Israel: Settlement Expansion In West Bank's Efrat Reportedly Approved

JERUSALEM (AP) — The mayor of a West Bank settlement south of Jerusalem says Israel's Defense Ministry has approved 40 new houses at a site near his town.

Mayor Oded Revivi said Monday the homes will create a permanent neighborhood northeast of the Efrat settlement, replacing settlers' trailers currently on the site. He says final approval came last week.

The Defense Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Hagit Ofran, who monitors settlements for the Peace Now organization, says the trailers were put up without authorization.

She said their replacement by permanent homes amounts to retroactive approval of an illegal settlers' outpost.

Settlement construction is criticized internationally for cementing Israel's hold on land the Palestinians say they want for a future state.

Comments

[jimboni]

08:07 AM on 12/15/2011

My comments on this article are not incendiary nor off topic nor disrespectful according to your guidelines. Please tell me why they are being refused?

[jimboni]

08:02 AM on 12/15/2011

There are comments on this page which refer to a Biblical justification for these settlements. Those who do not subscribe to this particular religion and who also occupy this land also have rights. Religious beliefs do not belong in political disagreements.

[jimboni]

07:54 AM on 12/15/2011

There can be no justification for the acquisition of land based on a particular religious belief. Those who do not subscribe to that belief also have rights.

[Daniel Alman]

07:44 PM on 12/13/2011

1939: Jews wage guerrilla war against the british in hopes for a unified Palestine.
1947: civil war breaks out in the Britsh mandate of Palestine. Primary belligerents are jews and arabs. Jews win....
1948: Israel declares independence 2 years after Jordan.... Palestine is created and is recognized Israel, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Iraq.
1949: After several months of war Israel captures 17% of the Palestinian free state.
1950: Jordan annexes and occupies Palestine. This occupation will last until 1967.
1967: Israel launches a surprise attack against Jordanian occupied Palestine. They will establish effective control over west-bank, Gaza strip, Golan heights, and the oil rich Sinai peninsula.
1973: Egypt launches a surprise attack on Israel during yom kipper to re-establish control of the Israeli occupied Sinai peninsula. Israel gives back the Sinai peninsula in exchange for a peace treaty and diplomatic recognition at the camp David accords.
2000: Palestinians launch a series of terror attacks against public services in Israel in attempt to gain recognition and independence.

[Israel Sharon]

10:17 AM on 12/13/2011

16 Years ago the late Prime Minister Yitzchak Rabin agreed to build Efrat's neighborhood of the Dagan. In the interim the government approved a caravan community. 16 years later, Efrat is finally building and with full governmental approval!!!
While working on the mountain 16 years ago, a tractor wheel fell into a hole. The hole was further uncovered and found to be part of an ANCIENT CISTERN, part of a water system built by the KINGS of ANCIENT ISRAEL to bring water from Hebron to the HOLY TEMPLE in Jerusalem.
The cisterns are many meters deep and are another proof of the deep roots the Jewish people have in the area of Gush Etzion, Efrat, especially the Dagan for thousands of years.

[Flyingpigs]

04:43 AM on 12/13/2011

And the Facts on the Ground continue - Build, Build and Build... And the monies toward the PA go drip, drip and then no drip... Funny how things go... Some would just call it Karma...

[Galilee]

02:18 PM on 12/12/2011

40 new houses in Judea???
That's why Arabs are killing each other in Syria ! No doubt!

[TAIsabel]

06:50 PM on 12/12/2011

Deflection ...the sport of Zionist champions!

[gibranII]

10:48 PM on 12/12/2011

nice deflection.... you missed the boat..build baby build ..blame baby blame.

[MrSarcasm]

12:27 PM on 12/12/2011

Yeah, they're really trying for peace. Sure.

[Vlady]

02:00 PM on 12/12/2011

Sure

[Galilee]

02:08 PM on 12/12/2011

Peace with whom? The Arabs who are busy killing each other in Arab states?

[Calamity Jack]

02:57 PM on 12/12/2011

Presumably he was talking about a just and lasting peace between Israel and the Palestinains that continue to live under Israeli soverignty without equal or even human rights.

But you already knew that. I'm glad you feel free to treat the misery of millions of human beings like a punchline.

[gibranII]

10:48 PM on 12/12/2011

nice delfection...but totally off base..

[SamSeven]

12:13 PM on 12/12/2011

Then the Americans should have stayed in Japan and Germany by your logic.

[Gui Montag]

12:37 PM on 12/12/2011

We still are in Japan and Germany.

[Rosin the Bow]

12:42 PM on 12/12/2011

"Then the Americans should have stayed in Japan and Germany by your logic. "

They should have until a peace treaty was signed, which they did.

To leave before a treaty was signed would be to invalidate the whole war.

[Gui Montag]

11:12 AM on 12/12/2011

It's just that simple. F&F.

[Freenation]

11:16 AM on 12/12/2011

Building homes for squatters IS a problem when this whole area is part of the conflict..as for terrorism both sides have elements doing the same: Hamas and IDF

[BatAmi]

11:03 AM on 12/12/2011

If there will ever be peace between the Jews and Palestinians, then Efrat and the Etzyon Bloc it's part of will show how to forge that peace. Until the Intifada, Efrat's doctors treated Arabs from neighboring villages. Local Arab dignitaries danced the debka at the wedding of the son of Efrat's rabbi. Local villagers worked in Efrat. Then Arafat and his thugs stopped all of that cooperation.
Today, slowly, the cooperation on the local level is being restored. At the supermarket in the Etzyon Bloc Jews and Arabs shop in the same aisles. Jewish and Arab checkout women handle the shoppers.
Evacuating Jews or prohibiting their "natural growth" is racist and constitutes ethnic cleansing.
By the way, who originally established Efrat? Yitzhak Rabin, and the northern neighborhoods were the first ones he approved.

[AJ Raalte]

02:18 PM on 12/12/2011

F & F, BatAmi!

[Calamity Jack]

03:01 PM on 12/12/2011

I don't think there should be a problem with Jews living in the Palestinain state. But it is wrong to pretend like they will be able to retain both their Israeli citizenship and their homes when those areas are fomally recognized as part of Palestine. Everyone who moves into these homes should be aware that the will eventhually have to choose between continuing to live there, and continuing to be Israeli citizens.

[Rosin the Bow]

03:17 PM on 12/12/2011

"I don't think there should be a problem with Jews living in the Palestinai­n state. "

Reality keeps getting in the way.

http://dailycaller.com/2011/09/13/palestinian-ambassador-reiterates-call-for-a-jew-free-palestinian-state/

[Flyingpigs]

04:47 AM on 12/13/2011

"think there should be a problem with Jews living in the Palestinai­n state." think again - the PA officially called for a State where NO JEWS WILL BE ALLOWED - Now that's both Racist and Apartheid!

[Seawolf56]

10:49 AM on 12/12/2011

Proof Israel wants nothing to do with the peace process. Why does the USA contine to pay for this blantent show of disregard for the Palestines! America vote out any supporter of this criminal activity!

[Scottishnproud]

05:43 PM on 12/12/2011

The 'proof' being the 20% proof whisky You've been sipping

[Seawolf56]

10:24 AM on 12/13/2011

Once again you attack those brave enough to stand up to the War Machine Israel.... Typical Israelie... Thanks you show the world what Obama has to put up with daily'

[enderM]

06:19 PM on 12/12/2011

but ure OK w/the US paying for the 'blantent show of disregard for the US by the P's.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2010/10/29/us-palestinians-israel-militants-idUSTRE69S2X120101029
http://www.jpost.com/MiddleEast/Article.aspx?ID=193284&R=R1
ure also OK w the Ps sending daily rkts into civilian communities, and missi|||es into childrens
school busses…and the entire world 'pays' for that…..inculding the US.

[Seawolf56]

10:26 AM on 12/13/2011

Is this story about the P's?? No go comment on that story... Typical Israelie always deflect and attack the people that will never support Israels murder and theft!
Armerica is waking up and this will change...tic toc

[SamSeven]

12:14 PM on 12/12/2011

It is not prejudice, sheesh! It is Israel's continuous ILLEGAL behaviour!! Dont you get it. This has nothing to do with religion.

[Gui Montag]

12:36 PM on 12/12/2011

Oh I'm sorry, when exactly did stabbing babies in the throat become legal?

That's what I thought.

[Gui Montag]

12:43 PM on 12/12/2011

Sam, check out this thread:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/11/israel-immigration-africa_n_1142070.html

Israel is building a border fence to stop illegal immigration. America has had the exact same thing for the exact same purpose for years now. But when Israel does it, suddenly it's the most horrible thing anyone could ever do.

You really want to tell me that you friends' reaction to something common 'has nothing to do with' Israel's status as the only Jewish state? Really? Basic logic would disagree.

[Calamity Jack]

03:05 PM on 12/12/2011

"They have been offered 100% of the area of land that the Jordanians and Egyptians occupied until 1967, including territoria­l swaps for land on which communitie­s like these sit"

That is simply a lie. Every OTHER entity has noted that in a workable two-state solution that will have to occur, but the Israeli government has refused to agree to that principle.

If you don't know that, you should look into all the statements made by the Israeli government (and its supporters in the US) when Obama committed the unforgivable faux pas of mentioning precisely that formula in a speach earlier this year.

Everyone knows that is the only workable formula, but Israel has never offered it to the Palestinians.

[enderM]

06:20 PM on 12/12/2011

f&fJonathan.

[myopinion2]

10:21 AM on 12/12/2011

We (pro-I posters) jusify WB construction as being fill-in that does not take any additional land. These homes are not within an existing footprint. this is wrongly taking more land. Netanyahu is building a greater Israel, but at what cost.