Palestinians angry as Tel Aviv OKs 300 new settler houses

JERUSALEM: Israel has signed off on plans for nearly 300 new settler homes near Ramallah, angering the Palestinians who accused the Israeli government yesterday of trying to “sabotage” US moves to rekindle peace talks.
The announcement came just days after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly ordered a freeze on tenders for new West Bank settler homes to avoid harming efforts by US Secretary of State John Kerry to bring both sides back to the negotiating table.
“The Civil Administration has given the green light for 296 housing units at Beit El,” said the spokesman for a defense ministry unit which administers the West Bank.
He said the plan was announced last year as a compensatory measure after the government ordered the evacuation of the unauthorized Ulpana outpost on the outskirts of Beit El.
Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat said the move sent a clear message to Washington that Israel was not interested in resuming the direct talks, frozen in 2010.
“We condemn this new decision which is proof that the Israeli government wants to sabotage and ruin the US administration’s efforts to revive the peace process,” he told AFP.
“This is a message to the American administration and a blow to the peace process,” he said, suggesting it would drag the region toward violence rather than peace.
But his Israeli counterpart, Tzipi Livni, sought to play down the development, news of which reached her as she was meeting Kerry in Rome on Wednesday afternoon.
“There is no need for this to become a pretext for drama or anger,” she told army radio, saying she had updated the Americans about the development.
“They listened and they understood, and for the moment, there is no reaction.”
Hagit Ofran of Israel’s Peace Now settlement watchdog lashed out at the announcement, accusing Netanyahu of playing a double game. “This initiative proves Netanyahu is deceiving the world,” she told AFP.
“On one hand, he lets us believe that he is putting the brakes on settlement and on the other, he gives the go-ahead for an enormous building project.”
Meanwhile, a prominent Islamic scholar who is making a landmark visit to the Gaza Strip has declared that Israel has no right to exist.
Yusuf Al-Qaradawi said yesterday that "this land has never once been a Jewish land. Palestine is for the Arab Islamic nation."
The Qatar-based cleric was made famous by his popular TV show and is widely respected in the Muslim world.
Al-Qaradawi arrived in Gaza late on Wednesday for a visit seen as a boost of legitimacy for the ruling Hamas militant group.
The Fatah-dominated Palestinian Authority, which governs in the West Bank, has condemned Al-Qaradawi’s visit. It says his presence is cementing the rift between the two Palestinian factions.