JERUSALEM, 1 September 2005 — An official report said yesterday that Israeli governments have consistently failed to follow their own laws and guidelines for land confiscation and building in the occupied West Bank.
The study, published by the state comptroller, said it found “serious and continuous improprieties” in preventing construction illegal under Israeli law on land captured in the 1967 Middle East War.
The World Court brands all Israeli settlements on occupied land illegal. Israel disputes this. The 400-page report said laws on illegal building had not been enforced strictly enough for either Israelis or Palestinians living under Israeli administration. “Cases were found where the administration allocated thousands of dunams of land for (Jewish settlement) without due process,” the report by Comptroller Micha Lindenstrauss said.
Meanwhile, Israel’s Parliament yesterday approved a historic plan for Egyptian border guards to patrol along the Gaza border after the last Israeli troops leave the Palestinian territory next month.
The deal, which has taken months to negotiate, will see 750 lightly armed officers fan out to stop weapons being smuggled into the Gaza Strip, when all Israeli soldiers are recalled from the territory after a 38-year occupation.
And Benjamin Netanyahu launched his campaign to oust Prime Minister Ariel Sharon yesterday with a call for settlement building that could lead to a showdown with Israel’s US ally.
Staking out the battleground for the right-wing power struggle triggered by Sharon’s removal of settlers from occupied Gaza, Netanyahu urged immediate construction on a particularly sensitive West Bank area outside East Jerusalem.
