from east Jerusalem.Although Israel has frozen a project to link Maale Adumim to east Jerusalem following sharp US criticism, Olmert has vowed that the sprawling settlement will remain part of the Jewish state.Reports in May said the authorities had approved the expansion of four West Bank settlements, including Beitar Eilit, on territory that Palestinians see as an integral part of their promised future state.The expansion of Beitar Eilit, already home to 27 000 Israelis, should see the settlement connected with Jerusalem which the Palestinians also want as the capital of their independent state.The Palestinians say any building on the so-called E-1 corridor between Maale Adumim and Jerusalem will wreck the viability of their promised future state by cutting off the rest of the West Bank from east Jerusalem.The number of Israelis living in the occupied West Bank, excluding annexed east Jerusalem, has increased by 2,7 per cent to 260 042 during the past six months, according to statistics published by the interior ministry last week.Israel dismantled all 21 settlements built in the Gaza Strip and withdrew all its troops and settlers from the territory in August and September 2005.Nampa-AFPThe bids were the largest invited so far this year and the biggest since Prime Minister Ehud Olmert took office on May 4.The anti-settlement watchdog Peace Now heavily criticised the move, saying that the construction of hundreds of new settlement homes “violated the government’s commitments to the roadmap,” the latest Middle East peace plan.Israel “has done nothing to dismantle the dozens of wildcat settlements,” said Peace Now in a statement, despite government commitments to dismantle such outposts built without consent of the authorities.Under the terms of the internationally drafted roadmap, Israel is meant to freeze all settlement construction in the West Bank.The plan, however, has made no progress since its launch three years ago and Israel says it will not be bound by its commitments until the Palestinians put a halt to attacks.Ambitious plans outlined by Olmert to withdraw from parts of the West Bank and uproot tens of thousands of settlers while effectively annexing the largest settlement blocs have been put on ice since Israel’s war in Lebanon.Home to 35 000 people, Maale Adumim is the largest Jewish settlement in the West Bank and one of the most controversial, lying about a dozen kilometres (eight miles) away from east Jerusalem.Although Israel has frozen a project to link Maale Adumim to east Jerusalem following sharp US criticism, Olmert has vowed that the sprawling settlement will remain part of the Jewish state.Reports in May said the authorities had approved the expansion of four West Bank settlements, including Beitar Eilit, on territory that Palestinians see as an integral part of their promised future state.The expansion of Beitar Eilit, already home to 27 000 Israelis, should see the settlement connected with Jerusalem which the Palestinians also want as the capital of their independent state.The Palestinians say any building on the so-called E-1 corridor between Maale Adumim and Jerusalem will wreck the viability of their promised future state by cutting off the rest of the West Bank from east Jerusalem.The number of Israelis living in the occupied West Bank, excluding annexed east Jerusalem, has increased by 2,7 per cent to 260 042 during the past six months, according to statistics published by the interior ministry last week.Israel dismantled all 21 settlements built in the Gaza Strip and withdrew all its troops and settlers from the territory in August and September 2005.Nampa-AFP