Israel to expand largest West Bank settlement

Date: 26 / 04 / 2009  Time:  11:08
Bethlehem – Ma’an –

A special committee in the Israeli occupation government Housing Ministry approved a plan on Sunday to expand the illegal West Bank settlement of Ma’ale Adumim (Which is built on usurped Palestinian lands) by 12,000 dunums (12,000 square meters) in spite of objections from the United States.

According to Israeli Army Radio, the plan has yet to be given the green light by Housing Minister Eli Yishai.

The plan would link Ma’ale Adumim, the largest settlement in the West Bank, with the nearby settlement of Qedar, seizing the land in between. This expansion, in addition to another planned expansion to the north of the settlement will further isolate the north of the occupied West Bank from the south.

The proposed expansion would include 6,000 new housing units in between Ma’ale Adumim and Qedar, which is now home to 800 settlers. Some 30,000 people live in Ma’ale Adumim, according to the Israeli government.

In addition to the expansion, Qedar, which was previously linked to the Etzion block of settlements in the southern West Bank, would now be annexed to the Ma’ale Adumim Municipality.

Former Israeli Prime Ministers Ariel Sharon and Ehud Olmert had pushed to include Qedar on the western side of the separation wall, thereby consolidating Israel’s claim to the territory.

Ma'ale Adumim was originally built in 1976 in violation of international law and in defiance of a US monitoring mission that sought to prevent the construction of settlements.

IOA plans to confiscate 12,000 dunums of Palestinian land to expand settlement

[ 26/04/2009 - 10:41 AM ]

RAMALLAH, (PIC)--

The Israeli occupation authority is planning to expand the settlement of Maaleh Adumim, east of occupied Jerusalem, after annexing 12,000 dunums of Palestinian land.

The Israeli radio on Sunday reported that a special committee of the housing ministry had finalized the expansion scheme, which is now waiting for the minister's endorsement.

The broadcast said that the committee was proposing the annexation of the Kidar settlement, which groups 800 settlers, to Maaleh Adumim, which means that all the lands between them, estimated at 12,000 dunums, would be also annexed.

The step meant that the Maaleh Adumim settlement, which is located east of occupied Jerusalem, would extend to south of the holy city other than its previous expansion to the north.

Palestinian sources said that the IOA was planning to build 6,000 new housing units in the area, adding that the expansion of Maaleh Adumim, the biggest settlement bloc in the West Bank, would separate the northern area of the West Bank from its southern area.

The incumbent Israeli government is pondering a number of solutions to the isolated settlements in the West Bank, not dismantling them but rather annexing them to nearest settlement blocs, which would lead to more land grabbing.