Peace Now mentioned PM Netanyahu pronounces settler houses in occupied West Financial institution and East Jerusalem as he faces elections in March.
Israel has issued tenders for two,500 new settler houses within the occupied West Financial institution and East Jerusalem, a watchdog mentioned on Wednesday, on the eve of Joe Biden’s swearing-in as US president.
On Sunday, Israel accepted 780 new settler houses within the West Financial institution forward of March elections, through which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is predicted to face a fierce problem from right-wing and pro-settler candidate Gideon Saar.
Peace Now mentioned the federal government had now revealed tenders for an extra 2,112 models within the occupied West Financial institution and 460 in occupied East Jerusalem, the jap a part of town annexed by Israel however which the Palestinian Authority hopes to make the capital of a future state.
The watchdog accused the federal government of a “mad scramble to advertise as a lot settlement exercise as attainable till the final minutes earlier than the change of the administration in Washington”.
“By doing so, Netanyahu is signalling to the incoming president that he has no intention of giving the brand new chapter in US-Israel relations even sooner or later of grace, nor severe thought to how you can plausibly resolve our battle with the Palestinians,” it mentioned in an announcement.
The spokesman for Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has condemned the choice to construct new settlement models and mentioned the Israeli authorities is racing in opposition to time to eradicate what stays of any risk of a two-state resolution.
“The continuation of Netanyahu’s authorities with its settlement coverage and theft of Palestinian land – with the help and bias of the present US administration – won’t deliver safety and stability,” Nabil Abu Rudeineh mentioned in an announcement.
All Jewish settlements within the West Financial institution are thought to be unlawful below worldwide regulation and by a lot of the worldwide group.
However the Trump administration, breaking with many years of US coverage, declared in late 2019 that Washington not thought of settlements as being in breach of worldwide regulation.
Biden has indicated that his administration will restore Washington’s pre-Trump coverage of opposing settlement growth.
However on Tuesday, his nominee for secretary of state mentioned the incoming administration won’t reverse Trump’s landmark recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
“The one means to make sure Israel’s future as a Jewish, democratic state and to offer the Palestinians a state to which they’re entitled is thru the so-called two-state resolution,” Antony Blinken mentioned.
Electioneering
Past the change in Washington, DC, specialists say Netanyahu additionally has home political causes for pushing settlement growth.
Electioneering is intensifying forward of Israel’s March 23 polls, through which Netanyahu is predicted to face a problem from right-wing candidate Gideon Saar, a defector from the prime minister’s right-wing Likud celebration.
Saar, a distinguished pro-settler voice, cut up with Likud late final yr to problem Netanyahu, Israel’s longest-serving prime minister.
Israel has occupied the West Financial institution because the 1967 Six-Day Warfare and has more and more expanded the scale and variety of settlements there, notably below Netanyahu’s management since 2009.
There are at present some 450,000 Jewish settlers residing within the occupied West Financial institution amid an estimated 2.8 million Palestinians.
In occupied East Jerusalem, some 200,000 Jewish settlers dwell on Palestinian land in 12 settlements.
Governments worldwide largely see settlements as an impediment to a two-state resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian battle.