BICOM

The EU has expressed ‘disappointment’ at an Israeli housing plan that may include construction in two West Bank settlement blocks. The EU was responding to reports that Israel’s housing ministry planned to issue tenders for 7000 affordable housing units to be built throughout Israel. The vast majority of the houses are slated to be built within Israel’s 1967 borders. However, 294 are tenders for the large settlement of Beitar Ilit, which lies immediately adjacent to the Green Line south of Jerusalem, and 42 are slated for construction in Karnei Shomron, part of another settlement block in the northern West Bank. Beitar Ilit is one of the settlement blocks Palestinian negotiators agreed in the past would stay part of Israel in a future land swap deal.

According to the Israeli NGO ‘Peace Now’, no tenders have in fact been issued for the settlements, but they will probably be published in the next few days. Israel announced a moratorium on all new settlement construction for 10 months from November 2009 to September 2010 in an attempt to restart peace negotiations. However, the Palestinian Authority refused to enter talks until the very end of the ten-month period, and then pulled out of talks when the moratorium expired. Since then Israel has refrained from issuing new tenders, though there has been new construction under existing tenders.

The news comes amidst a housing crisis in Israel created by short supply and soaring prices. The lack of affordable housing has triggered protests by young Israelis, who have established tent cities in several major city centres in the past few days. 

Foreign Secretary William Hague said yesterday that new settlements were ‘obstacles’ on the path to peace and called for an urgent return to talks on a two state solution.