Peace Now: Construction ongoing in North Jerusalem settlement

Wednesday August 12, 2009 11:58 by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC & Agencies

The Israeli Peace Now movement published a report stating that construction is ongoing with the expansion of Kochav Yaakov settlement, north of Jerusalem. 

Image, 2006, Dan Jacobson, Peace Now

The settlers placed fifteen caravans and connected to the water and sewage infrastructures, in addition to setting up and children playground.

 The movement said that it obtained aerial photographs from the Civil Administration showing ongoing the ongoing expansion of an illegal outpost on privately owned Palestinian lands. 

 It added that the construction rapidly advancing and that it filed an appeal to the Israeli Civil Administration to stop the illegal construction and to evacuate the illegal outpost. 

In an interview with the Israeli Ynet News, Yariv Openheimer, secretary-general of the movement, stated that settler youths are ongoing with the illegal activities while their leaders are conducting extensive legal activities to ensure expansions.

He stated that the movement would file a petition to the Israeli High Court of Justice should Israeli Defense Minister, Ehud Barak, fail to halt the constructions. 

 The so-called Civil Administration Office, which functions under the control of the army in the occupied territories, claims that it is looking into the issue, and that it issued orders against the construction. 

The Ynet stated that Avi Roeh, head of the so-called on the Benjamin Regional Council, said that the Caravans were put in place after receiving an approval from the ‘community’.

It is worth mentioning that the fundamental government of Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, is pushing for more settlement activities and is rejecting the U.S. demands in this regard.

Senior fundamental right-wing cabinet members, members of Netanyahu’s coalition government, are urging the government to ignore U.S. pressures.  

 Benny Kasriel, mayor of Ma’aleh Adumim illegal settlement in East of Jerusalem, Knesset speaker, Reuven Rivlin, and Israel’s Interior Minister, Eli Yishai, stated that construction of settlements should continue.

They said that Israel will continue its settlement activities, regardless of American pressures, and claimed that the construction would solve human issues as the settlers have children, and new generations of settlers that will need housing. 

The Israeli position does not only violate the international law and the Fourth Geneva Conventions, but also ignores that fact that settlements are choking the Palestinians, stealing their land and barring geographical contiguity of the Palestinian territories.