Israeli settlement building ‘accelerating’: Arab League

By Hussein Mahmoud

CAIRO

The Arab League has warned of accelerating Israeli settlement building in the occupied West Bank.

In a report issued late Sunday, the Cairo-based league said Israeli settlement building was taking place “in an accelerating pace amid U.S. acceptance and encouragement and absence of international accountability."

Accusing the Israeli government of "violating" international law, the pan-Arab body said the Israeli actions in the occupied territories "amount to war crimes", citing house demolitions, displacement of Palestinian residents and confiscation of their lands.

According to the report, Israeli investments in East Jerusalem hit 4.5 billion shekels ($1.24 billion), 87% of them were allocated for Jewish settlements and only 13% for Palestinian neighborhoods.

"Israel systematically allocates lands for Jews as part of a policy that can only be described as apartheid," the report said.

On Sunday, the Israeli government approved a plan to expand a Jewish settlement in the West Bank city of Hebron.

Israeli settlement building in the occupied territories is one of the biggest obstacles to the resumption of peace negotiations with the Palestinians, which has been stalled for years.

According to Palestinian figures, more than 700,000 Jewish settlers now live on 196 settlements (built with Israeli government approval) and more than 200 settler outposts (built without its approval) across the occupied West Bank.

International law views the West Bank and East Jerusalem as "occupied territories" and considers all Jewish settlement-building activity on the land to be illegal.