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Articles citing Peace Now on "booming" construction

Israeli West Bank settlement construction is booming three months after Israel ended its building freeze, possibly upsetting future peace talks, (Peace Now) said.

An additional 13,000 units have been approved...by contrast, in each of the last three years only 3,000 housing units were built.

See excerpts and links to:

Jewish Week: "Construction Without Consensus"
UPI: "Israeli construction booms in West Bank"
JTA: "Settlement building rises sharply following freeze"
YNET: "Since end of freeze: 13,000 homes approved"
AFP: "Israeli settlers building 100 illegal homes"
Jerusalem Post Frontlines: "Is settlement growth booming?"

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Jewish Week: "Construction Without Consensus"

Post-moratorium, building resumes on West Bank communities not considered vital for Israel's borders.

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

by Michele Chabin
Jewish Week Correspondent

(excerpts)

Kiryat Arba is just one of the dozens of settlements to resume building, according to Peace Now, which keeps precise records on all building starts anywhere in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. So far, construction has begun on 1,700 housing units (out of a total of 13,000 potential units approved prior to the freeze).

No additional building permits have been approved since the end of the moratorium, according to Hagit Ofran, director of Peace Now's settlement watch project. Even so, those on the political left insist that the current construction is harming the peace process.

In an interview with the Jewish Week, Ofran said "a big part" of the current construction is taking place in so-called outlying settlements the Israeli government has indicated might be expendable in a final peace deal with the Palestinians.

Unlike, say, Efrat and Ma'aleh Adumim, both large settlements near Jerusalem that successive governments have vowed to retain, outlying settlements like Kiryat Arba, Ofra and Tapuah are not "consensus" communities most Israelis feel are vital to Israel's security and therefore not expendable.

That the Netanyahu government has given the go-ahead to up to 13,000 new homes, albeit ones approved up to 25 years ago, "is another message to Palestinian and Israelis that we're not intending to leave these areas," Ofran said. "The moratorium turned into a 10-month construction delay and nothing more."

Ofran said Peace Now is especially concerned about the outlying settlements, because "every person who comes to live in these settlements makes it harder to relinquish. There will be more people to move, more money to expend" in the event Israel quits part of the West Bank.

Read the entire article: http://www.thejewishweek.com/news/israel/construction_without_consensus

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UPI: "Israeli construction booms in West Bank"

Published: Dec. 23, 2010

EAST JERUSALEM, West Bank, Dec. 23 (UPI) -- Israeli West Bank settlement construction is booming three months after Israel ended its building freeze, possibly upsetting future peace talks, a group said.

An additional 13,000 units have been approved, Peace Now told Ynetnews. By contrast, in each of the last three years only 3,000 housing units were built, the group said.

Settlement leaders did not contradict the Peace Now figures.

"The freeze is over -- we're catching up," Samaria Regional Council spokesman David Ha'Ivri in the northern West Bank told The New York Times.

"The Peace Now numbers are credible," he said. "The counting seems logical. The difference is we see this in a positive light while they see it in a negative light."

Palestinian leaders said in October they would not return to peace talks with Israel if settlement construction continued. Israeli leaders said the sooner talks get back on track, the sooner settlement issues and other disputes can be resolved.

The U.S. State Department has raised "concerns about settlement activity with the Israeli government," department spokesman Philip J. Crowley said.

Mark Regev, a spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, told Ynetnews that since the 10-month building moratorium ended in September, Israel approved construction only in existing settlements, so the new construction would "not affect the peace borders in any way."

He told the Times it would "not in any way change the final map of peace."

Settlement opponents disagree, saying the larger the settler population, the more water, roads, security and other resources are needed -- and the harder it will be to get Israelis to agree to a Palestinian state, the Times said.

Read the entire article: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2010/12/23/Israeli-construction-booms-in-West-Bank/UPI-47621293119222/

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JTA: "Settlement building rises sharply following freeze"

December 23, 2010

(excerpts)

JERUSALEM (JTA) -- The construction of at least 13,000 housing units in the West Bank and eastern Jerusalem has been approved since the end of the 10-month building freeze in the settlements.

Some 2,000 units are under construction, The New York Times reported Thursday, citing figures from the Peace Now organization.

"We can say firmly that this is the most active period in many years," Hagit Ofran, who monitors settlement growth for Peace Now, told the Times.

Settler leaders confirmed the Peace Now numbers for the newspaper.

"The only difference is that they see it as negative, and we see it as positive," David Ha'Ivri, spokesman for the Samaria Regional Council in the northern West Bank, told the Times.

Read the entire article: http://www.jta.org/news/article/2010/12/23/2742301/settlement-construction-increased-dramatically-since-freeze

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YNET: "Since end of freeze: 13,000 homes approved"

Intensive building noted in outlying, smaller settlements since West Bank building freeze came to end. 'Construction will not affect future borders,' Prime Minister's Office claims. Peace Now: This is most active period in years

by Yair Altman

(excerpts)

Three months after the moratorium on settlement construction in the West Bank came to an end, the settlements are growing at an almost unprecedented pace.

According to data from the Peace Now organization, work has begun on no less than 1,712 new housing units, and in almost every second settlement there is a significant building project. This is especially noticeable in the outlying and smaller settlements.

Peace Now's Hagit Ofran agrees. "This is the most active period for years," she said. In addition to housing units which are already under construction, she says, some 13,000 additional units have been approved. In comparison, in each of the last three years only 3,000 housing units were built.

'We're catching up'

Settlement leaders make no effort to contradict the data presented by Peace Now. "The freeze is over, we're catching up," David Ha'ivri, from the Samaria Regional Council, said to the Times. "The Peace Now numbers are credible. The counting seems logical. The difference is we see this in a positive light while they see it in a negative light.

Read the entire article: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4003352,00.html

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AFP: "Israeli settlers building 100 illegal homes"

December 23, 2010

(excerpts)

Israeli settlers have illegally begun work on at least 100 homes in the occupied West Bank since the end of a freeze on settlement construction, Israel's Peace Now movement said on Thursday.

"Since the end of the settlement freeze at the end of September, at least 100 buildings are now under construction in the West Bank," Peace Now's secretary general Yariv Oppenheimer told AFP.

In November 2009, Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu implemented a freeze on settlement construction in the West Bank, but he refused to renew the ban after it expired on September 26, despite intense international pressure.

"The illegal building being carried out without the necessary permits from the authorities is taking place both in existing settlements and outposts," Oppenheimer said.

"If an Israeli built under the same circumstances in Tel Aviv for example, it would all be destroyed on the spot and he would brought to justice."

Read the entire article: http://www.emirates247.com/news/world/israeli-settlers-building-100-illegal-homes-2010-12-23-1.333173

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Jerusalem Post Frontlines: "Is settlement growth booming?"

By TOVAH LAZAROFF
12/30/2010 23:02

The question sounds simple. And building has certainly resumed since the 10-month moratorium ended in September. But the true picture is far more complex.

Read the entire article: http://www.jpost.com/Features/FrontLines/Article.aspx?id=201635