Israel's settlement building plans infuriate Palestinians
The approval of more than 1,000 new units comes just days before a second round of peace talks is to take place in Jerusalem.
JERUSALEM — Even as it identified 26 Palestinian prisoners to be set free as a goodwill gesture to revive peace talks, Israel on Sunday infuriated Palestinian leaders by issuing approvals for more than 1,000 new units of housing on land it seized in 1967.
The move came just days before a second round of peace talks was set to take place in Jerusalem and despite U.S. pleas to curtail settlement construction while the fledgling peace process is renewed.
Israel's Housing Ministry said Sunday that it would publish final tenders for 1,187 units of housing — 793 units in Jewish developments in the Jerusalem area and 394 units in the West Bank.
Palestinians said Sunday's approval and a similar announcement last week are sabotaging direct negotiations, which U.S. Secretary of State John F. Kerry relaunched last month.
"Israel continues to use peace negotiations as a smoke screen for more settlement construction," said senior Palestinian negotiator Mohammed Shtayyeh.
Palestinians gave no indication that they would boycott the second round of talks, which are to resume in Jerusalem on Wednesday. In preparation for that meeting, newly appointed U.S. mediator Martin Indyk, a former ambassador to Israel, met Sunday in the West Bank city of Ramallah with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.
Israeli officials defended the new projects, saying they would be built in areas that their nation hopes to keep under any future peace deal with Palestinians.
"This in no way changes the final map of peace," said Mark Regev, a spokesman for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. "It changes nothing."
Housing Minister Uri Ariel said the tenders will help lower the nation's soaring housing costs. "This is the right thing at the right time, both from a Zionist and economic standpoint," he said.
But Finance Minster Yair Lapid, from the centrist Yesh Atid party, criticized the construction, calling it a "double mistake."
He called the plans an "unnecessary act of defiance against the U.S." that "puts a spoke in the wheel of peace talks." Rather than expanding housing in the West Bank, Lapid said, Israel should focus instead on areas inside the country where demand and prices are high.
After several months of relative quiet, Israel's settlement activity has accelerated in recent weeks. On Thursday, Israel's military advanced pending plans for about 1,100 units of previously announced housing units, mainly in small, isolated settlements that Israel is unlikely to retain if a Palestinian state is created.
Most of the international community views Israel's settlement construction as illegal.
A majority of the units announced Sunday will be on land that Israel considers to be part of Jerusalem, though Palestinians and the international community never recognized Israel's annexation of the land. Included in the new construction will be 400 units in Gilo, 210 in Har Homa and 183 in Pisgat Zeev.
In addition, 117 units will be built in the West Bank settlement of Ariel, 149 in Efrat, 92 in Maale Adumim and 36 in Beitar Illit, the Housing Ministry said.
Many see the settlement announcements as a way for Netanyahu to appease right-wing politicians angered by his decision to release 104 Palestinian prisoners as a gesture to bring Palestinians back to the negotiating table.
Early Monday morning, a special Israeli Cabinet-level committee released the names of 26 of the first group of prisoners to be released, including 17 convicted in Israeli military court of killing Israelis. Under Israeli law, the names of the prisoners must be publicized 48 hours before they are released to give opponents time to challenge the decision in the courts.
On Sunday, family members of those killed in attacks by Palestinians asked the Supreme Court to halt the release, though such legal appeals usually fail.
Oded Karamani, whose brother was killed in a 1990 terrorist attack, told Israel Radio that releasing the prisoners will leave other Israelis vulnerable. "These are no freedom fighters," Karamani said. "They are murderers and they will kill again."
Netanyahu did not attend the meeting because he was recovering from a hernia operation Saturday.