Israel Plans 530 Settler Homes with U.S. Acquiescence

Mon Aug 23, 2004 10:32 AM ET

HAR GILO, West Bank (Reuters) - Israel plans to build 530 new settler homes in the occupied West Bank after Washington softened its opposition to growth in Jewish enclaves, a policy shift Palestinians say will make peace impossible.

Israeli political sources said on Monday the construction, together with tenders for 1,000 other homes approved last week by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, would mainly affect settlements near Jerusalem and be in full swing by the end of 2004.

Six earthmovers were already hard at work on Monday carving up a rocky hill crest beyond the last line of houses in Har Gilo settlement, sandwiched between two Palestinian villages south of Jerusalem. Officials said about 200 homes would be built there.

Some in the construction crews were local Palestinians desperate for work almost four years into an economically disastrous revolt against Israel waged by militant factions.

"No one in the world listens to our grievances anyway," bulldozer operator Jirie Sarras, from the adjacent village of Beit Jala, said of the decades-old Jewish settlement drive.

"If I don't work here, someone else will. I need the money. In the end the result will be the same anyway. I have to go back to work now," he added, returning to his earthmover on the baking hot, dusty hillside.

"Get out of here! You want to take our jobs away?" an Israeli bulldozer operator shouted angrily at journalists.

Palestinians condemned the settlement growth plan, saying Washington's relaxation of its policy against settlement construction would wreck chances of reviving a Middle East peace process promising them a viable independent state.

"If Israel does not stop this expansionist policy, we will not be able to find enough space to establish our state on," Palestinian Negotiations Minister Saeb Erekat told Reuters.

U.S. SHIFT

Washington signaled on Saturday it could accept building within existing construction lines of settlements that have spread on territory Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East war.

It had earlier insisted on a construction freeze under an international "road map" peace plan. But persistent violence on both sides has ridden roughshod over the year-old "road map."

Sharon has since drawn up a unilateral plan to withdraw from Gaza, where 8,000 settlers live in heavily guarded settlements alongside 1.3 million Palestinians, and Washington is apparently trying to help him face down internal far-right opposition.

But Sharon's plan for "disengaging" from conflict with the Palestinians also entails Israel cementing its grip on West Bank areas where the vast majority of the 240,000 settlers live. This would strip Palestinians of land they want for a state.

President Bush is seen as inclined to accept some building in settlements now to avoid offending Jewish-American voters who favor settlements, and conservative Christian supporters of Israel as he fights for re-election in November.

Israeli officials said the new construction drive was still subject to final government approval but a political source said that would only be a formality.

A spokesman for the Israel Lands Authority said 100 of the 530 homes would be built in Har Adar, west of Jerusalem.

About 100 would be erected in Immanuel and 130 in Adam, enclaves in the heart of the West Bank, the Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth said.

"Israel would not issue this without a green light from the United States," a source close to Sharon said.

Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurie accused the United States on Sunday of tearing up its own peace plan by relaxing its stance against settlement-building. His censure was echoed by Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa.

While the White House denied any official switch in the U.S. position, a U.S. official said efforts were under way to clarify with the Israelis what "settlement activity" means. (Additional reporting by Matt Spetalnick and Dan Williams in Jerusalem, Mohammed Assadi in Ramallah and Nidal al-Mughrabi in Gaza)