Israeli PM: Bethlehem settlements will always be part of Israel
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited the Bethlehem-area settlement of Efrat on Monday, and insisted it and a nearby bloc of other settlements would forever remain part of the Israeli state, according to media reports.
"Efrat and Gush Etzion are integral parts of greater Jerusalem," Israeli daily The Jerusalem Post quoted Netanyahu saying.
"They are the southern gates of Jerusalem and will always be part of the State of Israel. We are building Efrat and Gush Etzion with enthusiasm, faith and responsibility."
The Palestinian villages surrounding Efrat and Gush Etzion fear plans to renew construction of Israel's separation wall around the settlements will result in their displacement, or encirclement by the barrier.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=514847
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area C is under total Israeli control and Israel is displacing Palestinians living in area c
Israel froze planning in Palestinian towns and villages. The existing planning schemes, which date back fifty years and more, serve as the basis for approval - more often rejection - of applications for building permits. Land registration has been frozen for thirty years, making it easy to deny applications for permits on the grounds of failure to prove ownership of the land. Israel administers the building authorities, which have no Palestinian representation. A Palestinian wanting to obtain a building permit to build on his land in Area C [that part of the West Bank which remains under complete Israeli control] must undergo a prolonged, complicated, and expensive procedure which generally results in denial of the application.
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Rather than change this situation, Israel has adopted a policy of mass demolition of Palestinian houses. In the past ten years, the authorities have demolished more than 2,200 residences, leaving more than 13,000 Palestinians homeless. This policy continues today in Area C.
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At the same time, at least 155 Israeli settlements, containing more than 170,000 Jewish Israeli citizens, have been established. These settlements benefit from an efficient system of planning and supervision of construction, and establishment of comprehensive planning schemes for all the settlements. Despite this, thousands of houses were built in these settlements without permits. Israel refrained from demolishing these houses, and instead issued retroactive building permits for thousand of houses constructed without permits. This building-permit policy blatantly discriminates between settlers and Palestinians.
http://www.btselem.org/topic/planning_and_building
