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Israel calls for new bids for West Bank housing

Israel yesterday called for bids to further develop two settlements in the occupied West Bank, despite international calls for a freeze on such activity.

The housing ministry called for bids for the construction of 100 housing units in the El Kana and Ariel settlements, both in the northern West Bank.

The internationally drafted 2003 roadmap agreement that forms the basis of Palestinian-Israeli peace talks requires Israel to freeze settlement construction.

The US and Europe have pressed Israel to halt settlement activity, but on March 26 Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said construction would continue at settlements in the West Bank and east Jerusalem.

The Israeli government stresses that while it is building new homes, it is not creating new settlements.

“This construction of 50 [housing units] in Ariel and 50 in EL Kana are in the framework of the policy of the government because it will be construction inside the built-up area of existing settlement blocks,” Olmert’s spokesman Mark Regev said.

“This is consistent with what we said: One, no new settlements; two, no expropriation of land; three, no policy to outwardly expand existing settlement,” he said.

But anti-settlement activists sharply criticized the move.

“It’s a very bad decision that harms negotiations with Palestinians and Israel’s international standing,” said Yariv Oppenheimer, who heads the Peace Now movement. “It’s a present made to the settlers for the Passover holidays.

In related news, Israel closed off the West Bank and Gaza for at least a week for the Jewish Passover holiday, a day after Gaza militants attacked a vital crossing, raising the possibility of a large-scale Israeli offensive within weeks.

The closure, which went into effect early yesterday, will be in effect until the end of the holiday next Saturday, a military statement said. Palestinians are banned from entering Israel, except for humanitarian cases, doctors and lawyers, it said.

In violence yesterday, Israeli troops killed a militant leader during a raid on the West Bank city of Nablus, the Al Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades group said. Another militant from the Islamic Jihad was seriously wounded, medics said.

Israel’s army confirmed that a militant had been killed in an operation in Nablus, saying that he had fired at troops from a rooftop when they surrounded a house in an effort to arrest him.

The man killed was Hani Al-Kabi, a leader of Al Aqsa in the Balata refugee camp who had together with about a dozen militants fled a Palestinian jail three months ago. The militants accused Israel of reneging on an amnesty deal by which they were supposed to serve time in Palestinian jail.

Kabi was wanted for several attacks that were thwarted, including a recent attempted poisoning, and for a shooting in which two soldiers were wounded, the army said.

The renewed violence followed a day of fighting between Israeli forces and Gaza militants that killed three Israeli soldiers and 21 Palestinians, including five children and a news cameraman.

Gazans are angry over a nearly yearlong blockade of their borders, causing shortages in almost all commodities. Israel generally halts all shipments after attacks like Thursday’s.
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