RAMALLAH: Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak has approved the establishment of a new settlement in southern Mount Hebron, a report said yesterday.
Israeli daily Haaretz said that Barak approved the changing of Sensana illegal settlement outpost to a legal one.
Haaretz said that the Israeli Civil Administration in West Bank has put a detailed plan to build 440 hosing units for approximately 2,500 occupiers in the new settlement.
In the first stage, Israeli authorities will give permit to the building of 50 housing units to the Jewish occupiers who grabbed the area before Barak’s decision.
The establishment of new settlement contradicts Israeli commitments to the US and the Quartet to stop entirely the establishment of new settlements, including the implementation of programs approved by previous governments.
The plan, which allocates agricultural Palestinian land for construction purposes, shows Sensana as an extension of nearby settlement of Eshkolot, although it is located about three kilometers north of it and the separation wall separates the two.
The plan also shows that there is no road between the two settlements and that the access to the Sensana is through the Green Line.
On Sunday, Barak issued an order against demolishing occupiers’ homes built on Palestinian land in the West Bank settlement of Ofra, saying that the matter must be investigated before such action is taken.
