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AP: "Israel built, planned 9,000 homes on war-won land"

The Israeli watchdog groups Peace Now and Ir Amim urged President Barack Obama to step in quickly and pressure Israel's new prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, to halt further settlement expansion...
By KARIN LAUB - April 27, 2009

RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) - Israel's previous government built or issued
bids for some 9,000 homes for Israelis in Jerusalem and the West Bank,
despite its promise to pursue a peace deal with the Palestinians,
settlement monitors said Monday, summarizing Ehud Olmert's three years
as prime minister.

The Israeli watchdog groups Peace Now and Ir Amim urged President Barack Obama to step in quickly and pressure Israel's new prime minister,
Benjamin Netanyahu, to halt further settlement expansion, particularly
in the areas of Jerusalem the Palestinians want for their future capital.

"The more time the international community and the Obama administration
will require to generate a political process, the more adamant they need
to be to save Israel from itself, because we are losing the two-state
solution," said Daniel Seidemann of Ir Amim, a group that promotes
coexistence in Jerusalem.

Netanyahu supports continued construction in settlements, opposes a
division of Jerusalem and has not accepted the notion of a Palestinian
state. His positions could lead to growing friction with the
international community, though he has said he is reviewing policy.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas insisted Monday that a settlement
freeze is a prerequisite for resuming peace talks with Israel. Abbas'
year of negotiations with Olmert ended inconclusively.

Abbas also rejected Israeli demands that Palestinians not only recognize
the state of Israel - as Abbas and others have - but recognize Israel as
a Jewish state.

"Name yourself, it's not my business," he said. "All I know is that
there is the state of Israel, in the borders of 1967, not one centimeter
more, not one centimeter less. Anything else, I don't accept."

Abbas' comments drew an angry response from Israel. "This is more
evidence that the Palestinians are not interested in true peace with
Israel," said Ofir Akonis, a lawmaker in Netanyahu's Likud Party.

Since capturing the West Bank and east Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast
War, Israel has built homes for about 470,000 Israelis there, including
some 190,000 who moved to east Jerusalem.

 From January 2006 to January 2009, roughly the period of the Olmert
government, Israel built some 5,100 homes in West Bank settlements and
issued bids for another 500 housing units there, said Hagit Ofran of
Peace Now. Another 560 structures, including stone houses and mobile
homes, were erected in dozens of unauthorized settlement outposts, Ofran
said.

In the Palestinian-claimed areas of Jerusalem, the Olmert government
issued bids for 2,400 homes for Israelis, she said. About one-third of
the city's 750,000 residents are Palestinians.

In the latest project for Israelis, construction has begun on 62
apartments, in three buildings of up to eight stories, in the
Palestinian neighborhood of Zawahra in east Jerusalem, Seidemann said
Monday.

Jerusalem municipal officials declined to comment.

Palestinians complain that Israeli housing policies are discriminatory,
making it difficult for them to obtain building permits.

Also Monday, U.S. consular officials toured the West Bank area just east
of Jerusalem, where one of Israel's largest settlements, Maaleh Adumim,
is located.

Previous Israeli governments prepared plans for another settlement,
known as E-1, across a major highway from Maaleh Adumim. However, the
project was blocked by the Bush administration because it would
effectively cut off a future Palestinian capital in Jerusalem from the
West Bank.