TEL AVIV - Israel plans to build hundreds of more settler homes in large West Bank settlements,
the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper said on Sunday.
American Warning
Rice slams Israel's settlement plans / By Yitzhak Benhorin and AFP
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice warned Israel that its plan to increase construction in the West Bank town of Maale Adumim was "at odds with American policy"
The Housing Ministry plans to publish bids for 700 structures to be built inside the West Bank, land Israel captured in the 1967 Six-Day War but which Palestinians want for a state.
Four hundred buildings are to be built in ultra-Orthodox Beitar Ilit, while 300 are slated for construction in Maale Adumim, near Jerusalem.
In the past the U.S. has threatened to present Israel with an ultimatum in light of smaller-scale construction in these sensitive areas.
Recently it was published that Housing Minister Yitzhak Hertzog has removed from the ministry’s hallways birds-eye view photos of settlement construction that had been hanged by his right-wing predecessors Effie Eitam, Natan Sharansky and Yitzhak Levy.
In place of the photos Hertzog hanged photos of construction sites within the Green Line.
“I chose to present the change in priorities that I am leading in the ministry in a symbolic manner as well,” he said at the time, adding that funds previously earmarked for settlement construction would now be allocated toward helping the Arab sector.
However, it turned out that in practice settlement construction has not dropped significantly from previous years, when the right controlled the Housing Ministry.
“In comparison with years past there has been a dramatic decrease in the settlement construction, settlement blocs in Gush Etzion and around Jerusalem not withstanding,” Hertzog said.
“I have completely stopped the marketing of lands in the rest of the areas and I ordered that funds be allocated to the Negev and the Galilee regions.”
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