US, EU Criticize Israeli Decision To Build Settlement

[Strengthandhonour]

ROUNDUP: US, EU Criticize Israeli Decision To Build Settlemen

Israel came under fire from theUnited States and the European Union Wednesday for its decision tobuild a new settlement in the occupied West Bank.

The Israeli defence ministry on Tuesday authorized the constructionof 30 houses in Maskiyot, a largely abandoned former Israeli militaryoutpost which is now used only for a pre-army cadet course, aspokeswoman confirmed.

The new houses are intended for about 30 families, who wereevacuated from their homes as part of Israel's historic pullout fromthe Gaza Strip in August-September 2005.

US State Department spokesman Gonzalo Gallegos said theestablishment of the new settlement violated Israel's obligations underthe stalled international "road map" peace plan sponsored by the US,EU, United Nations and Russia.

"We are seeking an explanation from the Israeli governmentregarding this," he said. "The US calls on Israel to meet its road mapobligations and avoid taking steps that could be seen as predeterminingthe outcome of final status negotiations."

The EU on Wednesday also expressed "deep concern" over Israel'sdecision to authorize plans to build the new settlement in the easternWest Bank, some 20 kilometres north-east of the city of Nablus.

The move was "illegal under international law" and could "threatento render the two-state solution physically impossible to implement,"Finland said in a statement as outgoing holder of the EU presidency.

The statement said that the timing of the plan was "unfortunate" asit came shortly after a meeting Saturday between Israeli Prime MinisterEhud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

An Israeli defence source, speaking on condition of anonymity, saidDefence Minister Amir Peretz, of the centre-left Labour Party,authorized the plan because he was unable to break a promise made tothe former Gaza settlers by his predecessor Shaul Mofaz.

Mofaz is currently serving as transportation minister and is amember of Olmert's centrist Kadima faction, but at the time he was amember of the hardline Likud party.

The move would be the first time in a decade that Israel wouldconstruct a new, government-authorized settlement in the West Bank.Settlers have set up dozens of improvised outposts, but though theyhave at times been condoned by the Israeli authorities, they have nothad formal approval.

Maskiyot is located in the Jordan Valley, a strategic plain throughwhich runs the River Jordan. Israel has said that it has no intentionof withdrawing from the area, even as part of any future peaceagreement with the Palestinians.

According to the Israeli human rights organization B'Tselem, theIsraeli government has already de-facto annexed the Jordan Valley bysetting up a network of roadblocks, which allow free movement between it and Israel, but obstruct movement between it and the West Bank.

Although Israeli settlements in the West Bank are seen as illegalunder international law, Israel has said it views an April 2004 lettersent by US President George W Bush to then-Prime Minister Ariel Sharonas a green light to keep some of them as part of a future peace deal.

These include up to 50 settlements located close to the "green"armistice line separating Israel from the West Bank and some 26 othersin the Jordan Valley.

While Israel continues to develop those settlements, Olmert'sgovernment has largely frozen construction in the remaining settlementsin the heart of the West Bank.

Palestinians say they will be robbed of at least 20 per cent of their land if Israel goes ahead with the annexations.

Some Israeli prime ministers have suggested territorial exchanges as compensation.

A senior aide to Abbas warned Wednesday that the Israeli decisionand another move to respond to ongoing rocket fire from Gaza despite amonth-long truce, would "negatively affect" efforts to revive theIsraeli-Palestinian peace process.

"What was decided in Israel will create an atmosphere that is notencouraging and that will negatively affect the outcome of (Saturday's)Abbas-Olmert meeting," Nabil Amr told Deutsche Presse- Agentur

© 2006 DPA

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