Occupied Jerusalem: The Israelis said on Thursday that they would press ahead with plans to build in existing Jews-only colonies in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, in an apparent bid to appease hardliners opposed to peace talks with the Palestinians.
Local media said new building tenders could be announced next week, as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in particular seeks to douse opposition from right-wingers in his government to a planned release of Palestinian prisoners.
“In accordance with understandings reached on the eve of the restart of peace talks with the Palestinians, in the coming months Israel will continue to announce it will build in settlement blocs and in Jerusalem,” part of the statement by the unnamed official said.
“Both the Americans and the Palestinians have been aware of these understandings,” the statement added.
There was no immediate comment from either of those parties.
The announcement came a day after Netanyahu and US Secretary of State John Kerry met in Rome where the Israeli-Palestinian talks were on the agenda.
The pro-colonies Jewish Home party, one of Netanyahu’s main coalition partners, said on Thursday it would propose a bill to bar the release of Palestinian prisoners, which has been linked to the talks.
The US-brokered discussions were revived in July after a three-year hiatus but have shown few signs of progress.
Israel’s chief negotiator, Tzipi Livni, said in Tel Aviv on Thursday she could not divulge any details but a senior Palestinian official in the West Bank town of Ramallah described the talks as very difficult.
Jerusalem is one of the most divisive issues in the talks on creating a Palestinian state in territories the Israeli regime occupied in the 1967 war.
The sides are also divided over the future of Israeli colonies, where borders should run and Palestinian demands for a right of return for refugees and their descendants.
The Israelis regard all of Jerusalem as their “eternal” capital. In a move never recognised internationally, they have annexed the city’s eastern sector.
The colonies that they have built in the West Bank and East Jerusalem are considered illegal by most countries. The Israelis cite historical and biblical links to the areas, where about 500,000 Jewish colonists now live alongside 2.5 million Palestinians.
The Palestinians want those two territories and the Gaza Strip for a future country but fear that more colony building will deny them a viable state.
Israeli anti-colony group Peace Now said last week that housing starts in West Bank colonies are up by 70 per cent this year. It said there were 1,708 housing starts in January-June this year, compared with 995 during the same period in 2012.
