Israel to build 50 new homes at W.Bank settlement

[babylonsister]

Israel to build 50 new homes at W.Bank settlement
Mon Jun 29, 2009 7:27am EDT

By Ori Lewis


JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel's Defense Ministry said Monday it had approved construction of 50 new homes at a West Bank settlement as part of a plan for 1,450 housing units, an expansion that defies a U.S. call for a settlement freeze.

News of the planned building work emerged hours before Defense Minister Ehud Barak was due to travel to the United States for talks aimed at narrowing a rift with Washington over the settlement issue.

He will meet President Barack Obama's Middle East envoy, George Mitchell.

An affidavit submitted by the Defense Ministry to the Supreme Court outlined plans to relocate settlers from Migron, an outpost built in the West Bank without Israeli government permission, to the settlement of Adam, north of Jerusalem.

According to the document, a response to a court case brought by the Israeli anti-settlement group Peace Now, a master plan for Adam calls for construction of 1,450 homes there.

But the ministry said it had given the go-ahead for the construction of only 50 of the dwellings and any additional units would require its separate approval.

more...

http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSTRE55S1SP20090629

[malaise]

1. Meanwhile

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8123487.stm
<snip>
The International Committee of the Red Cross has described the 1.5 million Palestinians living in Gaza as people "trapped in despair".

In a report, it said that a main cause was the continuing Israeli blockade.

The report comes six months after the end of Israel's military offensive in Gaza in which at least 1,100 Palestinians died.

Israel said the offensive was aimed at curbing rocket attacks into southern Israel by Palestinian militants.

The Red Cross says that the people of Gaza are unable to rebuild their lives and are sliding ever deeper into despair.

There is not the cement or steel to reconstruct neighbourhoods hit by Israeli strikes.

Seriously ill patients are not receiving the treatment they need. The water supply is patchy, sanitation on the point of collapse.

The ICRC statement comes as a UN Human Rights Council inquiry into alleged war crimes in Gaza and southern Israel holds public hearings in Gaza City.