Israel’s Aug. 24 announcement to seek bids to build new settlements along the West Bank has created yet another roadblock in the path to peace with the Palestinians.
Israeli officials are seeking bids to build 1,0001 new homes along the West Bank in the communities of Adam, Emmanuel, Har Gilo, and Har Adar, according to The New York Times.
Palestinian leaders see this proposal as a violation of the “road map to peace,” a peace plan for a two-state solution proposed June 2001. According to CNN, Saeb Erakat, the chief negotiator for the Palestinian Authority (PA), said that this proposal is “destroying the road map and violating all promises made to President Bush.”
“We urge the American administration to directly interfere to revoke this decision because settlements will always undermine the efforts to revive the peace process,” he said.
The United States, the U.N., the European Union, and Russia drafted the road map with consultation from Israelis and Palestinians. Conditions of the road map include a commitment from the Israeli government to freeze all settlement activity while working to end violence. The PA is also required to rebuild its government, draft a constitution, and work to end terrorism.
Max Carter, the director of the Friends Center and the Campus Ministry Coordinator, agrees that the new proposal is in conflict with the road map to peace.
“The presence and expansion of Jewish settlements in the West Bank prevents peace that Palestinians and Israelis yearn for,” he said.
This proposal comes at a time when Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is being pressured by members of his government who want to expand the Israeli settlements, and to make the settlements part of any future agreement with the Palestinians.
According to the a report on Israeli-Palestinian violence issued May 2001 by the Mitchell commission, which was chaired by former U.S. Senator George Mitchell, past Israeli announcements on the issue of expansion contend that Israelis are new settlements, but expanding existing ones to accommodate natural growth.
CNN reported that a senior Israeli official has said that tenders published for this proposal met the former Israeli criteria of building within the boundaries of existing settlements that are accepted by U.S. President George W. Bush’s administration. The official also said that the Israeli Defense Ministry must first approve the proposal.
Representatives of the Bush administration have said that administration officials are attempting to get a clearer picture from Israel about the nature of the proposal, according to CNN. Dov Weisglass, Sharon’s bureau chief, is expected to be in Washington, D.C. Sept. 9 to discuss the settlement process, as well as the Gaza withdrawal and Israel’s progress on dismantling illegal out-posts.