Israeli Settlement Expansion: Housing Ministry Wants To Build 336 New Units

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel put out bids Monday to build 336 apartments in Jewish settlements in the West Bank, a new blow to international efforts to get Israelis and Palestinians back to peace talks after months of deadlock over settlement construction.

Ariel Rosenberg, spokesman for the Ministry of Construction and Housing, said developers were being asked to compete to build 294 apartments in Betar Illit and 42 apartments in Karnei Shomron. Developers who submit the winning bids will then have to secure building permits for their plans before construction can begin.

He estimated ground would be broken within a year and that the construction would be completed in about three years.

Settlement construction has stymied peacemaking efforts for more than two years. Talks resumed briefly in September but broke down again after an Israeli moratorium on new construction expired.

The Palestinians say they won't negotiate while Israel builds on lands they want for a future state. Israel rejects that demand and says the future of settlements must be decided in negotiations. Some 500,000 Israelis now live in east Jerusalem and the West Bank, captured territories claimed by the Palestinians.

In the absence of negotiations, the Palestinians say they plan to seek U.N. recognition of a Palestinian state in September. That could deepen Israel's diplomatic isolation, but would be only a symbolic victory for the Palestinians, changing little for them on the ground.

Comments

[gibranII]

11:44 AM on 07/25/2011

80 PERCENT of the settlements are built on top of aquifers ... this has been known since the negoiations and is why PA or others cant commit to developing a state without these rights.. While settlers build apartments and fill their pools... old women have to deal with carrying water ... the 1967 is a issue because of these facts...water water and water... right now 22% of water would be left over for a growing population of Palestinians... so lets be real honest here 1967 is a non starter if it doesnt address this important issue.. the world is wakening up to BIBI and the greater Israel vision..but what we get is that it is always the Palestinians that are stuck in the past...

[pensroll]

01:01 PM on 07/20/2011

How much more obvious can it be. Israel is not interested in negotiating, only stealing more land.

[nk5otr]

04:22 PM on 07/25/2011

which is why Israel traded land for peace with Jordan and Egypt

[zenju2]

03:41 AM on 07/20/2011

Too bad Arafat et al didn't agree to peace and statehood and an end to the conflict 11 summers ago, huh? Every time the Arab League states and/or the Palestinians have rejected a peace deal and statehood, the right-wing and the settlement enthusiasts in Israel gain more ground. Rejection hasn't worked out so well, right back to the beginning of the conflict shortly after the First World War when Britain and France started the whole mess.

[Magic 62]

09:05 AM on 07/20/2011

Too bad Israel is he.ll bent on stealing more land. The outcome is simple. Occupation is not sustainable, and a viable Palestinian state almost impossible. Therefore, the only viable solution is a single state that includes Israel proper and the occupied territories with Palestinian majority.

[fatherofbarmitzvah]

12:42 PM on 07/20/2011

Why don't you go back and read about what Arafat rejected, a 3 bantustan state.

[nk5otr]

04:23 PM on 07/25/2011

If Arafat wanted a better deal, he would not have walked out of talks and started the second intifada.

[surferlaments]

02:04 AM on 07/20/2011

well, i had my fill of hate the jews. i had my fill of hate Israel. tomorrow is a new day... why not go outside and enjoy the day? Israel will still be standing.... so the day after enjoying tomorrow, you can come back and hate the jews and hate Israel again. Israel will never fall..... for it is written.

[Aussieposter]

02:40 AM on 07/21/2011

Actually. I thought it was written that the Messiah would come. He will: be a descendant of King David, gain sovereignty over the land of Israel, gather the Jews there from the four corners of the earth, restore them to full observance of Torah law, and, as a grand finale, bring peace to the whole world.

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Judaism/messiah.html

Clearly since the whole word is not at peace in the words of Monty Python "He's not the messiah he's just a very naughty boy"

[surferlaments]

03:14 AM on 07/21/2011

monty python.... very well.

[gibranII]

11:48 AM on 07/25/2011

It is not a hate of Israel nor the Jewish people.that would be racist... it is the awaking of the policies that discriminate against any people.That has us..when a roicket fires from Gaza it is a horrible thing ...when the IDF arrests children in the night in the west bank or Silwan neighborhoods to intimidate their parents it is horrible..1300 children arerested and beat over the past year.. some after the protests.... see it is a horribl ething form both sides when the right has taken control of the debates.... bothsides are radicalizing...

[surferlaments]

02:49 PM on 07/25/2011

i know what you speak. truly, there will never be any lasting peace. there will be a day when it comes, but it will last for only 3 1/2 years.... no longer no less. is it not all a pity?

[jimall3]

11:22 PM on 07/19/2011

So the Jews there just steal land in violation of what the USA and EU governments mandate?

The funny thing is the USA and EU seems to scared to punish Israeli Jews for their bad behavior.

Instead Obama is waging war on ....Libya as Israel has ordered him to do. We need to just admit that Washington DC is under Israeli control. How else do you explain Washingtong allowing Jews in Media to only hire other Jews in clear violation of USA employment laws?

I know I know; daring to speak the truth results in McCarthy style fake Jewish shrieks of anti-semitism black listing. But its a fair question: How is it that Every exec in Entertainment is Jewish? This is only accomplished via illegal religious bias in hiring and promotion. Thus are skewed foreign policy. Oliver Stone who is 1/2 Jewish has said the very same thing. It is undeniable. Jewish Time Mag writer Joel Stein has said the same thing as well.

[Bradley Scott Roon]

10:04 AM on 07/20/2011

Oh Jimall3, my son. Haven't you ever heard of the term statistical anomaly? This just happens to be a freak of the universe. More poignant to the mechanics of the political control would be the other statistical anomaly: The U.S. Jewish population is about two to four percent of the population. The percentile of Jewish billionaires is over 60%. Since the universe obviously (randomly) favors a certain segment of population everyone else must do what they are told by this group or face risking becoming a statistic some other way.

It is also just a coincidence that the will of these billionaires becomes U.S. foreign policy. See Jimall3? There are just loads of coincidences and anomalies out there, that is all. Don't get conspiratorial because people never do that sort of thing? Okay? Glad we could have this talk.

[Flyingpigs]

06:04 PM on 07/19/2011

US Congressional c'tee to consider cutting PA, Lebanese aid...Aid to PA on condition that Israel recognized as Jewish state, aid to Lebanon includes stipulation that no Hezbollah member serve gov't; bill would also require moving embassy to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv by 2014. http://www.jpost.com/DiplomacyAndPolitics/Article.aspx?id=230115 Reality on ground setting in... Oslo will be a thing of the past... The PA will be dissolved... The only Palestine will be one if Jordan decides to change its name... Well they do have a Palestinian Queen and a Palestinian heir to throne... But many just don't want to see the facts on the ground... They still wish live in Disneyland and only want to see what they want to believe... Unfortunately it ain't reality.... Jordan Option is being implemented - Israel and Jordan Joint Control... The Writing is on the Wall...

[Magic 62]

09:08 AM on 07/20/2011

If US wants to give away its only levarage over Palestinians, they are welcome to do it. There is plenty of Arab money and Iran would be happy to take over just like they did in Lebanon.

[Michael II]

01:55 PM on 07/20/2011

And if things get too bad, the PA has a responsibility to its people to resign and put an end to the illusion that there will ever be a free Palestine. Incidentally, Palestine is still propped up by EU funds. Given the economic crisis there and the total lack of movement towards a solution in the region, this will be up for discussion sooner or later.

At the end of the day, Israeli tax-payers might be saddled with financing the occupation of Palestine, rather like the reunification of East and West Germany.

[Aussieposter]

02:57 AM on 07/21/2011

If the P.A. is dissolved you will then find 1.5 million Palestinians living in the Westbank demanding of israel the right to vote. The world community even a AIPEC dominated U.S. Government will not allow forced expuslion and international Law requires that when you take over the land you are required to give citizenship to the people that come with the land. If that should happen it will change the voting Arab population from 21% to around 46.5%. Within 3 decades after that there will be an Arab Majority in Israel. Prior to that, no government could be formed in Israel that did not include an Arab party within it's coalition.

I suppose I should say keep up the good work

[Flyingpigs]

01:39 PM on 07/21/2011

They will become Jordanian like before... Israel and Jordan will jointly control the West Bank. Its called the Jordan Option... Second your BS of AIPEC control US policy in the ME is retarded. If "AIPEC" dictated US policy there would've never beenthe Madrid conference which Israel was forced upon by Bush Sr. Oslo would have never existed. The US would have already moved its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. In the 1rst Lebanon War they wouldn't have made Israel pull back behind the Litani. 2nd War, Israel is wouldn't have been restricted, There would've have never been an Oslo. Never been a PA... And Hamas would've have never existed. Ib 73 Israel would continued into Cairo and Damascus like the Allies in WW2 in Berlin. And It would have been the Arab Countries signing unconditional surrender. Your use of AIPEC is pure propaganda without real facts. The facts are: the Saudi influence US ME policy! 2 Iraq Wars! US influence on Israel to enter in Oslo. The Bin Laden family allowed to leave the US the day after 911. OIL is the Influence of US Policy not AIPAC!

[Cynthia Rays]

04:32 PM on 07/19/2011

Shlomo Gazit, retired Major General in the IDF, a past head of the intelligence service and one of the Israeli negotiators at Oslo, "The legal system that enforces the law in a discriminatory way on the basis of national identity, is actually maintaining an apartheid regime...
I consider the continuation of our occupation rule in Judea and Samaria an existential danger. As I see it, this situation is threatening the main achievement to which I contributed 70 years ago: the establishment of a sovereign and democratic Jewish state. If we don't separate as soon as possible from the Palestinian population on the ground, Jewish and democratic Israel will be unable to survive."
http://mondoweiss.net/2011/07/israel-maintains-an-apartheid-regime-israeli-general-says-in-haaretz.html#more-47578

[Ouaouaron]

11:23 AM on 07/19/2011

Hey, Arabs are building all over the place, why not Jews too? Why do so many want to stop only Jews from building?

[kentah]

12:25 PM on 07/19/2011

The "settlements" are illegal in the West Bank. Don't make this about Jews vs "Arabs". Please show proof of the "Arabs [...] building all over the place" and show in what way it connects with West Bank Israeli expansion.

[Ouaouaron]

01:15 PM on 07/19/2011

Completely about Jews, it is an affront to Islam for the land there to be controlled by Jews. That is the issue, that very small piece of land according to Islam must be under Islamic sovereignty. The "west bank" was used by Jordan who occupied it to launch an attack against Israel (the Jews). Israel fought back and won and now is in possession of the "west bank." Giving it up would invite yet again a massive attack on Israel. If there is to be a Palestine it must be Jordan, Jordan was 1/2 of the area referred to as Palestine when the Brits gave it to a Saudi family as a kingdom. The Arabs in Israel have full rights. The Palestinian majority in Jordan do not. why is this ignored? Because Jews live in Israel and Arabs in Jordan.

[Nwo2012]

04:16 PM on 07/19/2011

Are there any Arab israeli settlers in occupied Palestinian territory?

[Bradley Scott Roon]

10:12 AM on 07/20/2011

I would go so far as to ask if foreigners of any stripe were building in Israel against their wishes and violating their sovereignty - although the legal sovereignty of Palestine is still being debated. I imply a Palestinian moral sovereignty and submit that if the Jews stopped invading other countries and worked to coexist perhaps they could find a degree of peace.

I understand that by Islamic thinking they own the entire world and will not be satisfied until every woman and infidel has become passive or worse so how is the land of Israel special in that way? Because the Arab people had lived there? They had half of Spain too. Indians used to control the Americas. Romans used to run most of Britain.

Things change, but the point here would be building in another person's property without permission. Oops, kill the surveyor, but we're stayin'.

[nk5otr]

10:51 AM on 07/19/2011

Israel's Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Danny Ayalon explains the historical facts relating to the Israeli Palestinian conflict. The video explains where the terms "West Bank", "occupied territories" and "67 Borders" originated and how they are incorrectly used and applied.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGYxLWUKwWo

[kentah]

12:27 PM on 07/19/2011

It's comedy gold!

[cosmiczulu]

01:20 AM on 07/20/2011

discount and destroy, a propagandist at work with it's own fan club

[gibranII]

11:51 AM on 07/25/2011

Yes he understands the historic terms of Judea & Samaria..or should we say greater Israel.. that is how they dodge the occupation questions.

[Cynthia Rays]

10:17 AM on 07/19/2011

"I have seen the humiliation of Palestinian men, women and children at the checkpoints and roadblocks. I have met Palestinians who were evicted and replaced by Jewish Israeli settlers; Palestinians whose homes were destroyed even as new, Jewish-only homes were illegally built on confiscated Palestinian land." Desmmund Tutu
http://mondoweiss.net/2011/07/its-apartheid-desmond-tutu-endorses-tiaa-cref-divestment-project-in-n-c-newspaper.html#more-47518

[cosmiczulu]

01:22 AM on 07/20/2011

quoting a Jew hater proves that he is just a Jew hater

[colah]

09:22 AM on 07/20/2011

A view held only in your circles.
The rest of the world begs to differ.

[gibranII]

11:52 AM on 07/25/2011

so in your eyes any one who is critcial of Israel is a "Jew Hater" ... sad state of mental affairs...

[Keyop]

07:30 AM on 07/19/2011

If the area is sooo holy then why does it blow there?

[Solomon420]

08:06 AM on 07/19/2011

its a kind of modern temple work - to draw the blood of sinners

[colah]

09:25 AM on 07/20/2011

FNF
If some perpetually cash-strapped cloud-daddy made me wait centuries for a Garden-of-Eden-ish "Promised Land" & then gave me this piece of shlt desert I would be PISSED!
Good thing they have never seen Kentucky, I guess.

[mattw1956]

06:31 AM on 07/19/2011

I see HP is culling out most comments that are'nt pro israel again.

[Rianna]

08:14 AM on 07/19/2011

Not only that, I noticed that comments are vanishing into thin air. The spooks are at it again.

[Marcus047]

07:18 PM on 07/19/2011

more likely, someone violated the terms of service, resulting in their account being closed, which then resulted in all their comments going up in smoke. Considering some of the language I've seen thrown around by people in the last two days, it's not really surprising.

[nk5otr]

10:46 AM on 07/19/2011

They are probably just culling the abusive and inane comments

[josie klapper]

10:30 AM on 07/19/2011

Interesting choice of micro-bio considering your posts...

[kingly]

02:33 AM on 07/19/2011

How grotesque is the psyche of Israel?

Unspeakable--horrible, anti-human. Simply disgusting.

[Ouaouaron]

11:32 AM on 07/19/2011

Wow, stop the hate. But you just love right-wing Islamic killers?

[Nwo2012]

04:17 PM on 07/19/2011

Strawman alert

woop! woop!

[zenju2]

03:45 AM on 07/20/2011

What astounding moral clarity! Tell us, please...you find the proposed construction of apartments "grotesque...unspeakable--horrible, anti-human...disgusting." What do you think about such trivial matters as the use of child soldiers in African wars? Mass rapes in those African conflicts? Treatment of women in many Islamic nations? The horrifying prejudice and violence toward gays and lesbians throughout much of Africa and the Islamic/Arab world? Genocide and starvation in Darfur and elsewhere? China's brutal occupation of Tibet? Repression in Burma? What do you consider an appropriate moral scale?
Fascinating.

[gibranII]

11:54 AM on 07/25/2011

nice deflectionb.. human rights violations are human rights violation.... and those apartmenst represent human rights violation of the Palestinians and That I think is what this article was about...

[alpi57]

01:46 AM on 07/19/2011

When does the rest of the world is going to wake up to the fact that these thugs are not going to give up an inch of what they have stolen, as they see their survival in hanging on to what is not theirs.

When President Obama is re-elected, he will put this issue to rest once and for all. And Israel better be ready to make big concessions or stand to lose it all. And if you think that couldn't possibly happen, stay tuned.

[nk5otr]

10:48 AM on 07/19/2011

They captured land in self defensive wars and have already given land to Egypt and Jordan. They were ready to give land captured from Jordan and Egypt to the Palestinians in 2000, but the Pals did not want to negotiate and preferred to start an intifada. That worked out so well for them.

[Nwo2012]

04:17 PM on 07/19/2011

The land isn't israels to give. It never has been

[Sonic hedgehog]

10:34 PM on 07/19/2011

They should've annexed the land then. They refused to annex it because then they would lose the Jewishness of the state because of all the non-jews living in West Bank. These settlements are the slow but effective way of making that region Jewish so that they can annex it.