HUNDREDS OF Israeli settlers gathered in the northern West Bank settlement of Revava yesterday to celebrate the end of the 10-month curb on new building while Peace Now held an anti-settlement rally outside the prime minister’s official residence in West Jerusalem.
In a West Bank outpost near the contested city of Hebron, settlers laid the foundation of a new religious school and at an outpost in the Bethlehem district settlers installed mobile homes on privately owned Palestinian land. On Saturday, 20 caravans were deployed on a strategic hilltop near Revava.
But a contractor at the Adam settlement, near the Palestinian administrative capital of Ramallah, did not, apparently, make good on a pledge to begin construction on fresh housing. By mid-afternoon Adam residents were nowhere to be seen during a drive through the winding streets of the urban settlement, veiled in fine dusk and baking in the heat.
The armed wing of Fatah threatened to respond to any large-scale renewal of Israeli settlement activity although the movement’s head president Mahmoud Abbas has promised that Palestinians would not return to violence.
Fatah’s al-Aqsa Brigades issued a statement warning that settler attacks on Palestinians and confiscations of their land had gone too long without intervention and threatening to teach settlers “unforgettable lessons”.
The brigades noted that construction had never ceased during the partial freeze and argued that this revealed Israel had no intention of respecting Palestinian rights or permitting the emergence of a Palestinian state comprised of East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza. It is estimated that the overall reduction in housing construction amounted to about 10 per cent during the 10-month period of the moratorium on new building.
Meanwhile, Fatah’s negotiator Azzam Ahmad met in Damascus with Hamas politburo chief Khaled Mishaal in a fresh bid to reconcile the two movements. The sides reportedly reached agreement on several disputed points in the reconciliation document drawn up by Egypt. Fatah and Hamas also committed to a series of meetings to resolve other differences, including over the induction of Hamas elements into the security forces trained and armed by the US.
Fatah has been under strong pressure to reconcile since Hamas seized control of Gaza in June 2007. In the absence of a deal over settlements with Israel, progress toward unity between Fatah and Hamas would strengthen Mr Abbas’s position.
DISPUTED SETTLEMENTS: WEST BANK AND EAST JERUSALEM
THERE ARE 121 officially recognised Israeli settlements in the West Bank and 12 others located on land in East Jerusalem, occupied in 1967 and annexed by Israel as part of its exclusive capital.
There are 100 settlements and "outposts" which are not recognised by the Israeli government, but guarded by the army and provided with services.
Some 21 per cent of settlements are built on privately owned Palestinian land while 66 per cent have been constructed on "state land". The built-up area of the settlements covers 1 per cent of the West Bank, while the jurisdiction of settlement authorities extends to 42 per cent.
Half a million Israelis have been settled in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, in violation of international law: 300,000 in the West Bank and about 190-200,000 in East Jerusalem.
The cost of maintaining settlements is estimated at $556 million (€412 million) a year.
While the Palestinian Authority administers enclaves containing Palestinian cities, towns and villages located in about 30-33 per cent of the West Bank, Israel controls the remaining 67-70 per cent, where it is estimated 10,000 Palestinians dwell. The Israeli army continues to carry out operations and arrests of Palestinians throughout the West Bank.