by Lilach Shoval, Daniel Siryoti, Israel Hayom Staff and Reuters
Large land tract in Gush Etzion to be declared state land, COGAT announces • Move comes in wake of kidnapping and murder of three Israeli teens not far from the land in question • Bennett: This is an answer to terrorism. Hamas murders and we build.
Homes in Gush Etzion
Photo credit: Dudi Vaaknin
 |
The Coordinator for Government Activities in the Territories announced on Sunday that nearly 1,000 acres in the community of Gva'ot in Judea would be declared state land.
According to a statement issued by COGAT head Maj. Gen. Yoav Mordechai, the move constituted a continuation of "instructions from the political echelon when Operation Brother's Keeper ended."
The decision to declare the area state land came after the Civil Administration conducted a thorough check into the matter of the land's ownership. Before the Civil Administration began researching the ownership, a process that took a number of years, the land in question had not been declared the property of the state.
However, the process was recently expedited after Israeli teens Naftali Frenkel, Eyal Yifrach, and Gil-ad Shaer were kidnapped and murdered by Hamas not far from the area in question.
"This is an answer to terrorism," Economy and Trade Minister Naftali Bennett (Habayit Hayehudi) said during a visit to a yeshiva in Gush Etzion on Monday. "We will continue to build our land. The world has never loved this, but we will move ahead. Hamas murders and we build."
Opponents of the decision to declare the nearly 1,000-acre area state land have 45 days in which to submit an appeal. If none of the appeals are accepted, the land will be opened for construction.
Credit: Reuters
Gva'ot is located a few kilometers from the community of Alon Shvut and among the facilities located there is a school for special needs students.
"The announcement paves the way to establishing a new city in Gush Etzion," Gush Etzion Regional Council head Davidi Pearl said Sunday, praising the decision.
"I would like to congratulate the prime minister of Israel for promoting the initiative and the defense minister and head of the Civil Administration for pushing for it and implementing it," Pearl said.
According to Pearl, "The goal of the murderers of the three boys was to frighten us, disrupt our daily routine and challenge our right to the whole of the Land of Israel, and Gush Etzion in particular. Our answer is to strengthen the settlements and strengthen the sovereignty of Gush Etzion and Judea and Samaria by new construction both inside and outside the blocs."
"The announcement is a step on the way to establishing a new city in Gush Etzion, and I trust that the Israeli government will know how to keep on and promote construction in that new city, which will comprise tens of thousands of housing units."
The Palestinian Authority was furious at the announcement. A message of condemnation issued by the PLO steering committee in Ramallah said, "The Israeli government's decision to annex Palestinian land clearly represents Israel's desire to wipe the Palestinian presence out of the area and force a one-state solution."
Sources in Ramallah said that they intended to appeal to international institutions in an attempt to pressure Israel to reverse the decision.
A U.S. State Department official called the decision "counterproductive" to peace efforts and urged the Israeli government to reverse it.
"We have long made clear our opposition to continued settlement activity," the U.S. official said. "This announcement, like every other settlement announcement Israel makes, planning step they approve and construction tender they issue is counterproductive to Israel's stated goal of a negotiated two-state solution with the Palestinians."
"We urge the government of Israel to reverse this decision," the official said in Washington.
Source: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=19791
Copyright - Original materials copyright (c) by the authors.
No comments:
Post a Comment