Israel has given final approval in recent weeks to plans to expand four Jewish settlements in the West Bank, officials said yesterday.
The settlements slated for expansion lie within areas that Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert hopes to incorporate within Israel's final borders.
Olmert plans to withdraw from dozens of isolated settlements in the West Bank while beefing up large settlement blocs.
Othniel Schneller, a lawmaker with the ruling Kadima Party, said Israel's Defense Ministry signed orders months ago to expand the boundaries of Beitar Ilit and Givat Zeev, near Jerusalem, and of Oranit and Maskiot.
The expansions of settlement boundaries were the first in years, the settlement watchdog group Peace Now said.
The Defense Ministry, which oversees settlement activity, said the expansion orders were signed by former defense minister Shaul Mofaz.
But it said the ministry is "re-examining" the approvals under new defense minister, Amir Peretz, a moderate who took office this month.
Israeli media reports, however, said Peretz also has approved the orders.
Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat urged Peretz to rescind the orders.
"This act of expanding the settlements, is a choice for more obstacles and more problems and more violence. I really hope that the new government will stop this," he said.
The new expansion includes converting Maskiot, an army outpost in the Jordan River Valley, into a residential community, said Dubi Tal, a settler leader in the area.
About 30 families who lived in the Gaza Strip will move to the new settlement by next month, Tal said. Israel withdrew from the Gaza Strip, dismantling 21 settlements there, last summer.
Israeli officials committed prior to the withdrawal from Gaza that no new settlements would be established in the West Bank to accommodate evacuated Gaza settlers.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese