New Housing Units Sanctioned by Israel Show How Dead the Road Map Is

[Classical_Liberal]

New Housing Units Sanctioned by Israel Show How Dead the Road Map Is
Press Release, Council for the National Interest, 20 August 2004

WHY DOES THE ADMINISTRATION PRETEND IT STILL EXISTS?

August 19th, 2004 -- Both the New York Times and the Washington Post carried stories yesterday about the announcement in Tel Aviv that Israel's Housing and Construction Ministry would build up to 1,000 new housing units in settlements in the West Bank.

According to these sources as well as Ha'aretz, the Israeli daily, 604 units will be built in Betar Elite and 141 in Maaleh Adumim, which lie in the area of East Jerusalem, and 204 housing units will be built in Ariel and 42 in Karnei Shomron, lying in the West Bank itself.

The Israeli Minister of Housing and Construction, Tzipi Livni, downplayed the significance of the announcement, stating, "These are settlement blocs at the very heart of the consensus. This has nothing to do with the disengagement plan; it is part of government policy and is in accordance with the declarations made by the Americans. There is no reason for a big drama."

What consensus and what declarations? According to the Road Map, as proclaimed by the United States last year and as endorsed by the Israeli cabinet, asks Israel to freeze "all settlement activity (including natural growth of settlements)" and to immediately dismantle 51 outposts. Clearly the opposite is happening, as Peace Now, the Israeli peace group, has been saying for more than a year..............

http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article3018.shtml

[number6]

1. it never was alive ...

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