Arab FMs: No normalization, divestment for all settlement supporters

Published yesterday (updated) 10/09/2009 21:07

Bethlehem – Ma’an –

Arab states will see no normalization of ties with Israel following the announcement of illegal Israeli settlement expansions in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, Arab Foreign Ministers announced Thursday.

The statement was released following the 132nd session of the Arab League Council of Foreign Ministers in Cairo, and urged “countries or organizations that support settlement work to dry-up the financial resources of settlement builders.”

The Arab ministers called on all countries and institutions involved to divest from companies involved in funding settlements, a statement from the ministers said. Secretary General of the Arab league Amr Mousa, added that, “with Israel’s continued settlement activity, talk about normalization has been rejected.”

Moussa added that “Settlement building is a violation of international laws and until it is stopped or frozen we will not reward Israel for any sort of commitment to international resolutions,” but will only be “rewarded” when it begins progress on the Arab Peace Initiative.

Illegal Israeli settlers construct new outpost in Hebron area

Published yesterday (updated) 10/09/2009 21:29

 Bethlehem - Ma’an -

Illegal Israeli settlers continued constructing at least five new caravans on the south-west side of the illegal settlement of Ma'on in the southern West Bank, members of the Christian Peacemaker Teams said Thursday.

According to the group, internationals based in the nearby Palestinian village of At Tuwani first observed building preparatory work in Ma'on earlier in the week, and reported Thursday that new caravans were being built as settlers prepared a second hilltop for expansion.

A statement from CPT noted that “over the past three months, internationals have also observed settlers constructing numerous new buildings in the nearby illegal Israeli outposts of Havat Ma'on (Hill 833) and Avigail.”

The reports come as tensions rise over the issue of settlements, with the Egyptian newspaper Al-Bayyan reporting an Israeli promise to freeze settlement construction for six months on the same day as US officials reiterated their stance that any settlement construction in either the West Bank or East Jerusalem was “illegitimate.”

Stepped-up international pressure on the issue has heightened settler tension as well, despite promises by the right-wing Israeli government under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to build 455 settlement units in the West Bank and another 486 in East Jerusalem. Both announcements came during the week of 6-12 September.

Despite the promises, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported that settler leaders plan to “step up their fight against a planned freeze of construction in West Bank settlements,” including a sit-down protest in front of Netanyahu's home later this month.

US: Israel must stop settlements in both East Jlem, WB

Published yesterday (updated) 10/09/2009 17:06

 Bethlehem - Ma'an -

The United States does not distinguish between illegal Israeli settlements built in the West Bank or those built in Jerusalem, and maintains that no Israeli settlements should be built beyond the 1967 border, State Department spokesman Ian Kelly affirmed Wednesday.

Responding to a question seeking a US reaction to Israel's announcement that it would go ahead with settlement construction in East Jerusalem, Kelly told reporters "our position is clear. We do not – we believe that Israel has an obligation to cease all settlement activity in East Jerusalem or the West Bank or wherever it may be over the 1967 border."

On Wednesday Israel announced developers were being sought for 486 new apartments in the Pisgat Zeev neighborhood, built on land beyond the Green Line, or 1967 border, which is internationally recognized as occupied territory.

Only three days earlier Israel announced it would go ahead with plans to develop 455 new settlement homes in the West Bank.

On Saturday, US Presidential Spokesman Robert Gibbs told reporters that Obama’s stance on plans to approve additional settlement construction “is inconsistent with Israel's commitment under the Roadmap.”