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Israel issues tenders for new settler homes ahead of election
30/01/2015
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel published tenders on Friday for the construction of 450 new housing units in occupied Palestinian territory, a move that critics denounced as a political gesture ahead of a March general election.
Ariel Rosenberg, spokesman for Israel's Housing Ministry, said the government was simply remarketing tenders that had failed to sell when they were initially offered last year.
Israel goes to the polls on March 17, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu seeking a fourth term in office. A number of groups, including Netanyahu's own Likud party, are battling to secure pro-settler votes at the ballot.
"Once again, Palestinian lives, rights and lands are being violated in the service of Israeli election campaigns," said Hanan Ashrawi, a senior official of the Palestine Liberation Organization.
The tenders envisage construction in a number of locations, including near the flashpoint West Bank city of Hebron, and several enclaves in the highly sensitive Jerusalemarea.
In addition, authorities have submitted plans for the construction of 93 new homes in the East Jerusalem settlement of Gilo, anti-settlement watchdog Peace Now said.
The group called the wave of bids as "a pre-election grab to establish facts on the ground" and said it risked worsening relations between Israel and the United Statesahead of a planned speech to Congress by Netanyahu on March 3.
"After embarrassing the Obama administration with the invitation to the Congress, Netanyahu adds another slam in the face of the Americans, showing no respect to Israel's closest ally," Peace Now said.
The United States, like most other countries, regularly condemns Israeli settlement expansion, saying it threatens the chances of securing a peace deal with the Palestinians.
U.S. President Barack Obama is refusing to see Netanyahu in March, saying it would be "inappropriate" to do so just ahead of the parliamentary election.
Israel, citing historical and Biblical links to the territory, has created homes for more than 500,000 Israelis on land it seized in a 1967 war, including the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
Palestinians say the land belongs to them and want it as part of a future, independent state. Years of on-off negotiations have repeatedly failed to secure a peace treaty.
(Writing by Allyn Fisher-Ilan; Editing by Crispian Balmer)
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