Government reneges on undertaking to US (Ma'ariv)

[tinnypriv]

Note: The blue parts taken (not always in order, for clarity) from the Hebrew version. Both english and Hebrew links at the bottom.


Government reneges on undertaking to US
Ma'ariv, 1 August 2004
By Eilil Shahar

** PM and Defense Minister ok plans ("in secret") for construction of 600 new accommodation units in WB Jerusalem suburb of Ma’aleh Adumim **

The PM and Defense Minister have approved plans to begin construction of an additional 600 homes in the large West Bank settlement city of Ma’aleh Adumim, a suburb of Jerusalem approximately 10 miles from the capital (whilst also "preventing the Ministry of Housing and Construction from publishing the tender in the press and on the internet site of the Ministry, as it requested", because, this would "arouse international criticism").

The new construction will add about 2,00 inhabitants ("mostly new immmigrants") to the city, an increase of around seven percent.

...

A Defense ministry source (under a heading of "Sharon continues to deceive") confirmed that the construction is part of the policy to increase the size of the large Jewish settlements, which Israel plans on keeping after the unilateral disengagement, under the “secure and safe borders” paragraph of relevant UN resolutions. The US affirmed its support for this position in the undertakings President Bush gave PM Sharon as part of the disengagement support package.

However that package also includes an Israeli undertaking not to initiate any new development in any West Bank settlement, other than public utilities needed to service the current populations (which "the construction of these 600 new units is (therefore) a breach of").

The administration is already growing impatient over what it regards as Israeli foot-dragging over settlement related matters. Israeli promises to dismantle what it admits are illegal outposts remain unfulfilled, and the reports it keeps promising to send regarding illegal outposts remain undelivered, like the proverbial “check in the mail” (despite agreeing with "U.S. Ambassador to Israel Dan Kurtzer" to "sketch with aerial photography permissable boundaries of construction in all settlements" over "three months ago").

...

http://www.maarivintl.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=article&articleID=10409
http://www.nrg.co.il/online/1/ART/762/685.html (Hebrew)