RAMALLAH: Israeli forces on Sunday declared the West Bank area of Al-Baq’a, east of Hebron, a closed military zone in order to help Jewish occupiers plant trees.
Palestinian sources said Israeli forces barred Palestinian farmers and local and foreign journalists from entering the area. The sources said “about 200 occupiers from nearby settlement of Kharsina arrived in the area and started planting trees they brought with them.”
Hussein Al-Araj, the governor of Hebron, told Arab News that the “occupiers’ move is a translation of Israeli Prime Minster Benjamin Netanyahu’s remarks where he promised to create a park in front of every West Bank settlement.”
Last week, Netanyahu planted trees in three major West Bank settlements and called on occupiers in other settlements to follow suit. Al-Araj said: “Al-Baq’a area is the most fertile land in Hebron governorate and planting of trees there will deprive local farmers of their main source of income.”
Israeli Minister without Portfolio Benny Begin on Sunday laid the foundation stone for construction work in a new neighborhood in Beit Hagai settlement, south of Mount Hebron.
Ahead of a three-day visit to Tel Aviv this week, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said Israel’s settlement policy in the occupied West Bank is a “mistake” which could be an obstacle to any peace settlement. “It will never be possible to convince the Palestinians of Israel’s good intentions while Israel continues to build in territories that are to be returned as part of a piece agreement,” Berlusconi told the Ha’aretz newspaper, in an interview published Sunday.
“I would like to say to the people and government of Israel, as a friend, with my hand on my heart, that persisting with this policy is a mistake,” he said.
He noted, however, that the events which followed Israel’s 2005 withdrawal of soldiers and settlers from the Gaza Strip “should prompt some thought.”
“It is not possible to evacuate communities to (then) face burned synagogues, acts of destruction, and inter-Palestinian violence and missiles being shot into Israeli territory,” he pointed out.
The Italian leader arrives in Israel on Monday, accompanied by eight of his ministers, who will participate in a joint Cabinet meeting Tuesday with their Israeli counterparts.
Berlusconi said Italy was an “essential stop” in any tour that Middle East leaders make in Europe, saying that “we feel involved in efforts to find a lasting and comprehensive solution to the Palestinian question.”
Quoting former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger to the effect that war in the Middle East was impossible without Egypt, and peace impossible without Syria, Berlusconi said it was time for Israel and Damascus “to act together for the sake of peace.”
In this framework, he suggested, Israel would return to Syria the Golan Heights, captured in the 1967 Middle East war, and Damascus would cease its support for organizations which did not recognize Israel’s right to exist.
— With input from agencies
