Netanyahu to announce up to 2,000 new settlement homes

[azurnoir]

Israeli TV reports said that the plan called for 1,000 to 2,000 new settlement homes. Channel 10 said Netanyahu was going ahead with the announcement of new settlement building despite the fact that the last such announcement, which coincided with the second phase of prisoner releases, almost caused the collapse of peace talks. It said the US and EU had both urged him not to go ahead with the plan, but he was unmoved.

Wasil Abu Yousif, a Palestinian official, said the expected announcement is evidence that Israel is “not serious” about pursuing peace. “It’s clear to everyone now that the Israeli government is killing the peace process.” While stopping short of threatening to withdraw from the current round of peace negotiations, he said Israel’s policy would force the Palestinians to seek “more substantial alternatives.”

Despite a recent uptick in violence in the past week, with attacks on Israeli targets in Gaza and the West Bank, and the attempted bombing of an Israeli bus in Bat Yam, the cabinet decided Wednesday it would proceed as planned with the release of the 26 Palestinian prisoners from Israeli prisons next Sunday.
....................................................................

According to the Central Bureau of Statistics, since the beginning of 2013, 32,290 construction sites for housing units were erected across Israel, an increase of 5.5% compared to the corresponding time frame in 2012.

http://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-said-to-ready-more-settlement-construction/

[on point]

1. Netanyahu declares single secular Palestine state only way to go

[Deep13]

2. fascist nt

[Violet_Crumble]

3. It's just the latest in a long line of evidence that Israel's not serious about peace n/t

[azurnoir]

4. Oh no Israel is most interested in peace don't forget they're letting 26 terrorists go

that's only about 77 housing units per terrorist

BTW welcome back

[Violet_Crumble]

5. I've long suspected *peace* means something different for the Israeli govt...

They see peace as being they get to do what they want and there's no protests or objections to what they do from anyone, especially the Palestinians...

Thanks. It's good to be back. I see nothing much has changed while I was away

[Jefferson23]

6. Grab the land while you can..nice going Bibi. n/t

[Igel]

7. Where?

Only the "no cm beyond the Green Line" people think there'll be no adjustments to the Green Line in a final deal. A fair number of them hold the view just for popular consumption.

In any event, where the new housing is matters. And whether these are plans for next week or, as the previous ones were, a long term plan that could be easily dismissed by a deal, also matters. (Conflating the two is, again, mostly just for population consumption.)


Some building is fairly straightforward. They affect little, they just reinforce what most observers assume.

Some building is problematic, forming a population "wall" here or there--these might be deal breakers at some point.

Some building is insane--in the middle of Palestinian areas that will not remain under Israeli control. They may be bargaining chips: "Give us this and we'll uproot these settlements--look how many there are!"

[azurnoir]

8. Where's Israel's eastern border?

seems Israel is attempting to create one while supposedly negotiating it

[Jefferson23]

10. kick n/t