Monday, February 11, 2013

Only Israelis Are Allowed to Settle Palestinian Territory

Israel has given final approval for 90 new homes in Beit El settlement near Ramallah in a move likely to spark tension ahead of a top-level visit by US President Barack Obama, officials and an NGO said Monday. Hagit Ofran of the Peace Now settlement watchdog said the plans had been published for validation in an Israeli newspaper in what was the “final stage of approval”, meaning construction of the new homes could begin “within a few days.”

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The Beit El construction plans were hurriedly put together as a compensatory measure for settlers who were evicted last year from Ulpana, an unauthorised settlement outpost on the outskirts of Beit El which was evacuated following a High Court ruling.

  Raw Story

Israel's army forced Palestinian activists to evacuate a West Bank encampment they had set up in protest against illegal Israeli settlement construction and declared the site a "closed military zone".

Soldiers on Saturday destroyed tents that were being erected in two different areas near the southern West Bank town of Yatta and forced activists to leave, the Palestinian witness said.

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"Two Palestinian journalists were arrested during the evacuation - one works for AP and the other for PalMedia," Hebron human rights activist Issa Amro told Al Jazeera.

"The Israeli army does not distinguish the journalists from activists, or from the people living there - they just attacked everyone. They were very aggressive today."

Two protesters were injured and taken to the hospital in nearby Hebron.

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"The Palestinian camp was very close to an Israeli outpost [an unofficial settlement considered illegal even under Israeli law], so they evacuated the Palestinian tents but did not evacuate the settler outposts," Amro told Al Jazeera.

All Israeli settlement activity inside the occupied Palestinian territories is considered illegal under international law.

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Four tent camps - dubbed nascent Palestinian towns by the activists - have been erected and swiftly dismantled by the Israeli military since last month.

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Palestinians and activists were on February 2 forcefully removed from a new camp near a West Bank village, after a third attempt at the novel form of protest against Israeli settlement.

  alJazeera

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