Fifty-six Israeli MPs call for the resumption of settlement construction

More than fifty Israeli MPs have called for a resumption of building at the Ariel settlement in the occupied West Bank. This flies in the face of the supposed “settlement freeze” which was the precursor to the proximity talks between the Israeli government and the Palestinian Authority. The freeze is supposed to end in September.

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According to sources in the Hebrew media, 56 MPs have signed a petition calling upon Israel’s Prime Minister to resume building in Ariel to provide homes for settlers evacuated from the Netzarim settlement in Gaza. The Israelis destroyed all of their settlements in Gaza five years ago during a unilaterally agreed withdrawal. The petition claims that further postponement of the settlers’ re-housing “involves injustice that cannot be borne”.
Signatories included most MPs from the opposition Kadima Party and the petition was initiated by the “lobby for the land of Israel”.