Maale Adumim, Aug 14: Israel’s finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, has approved new settlement construction in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, which Palestinians and rights groups fear will scuttle plans for a future Palestinian state by cutting the West Bank into two separate parts.
The announcement comes as many countries, including Australia, Britain, France, and Canada, announced they would recognize a Palestinian state in September. The development in E1, an open tract of land east of Jerusalem, has been under consideration for over two decades but was frozen due to US pressure during previous administrations.
The E1 plan is expected to receive final approval on August 20, capping off 20 years of bureaucratic wrangling. The planning committee rejected all petitions to stop the construction filed by rights groups and activists. If the process moves quickly, infrastructure work could begin in the next few months and construction of homes could start in around a year.
Ahmed al Deek, the political adviser to the minister of Palestinian Foreign Affairs, said the approval is a “colonial, expansionist, and racist move” and falls within the framework of the extremist Israeli government’s plans to undermine any possibility of establishing a Palestinian state on the ground, fragment the West Bank, and separate its southern part from the center and the north. Rights groups have swiftly condemned the plan, calling it “deadly for the future of Israel and for any chance of achieving a peaceful two-state solution.”
Aid groups urge Israel to stop ‘weaponising’ Gaza aid
Over 100 nonprofit groups have warned thOver 100 nonprofit groups have warned that Israel’s rules for aid groups working in the Gaza Strip and occupied West Bank will block much-needed relief and replace independent organizations with those serving Israel’s political and military agenda.
The groups, including Oxfam, Doctors Without Borders, and CARE, accuse Israel of “weaponising aid” as people starve in war-torn Gaza and using it as a tool to entrench control. They argue that doing so could endanger their staff and give Israel broad grounds to block aid if groups are deemed to be “delegitimising” the country or supporting boycotts or divestment.
The groups also claim that the rules violate European data privacy regulations and that aid groups have been given only seven days to comply. COGAT, the Israeli military body in charge of humanitarian aid to Gaza, denies the letter’s claims and claims that aid groups and United Nations agencies issue biased assessments. (AP)