David Keyes, spokesman for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said the comments “distort history”.
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All Israeli settlements are illegal under worldwide law but Tel Aviv continues to defy calls to stop the settlement expansions in the occupied Palestinian territories. As part of interim peace deals in the 1990s, the West Bank was carved up into autonomous Palestinian areas – A and B – and Area C, which is home to almost 400,000 Israeli settlers.
Most of the world views the Israeli settlements in the West Bank as illegal or illegitimate.
Israel’s Civil Administration in the West Bank on Wednesday approved the construction of 466 new housing units in several Jewish settlements on territory which Palestinians view as part of a future independent state despite mounting global concern.
The worldwide community has been expressing growing alarm regarding construction of Jewish settlements on land earmarked for a future Palestinian state, which some see as killing off prospects for a peace deal based on the two-state solution.
Keyes said that it is not the presence of Jews in the West Bank and Jerusalem, where they have lived for thousands of years, that is a barrier to peace.
Israel approved Wednesday the construction of 463 homes for Jewish settlers in the occupied West Bank, the watchdog Peace Now said, drawing a sharp rebuke from the United States. He did report violent incidents over the past month that included the extrajudicial execution by the Palestinian Security Forces of a man in custody; the firing of two rockets from Gaza, to which Israel responded by directing some 60 missiles and shells at 30 suspected military installations in Gaza; and the killing by the Israeli Security Forces of an Arab man who was reportedly under psychiatric care. He compared those unauthorized structures on isolated West Bank hilltops with Jewish neighborhoods of east Jerusalem.
Mladenov reported that since July 1, Israel has moved plans forward for over 1,000 housing units in eastern Jerusalem-in Pisgat Ze’ev, Ramot, Har Homa, and Gilo-as well as 735 units in Ma’ale Adumim and other settlements in the West Bank, while allocating funding for more.
Rather, he said, “it is the unceasing efforts to deny that historical connection and a refusal to recognize that Jews are not foreign to Judea and Samaria”.
In a much-awaited report, the Quartet-the United States, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations-urged Israel to stop building settlements and called on the Palestinians to cease the alleged incitement of violence.
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The global community views the Jewish settlements as an obstacle to peace between Israel and the Palestinians based on the two-state solution.
