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Articles on Peace Now's Report: "Settlement Building Doubled Since Freeze"


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YNET: "Construction Controversy?"


Peace Now: Settlement construction rate double national rate

Movement publishes report based on aerial photos, on-site visits, claims construction rate on West Bank settlements double that of rest of country

by Yair Altman

The West Bank settlement construction rate is nearly double the construction rate in the rest of the Israel, the Peace Now movement alleged in a report released Wednesday.

According to the movement, while the construction rate within the 1967 borders is one housing unit per 235 residents, in the settlements the rate is one unit for every 123 residents.

The report, based on aerial photographs and on-site visits also claims that immediately after the 10-month construction freeze (October 2010-July 2011), construction began on 2,598 projects within the West Bank settlements - 64% (1,642) of which were units with grounds attached.

Moreover, groundwork for the construction of an additional 317 additional units and 100 caravans has already been completed. According to Peace Now, at least 383 of the housing units are illegal and 157 out of the units are to be constructed on illegal outposts.

Incidentally, the construction of 3,700 housing units continued throughout the construction freeze due to the fact that groundwork was laid before the freeze began.

Peace Now data revealed that 66% of the construction was being carried out east of the existing separation fence. 826 units were being constructed on isolated settlements, 869 were being constructed on settlements west of the separation fence and 903 units were being constructed on settlements between the existing fence and the planned fence.

"The planned separation fence goes deep into the West Bank at four 'fingers', the construction of which Israel avoids completing for political reasons," the report stated.

The four 'fingers' are Ariel (245 housing units), Gush Etzion (329), Karnei Shomron-Kdumim (114) and the Maale Edumim region (212).

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Maan News: "Peace Now: Settlement building doubles since freeze"

BETHLEHEM (Reuters) -- According to Peace Now's latest report released Wednesday, construction in West Bank settlements has doubled since the end of a building freeze which ended US brokered peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians last year.

Peace Now's Settlement Watch Director of Projects Hagit Ofran told Reuters that the settlement construction rate over the past year has allowed settlers to bridge the gap created during a 10-month moratorium that ended last year.

"Our report shows that there were almost 2,600 units started in settlements after the settlement freeze which means that all of the freeze [achievements] was already erased," Ofran told Reuters in her Jerusalem office.

"The number of construction in Israel is half the number of construction in settlements and we believe that the government of Israel is working against the Israeli interest which is not to build in settlements and to make peace with the Palestinians," she added.

According to the report, based on the analysis of aerial photos of West Bank settlements and field visits in the ten months since the end of the building freeze, 2,598 new housing units were being built and the construction of 2,149 new housing units were completed.

The report showed that at least 3,700 units were under construction during the period of the last 10 months.

US brokered peace talks have been frozen since the Palestinians walked out in September last year over Israeli settlement building.

Ghassan Khatib, Head of Palestinian Governmental Press Office told Reuters that the report only reaffirms Palestinian claims.

"[The Peace Now report] reaffirms the danger of the situation in the occupied Palestinian areas.

"It also assures the credibility of the Palestinian Authority, which was always calling for international efforts to force Israel to respect the Palestinian international legitimacy and rights by halting the expansion of settlements, which are internationally illegal and are blocking any real peace process," Khatib said from the West Bank city of Ramallah.

In the absence of negotiations, Palestinians plan to apply in two weeks for full membership of the United Nations, as part of a campaign to win international endorsement of sovereignty within the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem.

Israel and the United States oppose the unilateral move, calling on Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to return to talks.

Israel disputes Palestinian claims to all of the West Bank, saying a return to pre-1967 war borders would jeopardize Israeli security and citing historical links to an area the government calls by its biblical name, Judea and Samaria.

Some 500,000 Jews live in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, also captured in the 1967 conflict. There are about 2.5 million Palestinians in the same territory.

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Arutz Sheva: "Council of 'Settlers' Thanks Peace Now"

The Yesha Council has issued a rare "thank you" message to Peace Now for a report of extensive new housing in Judea and Samaria.

By Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu

9/7/2011

The Council of Jewish Communities in Judea and Samaria (Yesha) has issued a rare "thank you" message to Peace Now for a report of extensive new housing for Jews in the region.

Yesha said that the figures claimed in the report are far from reality but accepted them as a good sign for the new Rosh HaShanah year, which begins in three weeks.

Peace Now, which opposes any Jewish presence in United Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, stated that the rate of residential building in Judea and Samaria is double that of the rest of Israel since the government building freeze in Yesha ended last October.

"We thank Peace Now for the wonderful news, but, to our sorrow, the facts are from reality," Yesha responded. "However, we will be happy to accept the report as a vision for the New Year."

Peace Now leader Yariv Oppenheimer complained that a housing shortage exists in the rest of Israel while building continues in Judea and Samaria. He is concerned that a continuing building boom will make it less likely that any Israeli government can surrender Judea and Samaria to the Palestinian Authority.

Yesha also said, "Peace Now has the most frustrating role in the world - testifying to building [in Judea and Samaria] and trying to demolish homes there," referring to the left-wing' group's successful petition to the High Court that dozens of homes in the community of Migron, in Samaria, be destroyed.

"Between our building homes, we find time to feel sorry for Peace Now," Yesha said.