"Israel to build 600 new homes in W. Bank settlement
www.chinaview.cn 2004-08-03 01:47:47
JERUSALEM, Aug. 2 (Xinhuanet) -- Israel will build 600 new houses in a major West Bank settlement although it has reached an agreement with Washington not to expand Jewish enclaves on occupiedland, Israeli political sources said Monday.
The sources said Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz had approved two months ago the housing plan at the settlement of Ma'aleh Adumim, a few kilometers east of Jerusalem.
They admitted that the plan could breach an understanding with the United States which says no more homes should be built beyond the existing settlements in West Bank.
However, US President George W. Bush told Sharon in April that Israel could retain some West Bank land under any future peace dealwith Palestinians if it implements a unilateral disengagement plan to withdraw from Gaza, they added.
Ma'aleh Adumim, with almost 30,000 people, is one of several large West Bank settlements Sharon wants to keep while evacuating the much smaller Jewish settler population in Gaza.
The great majority of the 240,000 Jews living on the land captured by Israel during the 1967 Middle East war are in a few large West Bank settlement blocs. Only around 8,000 settlers live in Gaza. "
posted by Richard at
Monday, August 02, 2004
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