歐盟反對以色列在被佔領土建定居點計劃○BBC (2014.06.05)

【Comment】

定居點＝眷村？

以色列對於巴勒斯坦的軍事佔領，只是實質控制，不享有主權。 

歐盟反對以色列在被佔領土建定居點計劃○BBC (2014.06.05) http://www.bbc.co.uk/zhongwen/trad/world/2014/06/140605_israel_settler.shtml

歐盟敦促以色列政府取消在被佔的東耶路撒冷和西岸建設1500個定居者新居的決定。歐盟表示他們對以色列的建造計劃感到失望。

周四以色列公布在西岸興建猶太人定居點住房的招標書，回應巴勒斯坦組成包含哈馬斯的聯合政府。

在宣佈的時候，以色列住房部長亞萊爾說，這是猶太復國主義對巴勒斯坦組成聯合「恐怖」政府的恰當回應。

亞萊爾並且說，1460套住房興建工程招標，只是「一個開端」，以色列將哈馬斯視為激進反猶太人團體，堅持不會與該組織合作。

巴勒斯坦行政當局則說，以色列的做法是「極為嚴重的侵害」，表示將向聯合國大會與安理會提出申訴。

招標動工的地點分別是在西岸興建900套住房、東耶路撒冷興建560套住房，亞萊爾說，以色列有責任和權利在其「國內」任何地方興建住房、以降低房價。

不過，在今年四月巴以和談未瓦解之前，曾經擔任以色列主談代表的以色列司法部長利夫尼說，這個決定「政治上是個錯誤」，只會削弱以色列拉攏世界對抗哈馬斯的能力。

美國駐以色列大使沙皮羅在接受以色列軍方電台採訪的時候則表示，不論巴勒斯坦組成何種過渡政府，美國都會反對在西岸興建猶太人定居點。

美國國務院發言人則形容以色列的做法「無助於」中東和平、也是「非法」。

還有外電報道說，預期以色列政府會在下個星期宣佈進一步在猶太人定居點興建另外1800套住房的計劃。

Israel issues tenders for new settler homes○BBC (2014.06.05)

Israel has advanced plans for 1,460 new homes in Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank after the formation of a Palestinian unity government.

Housing Minister Uri Ariel said the move was a "fitting Zionist response" to the reconciliation between Fatah and Hamas but also "just the beginning".

Israel has insisted it will not work with a government backed by Hamas.

The Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) said it viewed the announcement of new tenders as a "grave violation".

Executive Committee member Hanan Ashrawi said it viewed the "latest escalation with the utmost seriousness" and would appeal to the UN Security Council and the General Assembly.

About 500,000 Jews live in more than 100 settlements built since Israel's 1967 occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem.  The settlements are considered illegal under international law, though Israel disputes this.

'Political mistake'

The Israeli housing ministry published tenders late on Wednesday for about 900 housing units in the West Bank and 560 in East Jerusalem.  It represents the final government approval before construction can begin.

Mr Ariel said they were an "appropriate Zionist response to the Palestinian terror government".

"The right and obligation of the state of Israel to build across the country in order to reduce the price of housing is not in question, and I believe that these tenders were just the beginning," he added.

Justice Minister Tzipi Livni, who was Israel's chief negotiator at the direct peace talks with the Palestinians that collapsed in April, said the publication of tenders was a "political mistake" that would "only distance us from the ability to recruit the world against Hamas".

Lior Amichai, of the Israeli settlement watchdog Peace Now, said the move showed "the government's policy is moving us towards one state".

US ambassador Dan Shapiro told Israeli Army Radio that it opposed "settlement construction in the West Bank as well as announcements regarding such construction" and "would do so with or without this disputed case of a new Palestinian transitional government".

On Wednesday, US Secretary of State John Kerry rejected Israeli criticism of Washington's recognition of the cabinet of technocrats.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he was "deeply troubled" by the decision, but Mr Kerry insisted the ministers were not affiliated to Hamas and would be watched "very closely".

Hamas is considered a terrorist group by Israel and the US.

The Islamist group ousted forces loyal to Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas and his Fatah faction in Gaza during clashes in 2007, a year after winning the last parliamentary elections, and set up a rival government. That left the PA in charge only of parts of the West Bank.

On Thursday, police shut down banks in Gaza after a number of the 40,000 Hamas-affiliated civil servants and security personnel clashed with some of the 70,000 employed by the PA in the coastal territory, after the former did not receive any wages from the new unity administration.