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News :: Civil & Human Rights

U.S. to ask Israel about construction at Ma'aleh Adumim

Two US governments halfwits to bring up Israel's plans for 3,500 new housing units in the largest settlement in the West Bank, Ma'ale Adumim
Deputy U.S. National Security Advisor Elliot Abrams and Assistant Secretary of State for Near East Affairs David Welch are due here this week, and are expected to ask the government about its plans to add some 3,500 housing units to Ma'aleh Adumim, a State Department spokesman said yesterday. Abrams and Welch will meet with Israeli and Palestinian leaders to receive assessments on the political process.

When sked about reports concerning the Ma'aleh Adumim construction plans, the U.S. State Department spokesman said: "U.S. policy is clear - settlement construction must cease."

Meanwhile, Housing Ministry Director General Shmuel Abuav and staffers from Sela, the disengagement administration, met yesterday with 50 planners from the south to present plans for moving the settlers who will be evacuated from Gaza.

The ministry and Sela believe that of the 1,700 families moving out of Gaza, about 1,000 will want to move as groups, while the rest will resolve their housing solutions independently in the country's center.

The current plan is to move the 1,000 families into temporary housing in 15 new neighborhoods in kibbutzim, moshavim and towns in the south, where permanent housing will be built for them.

The temporary housing will include mobile homes, industrialized construction and apartments that will be rented.

About 200 permanent homes are planned for Nitzan, a religious settlement south of Ashkelon, which is slated to absorb families evacuated from Neve Dekalim. Other permanent construction is intended for Bat Hadar, Talmei Yaffe, Mivki'im, Carmiye and Zikim. The overall cost of the plan so far is set at NIS 212 million.

In a related development, Deputy Defense Minister Ze'ev Boim yesterday told members of the Likud Central Committee who live in Gush Katif that he would prefer that the Israel Defense Forces not characterize the area a closed military zone until after Passover, since "it is a family holiday, and I think that the families should be allowed to celebrate together even with the price of a few of the guests remaining in the Gush afterward."

The army is worried that the longer it delays closing the area to outsiders, the more protesters will infiltrate with the goal of obstructing the evacuation.

In the upcoming weeks, the army will be thinning out its infrastructure in the Gaza Strip, starting with non-vital facilities such as garages, munitions depots and other installations.

Talia Sasson, the attorney who wrote a report on the illegal outposts, told a gathering at the Israel Democracy Institute that she had not seen "any evidence that attributed involvement by the prime minister in the establishment of unauthorized outposts."

She said her mandate was to examine the legality of the outposts and not "ministerial responsibility" for them.

"Those who think there should be such an examination should ask the government to ask the Supreme Court to establish a state judicial commission of inquiry to do so."

She said that her report was "not aimed against the settlers, but rather examined the law enforcement situation, and it found a very grave situation."

Former Yesha Council secretary general, Adi Mintz, said he took part in a meeting with Sharon "about two years ago," after the primer minister promised the United States to eliminate outposts established after March 2001.

"Sharon defined three types of outposts," Mintz said. "Strategic ones that would remain, outposts to be discussed, and those that will have to be taken down."
 
 

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