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ISRAEL’S housing ministry said today that it was advancing plans for nearly 1,500 new settlement housing units in the West Bank and Arab east Jerusalem.
The ministry made clear that the land grab was a response to the formation of a Palestinian unity government.
Housing Minister Uri Ariel said that it was a “fitting zionist response to the formation of a Palestinian terror government,” adding that the housing plans were “just the beginning.”
Tenders were issued late on Wednesday for about 900 housing units in the West Bank and about 560 units in east Jerusalem.
They represent final governmental approval before construction can begin.
Chief Palestinian peace negotiator Saeb Erekat said the settlement announcement was “a clear sign that Israel is moving toward a major escalation” and that the Palestinians were weighing their response to the announcement.
The announcement of new settlement building was the most aggressive measure since the official end of nine months of US-mediated Israeli-Palestinian peace talks in April.
US ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro told Army Radio yesterday that the US opposed the planned construction.
And Israeli Justice Minister Tzipi Livni, who was chief negotiator in the last round of peace talks, said the announcement was a “political mistake … that will only distance us from the ability to recruit the world against Hamas.”
Israeli settlement watchdog Peace Now’s spokesman Lior Amichai also condemned the announcement, saying: “It shows the government’s policy is moving us toward one state.”
Rival Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah formally ended their seven-year rift last week and formed a new unity government comprised of independent technocrats, but backed by both movements and welcomed by the US and the European Union.
Israel had vowed to take action in response to the new Palestinian unity government because it will not countenance any body supported by Hamas.
Police shut down banks in the Gaza Strip yesterday after Hamas-affiliated public servants and security officers rioted at cash machines the previous night because they did not receive their salaries, while Fatah loyalists did.
