RAMALLAH: Whereas Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Tuesday renewed his conditions that peace talks with Israel won’t resume unless Israel stops settlements in the West Bank, the Israeli government is considering confiscating privately-owned Palestinian land near the West Bank settlement of Ofra.
According to daily Haaretz, the annou-ncement was made by the state prosecutor in response to a High Court petition filed by a resident of the West Bank town Ein Yabrud and the Israeli human rights association Yesh Din. The announcement is contrary to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s pledge during his Bar-Ilan speech not to take such actions.
The parties were seeking the demolition of a sewage treatment plant built illegally on the town’s land by the council of Jewish settlements in the area. The announcement, signed by senior assistant state prosecutor Avi Licht, says the state is considering turning the site into a regional sewage treatment plant that would serve both Ofra and the nearby Palestinian communities. “Assuming the project can be advanced, the legality of confiscating the land will be examined,” the document says. “It would be unthinkable to erect the plant on private Palestinian land without permission or an official confiscation order, and without the legally required plan and building permits. This is why a demolition order has been issued for the existing structure,” Licht writes.
Abbas said the Palestinian Authority “will go to the negotiations only when Israel is able to implement the obligations of the Road Map.” He was referring to the US-backed peace plan.
