Plans to expand a West Bank settlement by up to 2,500 homes drew Palestinian condemnation on Monday and presented an early test for US President Barack Obama, whose Middle East envoy is well known for opposing such construction.
Israel opened the way for possible expansion of the Efrat settlement by taking control of a nearby West Bank hill. The rocky plot was recently designated state land and is part of a plan that envisions the settlement growing from 9,000 to 30,000 residents, Efrat mayor Oded Revivi said.
Israeli officials said any new construction would require several years more of planning and stages of approval.
The outgoing government of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has said it reserves the right to keep building in large West Bank settlement blocs that it wants to annex as part of a final peace deal with the Palestinians. Efrat is in one of those blocs.
The composition of Israel’s next government is not clear yet, because last week’s elections were inconclusive. However, right-wing parties are given a better chance to form a ruling coalition, with hard-line leader Benjamin Netanyahu as prime minister.
Speaking to US Jewish leaders on Monday, the two contenders for leading the new Israeli government expressed their differences over the Palestinian issue.
Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, whose centrist Kadima party won 28 of the 120 seats in parliament in last week’s election, said Israel must withdraw from “parts of the Land of Israel,” a reference to the West Bank, in a peace deal.
Livni said Israel must give up considerable territory in exchange for peace with the Palestinians, drawing a clear distinction with Netanyahu.
She told a convention of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Organizations, “we need to give up parts of the Land of Israel,” using a term that refers to biblical borders that include today’s Israel, the West Bank and Gaza, repeating her view that pulling out of Palestinian areas would be for the good of Israel.
Livni said that Israel must take the initiative and come forward with its own peace plan to head off international programs.
In his address before the gathering, Netanyahu ruled out unilateral pullbacks from territory.
He said he, too, does not want to govern Palestinians, but Israel must maintain control of all borders, airspace and electronic traffic, indicating that his offer to the Palestinians would be considerably less than a sovereign state.
Settlement expansion is likely to create friction not only with the Palestinians, but with Obama, whose Mideast envoy, George Mitchell, has long pushed for a freeze on the expansion of Jewish settlements.
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