AP IMPACT: Israeli Settlers Building 544 New Homes

[Purveyor]

KARMEI TZUR, West Bank (AP) -- Israeli settlers have begun building new homes at an extraordinary pace since the government lifted its moratorium on West Bank housing starts - almost 550 in three weeks, more than four times faster than the last two years.

And many homes are going up in areas that under practically any peace scenario would become part of a Palestinian state, a trend that could doom U.S.-brokered peace talks.

According to an Associated Press count, ground has been broken on 544 new West Bank homes since Sept. 26, when Israel lifted its 10-month freeze on most new settlement building.

The survey, while not comprehensive, marks the most extensive effort yet to quantify the construction. It was based on visits to 16 of the West Bank's more than 120 settlements as well as phone calls to more than four dozen settlements and interviews with construction workers and mayors.

"This figure is alarming and is another indicator that Israel is not serious about the peace process, which is supposed to be about ending the occupation," said Ghassan Khatib, spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' self-rule government in the West Bank.

MORE...

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/M/ML_ISRAEL_SETTLEMENTS_UNFROZEN?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2010-10-20-19-13-28

[glinda]

1. Remember reading how some organizations in America send money for exactly this. Where is our

Government in tracking funds going over there? If this is really an issue than money transfers should be tracked and halted.

[Crunchy Frog]

2. These people seem determined

that there should be a Greater Israel where Jews are a minority. :shrug: